How I Became A Filmmaker

I created a new tradition in my house...

Hi there 👋,

I can trace the start of my filmmaking career to my 11th birthday. It’s the birthday where your parents let you plan your own birthday.

Instead of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, we decided to make our own version. I ran upstairs, grabbed the family video camera, and some cheap Home Depot lights.

Our process was simple, make up a story, shoot the scene, and laugh our asses off at each take. This was around 2003, so we were using DV tapes - the kind where if you wanted to play back your footage, you have to rewind, press play quickly and watch. THEN, in order to not record over your work, fast forward enough until you got to the end of the last scene.

We shot a completely impromptu war movie the entire night - shooting the last scene as the sun rose. We hit rewind, plugged in those little red, white, and yellow cables into the TV and beheld our masterpiece.

It became a yearly birthday tradition at my house to shoot a movie in a single night.

Those incredible feelings of being among friends, laughing, and being creative sticks with me every time I hit record.

I’ll have to find those old YouTube videos in a later bonus email…

QUESTION FOR YOU: What is your origin story as a creative person? Where did it all start?

Warmly,
Jordan P. Anderson

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