Early Life & Inspiration

It was obvious to his parents that Derek would be a storyteller. Even after they had only read a bedtime story to him once, every time after that, he would insist on telling the story to them, even changing it and adding new details in the subsequent re-tellings (to which he is very grateful for his parent’s patience for listening to him ramble endlessly).

It was only once he was first taken to the cinema, however, that he found his calling. To tell those stories through the magic of film. Whether it was watching ghosts be captured, spiritual space battles, teenage time travelers, giant fighting turtles, to dinosaurs that turly felt alive, everything led him to a livelong love of movie magic.

Growing up without a camera, he drew storyboards and studied everything he could about filmmaking. When he finally got a camera, he made his first films with whoever would help, and had to edit in camera as he had no way to edit. Each step had a challenge but no matter the hardship, passion drove him to go beyond the limitations and find a way to make films.