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Issue #181 – Student Successes
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
When we talk with Film Connection mentors across the country, one thing they say repeatedly is that they look for apprentices with serious passion and tireless dedication—people who are willing to open their minds, take the initiative and put in the work. The reason: These are the people most likely to succeed. In the eyes of the film industry, this is the “right stuff.”
If that’s the standard to shoot for, Film Connection student Jason Reinhardt (Atlanta, GA) has the “right stuff” in spades. So much so that he’s managed to go through his basic apprenticeship with Steve Carmichael at Rite Media in Atlanta, get himself heavily involved in numerous film projects AND sign up for the master’s screenwriting program—all while going through his senior year of high school and working at his father’s shop for extra cash!
“I hit the ground running, basically,” he says. “I got a bunch of planners and everything, like a calendar, and I’d always make sure that I’d coordinate with [my mentor] Steve…That’s just kind of how we went about it…It was a balancing act in the end, really, but it was a good way of learning how to manage time.”
Already committed to pursuing film as a career, Jason had begun scoping out film schools by his junior year, most of which obviously told him to call back in a year. But when he discovered the Film Connection, Jason saw it as a chance to quickly get immersed in the industry.
“I was looking at Full Sail and I was actually in the middle of the application process for them,” says Jason. “But I halted that the moment I saw Film Connection, what it offered, and what kind of situations I would be put into, and it just seemed like a far better deal and a better chance for me to learn in an actual business environment and experience what people would be doing day in and day out.”
Going through his apprenticeship, Jason says Steve not only went the extra mile to make sure he understood the concepts, but he went out of his way to make sure he had opportunities to work with the gear in a tangible way. “It was just a blast,” he says. “It didn’t feel like I was actually “learning” from a textbook, but it was more like getting hands-on, and that’s what I felt this program was about. So it was really great to really experience hands-on training and practice with that.”
Along the way, Jason says he found a hidden interest in screenwriting while working with his screenwriting mentor, Ron Peterson.
“When we first started writing, I wasn’t necessarily a strong writer,” says Jason. “After my first whack at it, he critiqued it, and I took his critiques to heart and I went about writing it and thinking how he would go about it, then adding my own personal touch to it. Then the second time that we called he was like, ‘Wow, this is much better. You sure nobody typed this for you?’ He’s asked me that multiple times as we progressed throughout the script, because I’d just take everything that he said and apply it to what I was writing, and ensure that I was gaining the most from this experience.”
“It’s Electric” crew: Angelica Perez-Castro (2nd AC),
Zakk Martin (DP), Kenneth Scofield (2nd AC),
Bryan Clemmons (grip), Jason Reinhardt (PA)
or call (800) 755-7597
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