Jay Resha
Westwood Living Columnist / Red Sky Productions
What I Do
“Lighting and Writing”
Lighting: A director for a lighting and equipment company in the motion picture industry.
Writing: Freelance writing as a hobby / side hustle
- Job Title: Operations Management (And, faithful monthly opinion writer / contributor to Westwood Living)
- Years in Profession: 3 (22 previous years running a Boston textile company...and decades of writing, published in periodicals since 2010)
- Job and Daily Responsibilities:
Oversee lighting and equipment rentals and company ops. Still learning the movie industry! And always writing, writing, writing…perhaps I’ll meld the two industries some day and write a screenplay?!
Education
High School – Westwood High School, 1993
College – Boston College, 1997, B.A. Business Management (Corporate Systems)
Pre-Employment Experience
Those interested in movie-making would do well to start out interning and/or working at an equipment rental company and see all the processes that go on behind the camera.
List of classes that are most important/applicable to succeed in your profession:
Lighting: Film study, concentration in filmmaking.
Writing: English, baby, read read read and write write write.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities available for high school and/or college students to learn:
Students seriously interested in filmmaking can contact me and I can help set up possible internships or summer jobs (if the writer’s strike ever ends.) Students seriously interested in writing can talk to me any time…and they should make sure they are seriously interested in something else, in addition to writing!
Contact Me
Advice From A Leader
Like Tom Leyden, I am an example of someone who honed skills in one thing, but has come to apply those skills to another thing. I may have changed industries, but some of the skill sets needed to run a business are the same across industries and disciplines. Hey, the guy who ran Pepsi was once plucked to run Apple Computers. And a textile guy becomes a movie and lighting guy. My advice is to dive in to what you are doing, learn as much as you can about where you work and the associated industry. If lighting or writing excites you – heck, even if it doesn’t and you just like writing, or music, or art, or anything else – I have some stories to tell and perhaps they can help you on your journey.