Redwood has produced many successful figures, including Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks head coach, Robin Williams, a world renowned actor and Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California. One that is not as well known is Max Gilberg, a 2019 graduate. Gilberg has been living in Canada for the past five months, filming with his best friend, Scottie Barnes, the National Basketball Association (NBA) 2021 Rookie of the Year and a former first round draft pick. Together, the two have started a youtube channel that gives a behind the scenes of an NBA player’s life. Since the release of their first episode, the account has blown up and gained thousands of subscribers. 

While Gilberg was growing up, he always knew he had a passion for film but never saw a real opportunity to pursue it. It was not until high school that he finally found a way to work toward his passion.

“I was always into film as a kid. In middle school, I went to a private school in San Diego which had a film program. I took the class and was really good at it,” Gilberg said. “When I got to high school, I started filming a lot and was a part of Redwood TV. I found a passion for filming [sports] games and knew this is what I wanted to do in life.”

After high school, Gilberg attended San Diego State University for one year before deciding to take a gap year. During his gap year, he went back to Marin and was lucky enough to cross paths with an NBA trainer named Packie Turner. At the time, Turner was training players during the offseason to help them prepare for the upcoming year. 

“I met [Barnes] through [Turner], and that’s how we became friends. I filmed all his workouts during the summer he was training with [Turner] in preparation for the draft. We became really good friends off the court, and it made sense that we wanted to work together going forward. I also got to film Jordan Poole, Stephen Curry and Trae Young. The experience was awesome,” Gilberg said.

Gilberg has always had a passion for helping others, and he saw filmmaking as a way to inspire other young kids to pursue their dreams. Since Gilberg graduated in 2019, he has inspired many current Redwood students to pick up filmmaking, including junior Liam Ghalam. Ghalam was introduced to Gilberg’s videos while scrolling through social media.

“I saw [Gilberg’s] video on the football team a few years ago on Youtube and thought it was awesome. I knew at that moment that I wanted to film too,” Ghalam said. 

Ghalam has since filmed a few workouts for his friends but plans to take bigger strides during the summer and continue his passion for videography. Ghalam knows that getting to Gilberg’s position will take a lot of work, but because of Gilberg’s recent success, Ghalam knows that it is possible to achieve his goals.

“[Gilberg] put a lot of hard work and dedication in to get where he is today, and it truly has paid off. For me, I am going to need to work a lot harder, but Iam ready to face the challenge head on,” Ghalam said.

After his gap year at home, Gilberg decided to go back to school for a semester at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, he was able to film for the sports teams and players, but Gilberg noticed a difference between working with collegiate athletes and professional athletes right away.

“I started working with the athletes at my school, but it wasn’t the same level of what I was used to. Before, I was working with these crazy professionals, but when I got to school, I was working with college athletes on a much lower tier,” Gilberg said.

Shortly after Gilberg began attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he was offered a job by the 49ers, but he had already made the decision to return back to school. Nevertheless, Gilberg knew that he would only have the chance to do this work once, so he took the opportunity. 

“I always knew I wanted to do something in film. I just didn’t know how I was going to get there. I thought I could either go back to school and do the normal college thing and have a great time for four years, or I could take a risk and film full time and see how it works out,” Gilberg said.

Gilberg is currently living in Canada with Barnes, going to his games and filming. Off the court, the two try to find content to film for their vlogs together. Despite his current success, Gilberg knows his situation is temporary and is looking forward into the future to see what is in store. 

“There are so many cool things that I want to do, and I see all these other creators that are 24 and 25 years old that were in the same position that I’m in now. … [As] I see all these things in the future and looking forward, it’s hard to stay in the moment, but I am trying to improve day by day,” Gilberg said.