Today we’d like to introduce you to Gavin Michael Booth.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am originally from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I spent most of my life there before moving to Toronto and then Los Angeles. I was always obsessed with movies and filmmaking. I had my first VHS camcorder in elementary school. I had saved up for it with money from my paper route. Through high school, I basically lived in the video production classroom. I would stay editing until the janitors kicked me out at midnight each night. After high school, I couldn’t afford film school in Los Angeles which I thought was my dream. I started a production company almost immediately after graduating and thought if I film enough wedding videos and local television commercials I could save up to make a movie and go the Kevin Smith route of self-funding a film. Then all you have to do is win Sundance and your live is set! Oh how far from that the truth is. I made a few micro-budget films that served as my film school. Learn by failing. That’s what I’ve come to know was best for me, to just keep creating and find your style and your sense of storytelling along the way. One major turning point for me was sneaking into concerts in Detroit, Michigan.
Detroit was right next door and being a starving artists there were concerts I wanted to see and bands I wanted to meet that I didn’t always have the money for a ticket or a VIP pass. I decided to bring my camera and try to sneak in as if I was a Canadian media personality. I ended up being able to interview bands and see the show for free. One of those concerts was the rock group Third Eye Blind. Let’s just say that right now, today, I’m still working on projects for the band. I met them, they liked my work, I was hired to film some tour video material for them and the rest is history. That began my career directing music videos, of which I have directed and produced over one hundred videos now. I had an opportunity in 2013 to film a horror film, The Scarehouse, while I was living in Toronto. That film was picked up by Universal Studios and led to me moving to Los Angeles full time in 2015. More recently, I directed a film in a single-take and split-screen at the same time, titled “Last Call” which is on the festival circuit right now.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There’s such a thing as smooth roads? How do I find that? Tell me! All kidding aside, it has been a very, very bumpy road. A career in the arts isn’t a set trajectory that many traditional career fields have. You are often self-employed and you are fighting your way through one of the most competitive fields there is. Only so many films will find their financing and get made. It involves digging deep and pushing through so much adversity, sometimes in the form of self-doubt and really figuring out if you want this career at all. Not many people are cut out for all of the disappointment, setbacks, failure, lack of steady income and the myriad of other issues you will face to be a film writer/director/producer. The biggest thing I had to learn was to not measure success and happiness with “things”.
Things meaning a nice house, a summer cottage, a boat, trips to Europe, the latest Playstation, etc. Things your other friends that went into teaching or mechanical engineering or law have. All those things will come in time but the likelihood of you finding the financial success to afford those things early in your film career is a rarity. I found that when you remove the want for those things and can truly be happy with creating your art and living a much more modest lifestyle, then your brain and emotions are freed up to focus on the task a hand. Living without major debt points also has allowed me the freedom to work on passion projects (aka unpaid projects) and sometimes collaborate without pay on friends’ projects. These projects often have been the ones that have led to paid work or brought me the most acclaim to help boost my career.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mimetic Entertainment Inc. story. Tell us more about the business.
Mimetic Entertainment Inc. is a film and media production company. Primarily it exists to produce the films and music videos that I write and direct. I have created music videos and content for artists such as Third Eye Blind, Vanessa Carlton, SYML, Tim Hicks, and many more. With films, Universal Studio’s The Scarehouse is the most well-known title. A few years ago, I wrote and directed the world’s first live movie for horror kings Blumhouse (The Purge, Get Out). That film was a groundbreaking way of telling a story using a smartphone live streaming to the audience. My latest film, Last Call, premiered in Los Angeles at the Chinese Theatre to a sold-out crowd. The film deals with a man deciding to end his life. Calling a suicide hotline, he misdials and is connected with a random stranger. When the stranger, a young single mother, realizes what the man is up to, she decides to do the right thing and try to talk him out of it. The film is unique in that it is shot in split-screen so you are watching both sides of the phone call at the same time. It was also filmed in a single take so there are no edits during the entire film.
I think what set me apart as a filmmaker is always trying to blend the latest in technology with a high concept story. I really like movies that push the limits of what filmmaking gear can do. But that cannot be a gimmick. A gimmick film or music video isn’t that interesting after an initial watch. The gimmick or technology and technique must serve the story. There has to be a reason to tell a film in a single take for example.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
It’s sort of everything but also you need to make your own luck. If you don’t think outside the box, if you don’t try to get yourself into the right rooms where the people that can change your destiny are, you likely won’t find much good luck. Bad luck is only bad in the moment. Most of the time, with some distance, you realize that bad luck leads to opportunities and there is always something to learn from the experience to better yourself and your career.
A good luck example – I snuck into a party at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) with the hopes of meeting some people in film financing and distribution. Instead, I met my now wife. That’s as good as luck can be on your side. Same goes with what I said earlier in regards to sneaking into a concert. I sneak into one concert that opened a world of career opportunities for me.
Luck, The Secret, whatever you want to call it – you have to manifest it and be working towards the goal every day with real hard work and effort. Put the hours in. Sitting at home hoping to try it lucky just isn’t going to happen.
Contact Info:
- Address: 15925 Victory Blvd #210
- Website: http://www.gavinmichaelbooth.com
- Phone: 424-279-2783
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @gavinmichaelbooth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gavinmichaelbooth
- Other: http://www.lastcallonetake.com
Image Credit:
Mimetic Entertainment Inc.
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