 It was junior high – I lived on Brookwood Street in Paxtang, Pennsylvania. A friend, Josh Elder, would sneak out his parent’s video camera when they were gone so we could make short movies. We soon had our first one finished. It was called The Cartel and we loved it. We still quote it to this day. It was a gangster /chase movie with drug dealing bad guys to kill. Later on, Josh got a camera of his own, and we proceeded to make one movie after another almost every day after school. There on Brookwood Street is where I caught the bug for filming.
Later I went to art school, graduating in 1998 from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in General Fine Arts. I did plenty of art while I was there, but I still had that bug for filmmaking. I took two video classes, and really took off with some crazy little “art” videos that were hilarious. This was my first taste of editing, and when I was done with school, I longed to be able to continue with it.
In the year 2003 I decided to go back to school, starting out in sound engineering. At that time my DJ hobby was taking a lot of time and energy, so I wanted to produce music. When I got to school at Full Sail Real World Education in Florida, I quickly realized that this was the wrong choice. I switched my major to Film and Video Production where I quickly knew that I had made the right decision to change majors. While there I made some incredible friends and contacts, and soon graduated with an Associates Degree in Film and Video Production.
Later that year my father, an ultramarathoner, suggested doing a documentary on the Massanutten 100-mile race. I thought this was a good idea and even started training with my father, running my first 50K Ultra that fall at Haliburton Forest in Canada. Since now I had run an ultramarathon myself I felt confident that I could really capture the true essence and the camaraderie that is so prevalent at these events.
So after much preparation and lots of money spent on equipment and countless other things, Brookwood Street Productions was born. We now have our first feature for everyone to enjoy- Massanutten: Two Runners, 100 Miles. I have many ideas for future projects so I hope you’ll check back in the future to see where I am.
Ben LaDieu
Director/Producer
Brookwood Street Productions
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