If a student is a part of the Film Festival, then the name “Fast Jimmy” is hardly unfamiliar; in fact, the student probably recognizes it immediately. Maybe the student even gets excited and jumps up and down upon hearing the name. And rightly so because despite his graduation from Walpole High School last year, Jimmy Gillon still remains an important part of the Film Festival with multiple contributions to this year’s Festival and to top shelf, a list of well-written scripts that are available for students to use in future film years.
A 2011 graduate from WHS, Gillon remains a prodigy in the world of the Film Festival for his unending hard work and dedication. “Jimmy in three words? Swag, talented, and hysterical,” said Michael Alan, the man behind the WHS Film Festival. While he is not able to still actively participate in the WHS Film Festival, there is no denying that Gillon has still made contributions. Over the summer he wrote “Marvin The Mentor,” “Adorn The Final Chapter,” and “The Weaver Report,” all of which are currently being filmed and produced for this year’s Film Festival.
Co-director of the film “Staples Over Walpole” with Stephanie Finn and John Montagno last year, and winner of the best screenplay award for the film’s script, Gillon has been a part of the Film Festival since the summer before his junior year when he took Mr. Alan’s summer course. “Jimmy is the type of kid where, when we would have script meetings, he would come with a notebook and take down everything. Then he’d turn in a draft. Everything we talked about would be there, but done in his own, unique way,” said Mr. Alan. The nickname “Fast Jimmy” was not bestowed upon this boy wonder without reason. He turned in the revised draft of his script “Slade And MacReady” the day after receiving Mr. Alan’s corrections. To put this into perspective, it normally takes students about a week, sometimes two or three, before revisions are made and the revised draft of a script is placed before Mr. Alan. Fast Jimmy ended up turning in another version of the script “Slade And MacReady” for college applications and got into both NYU and Tisch on that alone. He currently attends Emerson College, where he majors in writing for film and television and continues to put his talents to work, striving toward his future goal of becoming a director.
Despite his obvious propensity for film as a whole, he humbly attributes everything to film class and to Mr. Alan. “He’s like a mentor to me, kind of like the Obi-Wan, he taught me everything about film. Film taught me organization like I never would have learned any other way, it taught me everything about filming, directing, editing. It taught me about working with a group of people to produce something as huge as a movie, which was a lot different than anything I had experienced before,” said Gillon. And while Gillon remains forever modest about his success in the world of film, his talent and proclivity not only for directing and acting, but also for shooting and editing serves as proof of his aptitude in all things film.
Despite his tenacity and talent in film, Gillon did not always think he would be a film major. When asked if he had always wanted to pursue a career as a director and major in film, Gillon said, “No, I thought that I would be some sort of computer engineer.” To Mr. Alan, however, it was clear from Gillon’s first shot that he had a special talent for film, and sure enough by the end of his junior year, Gillon was already planning to go to college for film. Gillon had experienced, he said, “Quite the revelation.” As a student at Emerson College, Gillon is currently taking an animations class and recently finished a short video project for the course. In addition to this animations class, Gillon is also taking other courses based around his major, including speech communication and history of media arts.
Although Gillon has moved on from WHS and has started a new chapter of his life at Emerson College, these changes have not stopped him from contributing to the Film Festival. “It made it so I couldn’t literally take the class, but it didn’t stop me from doing my last few scripts,” Gillon said. And while Gillon has not been able to completely and actively participate in the Film Festival, there is no doubt that in ten, maybe even twenty years from now, WHS students will see the familiar face of Jimmy Gillon still at WHS, and perhaps maybe even on the Oscars.
