“I did a bunch of fun stuff. I got to go around the world…but nothing I worked on could beat Beetlejuice,” said LBCC’s Film Professor David Parrish, reminiscing on his time working for the Hollywood film industry.
Professor David Parrish has had two passions in life, first filmmaking and then teaching the next generation of filmmakers.
Throughout his college and young adult years, Parrish worked odd jobs to make ends meet.
Eventually, he landed at Birns and Sawyer Film Equipment Rentals, one of the most popular film equipment rentals in Los Angeles.
After a few weeks of loading and unloading trucks, he became a camera technician at Birns and Sawyer.
Later, he joined the staff of a small production company specializing in commercials and documentaries.
This led to Parrish working as a camera assistant and cinematographer for several different movies, shows and music videos including Beetlejuice, The Notebook, Party of Five and a commercial for United Airlines.
Parrish worked in the film industry for over 35 years until he decided to end that career and start a new one.
“I was getting older working 12 to 16-hour days, it was a struggle to keep up,” said Parrish.
He started his first teaching job with 90 students in a Film 101 class. He talked about how the class had many different types of students, not just students who wanted to major in film.
“The greatest thing is that I get to design my classes the way I want to,” said Parrish.
Parrish talked about how in every one of his classes he changes the way he teaches based on the skill level of the class.
He asks every student to fill out a form that asks students why they’re taking the class, what or if they’ve had any experience working with cameras or anything, along with fun facts about themselves.
Several of Parrish’s former students credit their old professor for their success.
Brian Abarca, a former student and graduate of LBCC, took Parrish’s class in the Fall of 2017. It was one of the last classes he took before graduating.
“With everything I learned in David’s class, I was able to jump into the film industry without feeling like I was falling behind,” said Abarca.
Brian is now a member of IATSE Local 600, a premier labor union for camera crew personnel. He’s worked on several small productions, one of his biggest being Max’s The Idol.
John Leyba is in his 2nd year at LBCC and is on track to get his Film AA. When he told his counselor that he wanted to take Parrish’s Film 220 summer class, Leyba was told that it wasn’t worth his time since it wasn’t a requirement for his degree.
“If I had listened to her, I wouldn’t have the drive that I do now to finish my degree and transfer,” said Leyba.
Leyba went on to explain that the hands-on lessons that he was taught from Parrish’s class helped him to succeed in his other classes.
“The experiences with David can’t be taught in a book,” he said. “He’s in it for the love of the art and he wants his students to succeed.”
When asked what the success of a student looks like, Parrish said, “It’s different for every student. I just want to make sure the students in my classes know they have options to do what they want, even if it’s hard.”
Parrish talked about the phrase “carpe diem” or “seize the day” that he tells every student. He wants his students to take every opportunity to advance in their lives in whatever way they want to.