Although, the childhood was pretty erratic I am proud to stand out and am grateful for the experiences. Education was frequently switching, involving some years spent in boarding school... I did okay, its just nothing ever... felt right, like it was ever building towards anything. Straight from boarding school, through a little time at my busy single mother's house, I had spent most of my youth adapting and trying to hang on to friends I kept losing then all of a sudden I found myself fighting to survive in whatever job I could bullshit my way through, I couldn't begin to tell you how many there were.
What about taking time to find out what I wanted to do...? Well, what about it, when you have to live on your own, your family can't take you in and others, admittedly just weren't ready for it... there "wasn't" anytime - you pay that rent and the rest or that's that... that's how it came to be. Several years pass, I became increasingly frustrated with the misery, stressed and irritable, don't get me wrong, I made some great people who got me through but the odd few life-crippling disasters and betrayals were always lying in wait. Friends in my life had become more like family to me who were great supporters when I finally quit the malaise era after a lot of soul-searching and decided I wanted to pursue a career in screenwriting.
Armed owning barely anything, weak grades and completely poor I 'did' however, possess an overwhelming aura of persistence I miraculously procured a loan to get myself into Ealing Studios and do the One Years Practical Film-Making Course at the Metropolitan Film School. I learned as much as I could from the writing, to the directing & finally the editing. I met some fascinating people and had a chance to make professional films... That magical night when my graduation film went up on the big screen, I knew for sure "This feels... me... this feels... right... this is what I want to do for the rest of my life!"
Despite what I knew, the work didn't follow, everyone's too busy to help you, everywhere I asked became a dead end. That rent was mounting and I was back in dead-end jobs, running myself into the ground. The world wasn't a nice place full of hope anymore, it was cruel and nasty and I couldn't do a damn thing about it! I was 26 and change when I lost another job and this time I could use whatever I could slop together in my unemployment benefit and overdraft to take one last chance to get back to education and turn back the hands of time... I wouldn't get my years back but I had to try... I was more afraid of what would happen if I didn't - being nothing!
Dan Tonkin had reluctantly become a tough, determined, eagle-eye-focussed son of a bitch! Nobody could intimidate me anymore or offer me another crapp job... I'd die first! I passed my access course in Access & Humanities under a fantastic tutor and have become the first in the family tree to get into university!!! I had never known tears of joy before... I cried my eyes out when that acceptance form came through, in my eyes it read: "Dear Dan, we are pleased to tell you have your much deserved shot at the best UK university for screenwriting and you can leave your old life behind and enjoy waking up each morning with a smile on your face for a change, knowing that you finally have purpose back in your life again!"
After saying my hard goodbye's to the people I had in my life, who helped me through, I gave my shitty apartment the middle finger and screamed out loud, laughing! ... And here I am, working on my latest project... Soon enough, I'll be walking out that door with my degree and a career - you had better believe it! But for now... suppose you could say, I'm just so finally happy to be able to start enjoying a much delayed journey.
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