#017: Spencer Folmar (28 yrs) on Founding a Hollywood Movie Company, Producing 17 Films, and...

Welcome to the hackiversity Podcast, where students learn how to achieve more by doing less in college. Learn the hacks from wildly successful recent college graduates as your host, Kyle Whiney explores the colleges, majors and paths that produce the biggest results in college using less effort. It's hacking time.

Ladies and gents, welcome to the hackiversity Podcast where I, Kyle Wynie, interview recent college graduates who crushed it out of the gates and deconstruct the reasons why I do this. So students who want to follow in their footsteps know where to focus their energy and double down on doing what matters most to replicate those results while cutting away everything else that doesn't matter at all. And believe me, there's a lot of stuff at college that doesn't matter at all. That's why today I'm excited to welcome to the show Spencer Fulmar. It's hard to know where to start with Spencer because he's accomplished so much, but let me give you some of the highlights. Spencer is a director and producer of his company Hard Faith, a video production company located in Hollywood, California that creates a genre of films, not coincidentally called Hard Faith, which explores the intersection of God, faith and the struggles of everyday life. Under the slogan of telling stories that Liberate. At just 28 years old, Spencer has produced 17 films in his career and has created over 1,500 videos for corporate clients. Spencer's movies have been featured in the Hollywood Reporter, the New York Post, and the LA Times, among other places. Spencer graduated from undergrad at Grove City College in a blazing two and a half years by taking 28 credits a semester, which was so fast that the higher ups at the college needed to actually authorize Spencer to graduate so quickly. If that's not impressive enough, during Spencer's time at college he held three separate part time jobs to pay for his college expenses. Crazy, right? Spencer says that it's still possible and explains how in this episode. Then after college graduation, Spencer went on to attend the illustrious Art school at New York University for his graduate degree. And then he went on to graduate from Texas A and M with an MBA and Reformed Theological Seminary with his seminary degree. For those counting at home, that's four different colleges. Obviously there's a lot to talk about in this episode, so without further ado, let's dig in. Happy hacking. Spencer, thanks so much for joining me today.

Thank you so much for having me, Kyle. Appreciate it, Spencer.

One of my goals of my podcast is to show college students that they don't have to be 58 years old to accomplish something tremendously awesome in a field. And so that's why I always ask my guests to. To say how old they are. So how old are you?

I am 28 years old. I'll be 29 next month.

Perfect. So Spencer, I'd like to rewind it back to your humble beginnings, back when you started getting into film at 17 years old. So walk me through that process. How did you start?

Absolutely. So in elementary school, I was making stop motion picture videos, Lego videos, and it eventually evolved into YouTube videos, back before YouTube was even owned by Google. And I was just doing this as a pastime with friends. It's just something I always enjoyed. I enjoyed going to the movies and it was kind of fun escapism as well as just interesting worlds and different shoes to live in. I and what was great is I went to a very rural high school and the teachers enabled me to make videos instead of doing pointless posters for many class assignments. So it would often require more work of me to make these videos. But the teachers would allow me to follow my passion and make these short YouTube videos slapstick. Often in the place of posters and then in place of even essays through my high school career.

I love it. What were the movies about that you made?

They were all over the place. You know, one of my biggest successful on YouTube, like my first viral video was for safety education class in 10th grade. We were supposed to make a poster about a different type of safety. You know, the class was mostly about driver safety and getting ready for our to take our permit license. And me and a couple buddies, we made a ridiculous video called golf safety. And we had a lot of fun doing it. And it showed at class and then the professor showed it at other classes and it passed around the school on a VHS tape. And then on we put it up on YouTube. And that teacher, he still shows it today 11 years later.

What equipment did you use to produce those videos, Spencer?

It was just home video equipment like a VHS recorder, sometimes a mini DV tape. Back then, even cell phones, they didn't have videos. Maybe they'd take photos and eventually they'd evolve into being able to record videos. But it was mostly VHS tape.

So you were hauling around one of those kind of big shoulder clunky gosh, there's like the size of a briefcase on your shoulder to record.

That's how golf safety was recorded. After that it transformed into the really compact, tiny, like AVCHD camcorders, digital, like internal memory. But yeah, that was the beginning of years.

I love it. Starting from the ground up.

That's right.

And how much editing went into making those videos?

A lot of editing. I belabored editing. I would buy editing software and any kind of money I could make from doing local commercials. I made videos for State Farm in our local area, some statewide commercials and any money I'd make off that, I would upgrade my equipment and then I would upgrade my computer until I ended up making my first feature film when I was 17.

So you were actually making money at 17 doing videography?

Maybe even as early as 15.

Wow, so you're a little hustler.

Back at 15 I was trying, yeah. My dad, he's a self employed, he owns his own businesses and was a hustler from his youth. So he instilled in me a good work ethic to try and combine my passion and make some money while doing it.

