Spotlight: Jeremy Grady

Who are you?

Hi, my name is Jeremy Grady. I am 17 years old. I’m half Burmese, half Irish. I was born and raised in south Philadelphia. I’ve been doing filmmaking and video-making for a few years now.

How did you come to realize your passion for filmmaking?

I really discovered my passion for filmmaking once I started consuming the medium a lot more. I think the main thing that got me into it, though, was freshman year. I took a media production class, and it opened my eyes to what the world of filmmaking really was, which I wasn't really interested in before, but once I started to learn more about it, I was hooked, immediately. It was such an amazing thing to me. I knew it was what I wanted to do.

What kind of films do you create?

I don’t really create any one specific genre. The things I enjoy the most are probably documentaries and advertisements. Those are the two things I work on the most. I just recently finished a project and it was a horror movie.

What/who are your biggest influences and inspirations?

I really liked Marvel movies as a kid, so I think for films, that was one of the huge things that I really liked. Aside from that, honestly just youtube creators. I draw a lot of inspiration from cool projects that I see on the internet and it really gets my brain juices flowing. 

What challenges have you faced in your journey?

I guess believing it’s worth it. I look at a lot of the work I do once I’m done with it and I'm like, “Wow this sucks.” I think the real challenge is moving past that and realizing that you should just keep creating ‘cause you will get better over time. It’s not a linear thing. Nobody ever starts out at something good. You just have to keep going at it to get better.

How do you think your background has influenced the stories you tell?

Movies were something I grew up with a lot. There wasn't really a lot to do growing up in south Philly aside from hanging out with friends, but I think movies were something that I was just drawn to naturally. Even though I never really had an interest in making them, I always had an interest in film, creativity, and art.

What’s your favorite or proudest work or achievement?

Probably the short film I just made. It’s definitely not good, but it feels good to work on something and create something that’s 100% my own for the first time. I thought of the concept. I thought of every single thing about it. Despite it definitely not being good or even the best thing I ever made, I think it’s kinda cool.

Describe your creative process.

It’s really just about thought. I daydream a lot so sometimes, when I have a really good daydream or just a really good idea, I begin thinking about if there's a way to map that out. Can I bring this idea, this dream, or this thought I have in my head into real life? And that's when I start thinking of an outline. I start thinking of, if I do wanna make it, what kinda camera shots I wanna take. What type of dialogue. What kinda characters I wanna make, and I just go on from there: start writing a script, start storyboarding, stuff like that

How do you balance school and filmmaking?

Honestly, school kinda helps me in my filmmaking because at home there are a lot of distractions, but when I’m in school the only thing that is unrestricted is really my brain, my mind, and what I think about. That kinda helps me think more about different ideas I might wanna do while in class. When you can’t do anything else, your mind starts thinking and wanders the most, and that’s when I'm at my best, in terms of creativity.

What are your plans for the future?

In terms of post secondary: Montgomery County Community College because they have really good mass media programs there, and I really wanna improve the technical aspect of my filmmaking. I think anybody can create a good story. Anybody can think of a good concept. I think the biggest part is your technical skill and that's what I wanna improve upon. After that, I wanna attend Drexel because they also have a really good mass media program.