Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrian Roman
Hi Adrian, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started filmmaking as a screenwriter. I wrote a feature length, sophomoric comedy and submitted it to some first-tier film festivals and screenwriting competitions to gage if I was any good at it. I didn’t submit to the smaller competitions because I needed to know if my stories were good enough to compete when they get thousands of submissions, instead of a couple of hundred. To my surprise, that script placed high and even won several prestigious contests; one of which received over 6,700 submissions worldwide. It really encouraged me. Then, I bought a camera, some nice lenses, a professional boom microphone and some lights. It was a lot to learn, I knew nothing about any of that, but I studied and practiced obsessively. A friend introduced me to some young people who wanted to get into acting so I wrote a script and shot a one-man crew feature film. I learned a lot for that experience. Fast forward to today and with the help of Executive Producer Scott James, a Charleston local, we now have feature films on Apple +, Amazon, Tubi, and many other platforms.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No matter what we decide to do, being new at anything is hard. We all have to struggle through being an unconscious incompetent, then a conscious incompetent, then an unconscious competent, and then, finally, a conscious competent. My observation is that it takes an average of three years of daily, highly focused effort to become competent at something and about five years to gain a semblance of expertise. That paradigm can be truncated. For example, if someone is willing to work sixteen hour days, then they’ll reach competence and expertise much faster than someone working eight hour days. That’s just math. I knew nothing about cameras. When I took my family on vacation, I’d go to CVS and buy one of those cameras in a cardboard box. Learning how a camera works, becoming a Cinematographer, learning lenses, gimbals, blocking, etc. took a lot of perseverance and focus. Making shorts is much less taxing than making features, so my ambition has caused me a ton of angst. Regardless, I love the art and collaboration of filmmaking. I love my film friends so all the work ends up being worth it. To list all the struggles that come with making feature length films would take many hours. It’s a beastie undertaking.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve been drawing, painting, playing music and writing since I was a little kid. Writing screenplays, producing, directing, shooting and editing films is relatively new to me. I’ve been a filmmaker for eleven years and everyday is an opportunity to get better and learn more. I started out wanting to write and direct, but began shooting and editing simply because I didn’t have to pay someone if I learned to do it myself. Many of my screenplays have won awards in prestigious festivals and competitions, so they’ve gained me some international recognition. I feel that writing is my “Calling Card” and is the foundation. I love telling stories, all kinds, all genres. I’ve learned that simply completing a feature length movie is a bit of a miracle, particularly if it has merit and gets wide distribution. I think that what sets me apart from many people is my perseverance. I’m not as impatient as I used to be when I was younger. We all enjoy immediate gratification, but obtaining any form of excellence takes time. I’m no different than anyone else in the internet, social media era. We all have the attention spans of fruit flies, but I’ll push through self-doubts and personal issues out of a sincere desire to finish what I start. In the end, I owe it all the people who work on a project with me to make sure it gets completed and distributed.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
People who know me from the film and entertainment industry don’t know that I was an Officer of a Fortune 100 Financial Services Company prior to starting my film production company. I’ve traveled the world over and given a ton of speeches in North America, South America and Asia on topics ranging from Estate Tax Law, Investments, Retirement Planning, to How to Manage Large and Complex Organizations, and Entreprenuship.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ShadowmossEntertainment.com
- Youtube: Shadowmoss Entertainment
