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

Hi Evan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

I have noticed a trend of dull films at a high-up, corporate level, but major creativity at a lower level. The conglomerates that rule Hollywood would rather produce the fifth film in a series that should’ve ended years ago than an original story.

In addition, the film festivals that are meant to promote independent and unknown filmmakers, like Sundance, are full of Hollywood actors and directors. I attended the 2024 edition of Sundance in Utah and saw many films with big names, both in front of and behind the camera. Many of these films either already acquired distribution or quickly found a distributor after their time at Sundance.

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

My name is Evan Olow and I am a 19-year-old filmmaker from San Diego, California. I am currently attending San Diego State University for a degree in Television, Film, and New Media Production.

I started my filmmaking journey around 5th grade when I started making YouTube videos with my friends and family. They were mostly skits and as I continued, I realized how much I cared about the logistics of creating videos, like editing, writing, and filming. I also tried my hand at Stop-Motion Animation with LEGOs, which was a lot of fun.

Everything changed when I saw an advertisement for a teen filmmaking class with Media Arts Center San Diego. I joined immediately and found myself directing real short films, a huge step up from what I had been doing. I quickly made the best of my time there, directing several short films and having a big hand in many others. The program had the option to choose Documentary or Narrative and I always chose Narrative, finding much more joy in writing original stories.

During my time with MACSD, I started to branch out, itching for more filmmaking opportunities. I joined Facebook groups and got on many local film sets as a Production Assistant or other miscellaneous positions. I befriended many professional filmmakers and became known as “that kid” who would always be on sets.

After a couple of years of participating in the MACSD film classes, I convinced my parents to let me leave my Christian school to attend the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts for most of my high school years. Attending SDSCPA was huge for me, especially because I was able to major in Cinematic Arts and filmmaking was integrated into my daily life. I made good friends who also enjoyed filmmaking and was able to grow immensely during my time there. I produced short films, scripts, and a music video, a few of which went on to win awards in state-wide and nationwide competitions.

For college, I chose to stay local and attend SDSU, which has a solid film program. I’ve enjoyed my time there so far, meeting many talented filmmakers who I plan to collaborate with for years to come.

The work that I am most proud of is my comedy short film, “Ranch.” In mid-2021, I wrote the script, which at the time was almost written as a joke. In late 2022, I joined a Facebook group dedicated to producing short films and presented “Ranch” as a potential film to produce. Here, I was introduced to Kareem Abulaban and Connor Mangold, who immediately loved the concept and joined the core team to produce the film. Kareem is a commercial director and Connor is a U.S. Navy Lieutenant. Kareem became the primary director and I became the co-director.

Together, over the next several months, the three of us did script rewrites and began working in pre-production. During this time, we launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo and completed our goal and then some. We budgeted our funds, sourced professional actors, acquired filming locations, hired a professional crew, and so much more.

We called in many favors from industry professionals and were able to source loads of high-quality equipment, including an 8K RED Raptor camera. In July 2023, we had two of our three filming days. These shoots were a huge success, our team worked seamlessly and professionally together. Our final filming day came in October 2023 and we had finally completed principal photography. Over that winter and into the spring of 2024 we are editing the film and are aiming for a June 2024 premiere, which we will hold in a theater in San Diego. The first trailer was released on March 10, which was National Ranch Day! We plan to submit the film to many film festivals across the globe.

This experience has been monumental for me and I have loved every second of it. Being able to have such a vital role in a professional short film at the age of 18/19 has been a dream.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is for my work to be decoded as intended. Many parts of filmmaking lose their intended meaning as you produce them, but the biggest potential difference with intended meaning comes after the work is finished. Your audience will always be diverse in all aspects and different people interpret things differently.

Any advice for managing a team?

My advice for managing a team is understanding what it is like to be in their position. Everyone will appreciate a leader who can not only feel empathy for them but also actively work to improve their situation if they’re having a tough time. If you are completely out of touch with those who are working their butt off for you, you will be easy to resent. But if you are actively trying to better their situation and provide praise when earned, morale will always be high.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evan.olow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evan.olow
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-olow-10a5a7223/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zRABALO5Ph74j8w31GixA
• Other: Ranch short film Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ranch.film/

Image Credits
Julian Perry (for the picture of me sitting alone with a binder, next to a monitor) Britton Wade (pictures of me wearing a light blue shirt) Chris Olow (picture of me with a tripod)