By Kye Poronsky

At the considerably young age of 20, film major Andrew Rea, originally from Rochester, NY, has one film done, another film in the works, a reality show pilot and a production company all under his belt.

Two years ago Rea and two high school friends started to brainstorm what to do for their spring break.

“We wanted to do something different,” he explains.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the three of them decided to go to New Orleans and make a documentary. They “tried to capture…many aspects of the recovery process,” Rea said.

The three friends were able to get an agent as well as producers in order to create the film. The movie, titled “Water-Proof,” has been shown in many film festivals and is scheduled to be shown in New Orleans at Cinema Bayou.

“Obviously I learned a lot,” he expressed from his work on “Water-Proof.” Keeping with documentaries, Rea is now preparing to work on a documentary of homeless people.

The new documentary was inspired by Morgan Spurlock’s (“Super Size Me”) reality TV show “30 Days.” In one of the episodes Spurlock lived as a homeless man for 30 days and the way he was treated moved Rea and friends to create an exposé of homeless life.

Rea is also working on a reality TV show pilot, with hopes of sending it to VH1. The show is about a dance troupe called Rhythm City and all the drama that comes with trying to compete internationally.

Rea’s production company named Orphan Boys Productions became a working production company in 2007. The company has a motto that reflects all of the work that they and Rea have done. “Never look away.” Rea explained that they don’t want people to “turn a blind eye to moral issues.”