Meet George Bushwaller | Assistant Director & Screenwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with George Bushwaller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi George, how do you think about risk?
I don’t really think about risk that deeply, especially when it comes to my life or career.

I’m a chronically bored person and I usually need to be doing something that has me out of my depth. l’ve done a lot of things like that so far and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. If I had to say something concretely about risk, it would be that if you don’t take risk in your life, not a lot of interesting things are going to happen around you. Interesting things certainly weren’t happening to me when I was more risk-adverse.

But I don’t know, I started to feel that my life would only be something worth doing if I started to take massive action. I moved countries, I temporarily entered a new career there, I learned a new language, I’ve seen things around Europe that I never thought would be in my future. I mean if risks hadn’t have been taken, then some of the most incredible things in my life would’ve never happened. So how I think about risk is, bring more please.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In all earnestness, it feels a bit hollow for me to talk about myself in a creative capacity at this moment. My last twoish, threeish, fourish years have been defined by radical change and no normal. My dad died, I gained sixty-five pounds, I lost sixty-five pounds, I road-tripped across the US, I worked on a feature film, I almost saw it burn to the ground, I moved to Spain, I worked in a school and figured out I don’t like education, I wrote 17 feature length screenplays that I haven’t done anything with. Now I’m finishing off a year here in Madrid and I’ll study to be an electrician, so how’d I get here professionally? I don’t know. Professionally, am I really anywhere?

My friends would tell you that I’m an ambitious person, a professor in college once said almost to a fault. So for better or for worse, I’m always thinking ahead. Not on where I came from, but where I’d like to go. I wanna get stable next and feel normal for a while and then afterwards, I really want to work. I want to make use of the resources around me and make a film here in Spain. And I want to make it for no money, as a principle. I subscribe to a sort of DIY school of thought, Robert Rodriguez-like: costs cheap, looks expensive. I don’t have a goal in mind other than making a film bare-handed and just having the experience and honestly it just sounds fun. It fits in with one of my main goals in life, which is to accrue the skills in no-budget filmmaking so I don’t have to rely on people with money for things to get done.

I’ve got more plans for the future past that but I won’t get into it, I’d rather underpromise and overdeliver.

In the meanwhile, I write scripts. More for love than anything else. I like writing about people who’re self-starters but are always pointed in the wrong direction, and that ends up being their downfall. I’ve written in quite a few genres at this point: western, sci-fi, horror, detective, goblin, drama, thriller… My dream is to write/direct, but so does everybody else. So I’ll just direct if I can’t write too. I’ll always write though even if it’s just in my free time.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d do half in New York, half in Key West, come back to Spain and wind down in a village on the coast.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
All handles are for instagram:

My Mother (@joannaspantry) – Joanna’s Pantry – She owns a seafood business (Bushdogs) across Florida and also has a store front (Joanna’s Pantry) in Jensen Beach, Florida. She’s the smartest, most hard-working, and powerful person that I know. She could shove a mountain flat and dry the seas in her wake, she’s immense and so disarming in her kindness. She’s a special person, beyond words really.

Gema Cantos (@gemcantos) – Author – A kind, beautiful, fiercely intelligent, and remarkable woman that I spend my life with. Gema’s my girlfriend and is also a published author (Antes de que caiga el telón, Susceptible, La última fiesta del té) , PhD student, and English teacher. She’s an immeasurable good in my life and one of my greatest blessings.

John David Juodis – Writer, Director, Producer (Flooded Basement Films)- Great guy who put me onto his project back in 2022, he’s a real go-getter and I’ll always respect him because of the opportunities he gave to me and a bunch of other young professionals in the field who’d never worked on a feature before.

Bob Atton (@robertjamesatton)- SFX 2nd AD – Kind, brilliant guy who mentored me greatly on our shoot together. He pushed for me to get up from craft service and into bigger roles on set.

Gaia Jacobs (@not_shenziii) – 2nd AD & Photographer – She is a brain and one of the most naturally organized people I’ve ever met. Gaia could’ve made the Titanic float.

Will Hoffman (@thefriendlyswampmonster)- 1st AD – Wildly original and vivacious force-of-nature that I met in high school and who got me my first film job. I wouldn’t be talking about any of this if it weren’t for him.

Brad Chuy – Producer – Basically if this were Neolithic times, we’d be living in mud huts and Brad would have HBO. He’s a fantastic manager and is a genius with computers.

John Wyche (@dirty_soda_spike_lee)- Script Supervisor & Writer – Deeply insightful and talented writer, that I bunked with for a month. He’s working on a lot of shorts that could blow Atlanta wide open.

Michael Rogan (@itsmichaelrogan)- Producer – Super cool-headed and organized planner who’s got a special talent for bringing people together and keeping them there. You gotta love Rogan.

Diego Amador (@amadorama)- Photographer – Diego’s a wonderful photographer all around, but his film work is f’ing incredible. He can make the mundane look like Roman history.

Kyle Leal & Daniel Chen (@kyleleal @filmakerdanch) – Directors of Photography – Please hire these two. They’re immensely resourceful, knowledgeable, and will know what you want and know exactly how to pull it off.

Nicole Zatkowski (@nicolezatkowski) – 1st AC – Nicole came in later to our project and absolutely blew me away with her talent and proficiency behind the camera. She could also definitely kick my ass.

Andrew Rankin – Key Grip – He’s sent from heaven, he once broke my brain explaining lens glass to me at 3 in the morning. So smart, so quick on his feet, so fast at his job.

Rozell Coffie (@rozellcoffie) – Director, Music Producer, Director of Photography – Rozell’s been my go-to guy when I need a Director of Photography. We’ve made projects together in-an-out of college and he’s a star. He’s from Tampa and he bleeds for that place. He does exactly what he should, he surrounds himself with people just as talented as him (Notsew, Taylor Moon, Pando, many others) and elevates them along with himself. Aside from that, his music is insane whether he’s rapping or producing. I don’t think much about my college experience but him and my other friends from there made it more than worth it. I have many plans in the future with him and many of the other people on this list.

Tucker Moore – Musician & Director of Photography – He’s one of my best friends and one of the most incredible people I know. He’s also a guitarist and just an overall amazing musician and artist. I want him to score my films in the future.

Shannon Higley (@shannon_higley) – Photographer – Shannon and I go farther back than a lot of people on this list and the two of us have watched each other grow artistically for years. She shoots with models and really nails this glamorous mania all slabbered in spit and lipstick that I love. She used to shoot in squalor. Holed-out buildings, places at the edge of Miami but always could make it look like whoever the subject was, was some rockstar in a trash heap or an old silent-movie star in the throws of a valium brood. I always love seeing what comes next with her.

Instagram: gwbushwaller

Image Credits
Gema Cantos Diego Amadora Marlon Alvarez Tucker Moore Shannon Higley