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

Griffin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

My passion for learning the craft of filmmaking came at a very early age. As in neighborhoods all over, I was the kid with the camera. My parents encouraged my ventures by giving up their weekends to project after project. Although these shorts did not speak much for the craft, they did give me hands-on learning experience. I learned a lot of what did not work right off the bat. Grasping for improvement I desperately studied all of the greats. Starting with Buster Keaton to Stanley Kubrick all before I was double digits. By junior high when I was 12 I devoured all the directing master classes and started learning by expanding my barriers. I wrote my first feature-length film. Taking what little life experience I had, I wrote what I knew. The story was about a young filmmaker. Of course, I took some liberties when the story takes a twist of bank robbing and murder. What I learned from that process was I could make a movie. From that point on there has never been a question, if, it is always how. Once you know you can the world of perfecting your vision can be focused (at times, literally in focus). My craft has improved a great deal over the last four films, now 19 years old, but I absolutely will continue to learn from all of my successes and failures. I have not climbed the mountain of my filmmaking, but I have started the hike.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ever since I could remember I wanted to be a filmmaker. At 19 I have written and directed four feature-length films. I printed my first business cards at 10, “Griffin Loch, Director”. Since that date, I can tell you that carrying those cards and dressing in a Reservoir Dogs black suit opened many doors. While making short films I always had my eye set on something beyond. My greatest challenge has always been to accept the answer no. There always has to be a way. Finding that path can be long and hard but I have always been up for the challenge. When writing my scripts often I would put them in outlandish locations. It seemed there would be no hope of shooting at a hospital, convenience store, church, or Hollywood Hills mansion, but somehow we did! Scheduling these locations and directing a cast of actors at thirteen could have been chaos. It was not. The suit and tie did help but the cast and crew that we cobbled together on that first film truly gave me the respect of an actual director. I took the responsibility very seriously. This was my film they were all there to help me create. No single great project is done alone. I have received an outpouring of community support and belief. At the end of my second film, “The Adventures of TP Man and Flusher”. I knew that that piece of paper in my back pocket was telling the truth, I was a director. The next two films, A Spark In Nothing and The Undistilled solidified that I could be nothing else. With every film, I step more into the role of who am as a director. Although my dress has changed my title will remain the same.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As my films have grown so have the quality. No longer can I cast my math teacher to play the lead. I even stopped casting my grandmother, which is another story, but don’t worry she did not take it too hard. In 2020 I was 16 and just finishing my third film, A Spark In Nothing. This was a grand undertaking. A film based on the choices we make. With one single decision creates two realities. The story spanned a life from birth to death. As we wrapped our sets the Pandemic hit. My family relocated to our Northern California cabin in the woods. It was exactly as it sounded, a cabin surrounded by trees. One hour to the nearest grocery store, truly in the sticks. There in the front room on a folding dinner tray that was found on the side of the road, I started post-production. In the isolation, I focused on learning what special effects I could. I worked digging back a hillside with a landscaper to pay for the final effects. With each swing of the pick, I swore I would never make a film that was special effect-heavy. When A Spark In Nothing was finally completed and released my goal of completing four feature-length films by 18 was quickly approaching. I felt the call to return behind the camera. As we all waited for the world to re-open I used the isolation to write and re-write my next project, The Undistilled. The story grew organically into exactly the story I knew I had to make. And it was definitely VFX-heavy! Had I learned nothing? My obsession with making The Undistilled overruled all else. We started shooting The Undistilled the summer I turned 18. My goal looked in sight. During pre-production and through production I worked in detail with a young special effects artist. All seemed to be falling into place. Our family property became a movie ranch. We hosted cast and crew in borrowed RVs and bunkbeds in my grandfather’s cabin. There were challenges but none more than what was to come. Early on in post-production our effects artist pulled out of the project. Once again I was stuck with a film missing the crucial element of VFX. My birthday came and went, now 19 I work tirelessly to raise funds once more. Taking my secondary passion Halloween I now run Griffin Loch’s Scream-A-Torium Haunted House. Funds funnel to finishing The Undistilled today, because after all, it was the story I needed to make.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal has been to complete four feature-length films before 18. Calling the Shots, The Adventure of TP Man and Flusher, and A Spark In Nothing have all been released. Shooting The Undistilled at 18 seemed pretty darn close, considering the lost time of the Pandemic. At 19 and still in post-production I had to accept that I had to re-think if I had accomplished what I set out to do. The answer is yes, goals are meant to grow, wind a bit, and expand. Film-making is the art of creating and telling stories. Just as the best tales twist and turn so do my creative goals. Completion was never really the goal at all. It has always been to tell the stories I knew I had to tell. and to give everything I can no matter how long it takes. I will find a way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.griffinloch.com
• Instagram: griffin_loch
• Facebook: Griffin Loch
• Twitter: GriffinLoch
• Youtube: To The Moon Filmworks