Being born and raised in Queens, New York, I began filmmaking at the age of 10 with a friend of mine who received a Hitachi VHS Camcorder for Christmas…and I haven’t stopped since. As we grew up, we filmed over 20 “cheesy" low-budget movies that taught us how to tell a story with nothing. As we got older, we slowed some and took different paths. During those times I was fortunate to snag a job with Virgin Records as a publicist in New York and worked with legends such as Janet Jackson and Lenny Kravitz during their heyday.

Eventually, I wanted to do something different and found a job with one of New York’s high profile cabarets called, “Le Bar Bat”. I worked my up into management within a year and worked with many famous artists and personalities. Throughout this time, I was still working on low-budget films as an actor and as a director with my friends at times.

In 2014 my wife and I started “Gaines Entertainment” and decided to move to Sarasota, FL to be closer to my mother in Venice. Plus Florida gave me a different vibe that inspired me to do something I couldn’t do so easily back in New York. So I began writing a screenplay called, “A World of Worlds”, a Fantasy, Action series that combines many films that inspired me growing up.

So with no budget, no investor, and no producer, I set sail around Sarasota to find the right people to bring my characters to life. I was fortunate to find some incredible artists. Since I didn’t have any money to give it the scope it needed, I just compensated with what we can get. So if I wrote a character that needed to be in a mansion, I just found a pretty house to film in instead. Many businesses in Sarasota were very gracious in allowing us to film in their establishments. So, after two years of principal photography coming to a close, I needed a VFX supervisor that didn’t know how to get. After interviewing dozens of expensive artists, I came across Prakash Kumararajan in India. He was on the VFX team for 2016 Total Recall and John Carter. He was very gracious and accommodating and worked with what I had throughout the entire post-production. Delivering quality that I wouldn’t normally be able to afford. And to this day he is still my VFX Supervisor and good friend.

Next, I needed a composer and came across someone from back home named Michale Vignola, who was accommodating as well. How score lifted each scene to a new level. When it was all over we threw it in some festivals and came out with a few awards. One was for “Best Supernatural Series” from the HBO/Cinemax Urban Action Showcase and Expo in New York City on 42nd St. It was surreal to see my movie play in the very theatre I grew up watching movies in. That assisted us in getting a distribution deal with the Florida aggregator, Green Apple Entertainment.

Then at the end of 2018, I began on the sequel called, “A World of Worlds” - Rise of the King with a few new faces that just help raise the story, character depth, and visuals to the next level. This included using a new composer named Andrea Bellucci in Italy that brought that classic operatic muscle that fantasy/action films require. It was completed in November 2020.

And to top it off, I started my first genre film festival on November 19th, 2021 named "GainesCon - The Action, Sci-Fi and Horror Film Festival” for short films where winners receive a Red Dragon trophy for the Best Picture nod and a Gold Dragon for all other categories. This is a festival that gives many action, fantasy, and horror filmmakers a place to showcase their work in-person and virtually. I have so many more stories to tell and many filmmakers to showcase. It is truly a wonderful way to live. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to where I am today.