Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Derek Delson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Derek, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Filmmaking means constantly taking risks. Merely deciding to become a filmmaker professionally is a great risk. But when there is great risk, there is also great gain. Since starting my filmmaking journey as a young kid, I’ve had to make many seemingly impossible decisions. Last year, I took a risk and pumped the breaks on my life—the biggest risk I’ve taken so far.
After deciding to pursue filmmaking in high school, I went to study at Emerson College for two years in Boston. Though I happily discovered my direction in storytelling, I grew increasingly aware that, at my college, I could not fulfill my creative or academic goals and decided to apply to transfer to my dream schools. After not being admitted, I had a tough decision to make. I could return to Emerson College, make the best of it and complete my education–or I could take a gap year and reapply to transfer. Ultimately, I listened to my heart and mind and took a gap year.
When the summer ended and I watched all my friends go back to college, I wondered if I had made a mistake. After going through so much rejection and disappointment, it was difficult to see the positive side of the situation. For the first time, my life had no structure or defined path. Instead of seeing the potential for new experiences and personal growth, I saw the year at first as a regression, a moment of failure. But, I powered through, tried new things, and made my own opportunities. By working professionally in various artistic fields during my gap year in New York City, I learned how much I still have to grow, as a person and as a storyteller. I worked in photography as the assistant to renowned multimedia artist Lynn Bianchi, where I learned how to collaborate and communicate abstract ideas and had a full education of the art world. I gained invaluable experience in the fashion world while working as a showroom assistant at New York Bridal Fashion Week for designer Yumi Katsura. During my gap year, I was also able to work on professional sets like Project Runway and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and witness how large film productions operate and succeed up close. I rediscovered my past love of journalism working for the Brazil Journal as a videographer. I expanded my freelance photography & videography business, filming at clubs, conventions, and a wedding in Vermont. Each of these experiences taught me how to capture live events and how to think of film spontaneously. In this time, I worked on multiple NYU sets with some incredibly talented filmmakers. They took me in as one of their own, and I could not be more grateful for their support and friendship.
After applying three times, last spring I was fortunate enough to be admitted to the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Third time’s the charm! It was endlessly difficult to decide which school to attend and which path to take. Ultimately, I chose to reach further out of my comfort zone and move to Hollywood to pursue filmmaking, a lifelong dream of mine. I’m currently studying at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and feel incredibly blessed for the opportunity. Each time I walk through the film school’s main gates, I can’t stop smiling.
In the end, the gap year ended up being the best and most influential year of my life so far. The year taught me to keep an open mind, even when life seems to be completely hopeless. There’s a line in my application film Here Today, “Allow the unexpected to become spontaneous and beautiful.” That concept is one of my core personal tenets now. After the gap year, I’m ready for whatever crazy curveballs the future will throw at me, and I can’t wait to look back on my journey years from now.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi there! My name is Derek Delson and I’m a filmmaker, photographer, and videographer from Long Island, New York. Since falling in love with filmmaking as a kid, I’ve directed more than fifteen short films and two web-series episodes. With experience in many cinematic disciplines, I’ve worked as producer, editor, writer, cinematographer, assistant camera, visual effects artist, and have even acted in a few projects as well. Filmmaking is an inherently multifaceted artform, and I’ve long been drawn to how many artistic pursuits it takes to create a great film. This melting pot of mediums is what made me fall in love with filmmaking, and I’m always trying to learn more and gain new perspectives on film. Outside of narrative filmmaking, I also run a photography and videography freelance business that focuses on live events and portraiture. To me, there’s nothing more special than capturing life’s most important moments, and I love to be able to gift someone filmed memories that they can watch over and over.
Growing up, I was always discovering a new artistic passion—from acting, photography, painting, singing, writing, comic books, to film. Curious about everything, I was always creating something. Nothing could replicate the magic that occurred when my father first showed me Star Wars when I was six. The moment I saw that opening crawl, I knew I wanted to learn everything about how films were made. Throughout high school, as part of an independent study program, I experimented with my own short films and became enamored by the filmmaking process. I thought I’d have to choose only one passion to pursue as a career path until I realized that filmmaking blends them all together into the perfect smoothie of the arts.
In the future, I want to create expansive science fiction worlds on the big screen. Science fiction allows me to seamlessly combine my love for escapist visual storytelling and my interest in groundbreaking emerging filmmaking technologies. In my future films, I want to explore subjects such as climate change, economic systems, and artificial intelligence’s role in politics through a satirical sci-fi lens, showing how fantastical worlds can reflect our own.