That's great. And how did you go and sell these companies that a 15 year old could actually provide quality videos for them?

You know, I just started. It's, it's much of what I do today and we'll get into this I guess later, but you know, just looking at my Rolodex, you know, people at church, people friends of the family and at that point video marketing was becoming like this new cutting edge thing. Most even, you know, marketing firms weren't really into it at that point. I'd already been making videos for a couple years and they needed a video. They couldn't hire one of the firms and, and I had a very reasonable.

Rate as a 15 year old. I'm sure you did. That's awesome. Cool, cool. So you were 15, got into selling your videos. 17, you're producing content for your classes and then you start compiling a portfolio of different companies, right?

That's right. And my first company was just my first name and my middle and last initial. I still use it today as my directing and producing company, which is Spence DF Productions. You know, there was just a lot of opportunities too because I think of that kind of digital revolution that was taking place, about to take place in the film industry. I just really grew up at the right time and even, you know, one of my biggest moneymakers in high school outside of the State Farm commercials is I would just always have a video camera on me at after school activities. Like I was very involved with my drama club and I made a documentary of from the beginning to the end until final performance, the three months of practice and I sold an hour and a half documentary on DVD to 50, 80 kids at 20 bucks a pop.

Wow, that's awesome. And the equipment that you walked around with, because I love getting into specifics. Is that like a cell phone or is that some kind of Palm device? What was it?

Yeah, it was just those really small, they still sell them at Best Buy or Walmart now. Just really small compact digital camcorder. You know, it evolved from the VHS tape and AVCHD 720 resolution, you know, internal mic, non changeable lens, very basic. But I did a lot with that camera.

That's awesome.

It was my parents camera at that point when I started.

So you started with your parents camera at 15 years old and then you compiled this portfolio of different companies, 1500 correct total that you, you did commercials or some kind of jobs for.

That's right. Cool.

A lot, A lot. And you leveraged that. And I'd love to talk about kind of transition from that space into where you are now, which is the Hollywood arena. So tell me how you transition from small town Spencer T. Fulmar to Hollywood. Big scene.

Yeah, I'll give you the quick kind of highlight trajectory. So when I was 17, I made my first feature film. And it wasn't all that great of a feat because all I was doing was just telling six or seven short films in one long form. And I had a trigonometry teacher actually that said on the last day of my 11th grade year, he said, if you ever make a feature film, I'll score it for you. And he was a musician. And I was like, well dang, you know, I'm already. That's a, that's a big logistical, expensive line item is just getting music that was royalty free and this guy's willing to create it for free. And a good, you know, a good friend of mine, that was encouraging. And so the summer between my junior and senior year, over the weekends, me and a couple of high school friends, we made a feature film. And, and it's not good. Like I won't show it to anyone, but it was just like a stepping stone because I just saw how easy it was to just go out there and do it. And I have had college professors, even MFA film professors ask me how I made any film. Because here are 40, 50, 60 year old professors that have never made one feature film. And although my first feature film is nothing at all to be impressed by besides my age, it was still just getting out there and doing it. And most of my career has been just by doing that very thing. Just jumping before I was ready, getting.

Out, doing it and deploying the parachute on the way down.

Exactly. Yep. Leap before looking.

Yeah, I like it. So Spencer, today you run Hard Faith Productions, correct?

Yes, sir. Yep.

And the slogan for that is telling stories that liberate. What does that mean?

Yeah, so I had a pretty significant conversion experience later in life and whenever I came to have a personal relationship with Jesus, even though I had been making films since I was a teenager, I wanted to make movies, you know, that, that talked about God or glorified God in some way. And so whenever I then went to search out what was known as faith based films, you know, what the, the current library of faith based cinema look like, I was, you know, somewhat disappointed and I just felt like there was a very, a very defined region in which you could tell a story about faith and about God and about just living life and how to, how to live a purposeful life. And most of the, even today, most of the faith based cinema is very family friendly only. And I find when I read the Bible or whenever I am wrestling with God in my own life that I have a lot of adult issues and adult sins and the world does to wrestle with in a, in a Christian perspective.

I like it. So these Hard Faith films is about telling adult, real life struggles with God.

That's right, Yep.

Cool.

Almost any story you'd find in the Bible. And we've expanded too. Even our latest film that I'm in pre production on right now is, it's tackling, I think, issues that are pressing. You know, we're making a movie right now about the opioid epidemic and it's, it's not trite, it's not something that can be put on the back burner. It's something that needs to be told right now.

So it's not necessarily, you're not necessarily limiting yourself to purely Christian issues, but kind of issues at large in our culture.

That's right, yeah.

Cool. So with Hard Faith Productions, you are a director and a producer. Can you explain what the difference is?

