Deerfield Filmmaking Club Speaks with Howard Gordon
- SPENCER TREES '27
- May 20
- 2 min read
On Tuesday, May 6, 2025, the Deerfield Film Club listened to guest speaker Howard Gordon share life experiences and advice. Gordon’s involvement in the film industry includes work on The X Files, Homeland, and 24, the latter two for which he has received Emmy Awards. Gordon is the Deerfield Film Club’s first-ever guest of the inaugural year for the club.
Harry Holtz ’26, a founding member of the club, described the goal as “the purpose to happen here was to see what it was truly like to be in the film industry. And given that he has a lot of experience in that field, it was really great to hear about his time.”
Holtz also further elaborated on Gordon’s advice and said, “He gave us a few memorable pieces of advice. One, of course, is to stay humble, and the next is he referred to being like a cell in biology, where you let some things in, but also prevent other things from entering. So you have to be mindful of the advice you take. Obviously, take feedback, but don't, and this is a pretty big thing, don't completely change your film just based on what you predict the audience will see as or how the audience will react.”
Humility was not the only component of Gordon’s advice, Harrys said, “He also mentioned the the idea, kind of like thinking on your feet and being able to problem solve, and how you have to get to really be into problem solving, you know there are always gonna be things kind of going wrong, and so you got to make sure that you're actively trying to fix it”
Gordon’s words will leave the group something to ponder as the year comes to an end. Holtz summarized Film Club’s journey, “filmmaking club, me and several other people have started it earlier this year, and it's been a really great way for students to express their filmmaking interests outside of a normal class or in film cocurricular. And over the course of the year, we've kind of been in groups, and we've each worked on various films.”
These very films were showcased in this year’s Film Festival, Holtz commented, “Our film is a comedy about a student who was played by Tyler Christopher Long skipping class, and the moments that follow are both dramatic and hilarious, and the audience is kind of taking through A journey between Tyler and Mr. Perry, his class teacher, through a bunch of different events and funny places. And there's just a lot of interesting aspects, like warping time, it was a really fun project.” After Film Club’s debut on the big stage, Holtz ended by saying, “We hope to continue to build off of what we have right now and really encourage people to join the club, even if they have no experience in filmmaking or the arts. In fact, just so you know, people have the chance to, like I was saying earlier, experiment with filmmaking.”