Every aspiring performer dreams of rubbing elbows with Hollywood hotshots and hobnobbing with top musicians.
From entertaining his classmates in elementary school to being one of the founding members of the Sacramento City Arts and Media Productions club (S.C.A.M.P.), 25-year-old City College student Maximillian De Beni is living this dream to its fullest.
“I have been a class clown since the first grade. I like the attention,” De Beni says. “I like saying something out of the ordinary and seeing people’s reactions and making them laugh and smile.”
De Beni found his inspiration for S.C.A.M.P when he moved to Los Angeles in December 2009. During his seven months in Los Angeles, De Beni hung out with R&B artists Ray J and Bobby Brakins and rapper Soulja Boy, who granted him access to the inner workings of the music business.
“I was on set of a lot of music videos and I [saw] how it was done.” De Beni says. “I thought to myself, ‘We can do this in Sacramento.’”
S.C.A.M.P, founded last month, involves anything artistic including directing films, documentaries, music videos, photography, acting, and dancing and other arts.
De Beni says he fills many roles in S.C.A.M.P., including directing, acting and writing comical screenplays.
When De Beni decided to return home to Sacramento in June, he jumped right into directing music videos for local artists because he had access to all of the necessary equipment. Video cameras, studio sets, lights everything he needed was at his disposal because his father owns Pardees Camera on Watt and El Camino avenues, and his brother owns Photo Source behind Sacramento State, which has a photographic studio and darkroom space.
“We [S.C.A.M.P.] brought the Hollywood quality to Sacramento.” De Beni says.
De Beni and 20-year-old Damarrus Grant, another S.C.A.M.P founding member, went to Malibu to shoot a video for Sacramento pop and R&B singer VRose. Since VRose was already connected to the music industry, De Beni and Grant were able to meet a lot of people and began networking with DJs, music producers and other artists.
“We were expecting to just do a couple videos, but people went crazy for the quality that we were able to bring to the table,” Grant says.
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De Beni and Grant are currently working on a movie based on an essay De Beni wrote about a seven-year relationship with a girlfriend; it is set to premiere next semester.
“The professor told me it was the best essay he has ever read, and I should think about getting it published.” De Beni says.
De Beni handed out copies of his essay on campus and got many compliments from students. He then showed the story to Grant who was inspired.
“This is a script [that] I can make [into a] comedy,” Grant says.
A month later Grant came back to De Beni with a 90-page comedy script titled, “Love Hate and Humor.”
De Beni and the rest of his club are also working on other projects such as short films, music videos and comedy
shorts.
“We didn’t expect things to take off like it did,” Grant says. “It happened so quickly.”
De Beni worked hard getting done what he and his group wanted to accomplish, now they say they can
use all the extra help they can get.
De Beni networks by hanging out with the artists that he works with. He also has a Twitter account
and can be contacted at http://twitter.com/newjackpopstar.
“We invite anyone to come forth and bring their gifts and talent,” Grant says.