Absolutely. So a director is kind of the, almost the composer of a, of an orchestra, you know, so he, that, that person, that individual, he or she, they combine a lot of different artists to make one unified integrated piece. And so a director is using, you know, is integrating the actors who are artists in their own trade in using the composer, the cinematographer, the props department, using all these different artists and combining it together for one unified vision to tell one story. And then the producer is the guy who usually hires the director, chooses the script, finds the money, gets distribution, does all the things that makes a Film successful.

And you're both.

I'm both.

That's awesome. So, Spencer, you've appeared, I know, in many news outlets like the Hollywood Reporter, the New York Post, the LA Times, and I've noticed that you've mainly appeared for the edginess of your movies. So what's so edgy about the movies that you make? And why make it edgy?

That's a great question. And it isn't, you know, I hope through these interviews that I do and you know, even the Hollywood Reporter articles, it isn't edgy just to be edgy, but it's edgy to like wake up people to a greater importance. It's edginess for a cause because, you know, you can be edgy and it can just be end and just be being edgy. But for us, what we're trying to do is wake people up to the present realities in which we all are.

Living in, such as the opioid epidemic or other faith issues that people wrestle with in contemporary America.

Yeah, like our last film was called Generational Sins. It was about two brothers who return home to reconcile with their alcoholic and abusive father. And if nothing else, in our edginess, we were just trying to shed some light on a dark situation, which is generational sins or dysfunctional families or lack of even church and community responsibility to help out, you know, fellow members of the community. And in this movie that was still PG13, it was very soft compared to most Hollywood cinema. It achieved those purposes.

And I know that because you use some curse words, right? That's why it's deemed edgy, that you get a lot of pushback from people, particularly people more accustomed to family friendly language. So how do you deal with that kind of criticism in your films?

You know, it's been a real learning experience. I still distinctly remember May 11, 2017, whenever our first Hollywood Reporter article came out and I kind of came on the public square for this type of cinema. And the title of the article was New Faith Based Film Filled with F bombs, which was not accurate. We only had one F bomb.

So it was fake news.

It was fake news. And it wasn't even a fake based film by anyone's qualification, including my own. But that day it was like, you know, code red, all hands on deck. We had four people in the office just responding to emails and interview requests and stuff like this because it got picked up by Drudge Report and Fox News and a number of other outlets. And a lot of those outlets, not a lot, all the ones I named were fine, but Some of the other outlets, especially the Christian consumer outlets, were very critical and suspect of our intentions.

Did that make you want to quit film at all or dial it back?

Yeah, you know, it was a tough couple of weeks after that. People digging into my education and researching my university or my college, I went to. And, you know, I went to seminary, so people were looking at the seminary and I was getting feedback from my, you know, my alma maters, just trying to check in with me and a lot of friends and family, too, that I'd known over the years. It was stressful, but I think just how passionate the response was was an indicator that we're kind of hitting on a sore spot or like an infected area of the church and a missing part of the marketplace. And it came out, you know, I was at this, you know, two years later, year and a half later, looking back on it, I can better navigate what was helpful feedback and continue to evolve my artistic voice. And what was just pointless criticism, you know, just. Just to tear someone down.

Yeah. Spencer, what is it about film that you love so much? Why not writing or why not do audio? Why film?

Absolutely. That's a great question. You know, cinema is so interesting. It's. I think it's still the most impactful and manipulative technology that we have today, visual and audio. And unlike, you know, there's so many reports today about the shortening attention span of society and especially of the next generations. But still today, people will pay money and put away their cell phones and tell others to put away their cell phones, to give their undivided attention to a single source for sometimes two, two and a half hours. And that doesn't happen anywhere else.

Yeah, true. That really is amazing to think about it like that.

Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. And I've just been so impacted by cinema, and it changed my outlook growing up. I just know that if used responsibly, this technology can have a positive impact on others.

And so that's really how you see your purpose or your passion.

Yeah, because I remember a marketing firm speaking at my college, and they were saying how they advise a lot of artists. You know, they advise U2 and Bono, and they advise the Mr. Rogers estate, and they even advise a lot of political groups. And that almost all the think tanks in politics realize that politics is downstream from cultures. So the culture creators are influencing the politics of tomorrow. And so we're really at the forefront of shaping culture. And it's a huge responsibility. And that's why I've chosen this industry versus Even being a politician or a writer or anything else.

Wow. Yeah, you guys, Hollywood, definitely, I guess, particularly now with the political situation, has spotlight on it for being those kind of culture creators. Do other people in Hollywood sense that responsibility or is that just something unique to you that has drew you to Hollywood?

I don't think enough people respect that responsibility enough. On the faith based and the secular realms, I don't think people realize just how much they're shaping culture for the good or the bad to.

