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Ego
I make movies. Sometimes TV shows and home videos, too. If you have kids, you probably have a couple of my DVDs in your living room. My name is on them somewhere. The most satisfying moment of my career came when my friends (who have a three year old and a one year old) corraled me at their Super Bowl party and asked me to sign a Sesame Street video I produced. Another great moment came several years ago when my mother, upon watching a video I produced, waxed emphatically about how "professional" it looked. She always hung my drawings on the refrigerator. It's good for my ego, but I'll know that I've made it when I see my movie in a bargain bin at Wal-Mart.
I am a cinematographer, a writer, a producer. I'm also a photographer, a graphic artist, a drummer, a guy who noodles on a harmonica and is always in search of a jam session because there's no time to commit to being in a rock band. Speaking of rocks, I used to climb a lot, but I don't have much time for that, either. I'm also a husband, a son, a grandson, a brother, an uncle, a cousin, and a nephew. It's amazing the titles that you accumulate in forty years. I don't feel forty. I'm not even sure what that means, anymore.
I started a production company with a good friend about five years ago. The idea was hatched when we were working on his documentary about Jamaican migrant workers who pick apples in the Hudson Valley. We both were successful freelancers and decided it was time for us to do it for ourselves. It's a good partnership, with a very equal give and take. We yell at each other sometimes, but it's always about the best way to accomplish the work we're doing. I never forget that he's my "brother".
Our company has won over 30 awards in three years. I have been nominated twice for Emmys for my camerawork, and yes, it is nice to be nominated, but I would like to win one of those fuckers some year. I'll keep trying.
Check out my website(s): www.chatsbygroup.com to see what I'm up to.
Movies
City of Lost Children, Death on Demand, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Amelie, Queen Margot, Matewan, Se7en, Pulp Fiction, Thank You for Smoking, Boogie Nights, Big Fish, The Fifth Element, Blue Velvet, Dead Man, Ed Wood, Bringing Up Baby, Rear Window, Full Metal Jacket, 28 Days Later, Into the Wild, Dumb and Dumber, Alien, Aliens, Blade Runner, Outland, Pi, Requieum for a Dream, 1941, Y Tu Mama Tambien, A Touch of Evil, Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, O Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Schizopolis, Delicatessen, Bad Taste
Music
Black Crowes, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, Muddy Waters, Sea of Cortez, Glow, Greyboy All Stars, Beastie Boys, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry, John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck, Spoon, Gomez, Cat Power, Amy Winehouse, Mazzy Star, Soul Coughing, k.d. Lang, Morphine, Frank Zappa, Jane's Addiction, Billie Holliday, Miles Davis, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, 311, Seal, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soundgarden, Soul Coughing, Primus
Television
Two and a Half Men, Heroes, Gorehounds, whatever my wife is watching
Books
The Life of Pi, The Dharma Bums, Impossible Vacation, Siddhartha, The Alienist, Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Long Walk, Me Talk Pretty One Day, The Devil in the White City, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Cat's Cradle, Dune