We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Will Fritz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Will below.

Hi Will, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Back in the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade, my parents enrolled me in a children’s theater program. This week-long camp asked the students to write, produce, and perform their own original play. And while what 8-year old me and my fellow campers came up with that week wasn’t exactly Shakespeare, I had certainly caught the “bug” by the time Friday’s performance rolled around. Writing an original narrative, learning lines, and performing all resonated deeply and lit a fire within me. It unlocked something powerful; a desire to create and perform. Over the course of that following year and for many years after that, I threw myself into the world of theater from the ages of 10-18, taking classes and performing in both school and professional productions. This love for theater and performance evolved when I reached high school, and especially after I joined another similar summer program as the one I had taken so many years ago – except this one was for filmmaking, not theater. Despite my young love for the spotlight, stepping behind the camera just felt right to me. I like to joke that as I’ve aged I inherited reverse stage freight. My passion for creating original stories and sharing them with others remained unchanged, but I now had a new love for the world of film and the amazing technical aspects that go into creating a picture. When it came time for me to go to college and decide what I wanted to focus on, the choice was very clear to me. Four years later, I earned my B.F.A in screenwriting with a minor in film and television production from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). Shortly after that, I moved to Los Angeles, CA, where I currently reside and have begun my career as an independent filmmaker and screenwriter, still chasing after that dream of being a storyteller as I had pictured for myself all those years ago.

Will, 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?

My whole life I have been in the customer service industry. Consistently working various retail and office gigs, I have always put the customer first wherever I go. And in many ways, with my films and my screenplays, I do the same thing; put the audience first. I’m a screenwriter who specializes in surreal, comedic, and satirical works that aim to both entertain and also illuminate underrepresented people and issues of our world. As a customer service worker, it is always important to be empathetic towards all as allowing others to be seen and heard really opens them up to being receptive to forging a deeper connection with you. I try to take this same approach to the stories I tell with the films I make. I always think “what would an audience like to see the most?” An audience that in most cases works so hard to afford their tickets and is choosing to take precious time out of their busy day to engage with a piece of art. My hope then, is that that piece of art be worth it. It should entertain and provide an escape from daily struggles yes, but it should also make you feel something too, far beyond just a general sense of disassociation. My films aim to entertain but also provide a feeling of empathy, as if I am calling out to the audience that “I see you and I feel you and I hear you!” My works center around the working class, the middle and lower ends of our country that do a lot to keep the wheels churning but receive little in return for doing so. And I’m far from the first writer to ever do this, not even close to it. But I think it is important for every writer, and every storyteller to have a message behind their work as stories are one of the most powerful ways we have as humans to share ideas and inspire change. And that’s what I aim to do with the stories I tell; inspire change for good.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

At this moment in time, the film industry is struggling in a way unlike anything we have ever seen before. And the thing that is hurting the film industry the most right now is the industry itself; the business, the money, the analytical side of things. We exist in a point and time where studios are permanently erasing creative efforts made by hard working teams in order to cut losses, save money, or even turn a profit. We are entering a scary period of time where creativity can seemingly only exist if it is commercially viable. We’ve made the mistake of letting giant organizations control our artistic expressions, and they are limiting what we can say and do and see. It’s important more now than ever that we support creators directly and do not feed into giant systems that are sucking up individuals and turning them into data and statistics. The best thing to help sustain our creative ecosystem is to directly support your favorite artists. Attend local shows, invest in independent films, even word of mouth on social media can be very powerful these days. Ultimatley, find talent that interests you and support them directly in whatever way you can, because artists need all the help and support they can get these days. And whatever you do on top of all of that, whole-heartedly reject AI art! It has already proven to be an incredibly slippery slope that threatens to put numerous artists out of work and even devalue the entire concept of art itself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is sharing your work with others. The labors of creation have many highs and lows that can range from the best feelings in the world to the worst. However, for me at least, presenting your final piece, after having shed so much blood, sweat, and tears over them, is a consistently rewarding feeling unlike any other. Screening a film and hearing an audience laugh at a joke you wrote feels like another level of euphoria sometimes. It’s the feeling that knowing all the hard work you put into your work in hopes of connecting with an audience have finally payed off. To hear an audience engage with your art means that they care about your art, and I think that always means the world to an artist. I am not someone who creates stories just for myself. If there was no audience to share my stories with, I wonder if I would make anything at all. That final moment of presentation, the connecting and sharing of ideas is what it’s all about for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/w.fritz
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/willhfritz

Image Credits

Cameron Ottea, Andrew Angel, Kyla Rys, Conner White