Van Blunk falls into the first category. Not being independently wealthy, he had to keep his job on the docks.

Early on, Van Blunk saw his blue-collar job as one that could provide him the income and flexibility he needed to follow his passion. “My instincts told me if I wanted to be writer or artist of any kind, this would be good because of the unconventional schedule. I call it the maritime clock. Ships are always coming in, but you don’t have to work every day if you set it up the right way. You can put in as much time as you want, and the range of pay can be between $25,000 to $100,000, a year depending how much you work.”

In his early 20s, he took screenwriting courses at a local university and continued to write on his free time away from the waterfront. When he was 26 he got married and then had two children, leaving him little time to pursue his film ambitions full force.

His dreams were pushed back even further in his mid-30s after he divorced his wife and ended up moving back in with his mother.

But Van Blunk says he was able to get back on his feet when he decided to finally make a film at age 39, along with his high school friend Gus Rosanio. “It was quite therapeutic for me. The film was something I could focus on,” he explains.

He never doubted he could pull it off, saying he was confident in his ability, even though he admits making films is one of the most difficult things you could ever do. “I’ve always heard people say from Spielberg on down that it’s a miracle that they get done. Now I know why,” he says.

While he’s happy with his double career, he has had to make financial and free time sacrifices. When he’s making a film he cuts back his weekly hours on the docks to about 30 and ends up losing a lot of money as a result. And he also sometimes works 18-hour shifts for several days in a row, taking a day to sleep so he can have a few days straight to concentrate on his filmmaking.

Van Blunk’s not complaining though. Having people enjoy his films has made all the sacrifices worth it. (You can see trailers of the films at his Web site.)

When he decided to show his first film at a friend’s coffee shop in Philadelphia, he rented a big-screen television and a VHS player to show the movie. He ended up getting a big crowd because a local paper did a story on him and his partner and mentioned the viewing.

“We wound up showing it six times that one day. There was a line around the corner,” he says. “I guess it was synchronicity.”

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