Lance is often asked how he learned his craft. His response is always the same: “Isn’t it obvious?” He sold accidental death and dismemberment insurance for JC Penney (he still doesn’t know what that means), dug up tree stumps by hand at Mount Vernon (because GW didn’t have a backhoe), delivered free copies of the Penny Saver, though someone usually stole the bundles before he finished his route (notice the word “free”), painted houses in areas no one sees (closets), hauled roof shingles in places that shouldn’t be climbed, cut grass (this was not a highlight), served ice cream at a DQ rip-off, bagged groceries in Berchtesgaden, Germany, bused tables in an Italian restaurant, and learned math as a cashier at a drug store because price scanners didn’t exist. All of this before he graduated high school.

Like every other “award-winning” director who enjoys listing their accolades, Lance has those too. He was President of his elementary school, Drum Major in a Fife and Drum Corps before turning 12, prom king, captain of his football team, a founding father of a fraternity and its first VP, and received a scholarship to play football at James Madison University (glory days), and has a really bad knee to prove it.