Life & Work with Peter Poulos

Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Poulos.

Hi Peter, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today. 
The cliche of “ever since I was little, I loved movies” is at the heart of my passion, but wanting to MAKE movies is something that I kind of fell into around early high school. 

I watched some of the pinnacle YouTubers from early 2009/2010 such as Freddiew, Corridor Digital, Pwnisher, and more. 

It was inspiring seeing people just making content with friends and having fun doing it. 

I decided to pass on the transitional school route and used the money I made from my 6 years as an employee/manager at the Goodrich Canton Cinema to invest in my own equipment and teach myself the art of filmmaking. 

Through that Job, I met Brandon Brefka, who is to this day an integral part of my life and has a filmmaking career of his own. 

Now almost 15 years later, at the Age of 30, I have been able to financially support myself. 

The last two years, I primarily worked for DRII Productions shooting Feature films. In that time, I have accumulated 20 Director of Photography credits for feature films along with a TV series by the name of “Street Legal” on TUBI. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest challenges for me have just been the time it took to learn the craft and be able to prove myself to the right people and get myself into a position where I can pursue this career full-time. Now that I am the business side of things has gotten more complicated and is something I am still learning. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Being a director of photography is something I sort of fell into as my main passion and goal is to write and direct. 

But when I started, I didn’t have money to pay people, so I did what most beginning filmmakers probably do…everything. 

I would get family and friends to help with my own projects. I would shoot the movies, do the sound, do the special effects, you name it. 

Through that, I found that my camera work seemed to stick out, and people started wanting me to shoot projects. From there, I went down the camera/technical rabbit hole, and now I can say that being a Director Of Photography is my passion. 

Of course, I still want to write and direct but that is not always the easiest to make a career or living out of in the indie scene. My goal is to use the money I make to fund personal films that I write and plan to direct as a way to build up that part of my craft over time. 

What I am most proud of is the fact that most films I work on are tight schedules, 10 days or less, with no time for scouting or pre-lighting. Through these restrictions, I have become very good at walking into an unknown space, and with knowing the general blocking of the script, I can easily set up shots and relay a lighting plan to my gaffer and get good results in very little time. 

Not to say that I’d prefer that because I’d love to have multiple hours to shoot one scene, but sometimes you only have one hour to block, light, and shoot. 

Any big plans?
I am currently working a contracted Commercial Filming / Editing job until January of 2025. Taking this break from shooting feature films so I can focus on my own personal projects and filmmaking goals with the hope to jump right back into the freelance narrative world in 2025. 

Contact Info:

• Website: Peterpouloscreative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterpouloscreative