Daily Inspiration: Meet Evan Maines

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Maines. 

Hi Evan, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Hello, I was born and raised in Northern Kentucky, always a stones throw away from Cincinnati. I was born in November 1995. 

From as young as I can remember, I was absolutely captivated by not just movies and television, but by storytelling itself. All of the people I looked up to in my life were the best storytellers. Whether it be my parents, my grandparents, my Uncle Tom, my teachers, etc. I would be completely enthralled by people when they spent the time to thoroughly tell a story. 

I found that as I grew up, my biggest goal was always to be the best storyteller. Whether it be precisely telling a story from my actual life OR creating something from complete fiction, I strived to draw people in with humor. At first, I believed that storytelling was an effective tool of ‘escapism.’ Or a way to give people permission to withdraw from their current realities for a moment or two. As I got older and began to struggle with my own reality, mental health, and purpose… Storytelling actually gave me permission to ‘struggle well.’ 

Instead of ‘escapism,’ storytelling gave me a deep way to cope with the cards we are dealt in this life. 

I am so freaking thankful for the men and women in my life who not only grew me up on storytelling, but gave me the space, time, and resources to explore it myself. 

My grandfather gifted me my first camera in third grade. It opened a door to begin capturing the life around (and passing by me) in a way that illuminated the connective tissue that runs deep. Intertwining a story for us. I began filming videos with my friends. 

In middle school, I met some of my greatest friends that I still create with to this day. Tyler Roberts and I found a mutual bond for filmmaking. It was one of the quickest and easiest ins to a friendship I ever acquired. We spent COUNTLESS hours during our middle school years coming up with ideas and filming them. Typically, Tyler handled the tech and the cameras—while I worked on the writing and directing of said film. Many of the films we made were dark and intense, and unapologetically violent. Yet, it was a way for us to have fun, to be friends, and to relish in our creativity as boys. 

Into high school, my passion for filmmaking grew, and feverishly jumped at any opportunity to do more of it. I was constantly writing ideas for future feature films. Thankfully, I held onto the circle of friends that helped me create. Community was such an important thing to me. I could never achieve anything creatively if it weren’t for my friends and family. In high school, our films grew in detail and creativity. 

Of course, our budgets were low, and our time to film was limited to weekends, summers, or some open weeknights. 

I wrote my first “feature film” Freshmen year. “Leaving Jennifer” was a coming-of-age film about a group teen boy trying to win over the heart of a girl before she moved to a different state. Turns out, making a feature is harder than expected. 

I wrote another short film called “Teenage Wasteland.” Once again, another coming-of-age film that thematically was very angsty and dark. I loved gritty characters that were multi-dimensional. I wrote characters to never be static. I wanted the audience to hate something about the “good guy” and love (or at least relate) to something about the “bad guy.” 

Both of these films never got finished. Once again… making movies is hard work. 

However, as I went into college. I spent a literal semester at Northern Kentucky University studying “Electronic Media and Broadcasting” before dropping out. 

I was never a great “textbook” student. Growing up with ADHD and some level of social anxiety made it very hard to be committed to studying or attending a school. College was (and is) expensive. I realized that filmmaking is never guaranteed. No piece of paper will grant you a permanent spot in the filmmaking world. What I had though were opportunities and community. Outside of the college classroom, I was going and working on film sets, as well as gearing up to shoot my first budgeted and “legit” short film. 

I left school and in the fall of 2014. I wrote and directed a short film called “Are You There Eli?” — at the time, this was such an important film for me. It was real and gritty. It felt like the film I had been waiting to make. It was budgeted out; we had a producer, a director of photography, and a full crew of about 20 people. These were all people I had met that year, and people who simply believed in my script enough to work with me. I had a cast, and we just went for it. Every weekend in October 2014, we filmed. 

After a few months of post-production. I had my first “legit” film. This today is what I would consider my “student film.” Like, the film you make after you go to film school. It was, in and of itself, an education. 

As the years progressed, I’ve spent most of my time working with students through ministry. Helping elevate storytelling to bring students worth, identity, and value. I have the privilege of still directing and writing. I love it, and it’s still my dream to work full-time as a director one day. 

Since 2014, I’ve made films through Crossroads Church. I most infamously wrote and acted in a skit parodying a controversial Peloton ad. 

