The insemination of Reel Groovy Films began in 1980. I was 15. My childhood friends and I began playing with a super 8 camera — pretending I was a charismatic preacher and they were the captive audience. It was just make believe with a recording device. Not too serious as an idea, but real serious as a form of expression. Nine years passed.
1989 was the year some of my AW~SUM heavy metal friends and I began filming loads of random, drunken, and wild skits and/or reality footage, using a Fisher Price toy camera – the ‘PLX-200.’ Most of the footage has little more than historical significance. But (a few years ago) I managed to edit small portions of the material into a film called “Big Hair Days.”
1990-92. I was living in L.A. (working as a security guard at Hollywood Center Studios).
I was told I should consider acting, because I had this “GQ look.” In 1991, I cut my hair and began doing shit in front of the camera. I say “shit” because basically (with a few exceptions) the way in which these films were made was, for me, as shitty as they were stressful and unnatural. Mostly, I worked as a background extra, but I did manage to get the lead role in one legit commercial, and was awarded the lead role (In what was considered as the very first Super VHS feature film ever made) ‘White Trash,’ playing a male prostitute. But my Hollywood stint was short-lived. I split to Colorado, after the infamous Rodney King Riots of 92, and did not consider the film-making sojourn again for eleven years.
By 2003, I had a B.A. and was an alumni a Regis University, where I found myself checking out some films from the Media Library. I noticed two students checking out a large VHS video camera. (Consumers, and even some pros, still used VHS back then). I was told I could do the same. Never considering that this decision would drastically change my life — within about 90 seconds of hearing this — I decided to dedicate my life to film making. This was the official beginning of Reel Groovy Films. With a fellow alumni, Aaron Mattley, I took on a feature film (‘Karma Rider’) with almost no film making experience at all. Although this is an “ass-backwards” approach at making movies (it is recommended to start off small) I have never regretted the decision, because this daunting task effectively doubled as a kind of film school that I could vibe with.
Reel Groovy Films 