I think that no matter what you do in life ; your life or my life has always been infinitely better when I pursued the things in my heart that felt important and something that I would want to get up and do everyday .
my friends . And like I said , we all have had those moments in our lives where we think , ‘ Man , this is not where I want to be ,’ so I think Scott is going through that in the movie . I mean , his girlfriend just broke up with him , he is in a job that he really doesn ’ t like , and he ’ s trying to figure out how to make things better . I definitely had times like that in my life . Also , one other thing , Scott is very competitive . I have to say , I am pretty competitive too . I love game nights . I play game nights with my friends and it can get a little intense . I like to win . So I connect to that part of Scott as well .
How does he fit into the movie ? I think Scott ’ s main function in the movie is getting everybody back together . I think that the main core group of friends have sort of strayed a little bit since college , meaning that they don ’ t see each other everyday , or see each other every week . But Scott is the one that realizes , ‘ Hey , we have all turned into something that we said we would never be , and I think that is boring .’ I think he ’ s thinking , ‘ Gosh , we have gotten so boring ,’ and he ’ s sort of the catalyst for getting everyone back together . He ’ s also the person throughout the story who makes a mistake , and maybe gets a little too competitive . Then he has to come back to realize that the whole mission of re-entering Beerfest was to reconnect as a group , and I think that was the main function for him in the story .
What do you think the message of the movie is and what are some of the key takeaways that fans should be looking out for in the film ? Well I think that the great thing about Beerfest is that it ’ s pure joy . It was pure joy to shoot , it ’ s pure joy to watch , it ’ s a good time . Beerfest is really about reclaiming the fun of college , it ’ s ultimately about five friends , who reconnect and get together . Scott is also recently single and he ’ s trying to figure out if he can get back with his girlfriend , Angie . And I think the key takeaway from the movie is that sometimes you have to revisit your past to get your mojo back .
How did you get involved with acting ? I really attribute my ability to enter the career as an actor to going to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts . I am from a small town in South Carolina originally and I never had anyone in my life who had become an actor or who was involved in the entertainment industry at all . So when I started doing plays in high school and I realized that I really liked it , I had an opportunity to audition for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts . I think what that did was that it put me in a community of people that were all pursuing the same thing . They were doing it in a very serious way . And you had such great teachers there whose mission was to help you be the best version of an actor that you can be . They would help you figure out different parts of yourselves that you can turn into different characters . So I have a lot of supporters there at the School of Arts , one of which is one of my biggest supporters , an acting teacher named Tanya Belov . She even supports me today . She will call me , and I will be like , ‘ Oh , I am stuck on this character ,’ I am trying to find a way in or I am trying to figure out how I can find a commonality with this character . Then we would talk about it . And to have a teacher like that , that has been so dedicated to you is priceless . So I really attribute that as to helping me get into acting , because at the end of the four years at the School of the Arts , you go and do a showcase in New York and in Los Angeles . And it was there that I signed with my first agent and managers , and then moved out and just started auditioning .
What advice would you give others looking to pursue it ? Don ’ t let anyone else tell you who you are . Or , don ’ t let anyone else tell you how big you should dream . I think that no matter what you do in life ; your life or my life has always been infinitely better when I pursued the things in my heart that felt important and something that I would want to get up and do everyday .
What are some future projects that you are working on ? Well , I just finished a little film project which I am excited about and I did a little television project that has not come out yet . But one thing that I am really excited about is that I am developing some content for a show with an actress named Kim Shaw , which we are very excited about , having the ability to write our own project . Kim and I have worked together in the past on different film projects and it ’ s really fun for us to get to write something for ourselves . So I don ’ t want to get ahead of myself by giving away too many of the details , but I can tell you that hopefully you guys will be able to see that in the very near future .
Over the years , you have participated for charity causes helping people who have been victims of bullying and showing your support . How has dealing with this growing problem today touched you and what pushed you to want to be a voice for these victims ? Well , first of all , bullying is a huge problem . It ’ s something that breaks my heart , and honestly , it makes me very emotional to think about people who are harassed , victimized , treated unfairly , or don ’ t feel safe in their school for whatever reason . So it ’ s not something that I have been really interested in . I got involved in it , when I did a movie called Love Is All You Need ? It was a movie about bullying , and I actually played the bully in the film . But it was at that time that I really started to realize by talking to other people when we would show the movie , people would come up to me after the movie and tell me their stories . And after hearing their stories , it really touched my heart , so I decided that I would get involved . One of the non-profits that I work with is an organization called Boo2Bullying . I have been finding out ways to do events with them , to raise money , but also to do practical things , like going out and speaking to a boys and girls home . I would be talking about self-esteem , feeling good about yourself and treating others fairly . I think right now in our country , it is so important that we think about that , that we should treat everyone with respect no matter who they are , where they come from , or who they love . Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect .
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