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As I’ve continued my journey at Columbia, something strange has been happening for me: the further along I get into the program, the more the lines between the professional world and the work I’m doing here at school have become blurred.

When I was in “Boot Camp” last August, I knew that I didn’t know enough to be able to jump into the professional world of producing.  But the problem was that “I didn’t know what I didn’t know”. Learning everything I might eventually need to know to be able to successfully launch myself as a movie producer (let alone fulfill my dream of running a studio) often felt like climbing a mountain that I could never see the top of.  I soaked up everything that I could in classes and in talking with my professors and fellow students, and it was a very challenging time.  It’s hard to push forward not knowing when you’ll see the other side.

Recently, though, I’ve been feeling quite differently when I walk the halls at Columbia.  While I still have a year to go in the Creative Producing program (including fulfilling both aspects of the thesis requirement: creating a feature binder and producing a short professional quality film), I have a confidence and a sense of readiness about me that I have never had before.  A question I like to challenge myself with sometimes is “Why not now?”, and I’ve definitely been asking this to myself recently.

I know that I still have some growth before me here at Columbia as well as more lessons to learn, but I can now also feel that I am perfectly capable of starting the behind-the-scenes work on projects I’ve dreamed of making for a long time.

It’s clear to me now that while I entered Columbia as a student ready to learn, I will be leaving it with a professional capacity to execute my visions as a producer.