What’s your background and what led to you working in film?
I was born in Oklahoma in a super small town called Pryor. I ended up moving to Hattiesburg when I was about 8 or 9 for my dad’s job. I have three brothers. My oldest brother was very artistic; he was in the band and theater. My other brothers are twins that are very athletic. I was close with my big brother, and I wanted to be as much like him as I could. When I got to middle school and could start venturing out into the arts, I went full force. My freshman year I joined our theater department at Oak Grove High School.
Surprisingly, they have a big theater department, and we did a lot of competitive theater. Things like we would have to do a show in 45 minutes from clean stage to clean stage and have all our gear fit in a 12×12 box before time was up. That was my first experience with an actual production. At that time, I had worked on the crew, and I acted and played music, but I never thought that it was a career or something I wanted to do for a living. It was just something I loved. My theater director, Suzanne Ullman, is absolutely one of the best in the state. And she really instilled in me that, if making art is what makes you happy, then this is what you should do.
When my senior year came around and it was time for me to pick what college I wanted to go to, I originally wanted to go to school for music, like audio engineering. But I majored in journalism at Ole Miss. I enjoyed it, but I felt like I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. Something didn’t feel right.
At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to take a year off and go home and figure out what really made me happy. I started working at a restaurant just to make some money and pass the time. I had zero ambition of working in film at that point. I had no clue what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be in a creative field, working with other artists to make something. What’s always really inspired me about the arts is that people can make something from nothing. I’ve always thought that was immensely beautiful.
I was working at a restaurant in Jackson, and one night Rick Moore (owner of Ridgeland production company Eyevox Entertainment) came in. I think he asked me for a cup of ice, and somehow, we got to talking. And I told him I was taking some time off from school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, snd he asked me if I had ever thought about working on movies. I had thought before about working in film, but it always felt like such an unachievable goal. But here was Rick Moore saying, hey, this is what I do. Projects are happening in Mississippi. He said come and just see what a movie set is like. And with that conversation, he offered me an opportunity to intern on Neglected.
On the first day, call time was like 5 or 6 a.m., and I was like, what am I getting myself into? But I showed up and I was immediately in awe of how many people it took to come together to make this project, and just to be there in Mississippi of all places, watching this movie being made. I was hooked. I just showed up every day, and I was hired on as a production assistant. And since then, one thing has led to another.
What are some of the other recent projects you’ve worked on?
From that movie, I was able to meet a lot of people who work in film in Mississippi and work closely with some assistant directors. Savannah Belcher, who was second AD on Neglected, we just really like vibed and bonded together. She really liked my work ethic and I’m grateful for her putting the time and patience into training me because I didn’t know anything. After that movie, she was like, if there’s another project that comes up and you’re still not in school and still don’t know what you’re doing long-term, we can find a place for you.
A couple of weeks later, I got a call from Rick, and he said if you want to keep doing this, I have another project that’s coming. Jackson Dukes is also a second AD who has worked with Savannah, and she recommended me for a job to work underneath him. So that’s how I lucked my way into working on Lazarus: The Awakening, which was filmed in Jackson. And then with that, I met even more people who work in Mississippi film like Julie Toche and producer Andrew Stevens. I was the only PA on that. I went from being an intern not having much responsibility to the only one to run around and do all the things. It was sink or swim at times. (laughs)
After that they called me to work on In Starland. After that, Savannah offered me an opportunity to go with her to LA to PA a nonunion film, and to be honest, it made me miss Mississippi more. It was like, this is fun, but this is not home. hen I got a call to do The Man in the Window. I knew zero people working on it that I had worked with before.  It was a kind of life-changing experience that I wasn’t necessarily recommended or anything for this job. I had done on my part to get myself out there by making a profile in the Film Mississippi crew directory. It was really cool to get my first job offer that was just like, “Hey, this is what you do. We need someone to do it.” After that, I did The Girl in the River. Then I went to Vicksburg for Before Daylight, and then Alterity. That was my first job as a second second AD. After that was The 12 Dates of Christmas, and then As Good As Dead 2, which was my first big unit film, and then The Tempering. Last thing I got the call to work on was Ping (which wrapped recently).
What’s been the most surprising thing for you about working in film?
Working in film has changed my entire view of what Mississippi means to me. There are amazing, beautiful people here that care about art and creating things. I had always told myself growing up, I want to leave Mississippi as soon as possible. But after just my second film, I knew I wanted to stay here. It made me care about the state and made me care about the community and being a part of it.
Is there anyone you consider a mentor?
Rick Moore is a humongous inspiration to me. The fact that he’s from Mississippi and he just started as this guy who loves film, video games, board games, and so on, and he was like, I’m going to make this work right here. And he wants to give opportunities to like-minded people, and that is beautiful to me. I hope to be able to do the same for others one day.
Also, on set Matthew Bush is a crazy inspiration. He’s been my production coordinator or UPM on multiple jobs. The way he’s been able to move up and do what he wants to do because he does great work and has a good head on his shoulders. And also Jack Dukes taught me how to be an AD. We’re both learning and figuring it out, and we both want to make the production as best as it can be.
Besides the feature film work, I’ve been doing some work down in Hattiesburg for Thorne Hood and Noah Maddox and their company Kudzu Vision. Helping with stuff like filming like live bands, the underground pizza documentary they’ve been working on and small commercials around Hattiesburg. That’s inspiring to me in its own way because they are making a thing for themselves and helping prop up what’s important to them, like local music. I love that.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start in film?
You have to be able to get yourself out there even if it’s saying yes to intern for free and show up at 5 a.m. with people you don’t know. (laughs) It’s super scary and intimidating, but you just have to do it. As soon as you do that, other people will see and recognize you, that this person puts in the effort and they care and then that’s all it takes.
Why do you think Mississippi is a great place for filmmaking?
The film crew here really is family. It doesn’t matter what production company comes in here to make a movie in Mississippi, they should know that the crew that they are going to get loves what they are doing. We are going to put our very best foot forward to make your product good.
What are your hopes for the future?
I’m working hard to get my days to join the DGA as an AD. I want to be a first AD, maybe have the option to do super big projects and learn new skills and meet new people and bring them back to Mississippi. That’s my long-term goal; I want to become a great AD and be able to play a part in bringing projects home. I want to help grow Mississippi’s film industry, I really do.
For those that don’t know exactly what an assistant director does, they really run the day-to-day logistics on set. I think about it like court, all it takes is the judge pounding his gavel and everyone goes quiet and listens, right? That’s essentially what a first AD is there to do, establish order. It’s chaotic without them. It can get unorganized and hectic and emotions can run high, but a great first AD is able to take the emotion out of any problem and be like, “This is what we need to do in this amount of time.” When I was first on set watching that person be the glue that holds it together, that’s what hooked me. Knowing you’re the person keeping it all together is super satisfying.
Honestly, it is mind blowing to me that I am even here, much less having already done 15 projects. I’ve talked to people who have worked in this industry for years who haven’t done that many projects ever. I feel so incredibly blessed and honored to be a 22-year-old that is making a name for myself in the movie industry.
