May 14, 2020

Meet David “DJ” Walker of HB4L Productions in Tempe

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to David “DJ” Walker.

David “DJ”, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My journey into film making goes back to 1991. I was just out of High school and was on my way to attending The Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale to study video production and audio engineering. I was born and raised in a small farming community 90 miles south of Chicago in East Central Illinois. I dreamt of making movies since I was a young boy watching and influenced by movies like Star Wars, ET, Back to the Future, and many more. I loved the idea of creating worlds and telling stories. I used to take my Star Wars action figures and make my own adventures, my own mini-movies in my head. Once I became a teenager, I was always at the local video store renting every VHS (yes, I am that old! lol) tape I could. I was enthralled with movies, learning, engaged in storytelling and characters and the escapism that movies allow you to live for a few hours. I spent a year in Ft. Lauderdale but had to leave due to financial reasons.

In 2014, I decided to return to college and went to The School of Film and Theater at SCC in Scottsdale, There I studied and graduated with a degree in Television/Motion Picture Production as well as a certificate of completion in film editing. My specialty and focus is to be a film director, but I do love editing very much too. I had went back and finished my dream of going to college (the first and only person in my family) as well as going to film school and learning the craft of film making. While there, I made many great friends who I have worked on several projects with and will continue to work with for years to come. A few of those short films that I directed have even been accepted into and played at some film festivals here locally and in Los Angeles. I have created my production company name HB4L Productions which I am waiting to get LLC’d and make it an official business and take it to the next level.

Has it been a smooth road?
The road has not been easy as I am sure others have experienced as well. I had to leave college the first time at the age of 19 because of financial issues. I was really disappointed and angry as it was out of my control and I was doing well in school too. I had a resentment for a long time about that and had let that get the better of me, and just got in the routine of working full time and let the dream go. When I turned 40, I decided that I would never be happy or content until I was doing what I loved and was passionate about which was to make movies in some capacity. I decided to leave for Arizona as I was in Illinois at the time, and after a year of settling in here, I enrolled at the School of Film and Theater in Scottsdale. That was not easy either to go back to school full time and work full time. Putting in 70-75 hours a week and also feel so out of my comfort zone because I was so much older than most of the students. I soon let that all go through and was welcomed and was just one of the class and worked hard ended up graduation with high honors! You can achieve anything you put your mind to!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with HB4L Productions – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
HB4L Productions is not officially a business yet. We are in the process of looking into getting officially LLC’d. We will want to continue to house the creative works for my narrative films, music videos, commercial work and hopefully get to the point where we can become a production company that hires other talents to work on projects for clients and become a full-fledged production company one day.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I love about the Phoenix metro area is that there is a great artistic culture here. There are a lot of talented musicians, painters, dancers, actors, singers, and filmmakers. There are great theaters here, and lots to do and for a bigger city the cost of living is decent. The weather is pretty nice six months of the year as well. What I least like is that for the other six months, the weather sucks here. It’s too hot! Lol. The area is growing so much which brings more traffic, and homeless people and bigger city problems which is sad to always see.

Contact Info:

Email: icon4life1973@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hb4l_productions_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honeybear4life
Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/icon4life2

Image Credit:
Credits include Roberto Gudino, Beau Horyza, Taylor Dahl

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