We were lucky to catch up with Matthew James Eberle recently and have shared our conversation below.

Matthew James, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

Sometimes I do wish that I had started my career, or at least my career path sooner. Or rather to say, that I wish I had had a better focus for me career path earlier. However, it is easy to look back and say if only I had done this sooner or made these choices I would be farther along professionally. Ultimately I am confident in the choices I made that brought me to where I am today, and feel that that has allowed me to bring a level of maturity to my work that I may have lacked if my career had taken a different path.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

While I am a California native, I split my youth between the Bay Area and Toledo, Ohio. The latter is where I had a rather typical if not often adventurous childhood and bonded with a group of childhood friends who are to this day like a second family. I spent equal parts of my youth indoors watching films ranging from Star Wars to Fincher’s Seven (probably well before I should have) and outdoors with my friends getting into any number of troubles. A childhood of long summer evenings spent riding bikes through the suburbs of Toledo, rushing home in the late hours to beat the street lights before they turned on. Somewhere in the crossroads of these two experiences came a love for both storytelling and filmmaking that I just couldn’t shake.

I have now lived in Southern California for several years. I have a Master’s degree in Film Production and Directing and have had the immense pleasure to work with an ever growing list of equally talented and aspiring actors and film creatives across an often challenging but always rewarding industry. Since graduating I have had the opportunity to be creatively involved with several short narrative films in the past few years. In particular, I was able to bring a passion project to fruition in the form of my graduate thesis; James Joyce’s The Sisters. An ambitious adaptation of Joyce’s short story from his first work “Dubliners”, where we had to opportunity to shoot both in Ireland, and with the help of an incredible art crew, were able to construct multiple period sets on the stages at Chapman’s Dodge College.

I recently wrapped production on a short film where I had the pleasure to work with the always talented Kelley Mack, and we hope to wrap post-production this year, and begin showing the final film on the festival circuit. While the pandemic had brought its own set of challenges and obstacles for everyone, I spent the time refocusing on my work and new projects to tackle. Most recent, I finished producing a short film that shot in Georgia last summer, by the incredibly talented Yelena Krivosheyeva, called The Magic Ticket. As post-production winds down on that film we hope to start sharing soon.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I first started college as an undergrad in Chicago working on a degree in writing for television. While I have always loved the idea of film and directing, I wasn’t sure I had the knowledge or resources to pursue that path as a career. Something about writing felt more approachable at that time in my life. However, about halfway through my degree I had the opportunity to study film in Italy for the summer. While the class itself was not focused specifically on making films, but rather study the history of Italian cinema, our final project tasked us with shooting a short film inspired on the ideas and movements of the films we had spent the summer studying. The opportunity to work and study in the locations where these incredible films were made, had a lasting impact on me creatively, and ultimately led to my career pivot from writing to directing film.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

As a filmmaker there is no shortage of books or essays both studying and teaching the craft. However, if I was to have to point to two books in particular that have had an impact on me personally, it would be Notes on Directing by Frank Hauser and Russell Reich and Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut.

The first in an awesome bible of sorts on directing thoughts and tips for approaching your work and working with actors. Though the book itself is focused more towards stage directing, I feel has though the book can impart a lot of valuable tools for film directors and set management regardless if working for stage or screen. The second, is less of a book, than a collection of interviews conducted by Francois Truffaut with Alfred Hitchcock. The book is a once in a lifetime opportunity to read the thoughts of two heavy weight filmmakers discuss. the craft they love.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.matthewjameseberle.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/matthewjameseberle/
• Other: Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/eberlematthew

Image Credits
Justin Moore Ray Zou Yuan