Do you think that consumers of movies realize how much they are being shaped by Hollywood?

That's a great question. I'm not sure if they are cognizant. I think they're mostly going in for it for popcorn, fluff or escapism. But even in escapism, that's still providing a service. If we're getting down to theology, a lot of people are in a lot of different spaces in life. Most of our films wrestle with people who are often either overlooked or forgotten, or people who are struggling most severely. And if you can provide entertainment that also serves a purpose or has a little bit of medicine entwined in it, I think there's a lot to be done there in reaching the more desperate audiences.

Yeah, I think that's great. Spencer, what's the most difficult thing that you encounter in producing a movie?

I think it's mostly the business side of things. Every movie you make, you create an llc. It's like it's a startup, you know, you're starting from scratch almost. Luckily, each film you make, especially if they're moderately or greatly successful, it gets a little easier. You meet more people, just like with any industry. But you know, even for this movie that I'm putting together right now, the packaging, the development, the fundraising, I mean, it's a miraculous feat for any film to get shot. Even when I was 17, it was a miracle that, you know, all my friends continued to volunteer their time and that we were able to tell a cohesive story. But then whenever you, you know, one exit or 100 exit, like we keep doing with each film, keep making a bigger and bigger film with more money being spent and bigger talent, larger crews, there's so many things that could go wrong. You almost feel like a firefighter constantly putting out fires on set just to get the film done.

Yeah, so it's. You don't find it as difficult for the art stuff or the creative stuff. It's more of the business and the financial end, huh?

I find that to be true. You know, if I was purely just directing and I had that luxury. I'm sure I would belabor over the artistic difficulties, but, you know, that's my favorite. That's my favorite part of this is just being on set, directing my actors, writing the script, post production, shaping the story, and then seeing the audience's reaction, which is all like the highlights of this industry. But 99% of the industry is just a lot of grunt labor, hard work, you know, 15 hour days.

So, Spencer, if students want to get into producing videos right now, what are one, two, or maybe even three things that they should do, whether it's buying equipment or the skills that they need to have?

Yeah. My catchphrase that I usually use when I'm mentoring a younger filmmaker or a filmmaker new in the career is to just create and don't wait. Because these projects, these films, you know, I'm 26 days from production. It feels insurmountable to make a movie, like to make one feature film. And I think that's why so many people talk about it and never do it. But if you even just start with anything, just making a short film, just doing something, you'll be able to have that satisfaction of creating a product and sharing it with audiences and be invigorated to do something bigger next time.

I like it. So don't wait. Get out there and create.

Absolutely.

And doesn't matter if it's with your cell phone or with some kind of palm device, still do it.

Yeah, because I mean, with technology today, how cheap it is, how accessible it is, you can do a lot, even just with your iPhone or whatever phone you have, you can achieve so much.

And should students be posting this on Facebook, on YouTube? Where do they go with their content?

YouTube is a great outlet for still today, for short form entertainment. Once you go into feature film entertainment, you want to start using every movie as a learning experience. You know, get under the hood of the car and get to learn exactly how the engine works, take apart the engine and understand it as much as possible. I'll give you two examples of people I've recently mentored through this process. So the first example would be, he's a friend of mine and he has been trying to make a feature film for about maybe five years. The same feature film he's been developing the story, he keeps rewriting it, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And his recent budget was 10 million. And you know, that's, that's a crazy budget to start your first film on, especially as like an independent film. There's no one backing it. He's expecting to raise all this money himself. And it started as a short film. And so I talked to him and he keeps pushing it back, like, I'll make this in 2020. Well, we're in 2018 now. If you wait until 2020, odds are you're going to push it back to 2022. So my advice to him, pretty stern advice, was make that short film today. Like, just prove that this even works, that your concept is a world in which people want to spend 10 minutes in before you, you know, belabor two years of fundraising and everything else to still have it fall, you know, short of your expectations. I mean, there's. I try and mentor a lot of filmmakers younger and older than myself, and just to convince them to make something, whether it be a short film or the feature film, and make it for as cheap as you can, if, Especially if it's your first film, just to develop your craft and trade and then to repeat that. And by the time 2020 comes around, you could have made another film, maybe two or three films by the time that year arrives.

So produce fast and set deadlines is what I'm hearing.

Yep. You have to set a deadline. Like, we're filming October 14th. As much as I want 2018. 2018. Yeah. As much as I would want to push it back, you know, and I see on my phone that's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning, is how many days I have left. I've set this arbitrary date, and now I'm just. All things are going towards that date. Whenever I made Generational Sins, I distinctly remember having a conversation with my executive producer, and he said to me, you know, maybe it's not too late that we can get out of contract for some of these locations, our insurance, our actors, you know, maybe we can push this back until the next year. And I said to my ep, I said, you know, this movie is the best movie that we have made until this date, but it is not the best movie that we will ever make. Like, there'll be another movie, God willing. And today we're just going to do the very best that we can with this film in front of us and just keep running towards that deadline.

