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Vince Rocca embodies true entrepreneurship. Growing up as a latchkey kid in a lower-middle-class family with a salesman father and an insurance agent mother, he learned the art of risk-taking and risk management early on.
By age 14, he was earning over $1,000 each weekend DJing at house parties. Disinterested in school and flush with cash, he dropped out in ninth grade. At 16, realizing that DJing wasn’t a sustainable career, he took a job as a retail stock clerk. Within two years, he was managing the company’s third-largest store and had purchased an investment property. At 21, he sold his home to launch his own retail store. With his retail business flourishing, he decided to follow his passion for filmmaking, saving profits to start a video production company with his friend and co-producer, Michael Hutchinson.
The business faced challenges, nearly going bankrupt at one point. However, a timely phone call and quick action transformed the company’s fortunes, turning a $700 deficit into over $125,000 in sales in fewer than five days. The profits from this turnaround provided the seed money for _Kisses and Caroms (2004)_.
As a school dropout, film school was not an option. But with a video camera he bought on credit at 16 and advances in computer technology, he began editing small projects. Gradually upgrading his equipment and honing his skills, he became a self-taught editor.
He devoured every film book he could find and listened to LaserDisc and DVD commentaries. Then he received a brochure for the Dov S-S Simens film school, which promised to teach the essentials of filmmaking in two days. Initially skeptical, he was encouraged by the fact that alumni included Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, and Christopher Nolan. If they could succeed, so could he.
After attending this intensive film boot camp, he wrote a 92-page script, giving birth to _Kisses and Caroms (2004)_.
He now lives in Southern California with his childhood sweetheart, Deanna. They have been happily married for over five years and together for more than 15 years. Though they have no children, they share their home with many animals, some of which appear in the movie.
