|
|
[ back ]
Old passion leads to new road ahead
(by Katie Grasso - March 05, 2008)
Marchesani’s first feature film unlike other ‘college’ movies
The old adage says that in everyone’s life comes a fork in the road when a person will have to decide what path to choose. David Marchesani happened to take the road less traveled, and that decision has made all the difference for him.
A Hackensack native, Marchesani grew up in town and graduated from Hackensack High School in 1992. Though he always had an interest in film making, he was encouraged to pursue a more traditional career path. After high school, he attended Indiana University where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Finance.
His fire for the film industry never extinguished, however, and it was during the period of his college graduation that he was inspired to write what is now the screenplay of his first feature film “The Road Ahead.”
“I was always frustrated that every college movie I had seen always had the same premise to it – wild parties, fraternities fighting, road trips, and so on. But the truth is that neither I nor my friends were realistically living this lifestyle,” Marchesani told Hackensack Chronicle.
“We were instead on the cusp of becoming adults and trying to figure out how to do so. Questions about moving back home with parents, getting jobs, and relationships were the biggest concerns of ours.”
“Although The Road Ahead is based upon college graduates, it addresses universal issues that people of all ages can relate to.”
Hackensack native Dave Marchesani edits his feature film.
Shelf life
After his time at Indiana, he put the film aside and returned to New Jersey, where he worked with investment companies.
“I wrote the screenplay at that point in my life, but wound up just shelving it for some years,” he said.
One of his jobs led him to the West Coast, where Marchesani ultimately enrolled in San Diego State University’s Master’s Program for Entrepreneurship. As fate would have it, his enrollment would eventually be the catalyst to change, and Marchesani dusted off the screenplay that had been shelved for so many years.
“The Master’s Program for Entrepreneurship at San Diego State did a really good job of bringing in actual entrepreneurs, to talk about their personal experience. I never realized how many entrepreneurs are in San Diego and there seems to be a support system to encourage young business startups to succeed,” he said.
“What was so good about this was that we got to meet these incredibly successful business owners and hear about how they all faced failure and disappointments in their lives. What some may see as a failure actually wound up opening a door for something else. By meeting these people, I realized that it’s okay to make mistakes. You won’t know unless you try. I’m not losing anything, just gaining skills to apply to other parts of my life.”
After meeting these entrepreneurs, Marchesani decided that he too would step up and take a chance on his dream. Combining all of the business knowledge with his creative writing ability, he used his Master’s thesis as a chance to complete his movie.
“In many ways, the movie industry requires entrepreneurship skills. The entire process of making a movie involves similar things such as a business/movie proposal, securing funding, advertising and marketing of product, production budgets and costs. I could really apply my business background to this movie’s production.”
No matter what happens, Marchesani seems to have a balanced attitude toward his movie-making venture.
“I’ll try it and if it doesn’t happen, I’ll always have my investment career to fall back on. I just never wanted to look back at my life and wish I would’ve done this.”
Hackensack influence
Displaying the true entrepreneur in him, Marchesani has already started editing his second feature film, “VentureTown USA,” which is scheduled for release by the end of this year. In the meantime, he plans to remain in San Diego until that project is completed. Even across the county, however, sprinkles of his Hackensack upbringing appear in his work.
“One of the most frequent compliments about the movie is how the dialogue is written in a way that people speak everyday, and I credit that to where I’m from. Living in Hackensack, I was exposed to many diverse people and attitudes and I have benefited from that,” he said.
For more information about the film, visit www.TheRoadAheadMovie.com. The movie trailer, synopsis, and cast and crew information can be found on this site as well as information on The Road Ahead College Tuition Sweepstakes.
[ back ]
|
|
|
