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Transition isn’t just about switching careers and doing something diverse, but in reality, involves the redesigning of a person’s entire lifestyle. It’s a challenging decision that people take after rethinking and evaluating their feelings about their current life, and how they wish to spend it in the future. A career transition does not always take place because of more money or a fancier title, but because of the drive and the inner voice of a person which pushes them to do better and experience something different. Although a career transition may seem simple, it is actually very complex in nature and there is a lot more to it if we dig deep enough. A transition can prove to be an impetus and catalyst in transforming a person’s career, even though it seems chaotic.
The most difficult transition is when a person is starting from scratch and doesn’t have a strong support system. The toughest industry to dive into is the entertainment industry and if a person doesn’t have the necessary links and connections, surviving in the industry becomes even more difficult. One person who without any contacts, experience or support made a successful transition from the music to the filmmaking industry is Mark David.
David, who is now an award-winning producer, director, cinematographer and a renowned public figure of the entertainment industry, started off his professional career as a rock drummer. Since his childhood, he had a passion for movies and filmmaking and for this sole purpose he enrolled himself in the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 1995 in order to study filmmaking and acting. Despite studying music law in 1996 from the Washington State University, his quest to learn more about movies didn’t end and in order to achieve this objective, he got into the Austin Community College, St. Thomas University and USC to study more about drama and cinematography.
David’s journey to the top was not easy and because he was making such a huge transition from one industry to another, he faced many obstacles and hurdles on his way to glory. In the 1990’s, David started his professional career as a rock drummer and later collaborated with William Tabanou, his old bandmate, to create New Breed Syndicate for writing tracks for his second feature film named Intoxicating. During his music career, David got the opportunity to collaborate and work with many famous musicians like Doug Pinnick and Ben Sheperd. After a series of successful collaborations, David’s album Ultrarev was signed by Feudal Records in 2010 and included two tracks of singer DuG Pinnick. He also united with his childhood friends Gabriel Ordonez and Dean Truitt to create, record and write the original soundtrack of his film Jonny’s Sweet Revenge.
David stepped into the visual medium in 1996 as the director of his old rock band’s music video, The Agency, which was later launched at the SXSW Film Festival competition. The first feature film that he directed was the Sweet Thing in 1997 and the rest is history. Sweet Thing acted as a stepping stone in David’s career and cleared his pathway in the filmmaking industry. During his illustrious career, David got the opportunity to work with the likes of famous actors such as Rip Torn, Val Kilmer, Priscilla Barnes Blake Clark, Cloris Leachman, Peter Falk, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Bruce Dern, Lin Shaye and Diane Ladd, which further cemented his place in the entertainment industry. After working as a director of photography for some time, David decided to establish his own production company named it the Buffalo Speedway Film Co. in 2000. Ever since its inception, David has produced and directed numerous films under the banner of Buffalo Speedway Film Co. and has worked in association with Rogue Arts to distribute more than forty films. In 2014, he laid the foundation of his own post-production company, the Bomb Shelter in LA, California. From the beginning of his filmmaking career to 2022, David has lensed about 60 narrative feature films as a cinematographer.
David loves to showcase nature in his movies and therefore chooses exotic and remote locations like Siberian tundra and Rocky Mountains for shootings. His famous projects include MR-9 (2023), Hostile Territory (2022), The Great Alaskan Race (2018) and Impuratus (2023), Project Legion (2022), Slotherhouse (2023), Switch Up (2023), American Cowslip (2010), Get Gone, A Woman Betrayed, The Preacher’s Daughter, Jonny’s Sweet Revenge (2016), Texas Heart (2016), Boy Makes Girl (2018), Starf*cker (2022), Sunlight (2023), Joycamp: GOING Postal (2016), Low Lifes (2012) and Coast to Coast Cheerleaders (2013). He is currently working on his film Spy, which will be releasing in 2024.
David has an extremely decorated career, receiving many awards throughout, such as The Best Feature Film Award for his film American Cowslip at the Albuquerque film festival (2010), The Best Feature Film Award for Texas Heart at the Albuquerque film festival (2016) and various best director, best producer, best original score and audience awards for the movie Jonny’s Sweet Revenge at different global events.
Mark David has shown us through his career transition that if a person plays his cards right with determination, he might be closer to his success than he thinks. If a person approaches his goals with commitment, conviction and curiosity, he has a better chance to achieve it. Although a transition would not guarantee success, but it will also not leave us with the regret of not trying.
