Conversations with Abe Watters

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abe Watters.

Hi Abe, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My family moved to Chapel Hill, Tennessee from Florida in 2011. My dad had a home remodeling business growing up so as a teenager I spent a lot of time on jobsites and helping my dad build cabinets in our shop. I learned a lot of important lessons growing up. Being kind to people around me, taking care of the planet that God gave us, and to never stop learning new things.
When I was seventeen, I signed up for a mission trip to Cambodia. I was at the age where I was starting to question a lot of the things I had been told in life, and I wanted to start to develop my own relationship with God. While I was there, I got to meet some amazing people who helped me in my walk in life. The most important being the woman I would go on to fall in love with. Her name was Katie, and we clicked immediately. Not romantically at first but as friends. She helped me work through some of my own insecurities and helped me develop my relationship with God.
Fast forward to fall of 2019 I had just moved Katie from Texas to Tennessee and I was attending Columbia State Community College. We were working towards buying a house and getting settled in our careers. I was planning on doing Columbia States Film Crew Technology program when something funny happened in 2020.
Katie and I lucked out and bought a house in Columbia in March of 2020. Coronavirus put a lot of our plans on hold while the world tried to figure out how to function during a pandemic. In the meantime, we worked and planned a wedding by ourselves and then married in 2021. We got to do a lot of fun things during those early years of covid. We worked exotic animal shows, volunteered at animal rescues, and probably bought too many geckos and snakes.
Come fall of 2022 I was finally getting to attend the Film Crew Technology program. It was always a dream of mine to work on movies or tv, so I was finally getting to work on making that dream a reality. I can’t say enough good things about the program, how much I learned, and the opportunities it has given me. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into the film world. Since graduating in 2023, I have gotten to work on broadcasting for professional sporting events, short films, music videos, and feature films. I have also returned to Columbia State’s film program as a technical assistant, and I get to help a really cool group of students. It has been a full-circle moment of my career! I guess the moral of the story is don’t give up on your dreams even if they are postponed.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
If someone can say that they have made it through life with no struggles I would call them a liar. Everybody has struggles, some more than others and I am no exception. I have struggled with family relationships, internal struggles, and health problems. Overcoming struggles is what makes a person themselves. I try to learn and grow from every problem or situation I find myself in. One of the bigger ones I face in my career is struggling with “imposter syndrome”. Working in the film industry it is very easy to think that you don’t deserve to be there. Other people have done it longer and have better gear and more experience, but that doesn’t mean they deserve it more. I just live everyday trying to soak in knowledge to improve my craft.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I would consider myself an artist. I specialize in audio and sound mixing for video currently. I was drawn towards working on sound because it is such an important part of filmmaking that gets overlooked sometimes. Working up close to the actors and getting to be so involved in the actual filming process is incredibly cool. One of my most recent projects was ‘The Wildman of Shaggy Creek’, which is currently on the film festival circuit and will be premiering at the Franklin Theater in downtown Franklin on May 28th.
I also want to branch to some other departments in the film world. Currently I’m in the pre-production process of a script I wrote and I’m planning on directing it this summer. I’m still relatively young in my film career and I believe it’s important to try at everything. I think directing will be an amazing learning experience and hopefully a good film comes from it.
I also have to mention that I’ve worked for Habitat for Humanity Williamson-Maury at their Restore since 2022. They have been a huge part of my life for the past handful of years. Working there is what allowed me to go back to college and to pursue a film career. I am a big believer in their mission: seeking to put God’s love into action and their vision to build a world where everyone has a place to live.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The best advice I can give regarding networking is to be friendly and social. Meet friends and other filmmakers for coffee or lunch. Attend film festivals in the area. People want to work with people they like, and when you get the opportunity to work with someone who has been doing it longer than you: Learn from them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/rckwttrs