As a student filmmaker at NYU, the prevailing option for building up a crew to your film was to go to underclassmen’s classes and pitch your story, hoping you would spark the interest of young minds. The reasons abound for why this was not an available option to me (I am no longer a student, I live in Louisiana, etc.). So I had to figure out a different way to get the support that I needed. A local university was uncooperative at best and my high school wouldn’t even return my phone calls. And then the most obvious answer finally came to me this week. The New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, where my arts education took off. I had been afraid to return since going to college, as I did not know what I would find. Rumors about Post-Katrina NOCCA told every kind of story, and I did not want to see the place that I cherish in shambles. So I was happy to see it thriving and expanding, and it was such an honor to be able to speak to classes in the Media Arts Program.

Jules presents at NOCCA

I pitched my film to build interest, but I also had the opportunity to dispense a little advice on the next step after NOCCA. NOCCA is an arts program unlike any other, and I am confident that the help that I get from the students I spoke to will be second to none. The students there are as talented as any of the upper level students that I worked with at NYU, except for a lack of experience with film. I truly believe that its existence will lead to a spike in the quality of films to come because the wealth to afford film school does not always mean the talent to make films, and NOCCA is a state-funded program.

Additionally, since this has become a forum for introducing our websites, I would like to introduce www.sensiblebathtub.com.