We were lucky to catch up with Damon O’Steen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Damon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

My filmmaking career began in the 90’s. I worked for local production companies making commercials while honing my craft with short films. I attended film school in LA from 1998-2001 and I learned a ton and made life long friends in the business. When I was making short films, it was before YouTube and access to affordable cine cameras. Film festivals or private screenings were the only place to screen my work to an audience. My 35mm thesis film was my calling card and it did eventually lead to getting hired to write and direct my first feature film. But today someone with a story and a dream can make a short film in their home town, submit it to festivals, and then release it on YouTube or Vimeo to share with the industry. At the end of the day, people in the business who have the power to hire a filmmaker, want to see your work that has a distinct voice. Film school isn’t necessarily a part of the filmmaking journey as it use to be. If I was starting over, I would skip film school (saving lots of money in the process) and use that money to make short films, or even an indie feature film. Winning laurels in festivals is always great but you can also self release projects on YouTube and Vimeo and that can help a filmmaker get their next filmmaking job.

Damon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a filmmaker, with 25 years of experience, I’ve directed three features, short films and commercials. I’ve also worked in marketing movies, brands, books, and authors. Born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, I caught the filmmaking bug in the early 90s. Inspired by Spielberg films, I would round up family and friends to make short films on the weekends. Seeing an audience react to my work brought me an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and I immediately knew I wanted to pursue filmmaking and move audiences with my storytelling.

I attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, in 1998. Alumni included Michael Bay (Transformers), Zach Snyder (300), and Tarsem (Immortals). My 35mm senior thesis short film, the John Steinbeck inspired Waiting on the Lost, won awards at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and led to my first feature after graduation.

I was hired by a small independent production company to write and direct the medical thriller, The Drone Virus, based on the novel of the same name. It was shot in 2003 in 18 days in LA. The low budget feature starred Billy Wirth (Lost Boys), Maeve Quinlan (The Bold and the Beautiful) and gained worldwide distribution with Shoreline Entertainment in 2005.

2004 was spent making the road trip comedy 29 Reasons to Run. Shot with a skeleton crew across the country from California to Georgia, including Lubbock, the film was a film festival hit winning 8 awards, 4 for best picture.

My third feature film, the apocalyptic thriller, Deadland, starred Brian Tee (Chicago Med) and Gary Weeks (Outer Banks) and was distributed on dvd and streaming through Phase 4 Films after winning best picture and best director on the film festival circuit.

In 2010, while pursuing narrative jobs, I was hired at Relativity Media to create digital content to promote & market their upcoming slate of movies. At the time Relativity Media was coming off a string of hits that they co-financed such as The Social Network and Brides Maids, and my first job was to market Nicholas Spark’s new novel, Safe Haven, that the studio intended to make as a film. I created compelling and emotional digital content that impressed the studio executives. I worked on other digital campaigns including working with James Cameron to promote Sanctum, Immortals, and Limitless.

I worked at Relativity Media for five years, working my way into their sports division, directing commercials and narrative digital content. Notable projects include: a Brick Mansions sports commercial starring Washington Wizards John Wall, balling against parkour basketball players that aired during the 2014 playoffs, and a neighborhood adventure short promoting Earth to Echo starring NBA athletes Ricky Rubio, Shawn Marion, and DeAndre Jordan that played in front of all PG & PG-13 movies in Cinemark theaters nationwide. Both projects won Telly Awards.

After my daughter was born, Relativity went bankrupt so I moved my family back to Texas. Continuing to keep the narrative filmmaking dream alive, I pursued several passion projects that I had written. Although some came close to being financed and produced by independent production companies, none happened. During film school, I interned for writer/director Randall Wallace (Braveheart) and he showed me such kindness and leadership in a town that can be very cynical. 15 years later, after I had moved back to Texas, he asked me to direct a comedic short film to promote a new novel he wrote, Living the Braveheart Life. It was a very surreal experience directing my mentor and his Hollywood friends John C. McGinley, Laird Hamilton, Gabrielle Reece, Eliza Coupe, and Greg Kinnear for two days in Malibu.

