It was strange how this all happened; I was sitting in my Lighting Design class like I did most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and my professor said, "National Geographic was coming to film and..." by this time my hand was in the air because I knew that he was asking for volunteers. In the coming weeks and months we, the professors (Gregg Buck and Eric Marsh), and myself discussed the process of what was going to happen with National Geographic and this shoot. One of the first things that I got the privilege to do was go to a prison museum here in Huntsville, Texas, that was a learning experience, because I got to step inside a cell and realized how small a death row cell actually is. The next step was the constructing of the death row cell set and erecting it in our Showcase theater space here at Sam Houston State University.

Next, I meet multiple people that would be involved with this shoot and I knew that this was going to be an amazing opportunity for not only my school, but also for my career. I had never been on a film shoot in my life and this was an experience like no other. I had arrived at the school at 7:30am and Tom Prior (another professor at Sam Houston) gave me and the other Production Assistants some advice, to be quiet when shooting, stay out of the way, and learn how a professional film set works. This oddly enough was a little intimidating. We started that day by setting up for our first shot, and that was an eye-opening experience.

The Production Assistants, myself include, were awe struck.  This transformation was impressive. Watching the monitor, cameras, other equipment, and seeing what we were shooting was, as stated before, simply amazing. After that day we, wrapped the shoot, packed up, and got out of Dodge.

I know that this was a wonderful experience for me, because I never thought about going into the film industry as a career, I know that stage theatre is fun, exciting, and motivating, but now I know that film is the same way. The best thing that happened during this entire shoot was that I got to meet people that are in the television industry. I say that because theater and television are all about who you know and connections made on the job. I have made connections and this experience will help me get my foot in the door of the professional world. 

I have one more year of school left at Sam Houston State University, and because of this experience I am eager to go "into the real world" and face it head on.