Gary Lawrence is going to Los Angeles, and you can go with him.
Not literally, of course, but for those who have watched him go from high school intern to video whiz at ORCTV, it’s no surprise that he’ll be vlogging his road trip as he moves to the West Coast to try and make it there working on feature film camera crews.
“I haven’t even planned all my stops,” he said. “I’ve got some friends I want to see, but I’m just going to vlog (video blog) my way out there. I think it’ll be a good document, maybe a little bit helpful to others considering the same move,” said Lawrence. “No two paths are the same when it comes to film. It’s not like being a doctor; it’s kind of a mysterious thing that nobody talks about.”
Lawrence, 27, has worked off and on for ORCTV for over a decade, including the last three years as a full-time employee. He grew up in Rochester where he had a bit of an epiphany in sixth grade. His older brother did a video project for the high school, and Gary was impressed.
“I used to shoot videos, but something about seeing how those kids had made this high-production show made me think, ‘Hey, I can do something like that,’” he said. “And I’ve been working towards it ever since.”
He got involved with ORCTV at the suggestion of his pastor, Rev. Robert Ripley of the First Congregational Church of Rochester.
“He filmed his sermons and he’d drop them off there, and he was like, ‘You should really shoot for them.’ It was what I wanted to be doing, I just wanted to further my knowledge.”
The experience, first as an Old Rochester student and then as an adult staff member shooting community video (and mentoring kids at his former school), was a great training ground.
“ORCTV’s been great,” he said. “It’s been really a perfect job for where I was coming out of college. We’ve done a lot here, first over at the Captain Hadley house, then back into the school. Now it’s like this full-fledged production studio. That whole experience was great, I couldn’t be happier with where we are.”
As Lawrence got more and more comfortable with his skills, he also learned an inconvenient truth: that living in Southeastern Massachusetts, surrounded by a loving family and lots of friends, was not the place for him to really thrive in his field. He knew he’d eventually have to make a move if he really wanted to reach his goals.
“Nobody in my family is really connected to the business. They’re all for it, but they’re not thrilled about me moving across the country,” he said. “But I met a producer and formed a relationship there, and they said ‘Come on out here, we’ll figure out what your role is going to be,’ and I had to go for it.”
Lawrence has no delusions of instant grandeur, saying he plans to grind his way toward his goals.
“There’s a hierarchy, you work your way up from the bottom,” he said. “Just being in the camera department for feature films, that’s my goal. Los Angeles really is where you have to be, just being around people that have that same passion that you do.”
For Lawrence, nerves are taking a backseat to excitement.
“I don’t care if it’s a set of a hundred people, a big narrative film with a budget, or just a few people working on a short project,” he said. “What’s great about L.A. is that there are just so many different ways to express yourself.”
Lawrence cites “anyone who produces original content” as influences, specifically Edgar Wright, Christopher Nolan, and legends like Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock.
Where does he see himself in the future?
“I just hope I get steady work, hopefully producing my own material, directing my own small stuff, low budget. That’s what’s ideal,” he said. “I know it won’t always be some big budget thing, and that’s OK. I just want to work.”
Check out Gary’s video blog on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nITy6p97ApQ&t=46s.
By Jonathan Comey