We were lucky to catch up with Micah Parker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Micah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents let me fail. I don’t even want to say fail, more so they let me try anything. I believe that was one of the biggest impact my parents have had on my life. Whatever piqued my interest, my parents never discouraged me from doing it.

They of course would give their opinion, but at the end of the day they let me make the decision. So I tried many things, before I decided that being a writer/filmmaker is my calling. However, my dad still would say my calling is being a songwriter.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Playing basketball and starting my own business was all that I saw myself doing at one point in my life.
Then I had a couple of moments that steered me into wanting to be in the film industry.

The first moment was when I saw Inception. I remember being stuck in my seat, because I was blown by the ending. I couldn’t understand how could one’s mind think to write this type of film. The following week, I went to Barnes & Nobles and grabbed Save The Cat. A book that breaks down how to formulate a story from beginning to the end based on different criteria. Highly recommended. Another great read, The Hollywood Standard. The Hollywood Standard teaches you how to correctly format a script. These two books I studied profusely, read many different scripts and continued to buy books to understand the craft. Not only that I entered into competitions to receive feedback, came across people who were in the industry already and sought feedback from them. I still do this now. Not seeking validation, but accepting criticism, so I’m always improving. I believe what separates me is that I’m not afraid to seek advice from anyone. Especially when I’m directing one of my projects, I don’t have to be “Mr. Know It All.” If someone sees a better shot or can give a better line for an actor to say, by all means make the suggestion.

Another moment that changed my trajectory was when I was attending Georgia State University. The summer before I received my degree in Business Management, I had to take an elective. The elective I chose was on Classic Film. Out of my years at Georgia State, this immediately became my favorite class. I would have a pop quiz every day I came into that class and I still didn’t mind it. That’s how I knew something was wrong with me lol. I wish, I had at least minored in Film/Television. I knew from that class, that I had to find my way into the film industry. And two years later I did. I found myself in California, and I landed my first writing gig on an Amazon web series called GodComplx. That was huge for me. I was actually in a writer’s room, with no writing experience at all. No writing credits from any school, only knowledge I had was from what I learned the books and scripts that I read. That was one of my biggest accomplishments for awhile.

Since then I’ve done so much. I wrote and directed two short films, wrote, directed and starred in a sizzle. Wrote another sizzle, where I flew to New York to have Kim Fields direct it and Cha Deberry to star in it. I would say that by far was my proudest moment, and I’m just getting started.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I came out to LA to solely write, that was it. Nothing else. I was proud to say, “I came out here for writing.” Until a mentor of mine told me I should take some acting classes. He said it would help me with my writing that much more. It took me about a year before finally decided to join an acting class. The only reason I did, because my mentor refused to give me anymore advice unless I joined a class. Tough love.

So I enrolled into Baron Brown, to learn the Meisner technique. I had class twice a week for a year. Those days could either be the worse days of the week, or turnaround and be a horrible month. But when you have a good day of acting, that feeling is awesome. It will keep you up all at night, smiling. Once the acting bug bit me, I signed to Evolve Artists commercial agency. Recently, I booked my first commercial for Subaru. I went from strictly to focusing on writing, to itching for a callback. I still will always be a writer first though.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

That I am creating. Not a lot of people can say that they’re still pursuing the arts. A lot of people let their childhood dreams fizzle away. So the fact that I’m actually living out my dream is the reward. I’m still shocked that I’m here in Los Angeles. It’s been seven years, but I’m grateful everyday that I can continue to be an artist. God has been with me every step of the journey.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Writemicwrite_

Image Credits

Photos taken by Keisha Coleman