Yeah, I think that's awesome. Cool. Spencer, let's transition into your college experience, which, I'm not going to lie, is one of the more unique college experiences that I've ever seen. So I'm super excited to dig into this. So you've graduated from four different colleges, right?

Yeah.

Cool. So let me just outline Them real quick. So you got your bachelor's degree from Grove City College, which is in Pennsylvania. Go, PA. You have a seminary degree from Reform Theological Seminary. You have an MBA from Texas A and M, and you have a master's degree in art school from New York University.

That's right. That's a lot.

That is a lot. That's a long resume.

Yeah.

So let's start with Grove City. So when I first read this on your resume line item, I almost had to do a double take because it said that you graduated in 2010. But I know that you're younger than I am, and I graduated in 2010, so I'm like, how did that happen? But you graduated in two and a half years, so explain to me why and how.

So my. Yeah, so my high school year. My high school year, my senior year, I was just chomping at the bit to get out in the world and actually just start working full time. But the present thinking right before the recession, you know, 20 2007, 2008, was no matter what, you have to get a college degree. Like, you're just gonna be a failure. You're. You're gonna be pumping gas for the rest of your life if you don't at least get that college degree. And I did not want to go to college. I just wanted to move straight to Hollywood and start my professional career. But I followed the advice of my elders, and I'm not gonna say if that's good or bad advice quite yet, but I went to college, and I went to a academically rigorous college. It was probably the best college I could get into at that time. And my first semester, I was just trying to live the college life. I was the president of every club you can imagine, the class president of my graduating class. And after my first semester, I realized that I felt like I was still just playing high school like I had. There was nothing different. I was just, you know, doing the same things I was doing in high school. President of the clubs, doing everything I could do. But it all just kind of felt like pretend or just busy work. You know, it wasn't actually getting me closer to any kind of career goals. So my second semester of college, I kicked it up into high gear. I started taking 28 credit hours and intercession courses and online courses, and I was darn determined to graduate as fast as I possibly could and just get my degree. If this is all this was, if it was just to get a degree, that I was going to do it as fast as I can. And also Work two or three full time jobs at the same time.

So you took 28 credits in a semester?

Yes, and I did that the rest of the semester.

Most people take that in an entire year at college.

Mm.

And how did, how difficult was it to do.

It? Honestly wasn't all that difficult. More difficult was just time management because I. I was working for a producer, an independent film producer, full time. I was still doing the State Farm commercials. And I was also, I also held down some part time work around the college to make as much money as I could and to continue my career advancement and to do the degree at the same time. So by the time my second year of college came around, I was only on campus Tuesday and Thursday.

So, Spencer, just to be clear, you had two, maybe three if you count some of your kind of contractor work on the side, but two to three jobs while taking 28 credits at college?

Yes.

That is impressive, my friend.

Yeah. And as far as I know, I'm the own. I think I'm the only Grove City graduate who graduated in two and a half years. In fact, I had to have one of my employers write a two page letter to the registrar or the provost to even allow me to graduate two and a half years. They wanted to. They wanted to hold me over for the, the last semester so it'd be a full three years. Just because they never had someone graduate that quickly. But my employer convinced them otherwise.

That's really funny. So it's possible to graduate super fast from college?

Absolutely. I could have done it in two years if they were. Let me.

Wow. Would you recommend that college students do that too?

I think if you're in a similar position that I was in, I don't think it's a bad thing. You know, I did miss out on a lot of like the college experience, quote, unquote. That's often glamorized in America for good and bad and, you know, by the grace of God, I still had a good college experience. I have a lot of friends from college, just went to a wedding of a college friend of mine a weekend ago and have some lifelong relationships and also learn some really powerful lessons from college, from that education in spite of being so busy and graduating so quickly. So I think it's. It depends on the student really.

Who would you recommend? Take a fast track through college, particularly those interested in film, if you know.

Yeah, if you know what you want to do. You know, like, if you know that you are sold out for film, that you want to have a professional career in the Hollywood film Industry, I don't think it's a bad way to go. I think that's an ideal. You know, get your college degree.

Get.

Your bachelor's of arts and move on to the film industry. Because never once for a film job have I been asked which college I went to or my transcript or my gpa.

So you do think it is important to have at least some kind of college degree behind your name for the film industry then?

No, I wouldn't even say that. There's many, many professionals in the film industry that never went to college. My parents even dropped out of college to pursue their professional career full time. My dad was in a position where he needed to work full time and they dropped out of college and have been very successful. And I think there's some industries that you definitely need a college career and I think there's some shame in our society if you don't have a college career. But I don't think in the film industry that exists.