I was chosen by New Form Digital (owned by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer) to write and direct an original sci-fi digital pilot entitled Phantom Nights that was shot in Lubbock at the Stars and Stripes Drive-in. Campanario Entertainment brought on two Golden Globe nominated writers and producers and the series was pitched to HBO, Showtime, Paramount, Hulu and AMC but unfortunately the series did not sell. In 2019, I wrote and directed the gritty rodeo drama, Hung Up, starring Melissa Jackson, Kevin Kane (Inside Amy Schumer), and Catherine Curtin (Stranger Things). Shot in Texas, the exciting bull riding short follows ruff rider Patty “Duke” who risks everything for one last ride. The short film screened at film festivals world-wide and won 12 awards.

Making narrative indie films and projects doesn’t necessarily keep the lights on, so I found an incredible job with UMC Health System, directing their quarterly commercials as well as digital content, adding my cinematic flair to their brand. It has been a very creatively rewarding experience getting the chance to tell a patient’s story and bringing national attention to some campaigns that have won national healthcare awards. It is very humbling to feel that my storytelling of a patient beating cancer inspires other patients undergoing the same journey. The power of storytelling is profound and brings a strong sense of accomplishment no matter the length of the narrative or the distribution of the media.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ve had to pivot several times in my career and looking back it’s always been for the best. Since I was a teenager, I aspired and dreamed of writing and directing long form narratives like feature films or episodic television shows. I was fortunate to get my first feature film, writing and directing a medical thriller, two years after graduating from film school. I was lucky enough to be hired to direct two more feature films between 2004 and 2007. As a freelance artist, you will always find some job within the industry to pay the bills. I would moonlight as an editor, editing press junkets, electronic press kits, and even animatics to the Hollywood film, Secretariat. While pursuing directing work and passion projects, I had to pivot to working in marketing rather than narrative film. I applied for a job at studio, marketing their movies through digital platforms and social media. Over time at the studio, I was able to work my way up the ladder of opportunity to where I was able to direct bigger budget marketing content, treating a commercial like a short film.

My second life changing pivot was in 2015. A year after my daughter was born, my wife and I moved back to Texas where I was still pursuing passion projects and directing work. My wife, Anna, had gone to Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and had been inspired to create her own YouTube channel of how-to videos called Lovely Lady Cakes. From 2012 – 2017 I helped her create fun cooking videos that led to brand sponsorships like Nestle, Got Milk, Tillamook, Quaker Oats, and many more. We had become a full time husband and wife team working on her video content full time. This gave me the time to work on passion projects that I continued pitching to production studios. But when feature projects would fall apart after investing years into them, it can start to take a toll on not only myself but my family.

I had moved my family from LA, to the Fort Worth area to Lubbock, Texas when I accepted the job at UMC Health System to direct their commercials and lead their video team within the marketing department. I never imagined moving back to my hometown, 20 years after leaving it to pursue my dreams, but at 46, it turns out that the work life balance of creating narrative shorts for a hospital while getting to be with my daughter as she grows up is much more fulfilling than constantly hustling for the next long form narrative feature.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Not long after my daughter was born in 2014, I was working on a screenplay that was set within the high school marching band. My manager loved the idea and knew of a big production company called New Form Digital – which was owned by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer – that was actually looking for a musical. I met and pitched the idea and they were anxious to read my script. I worked day and night on a pilot script and submitted it to them. Although they really liked the script, they felt that it might prove to be too expensive to make.

I was determined to work with them and was given the opportunity to pitch myself as a director for an upcoming futuristic sci-fi series that had a very big name influencer/actress attached. I pitched to a room full of executives and the star about how I envisioned the series and how I would direct it. It came down to me and one other director and they chose the other director since he had more visual fx experience and owned a small boutique visual effects company.

In this business, there is more rejection than there are wins. I would try not to wallow in self pity and pick myself and continue forward, knowing that persistence has always led me to a directing opportunity. I continued fostering the relationship with the production company. They asked me to pitch myself for another big sci-fi property that they had acquired and yet again, I did not get the job. I came up with a sci-fi pitch of my own that was set in Lubbock, Texas at the drive-in theater. Within a few days of pitching it to them, they had given me the green light and a budget to make the pilot episode. I was able to film in my home town and create a cinematic episode that was all set at a drive-in movie theater that was experiencing supernatural phenomenon. Determination and persistence paid off yet again in my filmmaking career.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.damonosteen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dbofilm/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/damon-o-steen-5094bb3
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DamonOSteen
• Other: https://vimeo.com/damonosteen