Hi Richard,

You certainly have a name that is common to the Shore. By any chance are you related to Margaret Hopkins who worked at Salisbury University?
Your name seems very familiar to me. Did YOU attend SU?
Thanks for the offer too, I know I will have plenty of questions.

Tom

Hi Tom,

It's possible that I am and don't know it, but off the top of my head the name doesn't ring a bell but who know's huh?
And no I'm sorry I didn't attend SU.
I went to school in Philly and attended just one semester at a
local junior college.
My film career started by luck you could say.
I had been a martial arts instructor for a number of years and got
to know a lot of people and it just so happens that a classmate
of mines went to Hong Kong and made some movies there.
Well after his five year stay in Asia he came back in 1995 and got a job doing a film here and ask me if I would be interested in helping him on the choreography for a martial arts movie that
was going to be filmed in New York City so I jumped at the opportunity and have been doing it since.
And all my training came from learning from people in the business like directors,camera people and techs so I absorbed
as much as I could and started my own little Independent production company called Phillywood Entertainment.
And so far I have done two movies and am about to tackle a new
one come this May in Philly.
Movies to date:
"The Price You Pay"Action/ Drama:Location Philly- 2001-2002
"Bloodliners" Action/Horror-Locaton:Philly/France-2002-2003
In Pre-Production:"Beyond Sleep" Supernatural Thriller:Location Philly.
So I am trying to keep myself busy and I also do freelance work.
I was hired by a company out of NYC to film former President Bill Clinton in 2001 for a ceremony to honor him into the Harlem NY business district it was a pretty exciting job I must say.
So there you have it my life as a filmmaker/videographer.
Now I hope I'm not babbling too much about myself?
And any qusetions you would like to ask me please do so.
I want to get to know the people here on this forum.
Another note of interest I hope.
Starting this July I 'll be hosting a Indie festival here in Philly for
Indie moviemakers,documentaries and shorts so if anyone would
like to have any of their work displayed at the festival please contact me, but the work cannot be over 15 minutes in length
due to the entries already submitted.
So ask away Tom.
And thanks again for welcoming me to the forum.

Richard
Nice to meet you.
Speakin' of Indies, we just had a crew from NYU use my mom's country store for a location on a short called "The Dock". The film maker was a grad student, Nina Martinek and RocketGirl Films. Maybe she'll be in your festival. Interesting to watch! They were there 11 hours, and -maybe- will use 2 minutes for the film. Picked up some good lighting tips and shot preps.
The St. Michaels area is used a lot for film location. Maybe a shoot will bring you back home someday!
Welcome
Steve

Hello Steve,

Thanks for welcoming to the forum.
That's cool that a film crew filmed at your mother's place.
I hope someday that I can film something in Maryland especially
where I'm from because I remember a lot about St. Michael's when I was growing up my uncle used to own a place down there
which he sold years later once I was a teen it's now the Crab Claw but in the early 40'-60's it was called "Clayburn and Jewette
my uncle was Elwood Jewette.
So I remember all the times going there and watching people
preparing crab meat and oysters and clams.
Those were the memorial times for me.
I love Maryland and you know something I guess I'd better get
my butt going and try to work on doing something there soon in
the future even if it's a documentary that I hope will draw some
more attention to where we come from.
Thanks again for your responds and I'll keep everyone posted.