West Virginia Film Office
Where are you from, where are you located now, and what are your ties to WV?
I was born in Oxnard, California, where my father was stationed in the Navy. I wasn’t a Californian for long though, as we moved to Texas when I was a mere 3 months old. For all intents and purposes, I’m a former Texan. My career has taken me all over the world, but the reason I moved to West Virginia was due to meeting the love of my life, who’s a native West Virginian. We currently live in Hurricane.
What was your first job in the industry and what was the experience like?
I worked in the production department at KAUZ-TV, a small market TV station in Wichita Falls, Texas. I ran camera for the newscasts, edited commercials, and was responsible for signing the station off the air each night. Yes, stations used to end their broadcasts each day! I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience while at KAUZ. I worked at the station for 10 years before moving to Dallas to work two years as a freelancer. The various shoots, producers, directors, and talented production people I worked with during this period increased my production skills tenfold. These skills were a key factor in my ability to land an amazing production job with Royal Caribbean Cruises. We shot and edited video on the cruise ships using top of the line production equipment. I was fortunate enough to eventually be assigned to the Legend of the Seas, which sailed the world. Eighteen countries and forty ports of call, all the while being paid. Not a bad way to make a living.