Stephen Clark Balderson (born January 19, 1975) is an American film director.
Steve Balderson | |
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Born | |
Occupation | Film director |
Website | stevebalderson |
Balderson was born in Manhattan, Kansas, and raised in nearby Wamego, Kansas, until the age of twelve, when his family moved to Manhattan. Balderson attended Manhattan High School."[1] Balderson attended film school at California Institute of the Arts, where he directed six full-length digital movies, including a screen adaptation of Anne Rice's novel The Vampire Lestat. At the end of his third year at CalArts, Balderson realized he'd never had a mid-residency review. When he asked his dean, Hartmut Bitomsky, Bitomsky answered, "Master's students don't have mid-residency reviews." When Bitomsky learned Balderson was an undergrad, he instructed Balderson to stop going to his classes and instead, to do independent study with him. Once a week the two would meet and dissect Alfred Hitchcock films and Steve learned how to focus his vision. After months of working one-on-one with his dean, Balderson decided he was ready to leave CalArts without graduating.[2]