Ben Shofet, Business Manager
Actor. Mentor. Teacher. Producer. Traveler. Coach. These are just a few of the many titles that Film Production teacher Romeo Carey holds. Although Carey has been at Beverly for almost a decade, he is more than your average teacher.
Highlights: Tell me about your upbringing.
Carey: My early life was like living in the circus. What I mean by that is I lived a super colourful life compared to most people because my dad was in the business; he was like the pioneering filmmaker who made movies and was in moves. And so I got to be part of that. We had a studio on our property and when it was happening it was like being a part of a circus. I would also travel a lot. I was schooled in Germany as a kid; my dad loved taking us to interesting destinations. So, we’d spend summers in different parts of the world. It was just a beautiful place to grow up.
Highlights: What was your life like before Beverly?
Carey: I got a degree in broadcasting from Cal State LA, and then I did master’s work at UC Irvine and then my first job was an internship with CNN. I started my own production company once I got into it. I opened up a production company in Beverly Hills, just doing a broad swath of everything that could be shot on film. In my company, I took a lot of interns in to work for me, guys that were just out of college. It was fascinating running a production company, doing all of these amazing projects. I was in the game big. I really enjoyed taking interns who wanted to learn the craft. And they’d work for me for a year or six months and some wouldn’t even leave, some would become my employees. Especially when they went back to their own countries and we stayed in contact, I found how rewarding it was to work and to actually mentor people. So I thought I’d take a look at teaching. I taught a class at an adult school for digital filmmaking and a couple years into that I got the job at Beverly in 2005.
Highlights: What is something that you are proud of outside of school?
Carey: I’m most proud of my domestic role. My biggest job is being a father and a lot of them[students] don’t know that I’m a coach. I coach AYSO and I am a babysitter too. I have a three-year-old. I also have a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. My kids attend Japanese school. They do a full load of Japanese every Saturday. It’s a Japanese transplant at a public school. It’s a system that works in Japan, they literally use it here for business people so the kids don’t miss a beat. There’s lots of things I do that I don’t bring into school. I still run my independent production company, that’s something I never stopped doing. I mostly do executive producing. I’m involved in stuff all the time outside of this place.
Highlights: What is your greatest achievement in the film world?
Carey: I have great achievements that are in my past, but they’ve already played out. I can go and talk about all of the amazing projects I’ve done, but that has no usefulness in the present moment. I’m looking at what’s in front of me. My greatest achievements on this planet are helping other people. My whole objective is to move other people’s lives in the direction to make them aware of their potential. That’s my place right now, that’s my focus.
Highlights: Can you tell me about the origins of your soul patch?
Carey: That one’s got a good history. It was adopted by my father who did a groundbreaking film called “The World’s Greatest Sinner.” And at one point in his character arc, he dawns this triangle beard and it became like his trademark. He only wore it for the movie but I liked it. I never saw him wear it again, but I thought as soon as I could grow one I’d do it. But, you know, you never keep your hair the same, so why should you keep your facial hair the same? You should always change it up. So when I come back from winter break I won’t have one. I kinda like it because artistically it gives you symmetry. And as a living artist that just comes with the territory because you’re just producing art. You can’t be afraid to experiment.
Highlights: Who is Romeo Carey?
Carey: I’m still discovering who Romeo Carey is. I haven’t discovered who Romey Carey is,and I don’t think I’ll ever will discover who Romeo Carey is. But when I figure that out, I’ll let you know. The whole idea of life should be exploring who you are. I’d like to think that I’m learning more every day in terms of what life is really all about. The more I reach to try to find that, the more I discover that it’s all about basic fundamentals. The most important thing in life is to live in the time of your life, to live as it unfolds and no place else. And where it unfolds is in this very moment. If you create problems in that moment, you’re not living in that moment. You’re living in some other world the whole objective is to be conscious that you only need to answer to the moment, everything else will take care of itself because you have time for that but when you’re engaged in life and you’re dealing with people and you have a life. You never want to lose sight where life takes place. And that only takes place as it unfolds in every single moment. Never look behind you. Never look in front of you, except for those times where you need to put that in order. All the rest of your time should be spent in the moment and in that moment you should be making love and not war, nothing wrong with that, right?