Paying it Forward

Reprinted from Traditions, Summer 2021
October 22, 2021

John TerEick ’11’s dream of being a filmmaker was nurtured when he was a student at Cretin-Derham Hall. Last spring, he brought his expertise back to campus.

As a senior, TerEick collaborated with fellow CDH students to create a film, “What Lies in Difference,” a story that stresses the importance of accepting people without any prejudice — not just people with obvious differences that stand out and can be seen; but people who may carry an invisible burden or load.

He had made plenty of short films previously, but always worked with just a few friends. This project required him to widen his circle of collaborators, manage a huge project, and eventually reach out to the Riverview Theater to organize a screening.

“It was the first time that I had to really go out on a limb, pitch creative to other people, and ask them to be part of it,” he said. “It was cool. I honestly can’t imagine having the support that I did for that in any other place or from any other people than at CDH.”

His film about high school students was a turning point for him. TerEick spent a semester at a traditional state college and quickly transferred to Columbia College film school where he developed both his technical and creative skillset. He credits the Theater Department at CDH for his decision to pursue art as a career.

“My warmest, brightest days at CDH were spent in the Theater department,” he said. “Katie Kreitzer was and is a big source of encouragement and creativity for me. She’s really the person that has made the biggest impact on me continuing to pursue art as a career.”

After graduation, he spent a few years working for an ad agency, where he made commercials for major brands, before going entirely freelance. Life as an independent filmmaker has been both fulfilling and exhausting.

“I’m so much busier than I ever could have imagined,” he said. “I live and breathe everything that I’m working on; it’s always on my mind.”

Back to Campus

The pandemic led to a shutdown of most filmmaking last spring and summer, and gave TerEick a bit of a breather. That’s when former Theater Director Katie Kreitzer reached out to take advantage of his expertise.

He edited the CDH Winter show, “She Kills Monsters,” which, due to COVID-19, was pre-taped and utilized a green screen for every scene. This spring, he took on an even more significant role and found himself back on campus, reliving his own senior year experience, creating a movie with CDH students about high school students once again.

The Spring musical, “High School Musical,” was produced as a movie rather than a stage play, with the CDH campus transformed into the fictional East High. TerEick, who lives in Chicago, spent a couple of weeks at his parents’ house in Lino Lakes, filming the entirety of the nearly two-hour movie in just seven sessions.

“It was a ton of work. It wouldn’t have happened if anyone was even slightly apathetic,” he said. “Everybody was so gung ho about working on this. There are people I work with in the industry who don’t possess that level of commitment to the work we do.”

In a year when most live theater has been put on hold, the movie gave CDH students the chance to make art in a new way. They learned new skills and created something unlike any show CDH has produced before.

“If it was me in that situation, I would have been thrilled to get to do something like that and work with a filmmaker in any capacity. So it’s been really rewarding to be able to bring that level of fun and creativity to these kids. They were able to have this whole new way of looking at their show. People who had never held a boom pole in their life, became, all of a sudden, booming experts. It was crazy to see all these people adapt so quickly.”

After years of working on professional shoots, TerEick was struck by the excitement the students brought to the process.

“It was so rewarding to see the joy they got out of this experience. I forgot about the magic that is created when you put all that work into something that you really care about,” he said. “People lose the magic a bit in the commercial world.”

Theater Students Learn from a Pro

The students were equally thrilled to work with him.

“From the first time I met him, I was in awe of his talent,” said Tatum Evans ’21, one of the stage managers.

“Seeing someone with such endless creative ability and organization was so cool. Over our Zooms to plan for filming, he had everything planned out and scheduled down to the minute. His preparedness made me feel a lot better about what I was sure was going to be insanity,” Evans explained.

“Then when we actually started filming, he instantly fit into our group. He used our hastily-blocked scenes and turned them into art. His creative eye and imaginative ideas are what made this film.”

The experience of working on the musical, combined with the significant slow-down in commercial work brought on by COVID-19, has caused TerEick to reframe some of his goals for his career.

“Pre-pandemic, my world was go-go-go all the time and then that got stopped very quickly last March. For me, that’s been a Godsend, being able to slow my life down a little bit and get some new perspective on the trajectory of my life and what I want to do,” explained TerEick.

TerEick’s career goals included directing features and commercials. “Now, I’m not sure what path I’ll take, I just know I always want to be creating and making art.”

More information on TerEick’s professional work can be found at johntereick.com.