Gardendale filmmaker Carey Rayburn films on U.S. Hwy. 31. Rayburn owns Outlaw Film Productions, which films independent movies, weddings, music videos and more.

For Carey Rayburn, it all started with Ron Howard.

Not the real Howard, though. Rayburn, a Gardendale resident and avid independent filmmaker, had a dream about the famous director years ago.

“I had a dream Ron Howard was making a movie, and I told my friends about it. They said, ‘Dude, you should make that into a movie!’” said Rayburn. “I wrote an awful screenplay, but it’s what got me interested.”

Although he’s taking film classes at Jefferson State Community College now, all of his filmmaking expertise is self-taught.

Rayburn owns a small film company called Outlaw Film Productions. He makes movies when he can, and films weddings and music videos to pay the bills. He’s working on two films right now, titled “Falling Backwards” and “The Turn Downs,” and recently wrapped up shooting a music video for a cover band’s version of Cher’s “Walking in Memphis.”

“One of my favorite things about filmmaking is when I write a line and I’m not sure it works. Then, an actor says it and it clicks,” he said. “I mostly do comedies, and that happens a lot in those.”

When Rayburn writes and directs a short film, he’s mostly hands-off when it comes to camera work.

“I partially shoot. There’s usually one scene or one take that I want to do just the way I want it. I do a lot of editing,” he said.

Rayburn worked as the “film traffic manager” for last year’s Sidewalk Film Festival, which means he handled a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make sure the festival ran smoothly, from corresponding with filmmakers to making sure things were in the right place at the right time.