Last summer, I made a return to filmmaking. With all my friends, I wrote and directed a film called “Trash Wife.” It was a dark comedy about a man coping with the loss of his wife in a pretty bizarre way. My influences behind the film were Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” I wanted to make a film that was short and could keep the audience’s attention and something I could use a way to secure resourcing for a bigger project down the road. I wanted to make a character piece where at the beginning of the film, the protagonist is an item of mockery and something you laugh at… but by the end, you all walk away thinking, “Hmm… I think I saw a part of me in that character.” 

After many delays from COVID, we shot it over the course of one weekend in June of 2021. I worked with my best friends and arguably some of the greatest talent in the Cincy area. The best part was, everyone working on that film was always on the same page when it came to making this film… which is the biggest key to successfully making something. 

Today, I still work with students and tell stories. I love my life, and I have plans for bigger projects down the pipeline. I am trying to remain as patient, empathic, and humble as possible. Making any kind of art or film is convoluted in a way. No one is asking me to do this, yet it feels that I am being obedient to some kind of calling on my life to do so. If I can create in a way that elevates the listener and not the storyteller, then that is a win in my book. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Thankfully, there have been may obstacles and challenges. 

I’ve worked hard and had to learn the importance of patience in this. To create is a privilege. Whether music, film, painting, etc. It’s all a privilege to do any of this. 

I learned young that sometimes, you have to make do with what you are given. Wanna make films? Start doing it. So, what if you are not shooting on an IMAX camera with a $150 Million budget. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to places like Kenya and Nepal where students over there are making YouTube videos with their friends on cheap smartphone video cameras. They have a leg up. Working within their current limitations will only elevate their steadfast confidence later down the road. 

I grew up learning how to struggle well with mental health and ADHD. 

I struggled young with depression and anxiety. I began seeing a therapist in fourth grade. For many years, I couldn’t understand why I needed to suffer. Yet, through a lot of guidance, mentorship, counseling, and faithful pursuit of Christ— I no longer feel defined by these things. I know that they have helped me gain an ultimate sense of joy at the end of the day. I live tethered between joy and sorrow. I don’t pursue a fleeting sense of happiness because I know I am sustained at the end of the day. 

But it sucked at times. 

I took Vyvanse in high school for my ADHD. It put me in some pretty dark places. Drove me to thoughts of hurting myself or even attempting to take my own life at a couple points. 

I developed new social anxieties in college, and sometimes I believe it was one of the reasons I dropped out of school. 

Recently, my mental health has changed. Last summer, only a few weekends after finishing principal production of “Trash Wife,” I had a fully body panic attack on the side of the highway coming home from Lexington, KY. I thought I was dying. It was awful. 

Sometimes, climbing a mountain looks like the same view… but remember that progress looks like elevation and not the views. I am hopeful and strive to be vulnerable. 

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 am a writer and director of films and other various types of media. 

Storytelling is my true passion. Storytelling is the ultimate adhesive, and it’s pretty good at breaking down barriers for people. 

For the benefit of the audience. I believe storytelling if done right, should be equal parts invitation and challenge. Draw in an audience, and give them that introspective feeling. The kind of feeling you get when after the credits roll for a film, you are still sitting in your theater chair. 

I believe to make something positive and uplifting is HARDER than making something dark and cynical. Cynicism is easy and sometimes… lazy. Providing food for the soul takes time and truth. 

What makes you happy?
Hmm… Great question. 

Anytime I get to be an observer to someone else’s self-actualization. What a hipster answer, hahaha. 

But to see people have little “shutter” moments where their heart opens up and they realize they matter, or they are seen, or understood is beautiful. 

Think “Good Will Hunting” moments. You know? The scene where the inconsolable Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is expressing to his therapist Sean (Robin Williams) the pain his father put him and his sister through, and Sean is quick and persistent to remind Will that he is not to blame for it all? Sheesh… Good stuff. 

OR— Another example from a movie. My favorite film of all time (currently) is “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The scene where Jack Nicholson’s character “McMurphy” comes back from the Electro-Shock therapy room, he decides to screw with his friend found friends/the other patients of his ward. When he walks back into the room, he slowly creeps in like a zombie, making groaning noises with his eyes pointed upwards as if to show that he is now catatonic. However, what he doesn’t see is that when he enters the room this way, the other patients who so dearly looked up to him become outwardly concerned. Some even showing faces of devastation and heartbreak. McMurphy never sees this and quickly snaps back to his normal self after a tense 15 seconds of the act. 

Only later he realizes that they looked up to him and his way he clung to freedom. 

Contact Info:

• Website: evanmaines.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mainmaines
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVM_-40k65MWdbMC0YH9Mvw
• Other: https://vimeo.com/717063298