Jason Reynolds changed my life; as he has changed many. There are few young writers who can unpack important ideas with his poignancy, while still being so entertaining and accessible. Jason’s greatest gift, though, is his ability to show readers the possibilities that may lie ahead of them, in futures they may not have imagined. Jason’s breathtaking poem, "For Every One," is one he wrote to himself at 25, when he was thinking about giving up on writing. It moved me to near-tears when I first read it, hitting on so many of the trials and triumphs of a creative life.

I approached his team with a concept and together, we translated the poem into a visual medium. We took inspiration from Steve McQueen's "All Day" video for Kanye, the Mos Def/Louis Vuitton ad and Drew Michael's Jerrod Carmichael-directed HBO special, and captured Jason performing the poem over a series of long takes. We created an intimate dialogue between him and the camera (i.e. viewer); emulating the way his work is best felt. Then we added an original score inspired by Philip Glass' "Metamorphosis," and kinetic text that amplified Jason’s words, using the negative space around him as our canvas.

The film was released in August 2020, in collaboration with 826 National, a nonprofit that provides learning tools to educators and young writers. It was presented alongside a writing prompt from Jason, the responses to which will be collected into a book at the end of the school year, giving kids their first experience of having their work published. Dreams, into realities.

170K views and countless inspired students later, “For Every One” remains one of my proudest works.

Director: Dan Buyanovsky

Cinematographer: Mikul Eriksson

Production: lowkey

1st Assistant Camera: Celeste Barbosa

2nd Assistant Camera: Clarisse Calahan

Gaffer: Jesse Lee

Key Grip: Chris Hartsell

Fisher Tech: Scott Odgers

Sound Mixer: Manuel Lopez

Studio Tech: Fernando Espiritusanto

Production Assistant: Reed Jackson