Today we’d like to introduce you to Ethan Gathman.
Hi Ethan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m from the south side of Chicago, a neighborhood called Beverly. “Exciting” wouldn’t be the word I’d use to describe Beverly. My friends and I constantly needed to find ways to entertain ourselves. This is where my love for filmmaking blossomed.
At first, we had no idea what we were doing. We didn’t know anything about lighting or composition or even how to focus a camera, a very evident problem in my early films, but we knew how to goof around and tell fun stories. I had a supportive family that let my friends and I film in our house, even though we probably destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of their belongings while performing stunts.
With that love for filmmaking, I attended the Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL, where I made two short films, Uh-Oh Aliens and Your Dad’s Greatest Nightmare. To this day, these are my proudest works.
I now live in Los Angeles, where I work in post-production on two tv shows, but my good friend and fellow Ringling graduate are working hard to make our first feature-length movie together.
The pure joy I felt for filmmaking during my teens still pushes me to this day. Whenever I get overwhelmed working on a film, I always try to remember what sparked my love in the first place. It’s a very comforting thought.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Every filmmaking journey is going to have its bumps. The way I see it, filmmaking to a filmmaker is the same as painting to a painter or sculpting to a sculptor…except we need lots of time, money, and help to create our art.
Film is not a choice, it is a need, the same need that every artist has worldwide. But due to the many headaches of our craft, we always have to bear the burden of being broke artists trying to make expensive art. But we uplift each other and help however we can. Whenever I collaborate with other filmmakers, I’m always impressed by the altruism in this highly competitive, money-centric industry. If you strip away the billion-dollar studios and their overabundant displays of wealth, you get a form of art and storytelling that is pure and wonderful.
So yes, every day being a filmmaker is bumpy. But the bumpy road is way more fun than the smooth one.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Sore Thumb Films?
I am the co-founder of Sore Thumb Films, we are a studio that is currently making a feature-length film based in Florida. I own this company with another graduate from the Ringling College of Art & Design, and we’re just a couple of guys trying to make a horror film.
We’re new and fresh on the scene but aim to make a big splash with our debut film!
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
As if this industry weren’t tricky enough, COVID-19 really threw a monkey wrench in every filmmaker’s plans. But I believe creativity is born from necessity.
I was preparing to film a movie in 202o when COVID-19 turned everything upside down. Suddenly, I couldn’t film indoors with a large cast & crew, so instead, I made my main star a puppet. We filmed the whole movie in front of a green screen, and I constructed a crazy animated world for the characters to live in during post-production. Looking back on it, I ended up with a far more unique and cool film than the original one I envisioned.
Although COVID-19 was a dark time, I’m weirdly glad I was challenged creatively! Now, I welcome challenges and see them as an opportunity to improve my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ethangathman.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-gathman/
Image Credits
Ethan Paonessa Zifeng Zhuo
