When Did You Imagine Your First Story?

What age were you when you first imagined a story? You were probably so young that you can’t even remember. How old were you when you were able to turn that imagination into a physical creation? I can bet that your answer to the second question is a far larger number than your answer to the first one.

Maybe, you have never been able to bring your story to life. It’s no surprise that as we get older life gets harder and we sometimes don’t have the resources to showcase our imagination. However, I am here to tell you that it is possible to bring your visions to life no matter what your age is or the amount of resources you have.

How do I know it’s possible? My name is Caleb. I am 15 years old, and I’m The director, writer, and producer of Attribute of the Strong.

My film, Attribute of the Strong, is about a homeless man who wins the lottery and then seeks to take revenge on a man who wronged him.

The main character, Justin, starts out living on the streets of Austin, TX. After one lucky day, he becomes a millionaire. Nine months later, he’s reminded of someone from his past who treated him poorly. This person becomes Justin’s main focus. For the rest of the film, we see the inner battle of Justin as he seeks to locate and take revenge on the human he can’t forgive.

Attribute of the StrongCaleb Walker

Looking for Passion

Just like many others, I’ve always loved the art of storytelling, especially through filmmaking. I’ve always been creating stories. Like many others, I imagine something completely new from a single piece of inspiration. There’s one fault that I and most other people have:

They have always just been imaginations.

More youth would be interested in making movies if they knew they didn’t need an army to create one. Most people give up on filmmaking because it seems like you must have the money and ability to hire a crew the size of an army. In reality, this is not the case. However, I once believed this. It held me back from creating at an early age.

When I turned 15, I let go of this belief. I didn’t want to keep telling myself, “I’ll eventually have the power to do it, and then I’ll do it”. I put my foot down and declared that I would make a movie whether it was good, bad, fun, boring, tiring, or energizing. At least I would give it a try.

The search for inspiration began. Little did I know, the inspiration was right next to my school desk.

Attribute of the StrongCaleb Walker

Still Looking

After declaring my mission, I searched everywhere for inspiration. So I looked—in films, YouTube videos, introspection, school, and even my relationships. I found some inspiration, however, never prompted me to create a screenplay. I sat at my school desk, tired and disappointed. Then, I turned to my right and looked out the window. That was my inspiration. The window itself inspired me.

In Austin, we have a large homeless population. So, it’s not uncommon to look out the window and see a few homeless people. However, it was different for me this time. I believe this is because I was now looking through this window with the eyes of a creator. Creators are able to build something new out of the ordinary. They are able to imagine a new idea out of something everyone saw the same way before.

I now saw this window as the divider between somebody who is trying to obtain opportunity, and somebody who has lost it. I would never know his story, and he would never know mine. How did he get there? Does he wish he led his life differently? Did society put him in his position? What would he do if we swapped places for the day? What would happen if he gained the opportunity? What could happen if he gained the opportunity? Just like that, I had the inspiration.

Here is my advice: If you want to create something great, look at even the most ordinary things with the eyes of a creator.

Attribute of the StrongCaleb Walker

Going Against the Flow

Since I’m only fifteen years old, I had to manage high school coursework with writing a screenplay. I had a difficult time balancing these two commitments in the beginning. However, I not only ended up writing the movie, but I produced and directed it right after. There is one word that describes how I was able to accomplish this: Discipline.

I used to despise the word. This was mainly because I always associated discipline with the words “force” and “must”. I always thought discipline was the act of just doing something you don’t want to do. I think these words can suck the creativity out of any filmmaker. It is almost impossible to create something great by forcing creativity.

I was only able to make extreme progress when my perception of discipline shifted. I think this quote sums it up better than I could:

Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most. – Abraham Lincoln

Also, only you can discipline yourself into creating something great. Nobody else on this planet can convince you to build your vision. Instead, you must convince them your vision is great.

Attribute of the StrongCaleb Walker

Pitch Like a Madman

I had to pitch to a lot of people; this is because I needed something from these pitches. I needed a little bit of money. So, I pitched to people to make them believe in my story. I needed the actors to believe in a junior filmmaker. So, I pitched to actors to make them believe my story. I needed help in filming. So, I pitched to a tiny film crew (4 people) to help them believe in my story. I needed film locations. So, I pitched to locations to ask them if I could use their space. I even pitched to people on the street to ask if I could include their face in the finished product. However, It wasn’t just me doing this. Through pitching, I had amassed a group of people who believed in this story. There is one major lesson I learned from this experience, and I will take this advice wherever I go.

If you want to create something great, you have to make people believe.

– YouTube

www.youtube.com

Belief was the most powerful tool I had. If I needed to film inside a gas station, I had to ask the owner for permission. People only give permission, if you give them a powerful pitch. This pitch doesn’t need to be in a specific format. Your pitch just has to help them grasp your full vision. One key to making people believe in your project is that you must believe it yourself. Believe that it’s not only a good story, but that you can and will make this film amazing. That is my advice for young filmmakers who want to do something similar to me. You must believe in this dream so much that you will joyfully work on this for an extended period of time. Big budget movies are only ever greenlit because the studio believes this is an amazing idea that will become an amazing finished product.

The hardest thing I had to do to create this film was to discipline myself into starting it. After falling in love with the process, it was easy to produce. Looking back now, it’s hard to believe I once thought I couldn’t make a movie at fifteen. Luckily, my old beliefs got replaced with this, “I do have the power to be limitless”. Who would have thought I could do that at fifteen? If I can do it at fifteen years old, so can you.