COVER STORY : Lights! Camera! Access! : Film Training Program Gives Troubled Youth a 2nd Chance : Ellis Ware

“I always thought the only way to make this kind of money would be by hustling.” *

“There are some very sharp people in jail,” said Ellis Ware, 33, picking through the memories of his years in prison. “You’d be amazed how intelligent these guys are, and they could do anything, given the right motivation.”

Years passed before Ware realized he had the right motivation.

Ware’s influences early in life were the gangs and drug deals and violence of his neighborhood, the Oakwood section of Venice. From age 15, when he first joined a gang, until he was 29, Ware was in and out of jail.

“We used to rob, shoot people, get shot, sell drugs, do whatever we had to do to make money,” Ware said.

He wound up serving a two-year sentence in Tehachapi State Prison.

When he was released from prison four years ago, he met his future wife, who soon became pregnant. That is when he decided to change his lifestyle.

“I thought, ‘How am I gonna be there for my kids if I’m in jail?’ ”

Without a high school diploma, Ware had difficulty finding work.

“I didn’t have any skills, except what I learned in prison, which was working on a sewing machine,” said Ware, who now lives in Studio City with his wife, his 2-year-old son and two daughters, ages 4 and 1. “I didn’t see that as a way to survive.”

He heard about the Amer-I-Can program from friends. In 1992, he met Thompson, who drilled him and other trainees on such good work habits as arriving on time.

Since starting with Streetlights in 1992, Ware has worked primarily on commercials.

“I want to learn the business from the inside out,” he said. “Maybe in 10 years, I can produce commercials.

“I’m paying my dues,” said Ware, who works long hours. “I work, come home and sleep a little, and then go out and work again.” But that’s fine, he said, because the money is so good.

“I always thought the only way to make this kind of money would be by hustling.”

Now, he often takes his 2-year-old son to work.

“After having kids, I saw how backwards it was to rob people of what they have,” he said. “Getting knowledge is worth more money than I ever thought I would make.”