So if some 18 year old came to you and said, Spencer, I really love film, I know that's what I want to do. I want to be a producer and a director. Should I go to college? What do you tell them?

I think it also depends on which college because if you're paying, you know, you know, an arm and a leg, if you don't have a scholarship, if you're paying all of this and it's going to be college debt, I think maybe you should test out this theory that you're sold out for film, move to Hollywood or one of the film hubs, be a production assistant, get that entry level job and just really grind for six months or nine months and see if you actually like it. Because it's just, it is, it is so much hard work and people expect not your best but like the impossible for every position. And so if you enjoy that challenge and you're thriving and you're getting past a production assistant and you're, you know, a, an assistant to a director, producer or a second assistant director, then if you start making career moves then you know, just keep going at it. If you hit a wall or if you feel like this isn't the career for you, then, you know, maybe go back to college. If you don't, if you don't, if you're not completely sold out on this industry, if you know that you can't commit or that you're not positive, then you know, maybe a college degree might be good to have a more, you know, thorough background.

Yeah, I love that idea of testing out your passion. That's actually one of the things that I emphatically emphasize in my book, and that is you need to know exactly that you're sure that you want to produce, pursue something before you go and spend 100 to $200,000 on a college degree for that one thing. So this idea of just taking six months to test out your passion in the film industry, I think is great advice. I love it.

Yeah.

Spencer, so you didn't stop, as I said earlier, you didn't stop at Grove City College. You went on and you got your theology degree from seminary. So tell me why you went to seminary.

Yeah, it was that conversion experience. I had a pretty significant 180 after college, and I was trying to figure out what my new calling was. I still had this talent and gifting and passion for film, and I wanted to somehow integrate this new passion for God and for theology and for systematics. And I went to an informal Bible school overseas. And from that I decided I needed for that responsibility factor, I needed a better understanding of Christianity historically and systematically and biblically if I was ever going to talk about God in any of my movies. So I got this seminary degree.

So you went to seminary with the idea in mind that this was going to advance your interest in film? Yes.

Yeah. That I would be able to write theologically sound, responsible screenplays. Fictional screenplays.

Great. So you knew when you went into Grove City, so before you even went to seminary, that you were all in on film?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, if my parents would have let me, I would have moved to Hollywood and started this film industry in high school.

And you know, Spencer, that is one thing that all people in my podcast have in common, and that is they know at some point, whether it's in college or shortly thereafter, that whatever they're pursuing is the one thing that they want to pursue. And they go all in on that just like you did. And I think the results speak for themselves. So that's really cool. All right, so let's get to NYU and your master's degree there.

And another fun fact about seminary is that it's a two year master's of theology program. And I did that in one year for much of the same reasons that I did my college career in such a short time period.

You did two years in one year at seminary?

Yeah.

Awesome.

I took like 40 credit hours a semester.

That's awesome.

Yeah. And then from there, I had always wanted to go to film school. I had applied and, you know, there's the top three film Schools in America would be afi, usc, nyu. And I applied before going to seminary. I played right after high school and didn't get into any of these film schools. And I, you know, I'd already made a feature film. I'd done all this commercial work and all these short videos, and it still. They still weren't accepting my application. And I applied just, you know, as a one last ditch effort before I went to Hollywood, to nyu, and I got in.

Wow.

And then I went on to do more schooling unexpectedly, for the guy who couldn't wait to just work.

And how beneficial has your degree from NYU been to film?

Sure. Well, I'd say for the most part, any film degree, especially at the graduate level, is beneficial if you want to teach film, which wasn't my aspiration, but it's also beneficial for mastery of film for all the different production levels. You know, for audio department, cinematography, storytelling, writing and directing, producing, it's usually a pretty thorough education so that you can just understand all the different department heads and responsibilities on set, which is great for a director or a producer to have that mastery. And then it's great to have a network of other filmmakers that you can work with and work for in your industry.

So going to film school helped you master your craft and also network.

That's right. And for. Yeah. And for full disclosure, I was at. At that point, NYU had a Manhattan campus, you know, in New York City. And that's the Tisch School of the Arts, which has, you know, been around, I think, since the 70s or 60s. It's, you know, the premier film school. And then for seven years, they had an experimental film school in Singapore called Tisch Asia. And I went to the Asian Singaporean campus and lived in Singapore.

That's awesome. So you got some overseas film experience.

Yeah, which was great. Just as an artist to see how other nations told stories and tell it in different regions than America.

Yeah. That's amazing. Cool.

What wasn't amazing about it is that the school went bankrupt, so I was unable to actually finish that degree.

Oh, is that right? So you didn't come back and finish it in Manhattan. That was.

You had to restart your.

Oh, bummer.

