We recently connected with Matthew Hersh and have shared our conversation below.
Matthew, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
As a writer and filmmaker, I’m constantly finding ways to keep my creativity alive. Writers block is real and it happens to everybody but when I want to start creating again I tend to watch film; both older movies that I’ve seen over and over as well as new movies out in theatres. I try to watch 3-5 movies a week. Even things like plays, concerts, theme parks, and escape rooms can help. Pretty much anything that involves some aspect of story-telling.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
So I grew up in upstate New York but after I graduated from high school, I moved down to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend college at UNCC. I studied Sociology and Film Studies there which was when I decided to pursue a career in filmmaking. Once I graduated, I moved down to Orlando, FL and had no idea what my next step would be. I always loved movies and wanted to write and direct but just didn’t know where to start. I was close to pursuing a Masters in Filmmaking in Orlando but I decided against it and instead I picked up a camera and starting shooting music videos, studio sessions, and live performances all across the country. I did that for quite a few years and saw a lot of success in that field and worked with a lot of artists I grew up listening too which was a surreal feeling.
My work in that field eventually got me an opportunity to move out to LA for an internship to work directly with the Multi-Grammy and Emmy Award Winning songwriter, artist, and producer Malik Yusef. I learned a lot from Malik in that one-year internship and am very grateful for that opportunity. I’d have to say the highlight of that was being in a studio session with Jay-Z. There were a lot of other amazing experencies for me in that year but eventually I went off on my own to pursue my original passion of filmmaking.
I started off working a variety of jobs on film sets. Starting off as a PA and then being hired to do mainly BTS photography and Drone work. I also worked other jobs on set like Assistant Director, Art Director, 2nd AC, etc.
I was able to learn from so many other filmmakers in the process and became good friends some of the cast and crew of sets I worked on. After learning first-hand how a production is done I took a leap of faith in 2018 and I wrote, produced, and directed my first short film ever for a two week film challenge. It wasn’t really that good but it was a start. In 2019, I directed two more short films that went on to see success in their respective film festival runs and I continued to grow and learn as a filmmaker.
In 2022, I wrote, produced and directed a short film titled “You Promised.” I’m so proud of this film and it went on to win numerous awards in a variety of festivals including Best Cinematography at Spooky Empire as well as our lead man Justin Miles winning Best Actor at both Shockfest and Days of the Dead for his amazing performance. “You Promised” is still going strong and I’ll have some more exciting news to share about it soon.
“You Promised” opened up a lot of doors for me as a filmmaker and most recently because of that I’ve been able to work on my next project. “If It Bleeds” will be my first full-length feature film as a writer, producer and director. I’m excited to share more information about both projects very soon.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’d say perseverance, a willingness to constantly learning and expanding your knowledge of the craft, and the self-confidence to pursue your passion. You’re going to constantly hear doubts from other people but you just have to have tunnel vision and create your own opportunity and trust your visions while also constantly being open to learning more.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
So back in 2019 I was gaining a lot of momentum as a filmmaker when all of a sudden everything came to a halt in 2020. It took me a couple of years to come back from that and to be honest I wasn’t in a good space mentally or physically for a while. I was out of work for the majority of the pandemic. I’m a very work-oriented person so that was extremely difficult for me. I sunk into a depression and I gained quite a bit of weight because of it.
It felt good to direct another short again in 2022 but I noticed after both production and post-production I was just exhausted and burnt out. Even though the film saw success I needed to improve both my physical and mental health. That was my main focus going into 2023 and in February I finally took the initiative to improve both my mental and physical health. I started to eat better and work out again and as a result I’ve already lost over 40lbs. That also helped me get in a better space creatively and I felt so much better on set on my latest project because of it. So I’d definitely say improving my mental and physical health has been my biggest area of growth most recently.
Contact Info:
- Website: imdb.me/matthewhersh
- Instagram: MatthewHershFilms
- Youtube: YouTube.com/MatthewHershFilms
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Albert Ortega, Rob Tirrell, Doug Hawley, Samuel Gonzalez Jr.
