Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Potter.
Hi Andrew, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in East Atlanta as the second born of seven children. With a household of nine people total there was never a dull moment as there are so many different personalities walking around the house as well as talents. I am the son of a Pastor, Dr. Andrew Lewis Potter Sr. and my beautiful mother Doris Potter, both of whom are singers. This is a gift that found a majority of my siblings, but unfortunately, not myself. My older brother isn’t necessarily a singer but he is a musician and currently one of my favorite rap artists and songwriters, B.T. Montana. So I’m living in this house with all of this talent surrounding me and didn’t inherit any of it myself… or so I thought.
As I was growing up my parents found that I was always creating these stories that made them laugh. Sometimes I would tell a story of something that actually happened but spin in to make it funny. In my eyes, especially at this time, this isn’t a gift but just something I do for fun around family. Well, one day while I was a Freshman at Southwest Dekalb High School, I may have been just a little too talkative in class (they say Pastor’s kids are the worst) and the teacher decided to bring my parents in to talk. She tells my parents that I’d never been disrespectful to her but will talk and tell stories throughout the entire class period, which forces her to stop teaching multiple times. My dad mentioned to her how something like this could eventually get me “suspended” until the teacher interrupts him and says “That’s the thing Mr. Potter. I’ve never written him up because although it can get annoying, the stories are typically hilarious. I have to contain my laughter most times while telling him to shut up”.
That was probably the first time I realized that storytelling was both something I loved doing and something I may actually be really good at, shoot it was currently getting me out of trouble! Not to mention, it was a talent that even my singing siblings did not have (haha)! However, I’d never put any thought into pursuing this talent until I was in college at Georgia Southern University. I was a Junior in class on day and there was an incident that happened. The moment it ended, I went to Twitter and created a thread just recapping the events but, of course, in my own unique way. I turn my phone off and put it away to focus in this class as well as my next. When I left the app, I had between 900-1000 followers and by the next morning had over 30,000. There were people from all over the US and some even outside of the country laughing and enjoying reading this thread. It was Twitter, Facebook, different online publications, etc. and got much bigger than I’d ever believed it would. I also realized that a few of my new followers were professionals in the entertainment industry (actors, directors, writers, etc.). I’m looking through my mentions one day and my eventual mentor (I won’t name her because I’m not if she’d want me to) said to me that she loved my voice and offered her help if I’d ever decided I wanted to write TV. That moment changed my life and brought all of the above-mentioned experiences “full circle”. Since that day I’ve written three original series, one of which starts filming very soon and that I’m super excited for the world to see!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not! I didn’t go to college for MMFP (Multimedia Film & Production) but instead business. So, the only thing I was currently on the path to do was be someone’s Human Resources trainee. My mentor pretty much gave me a guide as to where I needed to start as she wasn’t formally trained either. She started mentoring me in 2017 and from early that year until late 2018, all I did was research and read! I had no idea how to tell a story on screen, no idea how to create a series, make a bible/treatment, storyboard, script formatting, etc.. Most importantly, I hadn’t really found my “voice” and I had no idea what story I even felt needed to be told. I was basically clueless! So with her help I started to read scripts out there from series I’d watched for years. This helped me not only see the way professionals were formatting things but to find out what genre of story I wanted to tell (because my first idea was a drama/action series and I know now that that genre is not for me whatsoever! At least for now). I spent day and night reading books that were recommended, listening to podcasts, going down YouTube “rabbit holes” for hours and doing research, as well as asking my mentor these super beginner questions. This was all while I was still a full-time college student with a job.
I found myself some days going to class at 9 am, getting done with classes around 4:30 pm, working until 8:00 pm, doing homework until 10 pm and researching topics like “how does one write a script” until 2 am the next morning. I didn’t have really any structure to my research, no classes of any sort to take but just a willingness to learn, something that I still have today. There were times where I would feel a little in over my head (and didn’t want to bother my mentor because it was 5 am where she lives) and get discouraged about whether or not I’d ever learned this stuff and for that matter would I even be good at it. A friend of mines told me after my first table read that he was proud of me because he may have seen me “quit” 99 times but watched me refocus and continue to try 100 times. And that perseverance, that willingness to be uncomfortable and fight through feelings of doubt and feeling overwhelmed, is one of the greatest things that I’ve ever experienced as it’s taken me so much further than even I originally envisioned. And I’m just getting started.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a creator, writer, director and actor. I’m currently in pre-production for a web series that is set to start filming this month. It’s a project that I’ve been working on for a long time and that I’m excited to finally film! I’m working on this as well as another series that’s still in the beginning stages but is already looking like one of the favorite things I’ve ever written.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I love collaborating with others so if you’re a creative whether it be actor, director, cinematographer/DP, musical artist, etc. and you’d read this and think you want to work with me on my current project or another in any way, I’m very easy to approach and willing to work with anyone who’s willing to work just as hard as I am! I am also accepting crowdfunding donations for those who may not want to collaborate but want to show support! If nothing else, a follow for the series social media pages goes a long way! @postgrad_series, @PostGrad_
Contact Info:
- Email: 2201productions@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/yalljust_myfans
- Twitter: twitter.com/yalljust_myfans
- Other: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/post-grad-the-series#/
Image Credits
The Milas Touch
