What happens when a successful surgeon retires… and decides to become a filmmaker?
In this episode of Plot Twist Radio, I sit down with Dr. George Ellis—a former urologist who spent over 30 years in medicine before stepping into an entirely new world: independent film.
We dive into his unexpected journey from the operating room to the film set, how he broke into the indie film scene with no formal training, and what it really takes to reinvent yourself later in life. Dr. Ellis also shares insights on creativity, storytelling, networking, and why passion—not timing—is the key to pursuing something new.
We also talk about:
- The realities of independent filmmaking (and funding challenges)
- The surprising similarities between surgery and directing a film
- His award-winning projects and experiences in the film industry
- Co-authoring a unique book with his son
- Why it’s never too late to chase a completely different path
If you’ve ever thought about starting over, pursuing a creative dream, or redefining your purpose—this episode will inspire you to take that leap.
Listen now and discover why your “next chapter” might be your best one yet.
#PlotTwistRadio #CareerChange #Reinvention #Filmmaking #IndieFilm #AuthorLife #CreativeJourney #PodcastInterview #SecondAct #NeverTooLate
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Welcome to Plot Twist Radio, the show where creativity,
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storytelling, and the unpredictable path of the
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creative life all collide. I'm your host, Aaron Egnatz.
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Welcome back to Plot Twist Radio, the show where real
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stories take unexpected turns. Today's guest is someone who
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proves that reinvention doesn't have an expiration date.
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Doctor George Ellis spent over 3 decades as a urologist,
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dedicating his career to medicine and patient care.
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But retirement didn't slow him down, it redirected him.
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Now he's an award-winning independent filmmaker, A
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published author, and continues to give back through volunteer
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medical work for underserved communities.
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In this episode, we talk about what it really means to start
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over, the surprising parallels between surgery and filmmaking,
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and how following curiosity can lead somewhere completely
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unexpected. From the operating room to film
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festivals and even Co authoring a book with his son, Doctor
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Ellis's journey is anything but ordinary.
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So whether you're chasing a creative dream, considering a
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career shift, or just love a good story about taking risk
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later in life, this one's for you.
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Hello and welcome to Plot Twist Radio.
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Before we get started, can you tell the audience a little bit
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about yourself? Yeah, my name is George Ellis.
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I'm a urologist. I went to medical school and did
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my residency training in Syracuse, NY.
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I'm originally from New York City and I practiced in the
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Orlando area for 30 some odd years.
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And I continue to practice on a volunteer basis for the homeless
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and people who have no insurance.
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And actually I was there yesterday at my clinic seeing
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some patients. And this is part of a story too,
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that later in the in the evening, I went to a function
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called Film Night by a group called All the Line Incubator
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and Studio. And that was to look at some of
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the films that they've done and some of the films that I've done
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with them. So I'm a filmmaker also, and
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that's what I do in my retirement.
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Gotcha. Very cool that that's such a
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niche. I will say that, you know, a lot
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of the authors or creatives that I have come on here, you know
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they have multiple jobs, but you're the 1st doctor I've had.
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Oh, good, good. Yeah.
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And and the the filmmaking stuff that I do, it's a hobby.
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People think you're in film. Boy, you must be banking some
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money. It's like, On the contrary, it
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just costs a lot of money. But that's my choice.
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Rather than retire and play golf, I retired and became a
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filmmaker. Hey, why not?
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It's fun. What are you to Orlando?
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I love Orlando. I'm I actually just left there a
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couple days ago. Yeah, so I was in Syracuse
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finishing my training and I actually moved to Tampa.
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I was on the faculty of University of South Florida.
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They are teaching and and then there was an opportunity that I
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heard about in Orlando of a group of three urologists who
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were looking for a fourth with a growing practice.
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So I interviewed with them and it seemed like it was the right
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move. It was a good thing at the time.
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I had one son. I said, well, he can go to
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Disney World. That'll be fun.
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Now I have two grown sons and the oldest 1, he still goes to
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Disney World. He was there a couple of days
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ago. But you know, Orlando seemed
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like a town that was a medium sized town.
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And for me being from New York City, a big town.
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I said to myself, this this area has potential.
