Los Angeles Film School Class of 2025

THE GRADUATION STORY

[Fade In]

Hey.

So… this is wild to say out loud, but I just graduated from The Los Angeles Film School. Magna cum laude.

And this story? It’s not just about walking across a stage. It’s about what it took to get here… And what’s possible after.

It’s for anyone chasing something impossible. For anyone who’s ever sat in a dark room, wondering if their story matters. For the kid who still dreams in soundtracks and camera angles.

Because I was that kid.

And maybe, in some way, I still am.

[ACT I – WHERE MAGIC BEGAN: THE LEGO CAMERA]

It started with a LEGO set.

Not just any LEGO set—Set 1349. The Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set.

A tiny camera. A green screen. Editing software that barely worked. And a LEGO Spielberg, arms locked in permanent genius mode.

But when I held that camera… I didn’t feel like I was pretending. I felt like I was remembering.

Like some part of me already knew what to do. Like the stories were already inside me—just waiting to be let out.

So I started. Stop motion. Frame by frame. Clunky little films made from bricks and belief.

And I realized something: Storytelling isn’t just fun. It’s freedom. It’s the power to take absolutely nothing—and turn it into something that makes people feel.

That’s magic.

[ACT II – THE TEMPLE OF STORY: BLOCKBUSTER & THE GREATEST MISSION]

Every Friday night, my mom and I would make our sacred trip to Blockbuster.

This was before streaming. Before endless scroll. Before algorithms decided what stories you’d see.

Back then, you had to go out and hunt for wonder.

Walking into Blockbuster felt like stepping into a temple. The soft buzz of fluorescent lights. The smell of old popcorn. Those glowing blue shelves—lined with other worlds, waiting quietly to be chosen.

I picked up Toy Story. The Wizard of Oz. Titanic.

But one film changed everything: Apollo 13.

Three men—Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, Fred Haise—boarded a ship called the Saturn V. A skyscraper of fire and steel, built to defy gravity. Their mission: the Moon.

But halfway there—disaster. An explosion. Power failing. Oxygen draining. And 200,000 miles of silence between them and home.

They should’ve died.

But they didn’t.

Because humans don’t quit. We create.

They turned duct tape and desperation into a solution. They reimagined what survival could look like. They rewrote the story as they lived it.

That wasn’t just a rescue. It was the greatest mission we’ve ever pulled off.

And sitting there, holding that VHS tape in my living room, I realized something:

Not all missions need rockets.

Some just need a blank page. A camera. A wild idea no one believes in—yet.

Because filmmaking? Storytelling? That’s our space program.

Every story we tell is a launch. Every script, a trajectory. Every film, a vessel carrying emotions, truth, and imagination into places the world hasn’t seen before.

We are astronauts of feeling. Explorers of what it means to be human. And every time we create, we say:

"We were here. We dreamed this. And we brought it back with us."

That’s what Apollo 13 taught me. That storytelling isn't just entertainment— It’s survival. It’s innovation. It’s mission control for the soul.

And once you realize that… You never look at a movie the same way again.

[ACT III – THE FIRE: FILM SCHOOL & TRANSFORMATION]

I came to film school thinking I’d just learn how to animate. I’d design characters. Make things move.

And I did.

But somewhere along the way… I wanted more.

I didn’t just want to move characters. I wanted to move people. I wanted to build worlds. I wanted to tell stories that meant something.

So I stopped thinking like an artist. And started thinking like a storyteller.

Because stories? They’re not just content. They’re the way we make sense of being human. They’re how we heal. How we connect. How we say, “Hey—you’re not alone.”

🚀 [ACT VI – THE FUTURE: WALKING AMONG THE STARS]

We walk in the shadow of giants— Lucas. Spielberg. Cameron. Disney. Visionaries who dared to dream bigger than gravity, Who rewrote what the world thought was possible.

But we are not here just to follow their footprints.

We are here to make new constellations. To chart unmapped skies. To take everything they gave us—and go further.

Because we are not just filmmakers. We are not just animators.

We are storytellers. World-builders. Dream-benders. The keepers of memory—and the architects of what comes next.

And this world? It’s not just ready for us.

It’s waiting for us.

[ACT V – THE LEGACY: WHO WE BECOME NEXT]

We all grew up looking up to giants—Lucas, Cameron, Disney, Spielberg.

But here’s the thing no one tells you: They weren’t legends when they started. They were just us—kids with stories, and a burning need to tell them.

And now?

It’s our turn.

We’re not here to follow in their footsteps. We’re here to carve new paths. To tell the stories only we can tell.

We are not just filmmakers. We are not just animators.

We are architects of wonder. And the world is waiting for us to build.

[🌟 [FINAL WORDS – LEGACY: THE BEGINNING (THE ULTIMATE VERSION)]

To my fellow graduates:

This is not the end. This is the FADE IN— The first frame of a story only you can tell.

So whatever your tool is— Pick it up. Lift it high. Wield it like a weapon of creation.

Your camera. Your pen. Your voice. Your brush. Your instrument. Your stage. Your script. Your design.

Because somewhere out there— In some quiet room, in some city, in some heart— Is a person who doesn’t know yet that your story... your art... your truth... will be the thing that wakes them up.

The thing that says: “You’re not alone.” “You matter.” “Keep going.” “There is hope.”

Make something that shakes the Earth. That moves the stars. That echoes through time and across generations. Make something that will make the next generation— No matter their country, no matter their struggle— Stop in their tracks and think: “I want to do that.”

Because that— That is the power of storytelling.

The most powerful people in the world? They’re not senators. They’re not presidents. They’re not kings or queens. They’re the storytellers. Because we shape belief.

We hold the keys to the heart. We create worlds out of nothing. We light fires in the hearts of others that never go out.

We speak to the unseen, reach across time, and change the world one story at a time.

Fade out. The End. ...Or rather—

The Beginning