When I was growing up, I surrounded myself with movies and dreamed of becoming a screenwriter and a filmmaker.

But when you’re a young filmmaker, the first order of business is to create a movie production company and a sweet logo.

Step 1: Create Movie Company

One of the first I was a part of was a partnership called Tag Team Productions. Interestingly enough, my old partner is now a producer on our upcoming short film, Strings. (Visit his blog here)

Throughout my two years studying English in University, I wrote several short scripts but never made any movies.  So I decided it was time to create my own company and get started on a short film called: Broken.

I named my unofficial company 3 Twelve productions. 3 because it was my number when I played sports and 12 because it was the number I took if 3 was already taken.

It’s amazing how something as little as creating a fictional movie company can inspire creativity. It gave me a renewed sense of purpose and dedication to filmmaking.

Step 2: Make A Movie

Broken wasn’t the most spectacular short film I’ve ever produced but it taught me one important and valuable lesson: Making movies is fun!

This revelation led to a series of life changing events.

First, I no longer wanted to be an English teacher.  I didn’t want to rely on film so I decided that television would be a worthy industry to try.  So I transferred schools and two years later, I was a professional editor working for a major canadian sports network.  Excellent decision. I now work in a creative medium everyday and it allows me tons of time to work on my screenplays and film projects.

But that’s not the only change that 3 Twelve triggered.  During college, I met up with 2 individuals and together, we started 17 West Productions.

A real company!

Step 3: Repeat Step 2

Since then, we’ve produced 6 short films with 2 more in pre-production and multiple projects planned in the future.

It’s funny how everything worked out.

You have to start somewhere.