In Downtown Arlington, UTA Grad Follows His Dream to Open a Film Studio

(Dallas Observer, October 12, 2018) ...Victor Perry can’t stop smiling.

After earning a broadcasting degree earlier this year from UTA, he’s working toward a second degree in public relations and getting ready to open a film studio in Downtown Arlington.

These days, the 51-year-old DeSoto resident has a lot to smile about. But he says that’s not always been the case.

In 2009, after losing everything including his family and home, Perry says he found himself standing on the Houston Street viaduct ready to jump.

“No cop was there to take me,” he says. “A couple of cars passed, nobody stopped. Something told me I wasn’t done yet.”

Since then, Perry has worked as a stunt man and an extra in films Prison Break, Walker, Texas Ranger and Any Given Sunday. He’s also remarried, found peace, graduated from college and expanded his family.

“Now, when I get frustrated, I just look in the rearview mirror,” he says. “My goal is I want to help people realize their dreams.”

Perry started his company, Filmworx Academy, in a room of his home sort of out of necessity when he and some friends were graduating and needing work, he says. Now, whenever there’s a job to do, they all come together to make things happen.

”It’s like a bat signal,” he says with a laugh. “We’ve been getting a lot of little gigs. We’re hoping it continues to grow."

Perry also hopes his studio can provide tech help to independent filmmakers while introducing them to basics, such as lighting, sets, frames per second and “just let them get their hands on a camera, know what the camera’s about.”

“It’s a lot of work,” he says. “It’s really going to be a grassroots thing ...”

To read the full story, click here. Story and photo by Karen Gavis were originally published in the Dallas Observer on October 12, 2018.