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Devante Blackwell

Director & CEO

"I quit my job at the plant to pursue a career in filmmaking."
 
As far as he can remember, Devante Blackwell has had a passion for filmmaking. He always loved to watch movies, TV shows, and even commercials. When he watched movies he would watch them several times over so that he could remember the lines and say them exactly the way the characters did. He would envision himself on the shows he liked and would contemplate how he would play the characters he grew fond of. As he watched commercials he would remember the lines as well as the timing and feel of the commercials he loved. His mother enjoyed his willingness to recite full commercials for her and her co-workers.
 
Growing up, Devante's family had very little money, but his mom encouraged him and his older brother to get involved in anything that related to what they were passionate about at that time. One day, there was a talent agency casting call near his mother's job that she immediately signed him and his older brother up for. Devante auditioned and made the cut, but after a few months he had to resign due to his mother not being able to continue to dish out money for headshots, travel costs etc.
 
Although Devante couldn't continue to pursue acting professionally, due to no indsutry connections and lack of funds, his passion for filmmaking continued to grow. Throughout junior high he begin to create his own films where he would play every character he thought up. The camera he used did not allow him to connect to the computer, for editing purposes, so he would use a remote control that allowed him to record remotely. He would stop the camera after he ran out of improvised words and quickly changed clothes so that he could play another character.
 
Eventually, Devante begin to do more research on filmmaking to figure out how he could make his films better. As he researched filmmaking he begin to gravitate more towards the work behind the scenes rather than acting. From there, he worked on several class video projects throughout high school, graduated from high school and went to work at a petroleum plant that consisted of several 91 hour week turnarounds. While at the plant, Devante prayed on the career path he should take and a voice came to him saying, "Do what you know best." At that moment he instantly knew he should pursue filmmaking as a career. He begin to save up and purchase film equipment. Before he left his day job at the plant he prepared a financial nest egg, studied, researched and read books about cameras, lighting, directing, editing, business, how to transition from a day job to self-employment etc.
 
Finally, after much prayer and preparation, he formed an award-winning production company called Captivating Cinema that is made up of a team of passionate people that love to create.
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