The Journey to Filmmaking

Chris Columbus shares his experiences growing up in a blue-collar family in Ohio, where he felt a strong desire to escape traditional factory work. Motivated by his father's advice to avoid jobs he despised, he initially aspired to be a painter before discovering his passion for film during high school. After realizing film schools existed, he applied to and was accepted into NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he began to hone his craft in filmmaking. Columbus ultimately lost a scholarship due to oversight but turned this challenge into an opportunity by writing a screenplay that later secured him an agent, illustrating his resilience in pursuing a career in Hollywood.