Rising Stars: Meet Harry Waldman of Chicago

Today we’d like to introduce you to Harry Waldman.

Hi Harry, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
-I have loved movies since I was just a few years old, but I was someone who was a bit too “practical” when it came to my career, despite the fact that my Dad has been a successful artist since I was young. I assumed that you were supposed to graduate college and then work at a job that you weren’t passionate about in order to pay the bills. The thought really depressed me, so I tried not to think about it too often and focused on my hobbies, which included watching movies, playing video games, sports, listening to music and hanging out with friends.

I studied business in college, which ultimately taught me how to be a good leader as a film director/producer, but the content didn’t interest me much. I assumed that I would get some business marketing job out of college that I wouldn’t really be passionate about. I started to have these fantasies about finding myself working a marketing gig on a film production during my junior year of college, and while the fantasy excited me, it also depressed me because it didn’t seem realistic considering my situation.

During the second semester of my senior year of college, a few weeks after watching “The Social Network”, which is one of my favorite films of all time, and which I believe had an influence on what I am writing below, I had a dream that I was going to a prestigious film school, taking various filmmaking courses, collaborating with other students to work on film projects, etc. Near the end of the dream, I met a psychic who told me that one of my closest friends (Inspired by Mark Zuckerberg stabbing Eduardo Saverin in the back) would steal my film idea, but despite this awful fact, I would become a successful filmmaker.

While I believe that I get along well with most people, I can be a vengeful person if I feel that I was wronged. What truly shocked me about this dream was that I was so excited about the prospect of me being a successful filmmaker, that it completely overshadowed my distress over having my film idea stolen by my best friend.

Suddenly, I woke up, jumped out of my bed, grabbed my backpack and jacket and ran to the front door of my apartment, getting ready to go to one of my “film classes”. Then, I realized that it was 12:10 p.m. on a Saturday; that I had just been at a bar the previous night with friends; and that I wasn’t a film student at a prestigious film school, but a marketing student at a business school; and I would graduate college and find some job that I hated; and that would be the rest of my life…this was the single most depressing moment of my entire life.

I stared at my bedroom wall for about 20 minutes and then a lightbulb popped on inside my head. I told myself, “So you finally figured out your passion as you’re graduating college. That’s unfortunate, but you’re still only 21 years old. You have plenty of time”. I immediately came up with a plan for my filmmaking career. I would graduate college with my business marketing degree, and find a decent paying job in business after college during the day while pursuing my filmmaking career during the evenings and weekends. This plan launched the beginning of my exciting filmmaking career, from watching youtube videos on filmmaking and working as a Production Assistant on film sets while working in Insurance to pay the bills to being able to direct and produce my own films as my main passion while editing many different projects on the side.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The hardest part was the beginning, which required me to rewire my thinking regarding how to live my life. I spent my whole childhood assuming I was supposed to sit at a desk and do a job I hated my whole life because “that’s what many people around me did or were planning to do”.

Once I quickly realized as an adult that this type of life wasn’t for me, it took me putting two and two together in order to realize how passionate about film I was. Then I had to figure out my niche in filmmaking, which I learned was writing, directing and editing.

Of those three areas of filmmaking, editing is the one that I have been able to make a living in, mostly from editing commercial projects and working in other areas of post-production. There was definitely a learning curve when I began editing other’s projects. It wasn’t like my Insurance job where every time I ran into an issue, I could simply ask my boss how to handle the situation. I had to learn to think on my feet and solve problems on my own, and this helped me grow a lot as a professional and as an individual.

In the last few years, I have struggled to navigate the film festival industry. While I have had some success with two of my short films, there has been a lot of rejection, which took its toll on me for a time. Most recently, I am trying to understand distribution and all of the factors that allow others to see my completed work.

Overall, I have faced many challenges, but my passion for this subject has prevented me from ever considering quitting, even if I have needed a break from time to time. And what has made it easier for me to keep going has been my ability to objectively analyze every situation, learn from my mistakes and go from there.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am known for my personal films (4 shorts and 2 features) that I have made over the last handful of years. Directing, writing and editing are my 3 favorite parts of the filmmaking process. If I had to pick one, it would be editing. I have spent the most time editing of these three as I have edited a handful of other projects in addition to my own. Editing is also my favorite part of the filmmaking process as I believe it is when the magic really happens. You finally get to see the story come to life in post-production and it is very cathartic.

I am most proud of my two feature films, “The Corridor Crossing” and “Incautious”. “The Corridor Crossing” has my favorite narrative of all of my films and contains a lot of my signature elements as a filmmaker. “Incautious” was the most fun I have ever had making a film and contains a handful of my favorite shots of any of my films. “The Corridor Crossing” suits my usual style, while with “Incautious”, I was trying to do something different and I am very happy with the contrasting results.

As for what sets me apart from others, as a filmmaker, I think I have a pretty authentic style of filmmaking (albeit one that can be triggering and considered to be amateurish by some of my peers). As for the way my brain is wired, I have an endless obsession with analyzing every situation and a non-stop work ethic that allows me to pretty quickly learn from my mistakes and bounce back on the next attempt.

What are your plans for the future?
I have three short films that have all completed their festival runs. I plan to release “In the Backseat” on my official website, Vimeo page and Youtube page in the next month or two. Then, I have a couple final tweaks I need to make to my other two shorts, “Enter the Room” and “Bay For Blood” before I release those films online. I have a short animated film that I am working on with my dad, who is a professional artist and art professor one of his previous students who is an extremely talented artist and animator.

I am also finishing editing my debut feature film, “The Corridor Crossing” and hope to submit that to festivals once it’s complete. As for “Incautious”, I just finished filming that one recently and am beginning to cut the film together. And in the next year or so, I hope to make my next film, a short horror comedy film, which I am really excited about as I have never made a horror comedy before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://edgewaterfilmproduction.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hwaldman18/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harry.waldo.3/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisonwaldman/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryWaldman1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsZ2cMMN2wCYoC5IptbvemQ
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7046012/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0