Meet Chad Newsome

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chad Newsome. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chad, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?
I’m an Indie Filmmaker…I have to be disciplined, and who better by than Self?

I am a self-taught, self-motivated, learn-on-the-job type of guy; experience has been an excellent teacher. After realizing that I wanted to make films, filmmaking became a strong focus in my life. Though I had life to live, I also had films to make.

Seven years ago, I decided I’d move from the East Coast to the West Coast to make films. And after spending three years stabilizing my life, I wrote, produced, directed, and shot my first short film. “The Post” is a six-minute film about the ‘psychological influence’ of the Covid-19 pandemic. With social media as its backdrop, it focuses on ‘customized perspectives’ influenced by environment, society, and/or specific associations.

Combining a committed focus with strong self-discipline enabled for this to occur. And here we are, four years later, and I now have seven short films to talk about.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
As previously mentioned, I’m a Filmmaker, of the independent kind. I love making films; I love creating the visualization for a uniquely written story.

In the past four years, I have produced seven short films. On all of them I served as Producer and Editor. I was the Cinematographer on six of the films; I served as Colorist on four of the films; and I co-directed three of the films. Oh, and I assisted with the musical placement for three of the films (“The Post”, “The Drug Deal (A Covid-19 Comedy)”, and “Keepsake”).

The project that kicked everything off was the self-penned “The Post”. After which came “The Cough (A Covid-19 Comedy)”, “Browsing History”, “The Drug Deal (A Covid-19 Comedy)”, “The Store (A Covid-19 Comedy)”, “Keepsake” and “Hey Neighbor!” The represented genres (so far) are character study, comedy, supernatural drama, and horror. “Keepsake” is actually a part of a larger body of work called “The Book of K.A.R.M.A.” where each ‘chapter’ is a story about the concept of ‘karma’ and will always begin with a letter in the acronym. This short film could also become the pilot episode of a series…we’ll just have to see in which direction my motivated, committed, perceptive, and focused energy shall lead it.

Last year presented me with ‘inspiration’ and ‘motivation’: my films “The Drug Deal (A Covid-19 Comedy)”, “The Store (A Covid-19 Comedy)”, and “Browsing History” were all accepted into the ‘Marina del Rey Film Festival’ and won! We received the Best Director, Narrative Short Film award for all three. Also, “The Drug Deal (A Covid-19 Comedy)” was accepted into the Los Angeles Comedy Film & Screenplay Festival and received the award for Best Cinematography.

What’s new? Funny you should ask! How much time you got? I have so many ideas, plans, interests and intentions…where to begin?

I am continuing the festival route this year. I’m submitting the supernatural drama “Keepsake” as well as the horror “Hey Neighbor!” and three previously submitted comedies “The Drug Deal…”, “The Store…”, and “Browsing History” in a specific film festival this Spring; I will let you know how that all turns out.

I am developing a feature, “The Raid (A Covid-19 Comedy)” (21 Actors, 1 location: this shall be interesting). In addition to the feature itself, I plan to shoot a Trailer or ‘Proof of Concept’ of the film. I am preparing to shoot the music videos for the theme song for “Keepsake” and “It’s Bad” (the lead single). I have plans to shoot a short film called ‘Twenty Dollars’, which pays homage to Mr. George Floyd, Jr. Also, another short film that strongly has my attention is “Her” which is about mental disease, ‘self-help’, and ‘childhood memories’. Currently, a lot of my attention is spent with developing a website which shall ‘house’ skits – of any genre – for audiences to be entertained, enlightened, amused, informed, and/or inspired in a short amount of time.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
These are the four qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that have been the most impactful during my professional journey as a Indie Filmmaker.

DETERMINATION: A must-have for anyone setting out to accomplish a goal or build a dream.

RESEARCH: Do your part in aiding yourself with its aspirations by empowering its first step to be research. Learn what you need to learn; know what you need to know. Choose to empower yourself with a strong foundation or ‘starting point’ with knowledge and information.

PATIENCE: Whomever you pray to, ask that Power for all of the patience in the world! In this industry, there is a lot of social contact. Shoots can be 10-12 hours, some scenes call for ‘intimacy’, some scenes may call for ‘anger and agitation’. Some are ‘method actors’, some are not. Some are on ‘downtime’ while others are busy. Basically, a typical workday will involve interaction with various types of people, sometimes confined within a small area for extended periods of time, working with ‘professionals’ of varying experience, and ordering diet-specific meals. Patience is required during your journey, yet especially when involved in this industry AND more especially as an Indie Filmmaker/Producer.

FOCUS: Distractions do what their name states – they distract. They are created to take you away from your focus; to redirect your steps. Learn to focus, or, in the least, to become aware when a ‘distraction’ has appeared. There have been a few times where ‘distractions’ (in the form of ideas, people, jobs, and beliefs) could have landed me in an entirely different situation. I dodged those ‘distractions’; I’m smarter, more patient…I can now discern what attraction is distracting and what attraction is empowering.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
“KEEPSAKE” IS DONE! This was the first of our short films that challenged me to the core of my heart and mind. The film is thirty minutes; the previous film was five-and-a-half minutes. “Keepsake” included four locations and one of them had to be ‘created’. “The Store…” – one location. Furthermore, there were issues with and during the production of the film that I had to deal with and resolve. I also assisted with the sound design of this film.

In hindsight, “Keepsake” was a ‘labor of love’ and a ‘life lesson’ all rolled up into a five-day film shoot. I wholly invested (emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, & creatively) into “Keepsake’ (as I do with all of my projects); however, this one right here really taught me a great deal about myself, life, people, processes, and patience.

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