Cultivating Creativity - From Farmer to Filmmaker
Luke Grigg | 11/7/2023
Luke Grigg, a professional filmmaker and longtime WFS educator, shares some of the deeply human lessons learned through creating a career in film when coming from literal grassroots.
I once lived in a world where becoming a filmmaker was a distant dream. Growing up, my dream of being a filmmaker seemed almost as distant as the hills along the horizon of my family’s onion farm in Washington. I was raised in a place where sentiments like “bloom where you are planted” and “plant your seed in good soil” were more than just sayings - they were the roots of my community and family.
As a farm kid, it was challenging to envision my passions beyond the field. I had access to few tools and methods to learn new things outside the bounds of my town. Luckily, I had curious parents who saw me and my dreams beyond the farm. We might not have known how to get there, but we relied on the experiences and resources we did have. With a little water, faith, and a lot of patience, we were able to help the seeds of my dream grow.
This first began as opportunities to live in a variety of places and expand my worldview. I was a high school exchange student in Peru for a year, traveled to visit family in Israel, worked in Wisconsin, and attended school in Los Angeles.
No matter where I landed, I kept finding other “farm kids” out there with dreams beyond their fields, neighborhoods, and borders. I grew to understand in each of these places the desire for one’s story - one’s culture - to be understood. The more I cultivated my own story, the more I realized the need to help facilitate space for others to do the same. That, given the right tools and education, we all can all sow our own stories.
As I traveled further from my roots, I noticed more and more the closeness of our shared humanity - how much my journey was like that of others far from me. I found out my rural farm and your family’s restaurant hold a lot in common. That my aunt’s over-the-top laugh and your mother’s sound the same when they start getting silly in front of our families. That your funerals may be different, but the grief feels the same.
Human connection begins when human stories become relatable. The greatest part? We are living in a time where the opportunity to see, feel, and resonate with all of these parts of humanity is accessible. We live in a time where children can grow up and tell their stories, share their realities, and in my case think of the other “farm kids” out there who were able to grow beyond the fields they call home.
“given the right tools and education, we all can all sow our own stories.”
It has been nearly a decade since I began my journey into the professional world of storytelling, and I am still learning every day. However, as my tools have grown, so has my capacity to share those tools with others. I have since been able to move my production company, Circle 3 Productions, back to my farm town to “bloom where I’m planted” in a way I never thought possible. I realized my whole life I thought I had to bring the farm kid to the film industry when my actual passion was more about bringing the film industry to the farm.
It has been an honor to team up with Wandering Film School these last few years. Little by little, we are cultivating creativity, opening up space, and facilitating a platform for other kids to do the same. To bring film, storytelling, and understanding back into student’s own communities. To work with communities rather than just in them to tell their stories.
Access. Education. Content Creation. Three pathways that will change the lives of many students and their communities forever. These things I know personally because, coming from a farm kid turned award-winning filmmaker, they sure changed mine.
To learn more about Luke and his work with Circle 3 Productions, visit their website at circle3productions.com.
