I used my time during the Covid-19 pandemic to fulfill my post-college dreams of moving to Chicago and going to Second City Conservatory. I was able to do this entirely from my apartment in NYC via Zoom with other participants from the Atlantic to the Pacific time zones. Before I finished my final show with the Conservatory, I enrolled in the Second City Film School. I also did that program remotely from NYC while the teachers and the other students were in Chicago. It’s been a life-long dream to make comedic films with a gut punch. This program did a lot to get me prepared to do so.

It took two years, with a lot of hours spent online in classes and on my own completing my coursework. The picture below is of me in the screening room at Second City in Chicago. That screen looked huge from my vantage on Zoom. My fears about taking on filmmaking were also huge but this program forced me out of my comfort zone to tackle a lot of things I never did previously.

I was put in the cohort known as Sky with some wonderful and talented friends Alyssa, C.L., Corinne, Jim, Joelle, Krista, and Sam, with some participants from the Chili and Sapphire cohorts for some workshops. I had lots of laughs, epiphanies, quiet meltdowns, and new skills developed with them.

The Sky and Sapphire cohorts had a screening together at the Music Box on Dec. 14. It’s a charming and warm theatre and it was nice to feel part of the Second City legacy.

Want to give a shout out to all my teachers — Dale Champan, Mariano DiMarco, Ron Falzone, Dionna Griffin-Irons, Jeff Griggs, John Hildreth. Norm Holly, John Mossman, John D. Hancock, Jack Newell, Cat Savage, Christina Shaver, and Patrick Wimp — who gave me good fundamentals on filmmaking, content generation, cinematic literature, producing, screenwriting, directing, editing, improvisation and comedy. And to our guest lecturers Julia Sweeney, Jehanne Junguenet, Allison Tafel, Maritza Cabrera, and Marsha Posner Williams. Not to mention the tremendous support work by and generous spirit of Lyn Pusztai, who also gave me guidance on my career after attending the program, and Robby Justiss and Tim Schmidt.

It’s hard not to love that town! This was a picture from the boat tour that Aimee and I took there. Looking forward to my next visit. Ideally, it will be to work on someone’s project. (hint! hint!) In the meantime, I’ll keep making my own stuff using the skills I learned there.