Screenplays, Scripts, and Movies - Life After UD
Sarah Crotty
Issue date: 2/28/07 Section: News
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Tired of hearing you can't do anything with your UD education?
Jason Konopisos, 1999 UD graduate, believes that all it takes is a little hard work to make your UD education go a long way.
"The UD education prepares you not to do any one thing, but rather anything you want," said Konopisos.
Konopisos just finished filming his first feature film, "The Waiter." It stars several name actors including two-time Oscar Nominee, Charles Durning.
The road to success was not easy, according to Konopisos. When it comes to jobs, he's run the gamut. "After graduating from UD, I worked at a market analysis company for six months and hated it," said Konopisos. "I quit that job and started waiting tables, and I was even a stand-up comedian for a while."
Then he decided to pursue his real interests: writing, directing, and acting.
"I was tired of being interviewed for jobs by people with less education and less knowledge and getting turned down for those jobs," said Konopisos. "I decided that I didn't want to just fit 'in the box,' I wanted to do what I love."
He believes that life is all about fitting "in the box."
"When you come to UD as a freshman you are in a box; you think you know who you are. As you grow in your education, you shed that box, and become passionate about your real interests. When you leave UD and get pushed into the real world, you quickly find out it's a world of boxes," said Konopisos.
Konopisos believes, however, that UD prepares you in ways other colleges cannot. "UD professors don't teach what to think, they help you learn how to think," said Konopisos.
Konopisos' inspiration for "The Waiter" came from Dante's Divine Comedy, something he first read at UD.
"90 percent of the people who are going to see this movie won't have read Dante but they will be able to relate to and understand the concept of death and rebirth that is so central to The Divine Comedy," said Konopisos.
On top of acting, writing and directing, Konopisos teaches acting classes by using a method he personally developed called Exiphen. This method is rooted in existential phenomenology - something Konopisos first became interested in at UD. According to Konopisos, Exiphen is not mere teaching, rather it helps the actor find the best way to understand and live the life of the character.
Jason Konopisos, 1999 UD graduate, believes that all it takes is a little hard work to make your UD education go a long way.
"The UD education prepares you not to do any one thing, but rather anything you want," said Konopisos.
Konopisos just finished filming his first feature film, "The Waiter." It stars several name actors including two-time Oscar Nominee, Charles Durning.
The road to success was not easy, according to Konopisos. When it comes to jobs, he's run the gamut. "After graduating from UD, I worked at a market analysis company for six months and hated it," said Konopisos. "I quit that job and started waiting tables, and I was even a stand-up comedian for a while."
Then he decided to pursue his real interests: writing, directing, and acting.
"I was tired of being interviewed for jobs by people with less education and less knowledge and getting turned down for those jobs," said Konopisos. "I decided that I didn't want to just fit 'in the box,' I wanted to do what I love."
He believes that life is all about fitting "in the box."
"When you come to UD as a freshman you are in a box; you think you know who you are. As you grow in your education, you shed that box, and become passionate about your real interests. When you leave UD and get pushed into the real world, you quickly find out it's a world of boxes," said Konopisos.
Konopisos believes, however, that UD prepares you in ways other colleges cannot. "UD professors don't teach what to think, they help you learn how to think," said Konopisos.
Konopisos' inspiration for "The Waiter" came from Dante's Divine Comedy, something he first read at UD.
"90 percent of the people who are going to see this movie won't have read Dante but they will be able to relate to and understand the concept of death and rebirth that is so central to The Divine Comedy," said Konopisos.
On top of acting, writing and directing, Konopisos teaches acting classes by using a method he personally developed called Exiphen. This method is rooted in existential phenomenology - something Konopisos first became interested in at UD. According to Konopisos, Exiphen is not mere teaching, rather it helps the actor find the best way to understand and live the life of the character.
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