Since he was a kid, Cliff enjoyed telling stories—especially if he could both illustrate them with images and articulate them with words. As a high school freshman, he decided to combine his love of writing and visuals to tell stories with film; once he’d made the decision to follow filmmaking as a career, there was no turning back. “I like the bigger than life aspect of filmmaking,” he says. His company, Genesis Studios, is a full-service marketing, film, and production company, and his new baby, Emergent Films, was created to encourage more filmmaking in South Carolina while helping train and retain film talent in the state. “We want to see more things coming out of South Carolina from a filmmaking standpoint,” says Cliff. Emergent Films will produce one feature film and one to three short film projects each year—shooting begins this month for the first feature-length work, a Hitchcockian thriller shot entirely on-set at Genesis Studios’ new studio.

What’s your favorite thing about wearing a skirt? “It was fun to do something that I would have no reason to do otherwise.”

And your favorite thing about reading skirt!? “Finding out what women think and what appeals to women.”