Mr Talent

During my school days, I fell in love with film and did what everyone does: shoot some crap with buddies and pretend it’s a short film. Even though I knew I wanted to write scripts and direct films, I didn't know how to break into this business. So I enrolled in Classical Archeology and Philosophy. As you might guess, I dropped out immediately. I was just two weeks in when I noticed how many books on film there were in the library. I spent the rest of the term at a desk and got my first internship as a production assistant.

Sadly, it was also the year when a family member I was very close to got terminally ill. Wracked by depression, I didn’t know what to do or what path to take. I only knew that I didn’t want to lose the place I called home - the only thing I had left. I was afraid to move, take risks, and engage in new relationships.

So I stayed home and enrolled in Sociology (I believe it was Spielberg saying in some interview: As a filmmaker, you need to study Sociology or Psychology). However, I would escape working as a production assistant so as not to lose touch with the industry.

A brief note: Like everyone back in the day, I played in a band during that time. But as it is with 99% of all the bands: One day after our producer met with a label and they wanted to put us on tour, the bassist and the drummer quit... Thumbs up, guys. (However, the part of me that didn't want to leave was happy about it.)

Anyway, screenwriting. I was scared to take a job in another city, so I took the first job I could get: editor-in-chief of a print magazine. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, the bosses believed I had training in print - which was probably a misunderstanding. I had worked at TV stations but never in print. Anyway, it didn’t matter because after one month in I had figured out how things worked and from then on: yawning boredom. I can’t handle going to the same office every day and doing the same kind of work. On the last day of my first month, I was already looking for a new job.

In the end, I was lucky to get a part-time job at the university that allows me to balance all my interests: Sound recording, filming, cinematography, editing. Plus, I have the spare time to write the scripts and direct the shorts I love.

Because of my background, lifestyle and personality, I prefer exploring themes of family, identity and loss in fantastic comedy.

PS: If you need someone to fix your refrigerator or replace a light switch. Get in contact. Somewhere along the way, I spent three years working for an electrician helping out on construction sites to pay for my university studies.