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And I was right. It has grown, you know, by leaps
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and bounds. And, you know, obviously there's
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a lot of things to do. I, I spend a fair amount of time
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at the beach, which is where I'm going right after this, this
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interview. And it's a good place, you know,
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it's clean. There's there's, you know, a lot
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of things to do, a lot of restaurants, which I enjoy and,
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and there's a very active independent film, you know,
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community. And, and so that, that's been a
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good thing for me to learn about making films and learning the
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ropes because I don't really have any formal training.
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You know, I started when I was in medical school.
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I was an extra in a couple of movies that a friend of mine was
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doing and she needed some extras.
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So I was in those movies, but I was always involved with
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something in the media. You know, when you're a surgeon,
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the hospital comes in the operating room, they want to
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film some new procedures and then interview you.
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And then of course, I was a lot involved with public health and,
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and then the, the newspaper, the TV, they want to interview you
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on, you know, hot topics. And and so that's that's the
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story. Gotcha.
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Well, it must have warmed up down there because when I left
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it was 27°. I was not pleased.
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Yeah, it has warmed up. It's like in the 50s now.
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Hey, I'll take it. I wanted that because I'm in
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Chicago, so it's always cold. Yeah.
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So was filmmaking a slow burn interest or was it like a sudden
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calling for you? So at the time, my youngest son
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lives in Colorado, and I was out there visiting him three or four
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years ago. We were hiking in a place called
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Lair of the Bear. So when you hike up there, it's
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about 7000 feet. And I was thinking, you know, at
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the time, I had retired a couple years before and, you know, I
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was traveling and, and going to the beach and doing, you know,
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those mundane things as a retiree does.
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But then I said I want something substantive, something that I
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could really do and accomplish something.
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So I came home and I, I hired A cinematographer who also did
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film editing. And we started doing some, you
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know, promotional videos for some local businesses for free.
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And, and then we did a couple of films.
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The first film was called Medical Karma.
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It's on YouTube if you want to see it.
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It's a, it's a short 5 minute independent movie and it's, it's
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sort of a satire about the, the medical business mostly having
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to do with prescription medication and all that.
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And, and I won some awards with that.
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The first award I, I won was debut filmmaker at the Dubai
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City Carnival. And that happened when I was
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coming home from Jackson Hole and I said, well, I'm not going
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to fly to Dubai and get my, my coming from this trip.
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So, you know, I, I let that happen.
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And then they sent me my credentials about the award.
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And then we did another film. We did a documentary on surfing
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at New Smyrna Beach, where I usually hang out.
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And then I won a bunch of awards on that one too.
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And so I said, well, this is kind of fun.
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You, you know, you do Roman, you know, you, you pay a few dollars
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to get it done. And then you, you get, you know,
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these accolades. And then from then on it became
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more movies, people asking me to help them with their films.
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A lot of podcasts. Last year I had my own TV show
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and and so everything was one thing after the next and so I
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have to say it went fairly quickly.
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Yeah, sounds like it. That sounds really fun though.
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You know, it sounds like a fun journey.
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You're right, you're right. It, it was and always meeting
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new people, meeting interesting people, especially on, you know,
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podcasts and when you're working on a set.
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I parallel that to being in the operating room because, you
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know, you have a task to perform and you have people, some, some
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people, you know, some people, you have no idea who they are,
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but you, everyone's expectation is that everyone's going to do
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their job. And, and so whether you're in
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the operating room and, and getting the patient better or
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doing the film and getting the film done, it's, it's very
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similar approaches. Got you a very interesting take
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there. Yeah.
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What does independent filmmaking mean to you in today's industry?
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Because I see that it's booming right now.
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Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I was always
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impressed with the work that Robert Redford did, who, you
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know, we lost a few months ago because he took independent film
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and and actually made it something, you know, creating a
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Sundance festival for. He always said that the small
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guy, you know, the small filmmaker, you know, they're not
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MGM or Disney, you know, we, we need a voice too.
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And so that's that's how I see independent film now.
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There are some independent films that have a very large budget.
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Most of the films that I'm involved with the budget small.
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It's like in the few $1000. I think the largest film that I
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did budget wise was probably in the $30 range.
