Film Courage: So this question comes in from Michael Pythium (Hi Michael by the way. Thank you
for your question) Definitely an awesome feat but what drives you was it always a
dream to be a filmmaker or was it something that fell into your lap one day?
Justin Warren, Filmmaker: Yeah I think it's somewhere in between those two things. I think I'm an
I'm an odd case in the sense of like I had always grown up like my friends is
like my like when I was eight years old my my grandfather gave me a VHS camera
and so I the first movie I ever made was like I I made r2d2 crawl across my roll
across my kitchen table using stop-motion animation I was the first
movie I ever made when I was eight years old and I I pretty much always played
with a camera growing up because I was pretty lonely I didn't have a lot of
friends so I would stay at home on the weekends and I would make I would
literally play I'd make little Star Wars films and I would play all the parts I
would and I intuitively sort of understood of like okay well I like I
would cut all the everything in camera because it was like before I had access
to like Final Cut or anything like that so like I would like actually film like
me as like a Sith Lord going like don't you know where are the rebels and then
I'd stop and then turn it and then I'd take the mask off and then go over here
and then be the be the other side of the conversation right so that had always
been in my life but I never like wanted to be a filmmaker growing up I just did
it because that's how I entertain myself and then you know I went to I went to
college and in college I was I was pretty hell-bent on becoming an actor
that's what I really wanted to do and a musician I really want to do those two
things and so I ended up sort of at some point realizing like maybe I confuse
those two things together and figure out a way to use all these different
interests into one thing because the thing I love about filmmaking is like
it's like so many different disciplines all married into one
and so I wasn't ever really gonna pursue it really until I got into film school
and I got into film school I was telling you earlier like it kind of blindsided
me I didn't expect to get in I didn't know I didn't know anyone there I did
you know I like on I feel like on paper there's no way I should have gotten into
film school there's just no way and so I sort of took that almost as like you
know as this weird is gonna sound weird but almost like divine you know
intervention of like you need to do this and it's something I've always been
fascinated by and so I went to film school basically because like my school
wouldn't allow anyone to defer like it's like a once in a lifetime chance it's
like you're either in or you're not in because I was gonna see like maybe I can
defer a year or something like that and that wasn't an option and so I just
jumped and and did it and because it sounded way better than working for a
gas company so I I've done that and now I can't see my life without creating
films I can't see it and so there was never really a moment where I was like I
want to be a filmmaker and this is what I'm gonna do it did kind of fall into my
lap but that's because I had all it always sort of been in the background in
the way you know and in movies were always a way that my family bonded
together like we speak in movie quotes to each other you know that's that's my
family my dad's a massive film buff and so like you know Turner Classic Movies
was always on when we were growing up and I'd be like Daddy why are your
movies in black and white and minor in color like what's going on I don't
understand you know and like I don't know it's it's sort of been a natural
progression there was never a moment where I was like I am a filmmaker now
it's been a real slow burn for me to kind of get to this point and and now
like writing scripts and and making films kind of feels like breathing to me
not in the sense of it's easy it feels just natural
it feels like oh this is a thing I have to do because it's in me now if that
makes sense it does I was just wondering with this job that was that the gas
coming was it already lined up no it was basically me like I would pass by like
okay I'm gonna work there and then we're going to cuz this when I was planning my
wedding with my wife I was like okay I'm gonna work there and then I'm gonna have
that house and cool we're gonna sell then we're gonna have kids it's gonna be
awesome and so that was my plan like I was gonna
I was like literally putting together a resume to submit to that gas company cuz
I'm gonna work there and so that's yeah that's basically how that worked out
do you want to do theater on the side you know I I've always like I love
performing it's great but I the actor's life to me is so brutal and at that
point in my life I didn't think I was strong enough to do that which is like
to pick up and move to you know if you want to do theater a lot of times you
pick up and move to New York you know and try to crash with your friends and
try to make it and at that point in my life I just wasn't that bold to do that
and so for me film school made sense because it's like oh well that's kind of
like a safe place I can go I can move to a new place and there's like structure
and you know I can learn about this thing because I had always fantasized
about making a movie and like what would that be like what would that look like
and so getting tagged because actually like there was a point right after I
graduated from college where I told my mom I was like you know what I kind of
want to try to make a movie and she was like oh what do you need for that and
and I was like why I guess I need a camera and she literally and like this
is a testament to how how phenomenally blessed I am to have parents like this
my my mom literally opened up her wallet and she handed me money and she was like
do you think that's enough and I was like I think so and so I went and I
googled cameras and stuff like that I was like I think I'm gonna
