Today we’d like to introduce you to RJ Dawson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us RJ. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
The story of how I got started is a little long. Weirdly enough, I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I was a kid. My father’s favorite film was Star Wars, so after seeing Luke blow up the Death Star a million times, I decided I wanted to do that too. Unfortunately, when I was shadowing an Air Force pilot on a trip in high school, he told me I was too tall to fit in the cockpit of the one plane I wanted to fly. Super disappointed, I decided to do what I thought the next best thing was; designing airplanes.
I went to college for aerospace engineering, but during an internship, I realized the job didn’t give me that same excitement I felt every other weekend when my father would pull out those Star Wars VHS tapes. It took me some time to realize it was the world that Lucas and his collaborators created and the experience they shared with us was what gave me so much life. So I decided that was what I wanted to do for a living.
I’m a director and writer, and I recently graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory. I’ve received a few awards for writing and our AFI thesis film, Gummi Bear, has been chosen as the Official Selection of Martha Vineyard’s African American Film Festival.
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Not just career-wise, but just in general. It’s no secret that the industry is difficult to break into, and it’ about who you know, and blah blah blah, all the stuff you hear on repeat anyway; but there’s also dealing with your family and personal relationships, which inevitably is affected by a decision to risk your well-being on a film-making career.
Saying you want to be a professional artist is every blue-collar family parent’s worst nightmare. And this entire career path of film-making is one big obstacle. No one wants to pay you, cause they don’t have the money, or they don’t respect your craft enough to pay you.
And I don’t say that to scare anyone away, but its just the reality of it. A mentor told me that early on, and I didn’t really fully grasp what he meant, but it is a literal grind to try to “make it.” And you have to learn to not only survive but to love the grind or else you’ll get chewed up by it. Beyonce say’s “she loves the grind” and that is why Beyonce is Beyonce.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I’m a director and a writer. I suppose I’d say I specialize in telling emotionally driven narratives from hopefully unique yet relate-able perspectives. My goal is to speak to the universal human condition through stories about people we don’t get to see that often, or who’s stories are often not told.
I’d say the thing I’m most proud of right now is my thesis film, Gummi Bear. I think its the best film I’ve made so far because of the emotional impact my team and I were able to achieve through our collaboration. In terms of what makes me different, I always find this a hard question to answer.
I’ve been told that I am surprisingly tender yet impactful. “Such subtly,” I remember someone once said. I think maybe what sets me apart is that I’ve decided to tell ideologically confrontational stories in such gentle ways, from an intimate perspective.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
I absolutely LOVE LA. And I know it sounds like a cliche thing for a transplant (originally from Chicago) to say, but I wrestled with the thought and realized that I do love LA. I’ll do my dislikes first, because, that list is short. The rent is way too damn high. And I’ve come to the conclusion that the higher rent is essentially a luxury tax for the chance to be in such a place like LA, but rich or poor, the rent is way too high. And parking.
I grew up a lot in the Southeast as well and one thing that I miss about down there is that parking was never this big of a headache if it ever were one at all. I remember one night I got home late, like 11 o’clock, while I was staying in LaBrea. I swear I circled the block for an hour and a half before I found something, and I still had to wake up at 5 AM to move my car before it got ticketed. It’s ridiculous.
My favorite thing about LA is that there is so much to do and so diverse. You drive 20 minutes, and you’re virtually in a different city, different neighborhood, different culture.
I think so many people’s idea of what LA is is unfairly skewed into really narrow vignettes when in reality there’s so much here; it would take a lifetime here to experience it all. There are so many nooks and crannies to this place, which means endless possibilities, and never a lack of something new to experience. I love this city.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @dawsonrj
Image Credit:
Yumiko Fujiwara, Sam Chatterjee, Ayinde Anderson
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