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It was a film that we did in Hollywood, CA on, on Mount Lee,
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which is where the Hollywood sign is.
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That was last year. We, we actually were probably
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the last film to film up there before the fires.
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And the premiere of that film was just a couple of weeks ago
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at the Central Florida Film Festival.
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And we were finalists. We didn't win, but we were
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finalists and that was good. And, you know, I got to meet a
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lot of people there in California, some people who are
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involved with film all the time and people who are very
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qualified. So that was an interesting
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educational process for me. I can imagine, you know,
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Hollywood is the treasure trove of the industry, but I've
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learned so much from so many people there.
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And they're they're pretty welcoming, which I was kind of
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surprised about when I first got into the industry.
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I thought, oh, they're going to shun me or whatever.
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But they're very, very welcoming.
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Yeah, I agree. You know, filming up on that
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mountain, there's a lot of regulations and, and permitting
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and you know, you have to hire one of their guards to be there
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while you're filming. But all that was kind of, it
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made the the process interesting.
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And we were there like 3 or 4 days and then we did some studio
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work to finish the film. And we did, you know, some other
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scenes. But the person that I worked
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with that I, I, you know, hooked up with as far as connecting
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with a film person, he actually works at Disney World here in
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Orlando, but he doesn't do any Disney film.
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He's an independent filmmaker. He's been there for 35 years,
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starting as an animator. And his name is Les Carpenter.
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And he, you know, did a film before called Lookout Mountain,
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which is also on YouTube, which is also a good movie.
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And so he's a very interesting person to talk to.
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He has a lot of connections, of course.
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And, and then our director of photography was Dan Stilling,
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who did The Martian and the the show Scrubs.
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And he just finished Mandalorian and Groku, which is coming out
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in May. So you know some strong people
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that I could learn from. Absolutely.
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Disney. You keep saying Disney and I
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love Disney. Everybody that follows me knows
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that if I'm not in Chicago, I'm probably done in Disney.
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But there's so many creatives that they hire, not even for
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just the entertainment part of it, just everyone that works
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there just seems to be so creative.
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Yeah, you're right. And, and I think that's sort of
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the, the corporate culture. And I've worked in corporations
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also on on the medical side, I worked with a big hospital
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company called HCA. It was more of an administrative
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job than a clinical job. But I learned a lot from them
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about how the system works at A at a large scale.
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But the folks at Disney, they they sort of have that corporate
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culture, but it's sort of that small town approach to helping
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you and, and take you to places where you're looking for.
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So I think you're right. I agree with you on on, you
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know, being well entertained at that location.
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So as far as indie film makers go, what is one of the biggest
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challenges? I would say whether it's low
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budget or medium budget or even higher budget, it's going to be
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funding. And, and that's one of the
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things that I noticed was that, you know, when I started
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considering doing filmmaking, I went to the Florida Film
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Festival here in Winter Park and I was in a forum of film makers
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and wannabe film makers. And it seems like everybody had
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like the challenge of I want to do this.
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I want to do that. They just didn't have the
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resources and didn't have the funding.
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So that's how I started because I said, well, I don't think I
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have an issue with funding. I mean, I think I could afford
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to do this. If it works, that's great.
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If it doesn't, so be it, but I think that's going to be the big
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challenge as as we especially get into this calendar year.
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So how do you decide which stories are worth the time, the
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energy and the risk? I always look at the script, but
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then I look at the the background of the writer because
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as you know, writing is, is AI want to say a gift that that
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people have and, and some people learn how to do it and they
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become very proficient. But I think that I look at that
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history and I look at the script and I say, is this something
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that George Ellis wants to be part of?
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And I sometimes go in favor of the writer and I look at the
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script and I say, I'm not sure about this, but I like the
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writer, know what they've done before.
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So I'm going to go with it. And sometimes it's the opposite.
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It's like, well, I, you know, I'm not sure about the writer,
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but the script is good, so I'm going to go with it.
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And then of course, sometimes one of them is stronger as far
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as a negative, and I say I'm not going to get involved with this
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one. That makes sense, it does.
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So let's pip it over to your book, because you are also an
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author. Yes.
