As a filmmaker, I have always found it very interesting, curious, and even revealing about how people have described the films I have made and the people I have taken into the inner circle as part of my filmmaking team.  Whether it is the actors or the crew, each person who has joined my posse has been bought in for a very specific reason. That reason is, because they possessed a very specific talent, skill, or skillset. This is how I have always differentiated or known that an individual was a true part of the filmmaking industry or was not—by the way they define and evaluate me, other filmmakers, and the contributions that each of the foundational components of the cast and the crew lend to a film and the filmmaking experience that has been created.
 
What I have found is that the critic has never truly walked the path of the person who has hoped to become part of the true, “Hollywood Experience.” If they had, they would understand just how impossible it is to come out here to L.A. and actually get a part as a cast or crewmember on an actual feature film.  If they had, they may not have been so harsh as to their criticisms. But, sitting behind a keyboard is easy. All they have to do is to throw out their appraisals and the critiques. However, if they had ever actually tried to walk the walk or live the dream of becoming an actual actor or actress or crewperson associated with a film production, they may then possess a truthful understanding of just how hard it is and, thus, that may have tempered their condemnations.
 
In my own life, even today, as I watch productions of film and music videos and the like, I see how certain people are taken into the fold and they are the ones who become featured. I think back to my early experiences with Donald G. Jackson and how he put me in front of the camera. Though I have spoken about this, (a lot), over the many years since I first entered the filmmaking arena; I was new to the game, and though others had used me as a player, he made me the lead; the star. I think back to all of the times of filming on features like The Roller Blade Seven, Max Hell Frog Warrior, Armageddon Boulevard, Guns of El Chupacabra, and the list goes on, where I was the featured performer. He did that for me!
 
As a filmmaker myself, I look to some of the people I put front and center to the camera. I could name their names, but I think I won’t. At least not here. But, I made them a featured player. Without my doing that—if I would never have done that for them, they would, most likely, have never encountered the experience of being a star of a feature film that I provided for them.
 
In that doing, and in my filmmaking career, I have also known so many people who have thrown all that away. They did not appreciate the act of my giving. …Of my providing them the opportunity to BECOME. Though I was always sad when one of those situations occurred, it was their doing, not mine.
 
What I am saying here, and what you really need to think about in life is that, whatever it is you desire, you may be given that one shot to really live that dream. The fact is, most people turn it down. It is not all that they dreamed about. So, the think something bigger and better will be coming down the line. But, it does not. They wanted more so they turn down the only chance that is ever offered to them. But, if they/if you can take hold of what is offered to you, you can become that vision of yourself. It may not be all that you dreamed of. But, it will be something more than nothing. Grab the opportunity when it is offer to you!
 
And, for all of you critics and naysayer who hate on what someone else (like me) has created, “Fuck you.” What have you created? Who put your face in front of the camera? Who made you a star?