Cody Vandenberg has come full circle with “Star Wars,” from watching the original movie as a child to being on the periphery of the newest installment, “The Force Awakens,” as an adult.
Vandenberg, 25, now is a project coordinator at Lucasfilm video production.
It’s been a 15-year journey for Vandenberg who said he first became interested in making movies around age 10, while growing up in Lake Forest.
“I was kind of obsessed with James Bond,” said Vandenberg by phone from Los Angeles. “That and the DVD version of ‘Star Wars.'”
He found his parents’ old camcorder and set off to make movies with his friends
“We would make sort of James Bond parodies,” Vandenberg said.
Things got even more high-tech once he arrived at Lake Forest High School. He took classes in a new media program taught by Steve Douglass, who helped hone Vandenberg’s storytelling skills.
“He worked extremely hard,” Douglass said. “He would stay after school and work on his own at home. His ability to visually put together a story was pretty remarkable. He also collaborated well, which is really hard to do, especially with high school kids.”
By the time he graduated from Lake Forest High School in 2008, Vandenberg decided filmmaking was what he wanted for a career.
He attended an honors program at Ohio University, where he mostly studied filmmaking.
He graduated from Ohio University in 2012. Three weeks later, he said, he was living in Los Angeles.
“My first job was production assistant on ‘Kitchen Nightmares'” Vandenberg said. “Basically, it’s the lowest rung on the totem pole. I was just there to lend a hand with the crew.”
That job lasted a few weeks.
“At first, it was challenging,” Vandenberg said. “There really is no clear path to get where you want to go. I was working on a freelance basis. It was worrisome thinking what is my next job going to be, how am I going to pay Los Angeles rent?”
The answer, he said, was building a network of contacts. Through two alums from Ohio University, Vandenberg gained a job at a company where he helped produce TV promos. He said he appreciated the experience and what he learned about the technical aspects of editing, but after 16 months, he moved on.
“It just wasn’t the content I wanted to be working on,” Vandenberg said. “The reason I moved to Los Angeles was to work on film.”
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About that time, another Ohio University alum Vandenberg knew was looking to hire an assistant for the president of Lucasfilm. In November 2013, Vandenberg began working in the president’s office. For the next two years, he said, he scheduled appointments, listened in on calls and took notes.
“It taught me a lot of what I know about the film industry, listening to seasoned professionals talk shop,” Vandenberg said.
Lucasfilm was started by George Lucas, the creator of “Star Wars.” The company put together the latest Star Wars movie, “The Force Awakens” currently in theaters.
In November 2015, Vandenberg said he was transferred to the documentary unit of Lucasfilm in San Francisco. There, he said, he has worked on behind-the-scenes content for the DVD version of “The Force Awakens.”
Vandenberg said he is happy with his work and hopes to be at that for a long time. He’s hesitant when asked about longer-term goals.
“Maybe far, far down the line … I’ve always had a dream of writing and directing,” Vandenberg said.
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