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So I wrote a book with my son called A Surgical Approach to
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Meat Cutting. And, and so he, he's a butcher
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and he trained, you know, on the job training five years.
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And and so one day he said to me, you know, because he worked
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in my office also in my, you know, medical office, he said,
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you know, Dad, I think I cut meat as good as you do surgery.
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And I said, well, that's maybe it's a book that we can write
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kind of half joking. And then I kind of pursued that
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and then went with it. So it was a very interesting 2
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year process of me writing a lot of stuff.
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I wrote stories, I wrote recipes.
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And then when it came to the meat cutting, I always had to
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get his opinion and his take on it, of course, because he was
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busy, busy working. And then he had an artist do a
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lot of the images in the book that are, you know, different
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cuts of meat, you know, the parts of the cow and things like
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that. So that book came out, I want to
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say, a year and a half ago. And, you know, we've sold some,
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it's, it's available everywhere on Barnes and Noble and Amazon
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and Books-a-million. And but we've had very good
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feedback from people who have read it and, and who feel like,
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you know, it's an interesting take on something that's that's
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kind of unique. It is, it is a very unique
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approach and I I'm very interested in it.
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So what is your writing process like?
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So first I have to have a spark. So I've obviously written a lot
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in the medical literature. Actually I was looking at one of
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the articles I wrote in a journal called Contemporary
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Surgery. It was following the knees and
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it was on a drug that I did what's called a phase four trial
00:15:52
called buprenorphine. And it was a new pain
00:15:56
medication. And so, you know, we tried it on
00:15:59
some patients in the hospital, not only in Syracuse but also in
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Tampa. And so we put all the data
00:16:05
together and we wrote this in the in the magazine.
00:16:09
Well, Fast forward to now, that drug is the main component of
00:16:15
Subutex, which is a medication that helps people get off of
00:16:21
opioids and opioid addiction. And so it's interesting that we
00:16:28
had no idea that's what it was going to become.
00:16:30
Of course. Yeah, I could say that, but it's
00:16:32
not true. So but, you know, here we are.
00:16:35
And all of a sudden they found that it's, it's a valid
00:16:39
alternative to being addicted to opioids and to get you, you
00:16:43
know, off that type of addiction.
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So anyway, in writing, I look at the spark and then I start
00:16:50
writing, you know, kind of doodling different ideas.
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And then after a while, I start circling the common threads and,
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and then kind of connect them. And then how am I going to put
00:17:02
that together? So, so for the book, I kind of
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chose different categories like cooking with wine, cooking with
00:17:09
beer, the different stories and I kind of put those into the
00:17:13
different chapters of the book. And then the spark becomes like
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a flow and all of a sudden it's like all of your experiences and
00:17:22
all of your expertise and your judgement comes out and you just
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keep writing. Now there's no question that
00:17:29
there is something called writer's block.
00:17:31
That's like, you know, what am I going to write now?
00:17:33
And you know that, I think that's when you take a break,
00:17:36
you know, you take a few days break and then you come back to
00:17:39
it and say, OK, I want to keep moving on this and then
00:17:41
eventually say I want to, I want to finish this and then it's
00:17:44
done. Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:47
So as far as writing goes, like I, I'm also a professor, so I
00:17:52
have academic writing and then I have my fiction writing.
00:17:55
Do you notice a big difference in the kind of writing that you
00:17:58
do versus, you know, the journal versus just, you know, putting
00:18:02
the book out? Yeah, I do.
00:18:04
So I don't have as much experience in write like writing
00:18:09
a novel, but I would like to because obviously I have so many
00:18:13
stories that I could think of, whether they are stories that I
00:18:16
put in a, in a movie or stories that came from medicine or, or
00:18:20
whatever. And I would like to create sort
00:18:23
of, you know, a mystery or one of those plot twists, if you
00:18:28
know what I mean. And so I, I think there is a
00:18:32
difference because if I look at myself and see how much I've
00:18:36
done, it's mostly academic stuff and it's structured versus
00:18:42
something that's more fiction. I don't have as much experience.
00:18:48
Would like to get closer to that.
