Profile Series:
Quincy Ledbetter
"Do the work and don’t stop."
Quincy Ledbetter
Role: Filmmaker, Musician, Photographer
High & Low (1963)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Moonlight (2016)
Directed by Barry Jenkins
Lost in Translation (2003)
Directed by Sophia Coppola
How did you first get into filmmaking?
I started co-writing and acting in comedy shorts with a couple of friends my freshman year in college. Back then it was a LOT harder to make films, so it was just something we did to make ourselves laugh.
During that time I was just a music producer, "making beats" for people in the D.C. Metro area. In 2004 I decided to become an artist and needed headshots, so I began the search for photographers. I quickly realized that it cost less money to buy a professional camera than it did to hire a good photographer for one photoshoot, so I bought a camera instead.
After posting the photos I took of myself local artists, actors, and comedians starting offering me money to take their photos. I was broke, so I obliged and realized that I had a very deep love for capturing images.
A couple years later, after I had moved to New York, and really focused on teaching myself how to write, direct, shoot, edit, and even do color correction. I couldn't afford going to film school, so I watched COUNTLESS videos on YouTube and read every book on filmmaking that I could get my hands on; all the while I was constantly writing things and shooting them on my own, which I still do to this very day.
"I couldn't afford going to film school, so I watched countless videos on YouTube and read every book on filmmaking that I could get my hands on."
The heart of the Film Pin Society is community and camaraderie. Can you talk a little about that?
On a recent shoot, I was rehearsing an interrogation scene with my actors. In the scene all of the actors were supposed to be seated, but one take got so intense that one of the leads got out of her seat and got into the other actor's face. They immediately abandoned their lines and improvised based on this new energy. It was so amazing. I rewrote the scene on the spot and some version of that improvisation is what ended up in the short.
Any time an actor comes to the set or their character with ideas and feels free enough to explore that, it REALLY amps me up. It's my favorite part of the process to see characters that have only lived in my head and on the page come to life before my eyes.
What’s the best piece of advice you can give to someone looking into going into your field?
When I started working in video/film full time I didn't have a community or network to pull from. I was working as a Manager in Independence Compliance for a huge financial firm (which is as boring as it sounds), but I was DOING THE WORK. After working 10-11 hour days during the week I would go home, get my camera, and shoot. I would write and consume videos/books about filmmaking on my lunch breaks and during my commute. On weekends, I didn't go to parties; I went on shoots. Even when I would hang out with friends, I would shoot us hanging out and edit the videos into tiny experimental narratives.
I did so much work that I had a catalogue that was so good I couldn't be denied an opportunity...so do the work. Lastly, DO NOT STOP.
The only people I know who do not achieve what they want in life are the ones who quit. Quite literally, everyone I have known who wanted to achieve a seemingly unattainable goal has gotten it only because they don't give up on themselves even after they get kicked down.
...so do the work and don't stop.
What pin from our collection speaks to you and why?
The 35mm Lens Pin speaks to me the most because I direct based on my intuition (which has been refined through persistent and ongoing study of filmmaking). Everything I capture is through the lens of how I view life. So, from a literal and figurative standpoint, the lens is the foundation of everything I do.
