Meet the British RU senior who’s crowdfunding to make his own movie

‘If you have passion and are willing to put in the work anything is possible’

How does one find their passion? Do we just know it? Perhaps that is the case for some college students, but other’s have no idea.

Kurt Devonshire, a senior studying sociology, and film, didn’t arrive at his decision of wanting to be a filmmaker – or even that he wanted to come to America – right from the start. In fact, he started out as a football, ahem, soccer player for a club in England. But during his time playing for Tottenham Hotspur FC he got injured and was no longer able to play. But as Devonshire would later reflect on his new passion for filmmaking stating that, “When you feel it in your guts, that’s what you want to do, it gets you through.”

Arriving at Rutgers as yet another wide-eyed freshman, Kurt was now in an entirely new country chasing his new dream. One of his friends convinced him to enter the Rutgers Campus Film Fest. And so he began writing his first short film, The Writer, which ended up becoming a finalist in the Rutgers University film festival in 2014. Devonshire expressed that this was the most fun he’d had since he played soccer, and that feeling was exactly how he knew he’d found his new passion. Since then he has written and directed a number of short films.

His latest project, Stand, is a short film that explores “overcoming adversity” by “using hope as a crutch.”  And in writing and directing it, Devonshire plans to “look back and film from experience.” He emphasized that it is integral for him to search for a character’s “intrinsic drive” so that real emotions can be created as a character takes the audience on a journey. Devonshire believes that if he does this, that, “People are going to be able to relate…even if they aren’t facing the same kind of adversity.”

In directing, Devonshire revealed that one of the directors that inspire him the most is none other than Christopher Nolan. Devonshire stated that Nolan’s directorial genius in the films The Prestige and Inception are of particular inspiration to him. From Nolan, he takes note on how to structure and fine tune a story. Another director that he enjoys learning from is Guy Ritchie, a British director who’s worked on movies like The Man From U.N.C.L.E, who is best known for his fast-paced transitions.

In terms of coming up with ideas for writing, Devonshire says that he likes to, “let [his] imagination run wild.” He shared with us the inner workings of his idea journal and what gets him writing and explained that sometimes all it takes for him to get inspired is to see some form of unique interaction. And when he’s pursuing an idea, Devonshire will often have 13 to 14 drafts of a script before he feels it’s ready to be filmed. He believes that “If you have passion and are willing to put in the work anything is possible.”

Left to Right: Natalie James (Co-Executive Producer), Brendan Jenkins (cinematographer), Kurt Devonshire (Co-Executive Producer, Writer, Director)

For Stand, Devonshire has enlisted the help of Natalie James, a former Rutgers University student. She worked at RU-TV for over three years and currently has her own production company called Visual Barz. Having worked together on another short film, Lead Vendetta, Devonshire and James will also be to co-executive producers for Stand.

A number of Devonshire’s films are up on Youtube and they are still currently crowdfunding for Stand. If you’d like to support his latest project then you can go here to donate.

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