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

Reuben, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I grew up enthralled by books and movies, so much so that I would write my own scripts, novels and short stories. But it took a long time (halfway through college) for me to be sure that pursuing writing and directing was what I wanted to do professionally. Being a movie director was always my “dream job” answer as a child, but I didn’t know if that was in the realm of possibility for me. It was an answer that felt as far away to me as “President” or “Astronaut.” I was afraid that if I pursued being a writer / director of movies, that I would fall short and end up simply working in the field of commercial or wedding videography where I’d be paid to work with a camera, but have no connection to fiction storytelling side of things that I was so in love with. So in college, I let these fears get the best of me and I changed majors many times, pursuing other fields of study like Political Science and Physics. I seriously consider other careers like high school teacher, park ranger, lawyer, astronomer. But by going down some of these other paths, I would always find out that my reasons for pursuing them professionally were inauthentic. At a certain point, I realized I had no choice but to pursue my creative passion professionally. Because every time I tried to give it up, a part of me died inside. So three and a half years into my undergraduate college, I decided to transfer to USC film school and seriously pursue writing and directing movies professionally. I felt so lucky to have been accepted there, which was kind of the lifeline I needed at that moment — somebody somewhere to give me an opportunity, and a vote of confidence.

Reuben, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a writer, director, editor and producer of narrative fiction films. I got into the industry through USC film school, where I directed a thesis comedy called “Foodfellas” that was featured on PBS Film School Shorts. I have a lot of areas of interest that come through in my work, such as: comedy, thrillers, history, politics and adventure.

I’m most proud of my two most recent projects, as both were incredibly ambitious for the budgets they were made on. The first was “Sign Man” which was a feature length comedy, and the second was “The Flower of Battle” a historical sword-fight adventure comedy. I’m proud of having been able to help bring these into existence. The budget limitations meant I wore more multiple hats in the production beyond simply co-writing and directing. These experience performing multiple roles was very taxing physically and mentally, but I learned so much about the process this way. I’m pleased that these experiences have helped me hone my craft to the point where I no longer feel “imposter syndrome” anymore when I approach writing or directing a project.

Right now I’m writing some scripts for upcoming projects that I feel are indicative of my unique voice and what I can bring to the table as a writer. These are coming of age stories about characters wrestling with how to be authentic in the face of overwhelming conformist pressure to fit a different mold.

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

One of the biggest pivots I had to make was around my struggle with “people pleasing,” a tendency to appease others and fit certain molds I didn’t fit into. I felt I had to be everything to everyone. This led me to exhaust myself and my energies to go above and beyond to say “yes” to everyone when they requested my help with projects or my attention or had an expectation of me. As a result, I sometimes neglected focusing on my own needs, and my desire to develop a creative voice of my own.

I was also unable to recognize when other people with this tendency were appeasing me. This became a major issue when a producer on my first feature film strung me along for a long time “putting on a show” of momentum being created behind the project, which was mostly a fiction. It was very difficult, but I had to confront that person and ask them to leave the project and take on the role of a producer myself.

So I had to pivot to recognize this behavior in myself and others, and to listen to my intuition about how to better focus my limited time and energy. Thankfully I’ve been able to laugh about this now and lampoon these “people-pleasing” characteristics in a script I’m writing now.

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

I’m just so in love with crafting a new story on the page or in the edit, with the experimentation of trying something new and the thrill of it working, either by myself or in conversation with another writer. I liken it to being a mad scientist working in a lab mixing different chemicals together and seeing how they go “poof.” I find this solitary process of discovery the most rewarding process, perhaps even more so than audience feedback.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://reubenguberek.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reubenguberek/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@razeefilms