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Christa Watkins
One day I meet a member of the Diamond in the RAW foundation and she was speaking about the entertainment field and I thought Whoa this is the perfect time for me to take a leap of faith into the entertainment field. She spoke about the many careers available in the entertainment field. We had small conversation and I explained to her my desires about the entertainment field. She told me that she would love to take me on the set of a short film called Nose Candy. I was thrilled about going on the set. I knew a lot about the entertainment field, but I never took it serious. You see I have had so many challenges growing up and going on in my life that I was just a confused about career choices. But on this day I took advantage of a situation. On the set of Nose Candy I meet a camera operator and I explained to him that I had an interest in becoming a Director of Photography. (The funny thing is that he took me serious and was willing to answer all of my questions about what he was shooting. I inquired about everything that was being shot and quickly made friends. I knew the next thing to do was to get exchanged phone numbers. A couple of weeks went by and he called me to help assist him during a short film. He then invited me to the ASC awards, which turned out to be the Academy Awards for Cinematographers. It was a black tie event and I knew that I was going to meet many influential people. I said to myself “this is the beginning of the rest of my adult life”. I knew that if I was going to make things happen I should get my name out there. I had no money to my name at the time so I went on to my Microsoft Word and created a standard business card. I went to the awards ceremony and networked and spoke to everyone I ran into. Handing out my card to everyone and taking them at the same time. The following morning I spent 2 hrs writing emails. I figured that if I stayed in their minds one day they would think of me when they need something. All of those contacts wrote me back. One in particular invited me to tour there manufacturing company. They day that I took the tour I was introduced to the man who was the grandson of the founder of a well know lighting warehouse. He then invited me to the class he teaches for free to young cinematographers and directors. While going to those classes I meet young people just like me doing exactly what I wanted to do which was refreshing, I developed friendships with these kids, our common goals kept me on track. Once I surrounded myself with fun, goal oriented people it forced me to step it up and be just like them, but with my own flavor. While taking the classes I worked hard and got a job there, so not only was I learning but making money too. All of my friends that I work for with all do extra film work on the weekends and due to our good relationship they invite me to be apart of there crew. I’m learning t such a fast past and getting acquainted with how it will be in real life. My Message All that I can say for younger girls out there is, never quit; when I realized what I wanted to do I immersed myself in it live it become somewhat obsessed with it. Always surround yourself with positive people who will help you stay on track and of course remain positive yourself because there will be days where you feel like you have come to a standstill. I see it as just a test, if you really want it, then you can find a different route to your success. Thanks to The Diamond in the RAW Foundation their Sista2sista Shadowing program inspired and encouraged me to move into a direction that I only imagine. Most importantly I love the entertainment filed and what I do.
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My name is
Christa Watkins I am 21yrs old. I am an aspiring 2nd
Unit Cinematographer. This is the story of how I got to
where I am.