Introduction

From my last shoot

    Hello, my name is Ephraim Belnap. I’m an older student at UVU looking to get a degree in writing for Film and TV. I grew up in the Middle East in a place without a traditional set of job options - you couldn't drive until you were eighteen, starter jobs were all taken by local migrants, and entry-level jobs into careers of choice were hard-to-find or non-existent. But from a young age, I loved reading and writing and storytelling, and I was writing analyses and critiques in earnest from the time I was fourteen. 

    After high school, I had a bit of a unique career path. I left high school year after my junior year and started college at Brigham Young University with a focus on Middle Eastern Studies, which I had a good background in. I studied that for two years and even completed the Study Abroad for Arabic Study in Jordan and Palestine. And soon after that, I served a two-year LDS mission in San Diego County, where I spent a year managing the Arabic-speaking missionaries. But the experience left me realizing that my true passion wasn't geo-politics; it was writing and storytelling. After coming home, I completed a minor in Middle Eastern Studies at BYU and, after examining BYU's program, switched to Utah Valley University, interested in how it seemed more immersed in the actual film industry. 

    Since arriving at UVU, I've had a robust filmmaking experience. I've PA'ed on a half-dozen Senior Capstones and short shoots. I've written a few more contemporary treatments. And I have a large body of critical work available at several blogs. Most recently, I've dipped my toe back in screenwriting since I'm finding more of an outlet for it, and I've posted several kinds of video content on my YouTube, some of which I've been paid for. I'm interested in becoming a professional scriptwriter, producer, and director, in that order. And I think I'd be an asset because in addition to everything else I've said, I've traveled extensively, I have a martial arts background, I'm a good people manager, and I'm familiar with writing in many different genres.