Filmmaking Focus

Filmmaker Ron Byron is an optimist. It shows in his success and it is evident in the advice that he gives others who want to become filmmakers. “If you have a voice inside that says I can do that, go do it,” admonishes Byron. “No matter how big and daunting it seems, go do it. With today’s technology everyone can shoot a film.”

While Byron’s advice may seem a little too optimistic, he has good reason for believing in dreams. Byron was a freshman in college studying pre-dentistry when he realized he hated every minute of dentistry school and couldn’t stand the thought of living the rest of his life as an orthodontist.

“The last day of school that year I was having a conversation with a girl I knew and told her how depressed I was about my future,” said Byron. “I said I needed to figure out what I was going to do with my life. She asked one simple question, ‘What do you like to do most?’ My response: ‘Go to the movies.’ She said to do that. I said okay and signed up for film classes. The rest is history.”

And that’s just what he did. Texas born and raised, Byron attended film school at the University of Texas. “Great program but I didn’t get as involved as I should have. I didn’t understand the importance of networking in our business,” laments Byron. His advice: “Make connections in film school. Shoot the best movies you can and take advantage of the tools and knowledge.”

Byron, who boasts of holding every position on a film set at one time or another eventually left San Antonio to pursue bigger and better dreams. “I moved to New York to study acting since my goal has always been to write, direct and act in my own films. I moved to LA, delivered scripts for awhile then became a commercial boom operator for a sound mixer friend of mine. I’m still booming. I’m grateful to have a job that pays well, allows me to work on film sets using the latest technologies and work with top professionals in the field. Working 15 days a month also gives me time to work on my own projects.”

One such project is a short film entitled Le Baton or “The Stick.” In this film a fastidious troupe of French paper pickers has a blemish in its midst: A chronically tardy worker who can’t learn their marching choreography. To prove his worth, he’s sentenced to tidy up the messiest part of the park with “the stick” by dinnertime. The budget for the film that won several awards and took Byron and his team to France for a film festival was $40,000.

Currently, Byron is working on a feature film with a budget anywhere from $500,000 to $3 million depending on several factors. This film called Watching Max is a dramatic love story that centers on a garbage man who decides to keep a day-old baby that he finds in a dumpster. “One choice changes his life forever,” said Byron. “Watching Max is a dramatic love story that inspires hope. I tend to lean toward those types of stories.”

Byron’s final words of advice: “Work 23 hours a day until your project is finished. And do it right now. Don’t wait for the perfect time. It will be impossibly hard. Don’t think your project is jinxed because it’s not going as planned. No one’s project goes as planned. And when it’s all done…now comes the real hard work.”

To learn more about Byron and view clips from his films visit www.ronbyron.com.