in that camera and I never bought it I never bought it because I realized I
didn't know how I didn't even know where to begin and I don't want to take my
parents hard earned money and buy something and then never use it I just
didn't want to do that and so I ended up give me my my mom her money back
so just gave it back to her I was like thank you so much cool I don't think I'm
gonna do that and then later on I ended up applying to film school and when I
got in then I was like oh that makes sense like now I can go and learn how to
use a camera and learn in my brain that's that's what I was thinking of
like oh I can go there I can go to a safe structured environment learn my
discipline learn my craft and then come out and do something that I've always
wanted to do that's just sort of always kind of been in the background if that
makes sense and so the getting into film school at
least to me you know and I'm not I'm not saying everybody needs to go to film
school it's it's definitely different for every single person like there's
some persons some people who don't need it
me in particular I feel like I needed it because I did I wasn't bold enough just
to pack out pack up my car and move to LA and just start making films you know
I just not that personality sure so it worked out I it worked out great for me
so far so far yeah everybody has a different comfort level like yeah for
sure definitely and some people they only feel alive when they're like
risking everything yeah yeah and they're not pleased absolutely and there's some
people that are incredible at that they're just amazing like I have some
friends that that have done that just like literally dropped everything they
were doing and they drove to LA with like 50 bucks in their pocket and I'm
gonna make this work and they have wow I'm not that personality I'm just like
no I need to know exactly how much it's gonna cost I need to know you know I
didn't know where I'm sleeping you know but you know I feel like the that spirit
though the the magic of movies and and what stories can do I think that's in
all of us and you know we all take different different paths to get there
my path doesn't isn't gonna look like everybody else's path but so far like
you know it's only really in hindsight that you can look back and see that oh
that did connect to that and that connected to this but when you're going
through it sometimes I can feel like chaos but just in my and my thirty-one
years of living when I look back at my life I realize like every single moment
in my life where I thought like oh that was the end that end was always a
beginning and this always connected to that in a way that I couldn't see at the
time and now I'm I feel like I'm just now getting to the point where I can
just sort of like live my life and be like oh this was happening now okay and
just sort of go with it because I used to fight that all the time I used to
fight like wait but how does this fit into my dreams of working at a gas
company how does that fit into you know and at the time I would stress out about
those things but now like I just try to I don't want to get too new agey here
but you know I try to just follow my my bliss you know like oh this feels right
this feels right in my intuition this is what I'm gonna do now and so far it's
been working out alright well before I found the gong do you do
you ever think about hey like it's 11 o'clock here if I was back home it would
be whatever to whatever and I'd be looking out on a courtyard from my desk
you know and I'd have structure and I'd have many things and I'd have yeah yeah
I'd either be the boss or I'd have a boss to report to uh-huh and that could
have been my reality not that that's a bad reality for some people right that's
great absolutely but do you ever think about
that I do sometimes think about lake and it terrifies me and it terrifies me not
not because like yeah like those people are crazy it's not like that it's it's
like I even though like right now I feel like I'm I'm on my path like with
without a doubt I'm unquestionably on my path and I think that that other path at
least for me if I had done that other that other type of life it would have
been basically it would have been in reaction
to denying risk denying taking a risk whenever I have fleeting moments of
thinking like what could have been I know that that life at least just for me
would have been a byproduct of of minimizing risk in my life you know
because like there are some people that go do that and that's what they're
designed to do that's what they're meant to do for me I'm I'm not designed that
way I am designed to do this and and the
great part though is like even though like you know a career in film is
unbelievably unpredictable and I'm just at the beginning of mine so I'm still
like trying to figure it out but you know it's been great because like I've
learned to create a lot of structure in my life that has allowed me to be
creatively productive and and has allowed more sanity into my life you
know and I I think I've I can definitely take because I call my brother in fact
my brother called me the other day and he works a 9 to 5 job and he was like
man it must be nice to be able to do whatever you want and I was like I know
it probably seems that way but at Snap case it's a there's a lot of uncertainty
you know there's a lot of lack of lack of sometimes direction that you can feel
but I've I've just like I'm what I'm 4 years out of school and I'm a minute
first off I'm amazed I'm still out here like every single day I'm like man I'm
still out here that's amazing that's incredible and and and it's all been by
some beautiful design that I I can't determine while I'm while it's go on
going through it you know every single thing has led has perfectly led to the
other thing even in the times where it feels like I've gone through or I've
been going through the desert without any water you know and so it's been a
really awesome experience so far and I can't wait to see where it goes
you