Salutations From A Cinema Enthusiast!

Hello!

My name is Spencer Latham (pronounced Lay-thumb), and I am 41 years old. For the past 20 years, I have earned my living as an Independent Commercial Artist, and my passion is the art of filmmaking.

I learned of David Basulto’s Filmmaking Central and Film School On Demand via the “Wish I Had An Ikan” video contest of the summer of this year. Although my film did not finish on the podium, David did vote for my film, and that was very exciting! I then enrolled at FSOD so that I could learn the business aspects of cinema.

Working as a Staff Graphic Designer or Freelance Graphic Designer for various companies in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York, I have been able to fund my own very-small-budget films, and use them in order to enter film/video contests. My films have never won any official prizes. However, I have been most pleased with my work at each stage of my career. More importantly, with each film that I have made, I have seen significant improvements in my skills and in my final products, so that is a “prize” in and of itself.

I have been an artist since I was four years old. The memory is burned into my brain: my father came home from work one day, and he gave to me a Spider-Man comic-book. He also gave to me a drawing-pad and a pencil, and he told me to choose a picture from the comic-book, and then draw it. Of course, my drawing was not good. But from only that experience, I knew that one day, I MUST have my own comic-book and cartoon company.

The next career-memory that is burned into my brain is my tenth birthday, in 1978. My father took me to see Star Wars (we did not see it in 1977; for some reason, we missed the boat of its original release). Similar to millions of other people, my life was transformed. And on that day, I not only wanted to have my own comic-book and cartoon company; I also wanted to have my own film-production company.

I graduated from an art-oriented Grammar School in Brooklyn and an art-oriented Junior High School in Brooklyn, and then I graduated from The High School Of Art And Design in Manhattan. I then completed only two years of New York University Film School, and after much life-confusion, I eventually graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

I thank GOD that I did not graduate from NYU Film School, because, in studying illustration, photography, typography, and page-layout at VCU, I discovered that the art of graphic-design and the art of cinema are inextricably entwined. My two years of cinema-study at NYU greatly aided me in my art classes at VCU, and my studies at VCU continue to positively affect the way that I create my films.

I also thank GOD that I have accomplished part of my goal; I have a home-studio in which I have everything that I need in order to create my art and films. Now, working with the FMC & FSOD community, perhaps you and I can help each other convert our cinema-dreams into cinema-realities, and then into financial successes.

To David Basulto: Thank you for this opportunity to learn from the FMC & FSOD community, and thank you for allowing me to share what I have learned in this passion of ours!

Spencer