Reid Paul:  

Life After high school, I went to the University of Arizona as a chemistry/math/beer major, and discovered I was in the wrong place. Back in Chicago I went to film school at Columbia College. I moved to New York in 1980 for a summer job and stayed 8 years doing commercials and TV as a DP/cameraman. I also met my future wife Donna. I love NY, but luckily I got out of there before it killed me. Back in Chicago again, I directed commercials and educational videos. • 1987-88 were pivotal years. I finally got married after a long courtship thanks to Barry Ward (Hinsdale Central class of ‘76) and his birthday (I missed it because of work). I got so pissed off about missing out on life and working all the time that I called Donna in NY to rant. By the end of the phone call I had agreed that she could call her mother and that I would (gulp) call mine too. We were married in January of 1988 and settled in Chicago. Life was good. Then the writers went on strike… • 1988 was a year of mostly unemployment thanks to the blank, blank writers. No one shot much of anything in Chicago that year, especially not with effects like I do. Donna was pregnant with our first, Zachary Amos Paul (ZAP). We hung out a lot at the pool on the roof of our condo. My son was born in November and 8 weeks later we packed everything into a U-Hall and moved to LA. It was time to go Hollywood. • In hindsight, starting over was great. I was certainly at the bottom of the showbiz totem pole again. Zach had lots of adopted grandparents in our apartment building. We walked up and down Ventura Boulevard with him in the stroller exploring in our spare time (which we had plenty of in the early days of no work). It was fun. • At his first checkup in California Zachary was diagnosed with an eye problem. He will never drive (a problem in California where there is little public tr...Expand for more