We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Scott Seagren a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Scott, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I was captivated by film at a young age and always let my imagination run away with me. As a kid, I thought maybe I wanted to be an actor and spent every minute of free time I had, making comics for my stories or acting out scenes from movies that I loved. A concerned neighbor approached my parents once when I was riding my bike up and down our street with a pair of shades and a BB gun rifle. They thought maybe I was a disturbed child who was trying to kill birds, but I was just trying to fight the T-1000 and save John Connor. I also raised concern on various occasions when I was trying to defeat Scorpion in my backyard to win Mortal Kombat, as well as duel Darth Vader in the driveway or shoot my way out of a burning house as Billy the Kid.

Diving headfirst into a new world, a new story, or adventure was always something I loved to do. So I knew very early on. It’s always said, people love to go to the movies because they love to escape. As we all know, life can be stressful and messy and even as a little tike, movies were always my favorite escape.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was brought up on Star Wars lore and the awesomeness of Sci-Fi as well as great westerns and thrillers. After I realized that It wasn’t just acting or the characters in movies that I loved, but the stories and how it all came together, I knew I needed to know more. At age 12, I started learning everything I possibly could about movies and the film making process, knowing that that’s what I wanted to do with my life. I would scour dvd special features for my movies and watch any and all “making ofs” I could. I made countless and probably terrible shorts on vhs and mini dv tapes all in the effort to become as good as I could at this thing that I loved.

When I was 16, I got the opportunity to do a really fun week-long hardcore crash course at the New York Film Academy that was designed to be a bit grueling and really give you the full experience of producing something start to finish on a deadline. At the end of that week, I know a lot of people that didn’t think this was the life for them but all I wanted was more.

Years later, after graduating from one of New York Film Academy’s intensive programs, I came out the other side of it feeling ready to take on any and all things film, but for me that was right at the height of a recession and things were less than easy going on the job market. But my skills would end up bringing me down another road in education. I started with a company called PlanetBravo, a technology education company, in summer 2011 where I’d be teaching film and video making to kids. This amazing and creative job ended up creating a multi-year (8 summers) web series and now feature film in addition to helping broaden my creative horizons and instill an appreciation for this thing I love in a whole new generation. It’s also afforded me a great support system that has helped me seize some fun and creative opportunities that have allowed me to continue to learn and grow as a filmmaker, writer, director, editor, cinematographer, actor and producer.

I’ve had the privilege to work with some talented people and in some amazing places on everything from sketches and shorts to commercials and Indie features and hope to be able to continue that trend in bringing some new and thrilling shows and movies to everyone very very soon.

I think part of what perhaps sets me apart (at least in my personal and obviously biased opinion) is that at the end of the day in all the things I do, whether it’s sci-fi, comedy, horror, drama, etc, it’s all about weaving and telling a captivating story while also creating an emotionally engaging experience that helps people achieve that little escape we all need. Stories give us hope and life and crafting a good one is a great challenge.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

To loosely quote a movie I love, “It’s the look on their faces”, when you show people something you’ve made. That little spark of enjoyment and wonder that beams out from the audience when they see the work and creativity you’ve put into something and it lands or makes its mark and makes them wonder or hope or dream about what your story meant or what possibilities life might afford because of it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Quit with the damn remakes. Support your local artists and creatives and keep asking/demanding new stories and new ideas. I think we’re all pretty tired of seeing the same damn movies over and over and over again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://scotteseagren.com
• Instagram: @seegz887
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-seagren887/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/scott-seagren-587165166
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3886237/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Image Credits

Shawn Kelley, Danielle Mathias, Deb Foster