00:18:51
Yes, I gotcha. So for listeners that are
00:18:56
hearing you for the first time, what is 1 lesson from your
00:18:59
journey that they should take away?
00:19:01
One lesson is to pursue your goal.
00:19:05
If you say to yourself, I want to do this, whether it's a, you
00:19:08
know, I want to do this next month or I want to do this as a
00:19:12
career, you know, push on it. Keep keep going because if you
00:19:18
keep going, you'll get there. And you know, sometimes it's
00:19:21
about I don't have the time, I don't have the money, I can't
00:19:25
quite get there. If you're passionate about it,
00:19:28
you will get there. The other, the other thing I
00:19:32
would say is networking. Networking with people that have
00:19:36
already done what you want to do or people who have some kind of
00:19:41
expertise that that you need. Networking, whether it's in
00:19:45
medicine or filmmaking or pretty much anything, it's very
00:19:49
important to do that. It can make a difference.
00:19:51
It can make or break you, especially in this industry
00:19:55
because you know it's it's easy to get lost in the weeds here.
00:19:58
That's right. That's right.
00:20:00
So where can the listeners find you?
00:20:03
So we have a website, itscoronadobeachproductions.com.
00:20:10
I also have some films on YouTube.
00:20:12
It's either under my name, George Ellis or Coronado Beach
00:20:16
Productions. We're also on Facebook under
00:20:20
either one George Ellis, Coronado Beach Productions and
00:20:24
we also have an Instagram. I would like to to crack the
00:20:27
code of doing TikTok or one of those, you know, fast moving
00:20:31
things. But I think I'll have to hire a
00:20:33
very young person to help me figure that out.
00:20:36
It's complicated. I it really is.
00:20:38
I'm thinking about hiring someone too because it's just
00:20:40
each social media platform seems to be completely different.
00:20:43
Once I get one down, something new comes out.
00:20:46
I'm like, I give up. So what's up next for you?
00:20:50
Well, it's funny you say that because, you know, I told you
00:20:53
that I had a a show last year called the Doc and Adam Show was
00:20:57
my son and I, We were out of a network in Las Vegas, the
00:21:01
Channel 12 TV network, which doesn't exist anymore because
00:21:05
there was some internal issues there.
00:21:07
So what I'm thinking of is I would like to do maybe a
00:21:11
documentary about independent film.
00:21:15
That's one thing that's on the burner.
00:21:17
The other one is to start doing a podcast that's more like, do
00:21:22
you remember the Fraser Crane Show?
00:21:25
Oh yes. So, you know, people would call
00:21:27
in and ask questions. I'm, I'm kind of looking at
00:21:30
that, having a little bit of a different take on it, but those
00:21:33
are the two big things that I have on the burners for this
00:21:36
year. I think that would be really
00:21:38
fun. I I loved Frasier.
00:21:40
I still watch it all the time. So yeah, it's so funny.
00:21:43
I I wish there were shows like that still, but that sounds
00:21:46
really exciting. I wanted to thank you so much
00:21:48
for joining me. I was a great episode.
00:21:50
It was great talking with you. Well, thank you for having me.
00:21:53
It's, you know, always a good opportunity to see what other
00:21:56
people are doing, how they're doing.
00:21:58
You obviously have been successful in a lot of different
00:22:01
domains and I congratulate you for that.
00:22:04
So this has been great. I appreciate it.
00:22:07
Thank you. I appreciate that.
00:22:10
That was my conversation with Doctor George Ellis.
00:22:13
And I think what stands out most is this.
00:22:15
It's never too late to pivot. Whether it's stepping into a
00:22:19
completely new creative field, writing a book, or simply
00:22:22
choosing to pursue something that sparks your curiosity, Dr.
00:22:25
Ellis reminds us that passion doesn't have a timeline.
00:22:28
If you want to learn more about his work, you can check out his
00:22:30
films and projects through Coronado Beach Productions or
00:22:33
find him on social media and YouTube under his name.
00:22:36
And as always, if you enjoyed this episode of Plot Twist
00:22:39
Radio, don't forget to follow, rate and share.
00:22:41
It truly helps more than you know.
00:22:43
Until next time, keep chasing the unexpected.