Vincent Powell is a creator, and hard work is something he is no stranger to; his work ethic has granted him a successful career and afforded him life-changing opportunities.
Directing, writing, and shooting.
With each year of his career, Mr. Powell experienced a lot of sunshine and a lot of rain. Nonetheless, Vincent stayed hungry and sought after every opportunity he could while creating opportunities for himself.
The Houston native started his Radio-Television-Film program at UNT Denton and decided to join the school news, but that left him with too much time on his hands. Eager to stay busy and involved, Vincent joined a numerous amount of school organizations.
When there weren’t opportunities already present, Vincent created them himself,
“I started my own Black theatre company with some friends…Then I figured out how to design flyers, so I started bringing money in that way…”
His time at UNT Denton came to a halt, but his passion for learning continued. Vincent furthered his education at Texas Southern University in his hometown of Houston, TX.
Texas Southern showed Vincent a warm and accepting feeling that he had never received anywhere else. The professors at TSU saw Vincent for more than what he was capable of inside the classroom. Texas Southern was the second stop on Vincent’s journey to success, and his experience there was one he will never forget.
A few short years later, Vincent took his talents to Los Angeles, where he would get his MFA in Film and Television at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. USC saw him as the next ‘Ryan Cooper’ or ‘Tyler Perry,’ and although Vincent looked up to those gentlemen, he was determined to be seen as ‘Vincent Powell.’
Vincent learned quickly that the film industry consists of people who didn’t look like him, that were writing stories from their perceptions of reality.
Writing what you know is a major takeaway that I received from Vincent’s lecture on Zoom,
“Writing what you know is something I learned at my HBCU while being a part of debate…”
As a future broadcast journalist, I am learning that writing what I know is a benefactor that helps me become a better storyteller and a trusted journalist.
Thank you, Vincent, for sharing your valleys and peaks in the journey of becoming ‘Vincent Powell’, the Director and Filmmaker.
Photo Credits: YouTube via Getty Images
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