A Quote by Pawel Szajda

When I first moved to New York I had been trying to work on anything and everything I could. From extra work and commercials to short and student films so I could learn in front of a camera.
I gave everything I had - on the floor, trying to be the best leader that I could, trying to help the guys as much as I could, putting in the extra work.
I was in a play called 'Hood.' I was an extra in 'Passion of the Christ.' I did corporate videos, commercials, little university short films. Just anything that I could be a part of, really.
I was a bartender in New York and I overheard this girl saying she made $3000 doing a commercial. A kid at work told me, 'Hey, I know this director and he'd really like you!'. So I walked into this guy's office and was like 'I was thinking maybe I could make $3000' and he hired me for commercials, short films, like 15 jobs in a row.
I loved doing commercials when I did commercials. I made a living. I worked in front of a camera. I could do plays for free.
I had done student films for the School Of Visual Arts and for NYU and all these schools in New York, so those were my first film experiences, but they were student films, so I guess they don't really count.
When I first started directing, I could have chosen a more lucrative path, with sitcoms and things like that. But I knew enough after the experiences I had in front of the camera that I was not going to do that, because I was just going to work on my own things or work with people I respected.
I would do background and extra stuff, I would do student films, I just found every opportunity I could to be on set, and after awhile I accumulated enough work to get an agent.
It had always been a dream of mine to come to New York to work. Coming to New York and looking for work is one thing, but coming to New York and already having a job and feeling like you are already part of the city has been an amazing experience for me.
When I did my first film, I had a fair idea of what I liked and what I didn't while watching an actor in front of the camera. After I finished the film, I thought I had exhausted everything I knew. As I moved from one story, setting and character to another, I discovered something new.
All the jobs I've gotten in the last two years are because directors have seen the work I've done - indie films, plays, short student films, TV - since I moved to the states in 1996. I mean, I have an entire career in Canada that nobody has seen.
I worked a lot on 'Conan' as an actor, and when I moved to New York, a lot of my friends were on the first staff of that show. I started doing bit parts, which was the first thing I'd done on camera in front of a live audience.
I could never imagine myself acting in front of a camera or doing anything in front of the camera. I was a very shy girl.
When I moved to New York I started to do a lot of TV commercials. It just kind of naturally evolved from still photography to commercials.
25 years ago, when I started in New York, I had the pleasure to cook for Andy Warhol. At the time, I could have traded art for food - I should have done so, because I could get his work for nothing!
I've just tried to do everything I can personally to be the best quarterback I can be, whether it's doing extra work for my rehab, extra work in the film room, on the board, extra work out on the field with my drops and footwork.
I've made so many films in New York. There was an assumption I think a lot of people had that I am a New Yorker, that I am from New York, and I always felt like nothing could be further from the truth.
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