Featured Member: Joey Horist

DINET member name:  Joey Horist
Joey's hometown:  Addison, IL
Diagnosis:  POTS, Gastroparesis
email:  sharperjoedog@aol.com
YouTube Trailer:  https://youtu.be/c_LuB8iDdcE
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joey.horist

In Joey's words......

I was recently diagnosed with Gastroparesis and for 9 years now I have been dealing with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome. It snuck up on me late one summer night and life has not been the same since. Unfortunately, due to my health, I almost didn't finish high school & I have since had to put my college studies on hold. For the first two years of my illness, I was almost bedridden, so I had to be homeschooled. With all my spare time being trapped in my house I started jotting down story ideas that would pop in my head. I had originally intended to write a creepypasta story, but after having dinner one night I had a chance encounter with someone who turned out to be a local filmmaker. It was then that I decided to take my scary internet story and turn it into something bigger. I had never written a movie script before so updating my story proved to be quite challenging. Almost everything I know about screenwriting has been mostly self-taught, many hours on google looking up different terminologies. Many late nights (which is already common when you have POTS) and a year and a half of hard work later and I am proud to announce that my first short film, "Mentis" is complete and is currently in the film festival circuit. I invite you all to check out my movie's trailer at the Youtube link above.  Film festivals prevent me from publicly sharing the full movie at this time, but if you watch the trailer and you like what you see, feel free to contact me through social media or email and I will gladly share the movie with you. I just ask that you please respect the privacy rule.

DINET asked Joey,  Was there something about the process that helped you cope better with what was happening to your health? Or were you always interested in writing for film and being home all the time seemed like a good time to start?

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Well, it was actually a mixture of the two. I did have an interest and figured it was a good time to start but also, when I get into what I am writing I feel like I become my characters. It allows me to be something greater than just someone sitting around their house.