Yeah, so it was. I'm an MFA candidate, but not an MFA graduate.

Got it.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Some good experiences, though.

Yeah. And still a lot of great classmates. In fact, some of my classmates are working for me on this next film, which is great.

Spencer, your last school that you graduated from, Texas A and M, you got your MBA there.

That's right. And that was hard as nails. Because I am not a math guy, like producing business accounting. This stuff is stuff I've had to learn, and I've come to enjoy it. It just doesn't come to me naturally. So it was probably the most difficult of all my education. College, even graduating two and a half years was somewhat of a breeze. My master's program for theology and my MFA program were all things I was originally gifted in. But business, accounting, statistics, securities, it is not natural to me whatsoever. But it was good because it kind of rounded out my education that I needed to be successful in my career.

So do you use those skills often that you learned in your MBA as applied to your film career?

Probably more than any other education.

So would you say getting your MBA has been your most practical degree?

Probably of all my degrees, I was a communication major in college. Grove City doesn't have a film program. A lot of those trades and skills have been beneficial. But I think my MBA has been definitely my most practical degree.

Cool. And one last question about your college career, Spencer. So how has graduating from four different schools, or at least being a candidate at one of those schools been advantageous to you in breaking into Hollywood?

I think it's been good just for even confidence and just for like a thorough background understanding of how the world works and how other people think. All this education has been thankfully woven into my career as a storyteller and as a producer. It's all benefited me in my daily working experience. I never would have guessed that I would ever even step foot into a graduate school, let alone go to three. And it's helped me a lot, I think, in my career, especially because I run my own production company with hard faith and SpencerTF and now a distribution company. And it's given me a lot of confidence and running these different organizations and knowing that I understand the different facets of the business.

Cool. That's awesome. Spencer. I want to transition to the last segment of the show, which is also my personal favorite. That's what I call the rapid fire question section.

All right.

And that's where I offer up some quick hitting questions. But that doesn't mean that your answer has to be quick hitting. Okay, you ready?

Yep.

All right, Spencer, is there a specific career path that a college student can follow? Follow to land them where you are today?

I'd say just jumping off the cliff. Move to Hollywood. That's where all the jobs are. Whether it's a hot spot like Atlanta or Pittsburgh five years ago, for every job you find In Atlanta, there's 100 jobs in California. Now I live in Los Angeles. And there's many things that I enjoy much more about the northeast and about Pennsylvania and my home. But actually living and working in Hollywood has sped up my career development more than anything.

So go to where the action is.

Yep, just jump in.

Cool. Spencer, who is the first person that comes to mind when I say the word successful.

Wow, that's great. I would say maybe it's because I just watched a documentary on him, but Steven Spielberg, his net worth is like 4.5 billion. It's like Steven Spielberg isn't in corporation more than he is a person anymore. And he has just made so many great business choices. He's been a producer on probably as many or more films than he's directed and he's just been very smart. Looking at his life as, you know, 60, 70 year old, how old he is, filmmaker, still making the films that he wants to make because he made those choices probably in his twenties.

So start young.

Yeah, like build your, your, your empire. Start having your empire in mind, you know. Now in your 20s, Spencer, suppose that.

You are Spencer Fulmar, the 18 year old high school senior preparing to graduate in four months. But this time you're graduating in 2018. So where are you going to concentrate most of your energy?

Wow, that's an interesting question. Graduating 2008 was unique because even whenever I try to get part time work in addition to my freelance work and contracted work, you know, it was tough in the recession to even get a barista job or a retail job because there just wasn't that many jobs. I think today there's so many jobs, there's so many opportunities no matter where you live and online. If I was 2018, Spencer, graduating from high school, I would be very optimistic about being successful and living a life that was meaningful. And I would probably today, I don't know if it's because I'm 28 year old, Spencer. I'd probably just go straight to Hollywood.

Cool. I like that. I like that. Go to where the action is. Don't wait.

Yeah, yeah.

Spencer, what's the best lesson a teacher, a parent or a mentor has taught you?

Yeah, I'd say a lot of it was from my dad and from some of the producers I worked with. Is that work ethic? And it's something that I often failed at too. Sometimes I would treat some jobs when I was younger as just a job. If I could get away doing the bare minimum, I would do it, you know, if I could slap together a couple graphics and shoot a video and put on a tripod and just film something. I would do the bare minimum and my employer would be happy. But I wasn't happy because I knew I could make it so much better. But I wasn't getting paid anymore. And so I think a lesson that I learned through sometimes missing the mark and underachieving whenever I was doing different jobs and a lot of corporate video production, that's very unartistic to just do it to your very best effort. Like, make it as good as it can be. If it's the last thing that you ever make, make it as excellent as you possibly can for every single client. And then I think doors start opening a lot faster.

