A Unique Hobby Since 2014

I first discovered the art of video editing at age 14. Back then, I was the kid who was bullied for being a bit different. I didn’t play any sports and I wasn’t naturally popular. So one day I discovered my school’s media lab. It became my escape from reality along with participating in community theater. At 16, an anonymous donor gave my high school a $30,000 editing system that literally  NO ONE knew how to use. My mother and I went to the principal’s office and were able to convince the school administration to allow me access. I had no mentor. There was absolutely no one I could call for help, and that was the deal: I was granted access, but only if I agreed to never ask for help (not exactly the most supportive environment). While this was frustrating at the time, it forced me to learn how to do everything through self-discovery. Two years later I solely produced, filmed, and edited my graduating class’s senior video, and yes, even the bullies I edited into the video. To give some context, this was a project that had traditionally been done by a team of 12-14 students. Upon graduating, I went on to earn my BA in digital filmmaking at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Emerson was a very mixed-bag experience. While I met plenty of nice people, in the end, I felt like the most important things I learned were self-taught. After a brief stint in Los Angeles, I returned back to Massachusetts and through a series of events, I eventually made my way to Provincetown.

To understand how my brain works, you have to understand where I get a lot of my inspiration. The first time I ever saw “Moulin Rouge,” I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. Unfortunately, it was not in theaters, but on my laptop in my dorm room at Emerson. While Baz Luhrmann gets a lot of credit for the film’s success (as he should), I was especially impressed by the editor, Jill Bilcock. Just watch how many rapid cuts there are in this sequence (sorry low-quality video… go rent the movie!).

Just as Droning Provincetown was starting to trend, another project of mine also started to take off at an even faster pace: Tech Talk America. I’d previously worked at an Apple Computers dealership which led me to discover my passion for teaching technology to the masses, especially boomers. In early 2012, I officially started Tech Talk America as a YouTube channel. My goal at the time was to get it to provide a decent second income. One year later it became my full-time employment. The concept was simple: use YouTube’s platform as a method to deliver a basic technology education to people from all over the world. While I tend to have many projects on my plate at any given time, I consider Tech Talk America to be my “real job.”

I want to close this little bio by just saying how grateful I am that so many of you have enjoyed my films. It really is such a joy to create them and I hope to be able to continue making them for years to come.