1. When and why did you decide to be a filmmaker?

When I was 10 years old I saw King Kong at the Gillioz Theater (not the one made in 1933 lol). It was the one with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange in '76. The entire experience blew me away. The sound, the quality on the screen completely engrossed me. I was hooked from then on.

2. What are your favorite films and why?

Manhunter is my favorite movie of all time. Cool atmosphere, cool jump cuts. I'm one of those people that actually watch movies for their entertainment value and not to get my intellectual rocks off. Shame on Hollywood for attempting to remake it in '02 and naming it Red Dragon...zzzzzz. It almost ruined it for me.

3. Who are your favorite directors and why?

Michael Mann is my favorite director, because he does his homework. I love a movie that is based on reality. Using realistic parameters to make a story decision. I was afraid to see Miami Vice last year because of its potential to come off a little tacky. But, to my amazement, it was great. I'm not much on either of the main actors Colin Farrell or Jamie Fox, but they did an exceptional job with the direction of Michael Mann.

Also, David Mamet is great for his stories. I can always tell a Mamet directed flick.

4. Who are your favorite actors and why?

Definitely Al Pacino is one, especially for his first scene in Scarface. An easily slow scene that grabs your attention and keeps you watching. Him sitting, getting interrogated and lying through his teeth and making it believable (as a character, not the lies). Oh and the scene where he blows the guys brains out in the car... "You dirty piece of chit!"

William Petersen is one of my favorites also. I don't watch that much CSI, but I knew it was going to be a hit 5 minutes into the first show. However, he was in Manhunter and To Live and Die in LA and played an every guy type of character that is easy to get behind. He's good at being the bad guy on the good side.

5. What are the most difficult challenges you've faced as a filmmaker?

During the shooting of Crime Family the main character quit for personal reasons in the middle of shooting. All of the cast and crew assumed that it was game over and time to write it off. Fortunately, I shot that one semi-chronologically and wasn't too far off the script. So, I did what they did in To Live and Die in LA and killed his character off in a shot. Unfortunately, he wasn't around to do his death scene so I had to use a double, blurred in the background of the new main character, his brother. We just moved some scenes around, changed some dialog in post and viol'a completed flick.

6. Do you feel it's necessary to go to film school? Did you have any traditional education or training in this industry?

No, I don't feel it is necessary to go to film school, but I'm sure it is a great place to go to party and stay out of trouble while you're in your early 20s. I didn't go to film school, I take that back, I did sneak into a class at MSU one day and listen in. If you love movies and lived the desire to make movies your whole life, you'll be way ahead of anything they can teach you in film school around here. I'm sure there are some more advanced classes on the coasts of course.

7. How many shorts did you make before tackling a feature?

I've never been into shorts and haven't made or participated in the making of any. But I imagine it wouldn't take as long. lol

8. How did you go about getting your first feature distributed?

I paid to have Crime Family authored myself and sent out completed copies to a bunch of distributors. I took a shared profit deal with a company that could get it into all the bigger stores.

9. What have you learned about the business side of filmmaking?

I learned that we are not independent filmmakers. Independents spend around 3 to 6 million on a flick.

10. Why did you choose Crime Family as your first feature? And why did you pick Nine Grounds as your second?

I wrote Crime Family years ago after writing Ravage. We shot Ravage and we were talking about shooting a draft of Crime Family and it didn't go anywhere, so I decided to shoot it myself. We made Nine Grounds to hone our technical skills by shooting a very straight shot, straight plotted movie. Primarily to keep on the story, keep the actors on the script and organize our shoots.

11. What did you learn from your first feature that you applied to your second?

Everything. We did everything assbackwards and fought it like hell in post.

12. How did you find a composer for your films and what was it like working with him or her?

Nathaniel Shelton introduced me to a great composer, Brian Arata. It was all classical style.

13. How did you finance your films?

Out of pocket. We are still licking our wounds from it.

14. Do you have any stories from the making of your films you'd like to share?

Bus seats are highly flammable. See Nine Grounds and you'll find out what I mean.

15. What is your most vivid memory from your filmmaking endeavors?

Shooting a fight scene on the side of a cliff at 3:00 in the morning. Then, one of our actors showed up to shoot an entirely different scene on another cliff.

16. What do you think is the key to working with actors?

They are a particular type of people and you need to respect that. It takes a certain psyche to get into character and it is not that easy to get out of it especially if they are talented. During Nine Grounds we had this hard nosed, hardcore, take no shit ex military dude walking around (Russel Metcalf) who normally was a super nice guy.

17. What do you look for in an actor?

No sag card.. just kidding. We just get the best that the budget and location has to offer and try to put them into the best fitting characters.

18. What do you value most about your experiences thus far?

I now have my feet planted firmly on the ground as to the reality of the market for my type of movies. Fortunately, the market is increasing from the first flicks I helped make in the 90s.

19. What is the most important piece of advice you'd give an aspiring filmmaker?