Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nicholas Agrinzone. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nicholas, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The date was summer 2019. After being completely burnt out from the education system, my now 19 turning 20 year old self decided to get my associate’s rather than my planned bachelor’s degree, and kickstart my film career earlier than expected. For the majority of my life, I had always played it safe and that in turn got safe results. My family and friends were highly skeptical of me choosing to leave school early, believing that I would come to regret it in the future years to come. Well… here we are in future years to come. And do I regret my decision? No…surprisingly, even with all of the hardships that come with the territory. I had filmed music videos, commercials, and YouTube content during my college career so I already had some footing, however I still ended up in the workforce stuck in a Macy’s Warehouse come fall 2019. Believe it or not, making your passion your full-time job is harder than everybody online makes it appear. During the midst of all this, I entered one of the worst depressive periods in my life. I was barely getting out of bed, spent my waking hours pondering over my will to live, and just overall not operating at my fullest capacity. October 3, 2019 was the day I said ‘enough’. I was looking at myself in the mirror before heading to bed, and all I could see was all of my poor decisions and apparent mental decline staring back in the reflection. The very next day, I started going to the gym; making a promise of myself to go on a consistent basis and honor my physical health. From there, that led to more mental forms of discipline such as cold showers, meditation, journaling, etc. How does this relate to film in any way? This is when I started pushing myself. Throughout these past years, I’ve shocked myself in who I have become and what I have been able to achieve as a result of my hard work over time, including winning my first award for a short that I co-wrote, co-directed, and co-filmed. To make a long story, moderately brief… making the hard decisions up front, whether it be abandoning the traditional path or seeking long-term fulfillment rather than quick pleasures, led me to overall happiness and contentment with the trajectory of my life.

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?

I am a film director and writer who’s dream is to direct a feature length movie. I’ve been making movies ever since I was a kid, using my Dad’s VHS camera and forcing my cousins to star in whatever production I desired. My film career began back in high school. During my freshman year, I took a film production class for fun and my teacher Mrs. Miele took note of my talent right away. I went on to become the head student filmmaker during the rest of my high school career, which influenced me to pursue this as a legitimate path. She was the first person to make me feel that my dreams could become reality. Currently, I work freelance in multiple different parts of the film industry for whatever jobs come up such as PA, camera operator, AD, etc. Apart from that, I also work with clients on video advertising for their business to pay the bills and I create weekly films on YouTube where I am able to express my art in its fullest capacity. I am a major believer in the principle of being consistently creative, and uploading on a frequent basic heightens that discipline in the best possible way. My biggest accomplishment is winning my first award on a short film I co-directed this past summer. I participated in the 48 Hour Film Festival in Connecticut for the first time, and during the award ceremony it was announced that our film “Dead Again” had won the audience award for favorite film. And better yet… I got to keep the trophy. Truthfully, just seeing my name in the director’s credits was enough to have made it in my eyes. My artistic purpose is to consistently evolve challenge my storytelling techniques to showcase real life issues that create impact.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to highlight other creative’s voice to share multiple artistic perspectives, even if they oppose my own. Throughout my time as a filmmaker, I’ve been fortunate to connect with so many amazing artists in Connecticut and beyond. Every time I connect with these people, they always push me past my limitations. To think more. To act more. To create more. There are so many underground artists that in my opinion deserve all the praise and glory in the world, however unfortunately many of them did not grow up with certain resources that would have allowed their voices to be heard by the mainstream. When I make it big, my goal is to bring everyone up with me. My philosophy is that there is enough room at the table for all of us, and even if we’re in the same industry we should all be helping each other one way or another. I want other artists who have been pushing for their dreams, even when they feel that they never make any progress, to see that it is possible and even more so I want to create actionable steps to actually make it easier for aspiring artists to make their passion a career.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Integrity. If you’re not a good person in and out, then to me your reputation no matter how prestige is worthless. The years I’ve spent on development and facing my own demons and shortcomings helped build me into a person I’m proud to look at every day. The destruction of my own ego led me a long way. I help others in the film industry with their projects not just for a check, but because of my passion for film and value for them as visual artists. Not looking for handouts or expecting anything in return, ironically, led to much more job opportunities and experiences than if I had been only serving myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nickagrinzone.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickagrinzone
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/nickagrinzone