3 daYs

Like many directors and filmmakers, my passion for film started at an early age when my dad let me play around with his Kodak Super 8 Movie Camera back in the late 70s and early 80s. In the summer I would buy a couple cartridges of color reversal super 8 film and get neighborhood kids together to make movies. I had a light meter, photo floods and light bar, and a reel to reel viewer to cut the film. I experimented with in camera effects and stop motion animation. When the films were done I would set up a "movie theater" in my parents basement and project the films.

In High School my extracurricular focus was in theater/stage crew, where the main disciplines for me were lighting and sound. During that time I was able to work with professional theater technical directors. I learned to appreciate the importance of how lighting is used to create a mood and help tell the story.

As an adult, I decided to pursue a degree in Film. In 1996, while in school at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM), I began to network with the professional film community in Milwaukee and Chicago. I started working on commercials as a PA while I was still in school. Soon after I connected with a gaffer and began work as a grip and electrician. My passion for lighting from the theater and my love of film came together and I realized there was an opportunity to make a living in G & E. By the time I graduated with my BFA in Film from UWM in 1998, I was working regularly as a freelance grip and electrician.

Upon graduation, I found myself buried in student loan debt and the need to work outweighed my passion and the financial means to make films. I was content earning a living in an industry that I enjoyed and I worked my way up to gaffer. Life started to happen; wife, house, kids, ect. Before I knew it 20 years had gone by since I had made a film. Fast forward to the present and my good friend of over a quarter of a century, Gilly Petrovic, pitches me a great idea for a film that had to be made. Armed with my past knowledge of filmmaking, 20 years of developing professional relationships in the industry and the greater accessibility of digital/HD equipment ‘3 daYs’ became a reality. With a shoestring budget of $5000 I called in all my favors to secure a professional crew working with professional gear to get my first film in 20 years completed. I do not plan on letting another two decades pass before another project.