Cool. I completely agree. Spencer. What is one thing that you want to call it? Sophomore. Listening to this podcast to know.

I'd say for that college sophomore to keep striving, keep working, keep your head down, do the work in front of you, be mindful of tomorrow, and to just have. I would hope that this college sophomore, if I was talking to he or she, to instill in them, hope that if they keep working hard at it, they will make strides. And if, even if the door appears closed, they have the option to kick it down.

Cool. One last question. If you could recommend something to a college student in the form of a tweet, what would it be?

All right. A tweet. I'm pretty bad at Twitter, but it'd probably be a quote and it's a Chinese proverb. I have no idea who it's supposed to be attributed to, but I repeat it a lot, especially whenever I'm future tripping with my business colleagues. And it would be the best time. When is the best time to plant the tree? Yesterday. When's the second best time to plant a tree? Today.

I like that. So in other words, get down to action now.

Yeah, just do it.

Cool. Spencer, this has been a ton of fun. I love interviewing people like you. Where can people learn more about you and anything else that you find interesting?

Yeah. Thank you so much, Kyle. I've really enjoyed this interview and I love the work you're doing with Hackiversity and your podcast and your book. Look forward to following your career and really glad that there's a service like this for college students. For me, if you want to learn more information about what we're doing, go to hardfaith.com to learn more about the films we're making. And then if you want to learn more about distribution and our film festival, go to Veritas V E R I T A s Latin for truth. Veritasfilms.com Cool.

And I will put all that stuff in the show notes so you guys can just click on it. It'll take you right there. Awesome, Spencer. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me, Kyle. Appreciate it.

Hey everyone. Three major takeaways I want to emphasize before wrapping up. The first one is what I call don't wait. Create. Actually, Spencer calls it that. Clearly, Spencer has accomplished a lot in his life and he's only 28 years old. One of his secrets is captured in the motto that Spencer has, which is don't wait. Create. That means if you want to get into film or Hollywood, start producing content now. That also means that there are no legitimate excuses in waiting. You don't have quality equipment. Who cares? Use your phone. You don't have anyone that follows you. Who cares? Post on YouTube anyway. You don't think your content is any good. Who cares? Publish it anyway. Look, Spencer started making movies at 15 years old with his parents clunky camera. I promise you that every resource at your disposal is a hundred times better than what Spencer had. I'm not joking. A hundred times better. But Spencer never claimed that his content at the beginning of his career was any good. But that's the key. It doesn't have to be. Start now so you can perfect your craft. Even if what you initially produce is really, really bad. Once you're good enough, Hollywood will create a place for you just like it did for Spencer. The second point I want to emphasize is what I call going all in. I see so many college students today failing. And they fail not because they aren't smart or not because they're not capable. They fail because they dabble in too many things. College students do a little here and a little there, but they never really move the needle in any one thing. To be clear, I'm not hating on experimentation. In fact, I love when students tip their toes into a bunch of different pools to discover what water they like best. But once you figure out where you want to swim, you need to dive into that one thing. You can't dabble. If you're in college, you're 18 years old or close enough. Which means you haven't lived long enough to be good enough at five different things. In fact, very few people are good enough at multiple things. Even 55 year old adults, for example. Instead, most people who are great at something are only good at that one thing. But those who are great at that one thing are great at that one thing because they eat, sleep and breathe that one thing just like Spencer. Notice how Spencer went all in on film. He started producing films at 15. He arranged high school projects around making films. He studied communications and film in undergraduate. He studied film at graduate school. He got a seminary degree and an MBA degree. Why did he do all these things? To make better films. And perhaps most importantly, Spencer physically moved to where the action in the film industry is, which is Hollywood. So if you want to be great at something, be like Spencer and move all chips all in on that one thing. The third thing I want to emphasize is, is testing your hypothesis. So you think you want to make films great before spending $100,000 and four years of your life and maybe even more on a college degree? Go see for yourself. If you like film, as Spencer suggested, just take six months and move to Hollywood. It doesn't have to cost that much. Live with friends, live below your means. Don't go out to eat every night. Just keep costs low and experiment. Test your thesis, test your desires. Before you blow all this money at college on a degree, don't you want to know what you're buying first? I sure do. So should you. I want to thank Spencer for coming on when we recorded. Spencer was 26 days away from the release of another feature film of his. Spencer, you're the man. Thank you for taking so much time out of your busy schedule. That's all the time we have for today. I'll catch you guys next time.

If you want more hackiversity and achieving more by doing less in college, you can subscribe to the podcast on itunes or grab the book on Amazon. For the show notes and the latest on hackiversity, check out kyleweiny.com don't forget to follow Kyle on Twitter. Illustration Whiny and on facebook@facebook.com hackaversity Till next time, happy hacking.