Sean Humphries graduated from the film department at the end of
winter quarter, so it’s no surprise he still knows his way
around Melnitz Hall.
Trying to find an empty editing room, Humphries casually punched
in the key code on a door. The room was occupied, so he moved on to
the next door. Looking around the hallway, someone expressed
surprise at the lengths of film that students leave in the hall to
dry and develop.
“Unless you really know what’s going on with it,
would you steal it?” Humphries said.
He then opened the sixth door, and the room was empty.
The pairing of Humphries’ light-hearted pragmatism and his
success at the task at hand is not a coincidence. Coming from a
blue-collar family, his understanding of the world has always been
based on necessity, and his attitude hasn’t changed now that
he’s a college graduate.
“I imagined that I’d get out of school and hustle my
way into a few editing gigs,” Humphries said. “Hustling
jobs is like what my friend says about dating: “˜You keep
asking them out until they either get a restraining order or they
say yes.'”
The objects of his courtship went to court, as Humphries decided
to pursue the film industry from a different angle. He is now
producing a feature-length documentary about male AIDS patients in
Africa who believe they can cure themselves by having sex with
virgins.
“We want to bridge the disconnect between technology and
mythology, to find a connection between the way people approach
life in Africa and the medicine that’s available,” he
said.
To fund the project, Humphries plans to write proposals for
private grants. He knows the process seems similar to his failed
hustling strategy, but because he has a tangible project to offer,
he feels more confident this time around. When one room is filled,
he tries the next.
Humphries also works full-time at the UCLA Film and Television
Archive in Hollywood. If his documentary work fulfills his creative
side, the manual labor he does in the archive’s shipping
department keeps him honest, reminding him of the culture in which
he grew up. His work experience before going to college included
warehouse managing, forklift driving and a job at McDonald’s.
Humphries even returned to his working-class background while
taking a year off from school before his senior year to make
money.
“I worked at a bar,” Humphries said with a smile.
“What does that have to do with making movies?”
He likes the work partly because it reminds him of the work he
did to get to where he is today. Film school wasn’t a
lifelong dream for Humphries, and it wasn’t until he spent
four days in a Los Angeles County jail for driving without a
license that he even decided to go to college.
“I saw the kind of person I had the potential to
become,” Humphries said. “But at the time, I
didn’t know I was an artist.”
After spending two years in a junior college, Humphries applied
to UCLA’s film school, was accepted, and continued his
education. After working through the program and at a bar, he
finally hopes his life as an artist is beginning.
“By the end of 2003, I feel like I’ll know my place
in this industry,” Humphries said.