There isn’t a hugely profound meaning behind the name.
The first production title was Hard Eight Casino Films, which I developed in 9th grade (1999/2000). Even though I was young and didn’t have a use for a production company, I wanted to find something that wasn’t just my given name to represent my future work. It wasn’t completely important, but I needed it; I wanted it.
Ready for the non-revelatory reasoning behind how I came up with the name? I put two movie titles together. Hard Eight is Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature film debut, and Casino is a Martin Scorsese film; an over-looked gem of a motion picture if you ask me. I prefer it much more than GoodFellas.
It wasn’t until 2006 I decided to change Hard Eight Casino Films to H8C Productions.
[Aside from Robert Altman being my first big influence, Paul and Scorsese really brought story to my attention when thinking about film. I credit those filmmakers for ushering me towards looking at film with a new perspective. Film as art, as opposed to film as strictly entertainment. But you still need fun.]
There is a naive youthfulness to the H8C name which keeps me from changing it after all these years. In that I mean you must always remember why you do the things you do. For me, wanting to make movies from a very young age, it’s good to remind my adult-self to have fun while chasing that life-long dream. Too many people in the industry live with ego and competition driving their ambitions, and while that aspect is sometimes needed to get ahead, you also need to learn to enjoy your career choice and do it for the love of doing it, not because you want to make a name for yourself.
If there is an adult reasoning for why H8C is still with me, I can say that it represents simplicity in the way I conduct myself. If I do what I am supposed to do while creating a movie, you'll find the necessary complexity in the simple gestures.
The first production title was Hard Eight Casino Films, which I developed in 9th grade (1999/2000). Even though I was young and didn’t have a use for a production company, I wanted to find something that wasn’t just my given name to represent my future work. It wasn’t completely important, but I needed it; I wanted it.
Ready for the non-revelatory reasoning behind how I came up with the name? I put two movie titles together. Hard Eight is Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature film debut, and Casino is a Martin Scorsese film; an over-looked gem of a motion picture if you ask me. I prefer it much more than GoodFellas.
It wasn’t until 2006 I decided to change Hard Eight Casino Films to H8C Productions.
[Aside from Robert Altman being my first big influence, Paul and Scorsese really brought story to my attention when thinking about film. I credit those filmmakers for ushering me towards looking at film with a new perspective. Film as art, as opposed to film as strictly entertainment. But you still need fun.]
There is a naive youthfulness to the H8C name which keeps me from changing it after all these years. In that I mean you must always remember why you do the things you do. For me, wanting to make movies from a very young age, it’s good to remind my adult-self to have fun while chasing that life-long dream. Too many people in the industry live with ego and competition driving their ambitions, and while that aspect is sometimes needed to get ahead, you also need to learn to enjoy your career choice and do it for the love of doing it, not because you want to make a name for yourself.
If there is an adult reasoning for why H8C is still with me, I can say that it represents simplicity in the way I conduct myself. If I do what I am supposed to do while creating a movie, you'll find the necessary complexity in the simple gestures.
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