Celisa Meals

“I can genuinely proclaim that I have lived my entire life through a lens. As I was growing up, the camera never strayed too far from the spotlight that seemed to always be on me. I loved entertaining my family and friends and when it was all said and done I was mesmerized watching myself on a playback.

There came a point where I got behind the lens, and since then everything and every individual has become my subject manner. There are people who view the world in black and white or vivid colors and lines, but I see everything in frames.

Once I graduated high school and began to pursue a career in film, I realized early on that the competitive atmosphere might not be the most efficient choice for me. I watched countless classmates and friends graduate, most in which whom had the same dilemma – finding the work to exercise their knowledge and skills.

So, I made a decision to seek out alternative film sources to get my foot in the door. After a few months of hard-investigation, I committed my time to the Film Connection, where in roughly four months I was working in the field. Having the one on one opportunity with my mentor, Luis Estrada, really put me in a valuable place within the facility I did my externship and internship. Knowing him on a personal basis allowed me to feel more comfortable and confident in my working environment, and presented more opportunity for me as an individual based on my skill set.

Although I did complete three years of the traditional RTVF program at the University of North Texas, nothing has been more beneficial to my film and photography career such as The Film Connection.”

After competing her externship with the Film Connection’s Film Production Program her mentor, Luis Estrada hired her to join a project with his production company!

Read here, in her own words, about her experience and the steps she took to secure this opportunity and find more information about her throughout our site!

“I think that they realized really quick that I’m very open and very adaptable and personable. I can talk with anyone, I am not very intimidated by situations or people. I had an opportunity to work a lot of leads aside from the productions I was already working on other than the generic productions. What you need to do and where you need to put this and whatnot so I actually got to meet a lot of the clients very personally that came through here.

I got to know them on a level that where they were talking about their experience to my mentor or even with someone else in the studio they referred to me by name and that isn’t as common as most people expected it to be around here. So that made the people that I’m working with realize that I am an influential person to some degree, even if I’m young and I need guidance if I’m going to be successful but having people recognize the good qualities and traits about me early on and placing me in positions where if I excel and learn new things they will really help me as well but everyone here has been awesome.”