For 9-year old Amanda Pflieger, a family visit to Universal Studios changed her life. From that moment on, her dream was to make movie magic.

Originally from far north suburban Mundelein, Pflieger chose to study in Chicago and pursue her dream as a film production student at DePaul University’s College of Computing and Digital Media. She credits her decision to enroll at DePaul because of the robust resources that are available to film students.

From cameras, to lights, to DePaul’s soundstage at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, Pflieger was able to take advantage of the film and production gear, equipment and the extensive breadth of faculty experience in the industry to learn the movie-making craft.

Yet, Pflieger knew that it would take a lot of hard work and chutzpah to make a name for herself in the business. She made it her goal to work tirelessly on project after project to learn, network and prove herself.

“I worked as a production assistant at The Onion and that’s where I really got my start in professional work. I worked for the Bravo network reality show ‘100 Days of Summer’ and other shows for the Food Network and Spike TV. It was interesting to see how such shows operate, but I learned reality TV is not for me,” recalled Pflieger. She also was a freelance location manager for NBC5-WMAQ in Chicago.

Pflieger took on additional stints as a production assistant on movies, including locally filmed “Divergent” and “Grand Piano,” while producing her own movie shorts for her major. “It’s so fulfilling to be able to grow my network, gain professional field experience and make a living on the one side and to apply higher knowledge that I learn to produce my own films at DePaul,” said Pflieger.

“The professors, I feel, go out of their way to help and support students; and unlike other film schools, DePaul is about letting us make our own stuff and being able to walk away owning our material,” she said.

Even before receiving her degree from DePaul, Pflieger will already have added another title to her resume: co-producer. She was connected with director Collin Schiffli and actor, writer and DePaul Theatre School alumnus David Dastmalchian to help scout locations for a movie they were about to film in Chicago.

“Somebody put me in touch with them and I talked to them. I fell in love with the project and knew I wanted to be involved. They began to value my creative ideas and I wedged my way in there as production manager. When I started to bring in investors and they increased my responsibilities, I was given co-producer credit,” Pflieger explained.

This May, Pflieger’s family was able to see her first major film credit when the movie “Animals” was screened at the Music Box Theatre on the closing night of the Chicago Critics Film Festival.

Written by and starring Dastmalchian, “Animals” is the story of Jude and Bobbi, two homeless heroin addicts who live in their car in the Lincoln Park Zoo neighborhood. The movie was based on Dastmalchian’s life as an addict during the time he lived in Chicago. Now sober 12 years, Dastmalchian won the Special Jury Award for Courage in Storytelling at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival for the movie.

Pflieger reflected on what it was like to work on the film: “We cried together on many occasions. It’s a really emotional topic, let alone that making a low budget movie is far from easy. The characters are witty and funny. The movie has a message of hope and to not give up on addicts.”

She credited DePaul faculty members, including Dan Klein and Kristyn Benedyk, with pushing her to go to the SXSW festival to network with film industry leaders and explore new opportunities.

“Amanda embodies everything that I love about our student body at DePaul,” said Kristyn Benedyk, chair of the college’s screenwriting program. “She is impressively hardworking, both in the classroom and in the quantity, quality and diversity of the professional filmmaking projects she chooses to pursue outside of school. Amanda is the one that you want to spend months with making a project. She's the one who will get the job done. Our students get that you have to know your craft and that being nice goes a long way.”

Once her days at DePaul are behind her, Pflieger sees Hollywood in her future. “I want to work in studio development and creative producing, and eventually decide which movies get greenlighted. For now, those opportunities are in Los Angeles.”

Pflieger says she’ll walk away from DePaul with a tight community family network. “Filmmaking isn’t a subject you can learn in a textbook, like math; it’s experiential. You really need that hands-on experience. That’s what I love about the whole environment of DePaul.”