Today we’d like to introduce you to P.m. Lipscomb.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
On April 23rd, 2006, I recounted a story to my then-roommate, Danny Jansen. The dream was a cross of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Peewee’s Big Adventure. To which he replied, “You should make movies!” Immediately a lightning bolt struck my imagination and off I went. Since then, as of this interview, I have made three feature’s and thirty-six short films. I just recently mounting my first feature film with a budget, CLOWNING. In the beginning, I was making movies on the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio. Little did I realize I would find myself in Hollywood some twelve years later. I made the bulk of my work with amazing local people, giving up chunks of their time for grilled cheese. I eventually set out to San Francisco by train around five years ago. Going from there to my first movie with a budget is a whole other story.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Moving from Cincinnati, Ohio; where I worked as a preschool teacher for three years on the side of making movies, out to San Francisco by train with only $300, where I got myself into the backdoor at a film school (in order to make money), and finally down into a one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood on my own with a six-figure movie is quite the tale with many struggles. Cincinnati was a little more than a third of how expensive San Francisco is to live. When I first arrived, I slept on my sister’s couch, which was two inches too short for my body, for three months. I worked three jobs, a barista in a coffee shop, a dog walker, and then the film school opportunity came along. I hadn’t graduated from college.
However, the position in the school demanded a film school degree of some kind, with the already instilled knowledge of how to use film cameras intact. I had never had the opportunity to use those cameras in the past and was too excited to not at least try. So after mounting a resume with a few references which derived from fiction, with the best intent, I went to the interview. To my excitement, I received the job and was handed six hundred feet of film and a Bolex camera to experiment with. I made my movie, “eye lie” (found on Vimeo or YouTube) and it played in the San Francisco Frozen Film Festival in 2016 and Won the Best Film Stock movie award. After saving up some money, I brought all my screenplays down south and then mounted my first feature, CLOWNING, which is a tale in itself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
On the first day, back on April 23rd, I picked up a pen and paper and began my journey into writing screenplays. This was an extremely exciting time with an endless amount of possibilities. It truly doesn’t cost you anything but time and patience to learn the craft of writing. Here, inside of the piece of paper, lives your true imagination. Where it can blossom into anything, it desires at the moment. This, I believe, is why I have gotten as far as I’ve gotten over the past fifteen years. A well-written script isn’t very easy for these amazing actors to find. Hence when one pops up, it is explored by every news publication out there. Truly exploring a story that you love and loves you is one of the most exciting expressions of my life’s journey. There is no better pleasure in the world than hearing your words being spoken into existence by actors—the words in which you isolatedly put down painfully onto paper for hundreds of hours.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
In Los Angeles, there are many positive qualities. For me, everything comes back to making movies. I absolutely how quickly you can get to all kinds of different-looking terrain. Also, it excites me that we are able to drive to any costume shops or prop warehouses we might need. Having Fotokem, Spectra, and Pro 8mm just a drive away for all my film stock needs is a true dream! I wish there were something we could do more for the homeless who are stuck living on the streets. I’m sure there are great people working towards this, but I feel if we all came together, we could figure out a long-term solution for all the humans in need.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p.m.lipscomb/?hl=en,
https://www.instagram.com/clowningmovie/?hl=en - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009898538227
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXzBI9DkaQK4k1DUyod95aw