In addition to creating sci-fi narratives, my main goal is to bring Jewish stories to the big screen. I want to make thought-provoking films that highlight Jewish themes and dispel stereotypes. I aim to cinematically tell stories of great Jewish thinkers, Yiddish folklore, and tales inspired by the ones my grandparents told me of escaping Nazi-occupied France to life and freedom. Last semester, I had the honor of directing the short film Erev for USC’s Jewish film organization, Cinegogue. The film’s screenplay by Mia Russman is powerful and brilliant, and it was exactly the type of Jewish-centered narrative I’ve been wanting to make. The experience was absolutely incredible and felt so important. My team, led by producer Ava Browne, was remarkable and worked around the clock to bring the story to life. We were featured on Indiegogo’s “Arts & Film” highlight and wrapped filming last semester. It was truly one of the most beautiful collaborative experiences I’ve ever had. We’re currently in post-production and I can’t wait to share the film with everyone.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Everything changed when my dad unexpectedly passed away when I was 9. Every film I make is always for my father. He introduced me to filmmaking and showed me the power of creativity. For a long time, I struggled to make sense of my father’s death. He was my biggest fan and called me “Little Da Vinci,” hanging my scribbles and my paintings on his home office walls. We would spend hours on end in his office as he put off working and watched sci-fi movies with me instead.
Just two months before his death, my father and I had walked through a crowded hall at New York Comic-Con, reveling at how the power of storytelling could bring together thousands of diverse individuals united by their love of characters and, more importantly, story. That day, my nine-year-old mind came alive with possibilities, bursting with creative energy.
For a long time, I struggled to make sense of my father’s death and my newfound passion seemed completely pointless. However, I started to realize the fragility and preciousness of life, and felt determined to make the most of mine by doing what I loved. Instead of letting my father’s absence break me, I found solace in creating stories. Nonstop—I drew, I painted, I wrote. The ideas came faster than I could get them down on paper. Escaping into other characters and worlds helped me fully make sense of my own.
In the weeks after he passed away, I kept returning to the local library and checking out all the Rated R movies my father said that I could watch when I was old enough. Watching through all of his favorite films made me feel closer to him and the escapism they provided helped me through the hardest time of my life. My mission is to create stories that can help others through difficult times and make films about loss. My short film, and application to USC and NYU, Here Today is inspired heavily by my personal experience with losing my father. Writing the screenplay for Here Today was one of the hardest things I’ve done. It had gone through many drafts across two years, and it was extremely difficult to imprint my raw emotions on the page and screen. My cousin and dear co-writer, Isaac Levin-Delson, helped me tremendously with penning our authentic feelings. I love writing with him more than anything. Here Today has been recognized by the New York Shorts International Film Festival and Gold Coast International Film Festival and it has been an absolute honor to see our work in a movie theater.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part of creating films is always when audience members have a strong connection to the story or characters. With every step of the filmmaking process, I’m constantly thinking about how the audience will react. The moviegoing experience is one of my favorite things in the world; I love the collective journey we go through in a dark theater together. Even while watching my short films on YouTube, I want each film to be an exciting, cathartic experience. While receiving praise from festivals and awards is a wonderful confirmation of a job well done, there is nothing more powerful than when people have opened up to me after watching one of my films in the movie theater. After screening my autobiographical film filmMAKER a few years ago, a fellow filmmaker came up to me and expressed how relatable he found the film, “That made me want to make films again.” There’s nothing better than hearing something like that. It makes all the struggles and obstacles of filmmaking worth it. While screening Here Today at the New York Shorts International Film Festival last fall, a couple of audience members told me their personal experience with losing a parent. As someone that struggled with losing my father throughout my youth, if my film helped someone even in the smallest way, I’ve succeeded.
The other most fulfilling part of filmmaking is watching my collaborators excel and thrive. I love leadership, not because of the power it holds, but because to me, there’s nothing more powerful than helping someone else achieve greatness in their cinematic field. The films I’ve directed are nothing without each and every collaborator that worked on them. Filmmaking is collaboration. I don’t subscribe to the auteur theory of film. With director being a few letters off from dictator, it is quite easy for young cinematic leaders to confuse responsibility with power. To me, directing is all about the collective vision—encouraging a salad bowl of ideas. Some of the best moments in my short films come from genius solutions and suggestions from my cast and crew. I find I most enjoy the filmmaking process when it’s something akin to leading a group of childhood friends to act out our imaginations on the playground. Filmmaking should be collaborative and fun, just like letting imaginations run wild on the playground. In the future, I want to inspire others to express themselves cinematically in any way possible and continue to learn from the astonishing creatives I’m lucky enough to create stories with.
Contact Info:
- Website: derekdelson.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derekdelson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derek.delson/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-delson-34810b203/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/derekdelson?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@derekdelson/featured
Image Credits
William Blackwell-Kinney (NYC Skyline Shots)