Andrew Pitkin: writer, director, artistic visionary

The year was 2000. I was sitting in Graduate School to become a Elementary School Teacher (middle of the first semester). I remembered… I don’t like school. I never did. How was I gonna enjoy it now? Granted, I had been working at the YMCA and Northeast Parent and Child, in the Capital Region of NY, with children for the 4 years since undergrad and I was good at it. I loved those kids! But the money was inadequate and my new goal to become a teacher seemed hallow. Mainly, I was doing it, to have my summers available for writing.See, since college, I had been editing and writing screenplays. I was beginning to see my best learning and passion was occuring in my free moments. So I dropped out and I began writing my script entitled, ‘CLAUSTROPHOBIC.’ Then a few months later September 11th happened. It made me realize my life was way too important to be wishy washy. I decided I had to make things happen for myself. What did that mean? What would I do differently? I knew in the eyes of the industry, I was still a nobody. They didn’t know me as a writer. No awards. No recognition. I wasn’t ready to submit materials to a production company let alone a literary agent.So I would make the movie myself. I would budget. I would circulate the script among my articulate and honest friends; and I would polish the screenplay. I soon realized that the more friends and family that I told, the harder it was to back down. I couldn’t flake once I had built up such momentum for my first movie project.By April of 2002, I was beginning to hold auditions in the local library. They had rooms you could reserve a day in advance. And because it was at the library, it was free. Cool! Finally, my dream was becoming real!’CLAUSTROPHOBIC’ was on its way!