In the summer of 2007, I was fresh out of college and rearing to break into the film industry. I knew my future lay in filmmaking, but I had to make a change. If I was going to break in, I would have to do something drastic.
So I packed a bag, jumped on a plane at LAX and left the country.
I landed first in Prague, where my dreams of success almost rivaled my sheer naiveté. Little did I know, failure is a fantastic motivator.
I transitioned south to Budapest where I began building online video travel guides for expatriates moving abroad. I filmed and edited in fifteen different countries across Europe and the Middle East. I became familiar with cities as far away as Almaty and Erbil, all the while honing my craft.
Four years after arriving in my adopted city, I launched a production company called Two Horse Films. This gave me the opportunity to work in small productions, mostly commercial and viral. I worked primarily as a creative producer and video editor.
I moved into television and became a film editor for On The Spot, a top rated documentary series running on Hungarian and German TV. It won the 2013 Golden Nymph at the Monte Carlo TV Festival and the 2014 Golden Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival, among numerous other accolades.
My time with that close-knit team was transformative. Before coming on, my editing knowledge was limited to fast-paced small projects. Working in the long form documentary space created huge creative challenges that defined my skills in spectacular ways.
After close to a decade, I was fortunate enough to run the gamut of the Hungarian film industry. Think of it as one long eye-opening workshop, hugely rewarding in both work and life experience. I realized there was only so much more I can accomplish in such a small place. It was time to come home.
In the summer of 2016, I arrived back in the States to freelance with Bay Area agencies and post houses. I soon jumped into the tech game and joined Airbnb to manage a tight knit crew of video editors. I continued to work the Bay Area freelance hustle and finally settled down at advertising agency Camp + King as their staff video editor.
