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At an age when most of my fellow “Generation X-er’s” were dutifully saving for their retirement, I chose to gamble instead. Not on a horse, or on the Lottery, or anything like that, but on a production company. (Bet you didn’t see that one coming, did you?). I had never owned a company before, so why take the chance on indie filmmaking? For that matter, why not? I have always been a gambler. By the age of five I could already shuffle a deck of cards like a casino dealer. My friends and I used to play a game called “Pity Pat” in the back of the building of the housing project where we grew up. Our youthfulness didn’t stop us from playing for money, either. It was never much…usually five cents a hand, but it was gambling any way you look at it; five cents was a lot for a little kid in those days! This marked the beginning of my love of gambling. By the time I was nine, I was going to the racetrack with my father; he was the real gambler in our family. It was pretty amazing to see---and smell---racehorses up close. Beautiful, majestic creatures. One day my dad thought it would be a fun idea to let me help pick which horses to bet. He gave me a crash course on the differences between a healthy horse and a horse about to be put out to pasture. Now, I’m not saying I picked every winner that day, but I did okay for a beginner. Sure enough, I was bitten by the gambling bug. Pity Pat and horseracing were just gateways to bigger and better things, such as casinos…and owning my own business! 15L Productions, LLC is the biggest gamble of my life. Formed out of necessity and love, 15L was a business venture between my son, Malik and I. After Malik graduated with his Bachelors degree in digital media, he was having difficulty finding permanent employment in his field. The economy tanked as President George W. Bush was leaving office, and entry-level jobs in the film industry were being sucked up by seasoned veterans. It was discouraging for him. However, my mantra was that if you can’t find a job, make one, And that’s how our digital media company was born. Since its formation in 2012, 15L Productions has produced several films, including two award winning shorts.