STARKVILLE — Troy DeRego is a writer, a filmmaker, a musician, an artist and a Web site designer all rolled into one.
The New Hampshire native also serves as one of the organizers of the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin” Festival each year in Starkville. And he runs a Web site, http://starkvilleeats.com, which serves as a guide to the city”s restaurant scene.
DeRego has lived all over the country, but has spent the past four years in Starkville. Overlooking Main Street and the downtown area recently, DeRego said he”s impressed with how far the city has come in the short time since he”s been here. And he”s doing whatever he can to contribute to the local music and arts scene.
So how did you end up in Starkville?
I got a degree in fine art from Rhode Island School of Design and then I ended up moving out to the San Francisco Bay area working in multimedia. So I lived on the West Coast for about 10 years and got into filmmaking and screenwriting. This is kind of ridiculous, but I moved back to New Hampshire to work on my film career. Well, mainly to have time to write. So I was living back in New Hampshire and playing in a band and my wife, who teaches here at Mississippi State, Becky Hagenston, she was on a summer break up in New Hampshire and met me up there. A couple weeks after that I was on a plane down here to visit her. So she kind of, well, she didn”t trick me into coming here, but that”s how I ended up down here.
As far as your career goes, what exactly are you doing these days?
A couple years ago my wife got tenure and it seemed like we could finally put down some roots in Starkville. Before that she was on the job market and you would never know if you were going to pick up and leave at one minute or another. But when she got tenure we finally allowed ourselves to call Starkville home. So that”s when I decided to start up my business: Longboat Studios. It”s a Web design business. I”m mainly focused on local clients, but I also have clients out of state. You know, one advantage of setting up an Internet business in this town is you can reach out and find work wherever it is. But I do enjoy having a small business and meeting other business owners in town. It is a small town so I do look forward to growing my business outside of Mississippi.
Are you doing any writing anymore as far as movies go or are you concentrating on your Web site business?
I spent a number of years pursuing writing and screenwriting in particular, and managed to get some really great contacts. But having an insider”s view on how difficult that profession is, I still love it, but it”s a tough career choice. I think if I continued to pursue it I could eventually make that a job, but honestly I spent many years doing it and dug myself a hole that I”m trying to dig out of now. I don”t regret doing it, but it”s given me a love-hate relationship with writing.
How many screenplays have you written over the years?
I wrote a thriller, a period piece, set in a lighthouse off the coast of Maine. I won first place in a contest that allowed me to go out to California and workshop it with some professionals. It was very inspiring. I made a few connections there. So I”ve written five or six, some on my own, some with other people.
I saw on your Web site that you do other artistic stuff, as well. Are you still active with those things or do you focus mostly on Web design now?
Mostly Web design now, but I”ve made a few short films that have been in film festivals. I always looked at my work as story-telling and Web design sort of grew out of my work in multimedia, but the technology part of it has always been a means to tell a story.
Were you always a creative person growing up?
Yeah. Like I said, I went to school for fine art. I always drew. I play music, too.
What do you play?
The guitar.
So how would you describe the arts community here in Starkville?
There are some inspired people and I give them credit for taking the steps that they have taken, but having lived in other places in the country, when I moved here I definitely felt it was lacking. An arts community means something different to me than it might to some other people. To me art needs to be challenging and inspiring and those are things that aren”t really prized around here. I”ve made a choice to try to be involved and help make the arts community here something inspiring to me and hopefully to others. That”s one reason why I work so hard on the Johnny Cash Festival. I think that”s one of those events that brings some talented, even legendary, musicians here. The whole concept of it is a little bit challenging. It”s something unique. It doesn”t fit into a box.
What exactly is your role with the festival?
Well I started out assisting with the Web site and, well, technically, we started a Flower Pickin” Foundation. So, technically, I guess I”m the vice president of that. I”m mainly a sounding board for Robbie (Ward). I don”t necessarily have a title. I”ve been involved in all the aspects of planning.
Is that (Starkville Eats) the only site you actually run?
Yeah. I mean, I have my business Web site, but Starkville Eats serves a lot of purposes. For me, it”s a marketing tool to reach out to the community and let them know about my Web services, but mainly it”s because I think there are some great restaurants in town and that”s one of the things that helps Starkville stand out.
And I built that site as a way to help them get better, to help promote the good places that I want to see stick around and stay in business and weed out the dead wood. It seems to have gotten a pretty good response. Restaurants are opening up here all the time now and it”s hard for people to keep up, so I wanted to have a site where you can go to hear from other people. I go to English Department cocktail parties and stuff and that”s always the topic of discussion: whatever new place. It made sense to make a site where you can capture that.
Is there anything else you do in town? You seem pretty busy.
I am active in the town. It”s hard to be a new person in a Southern town and meet people and form a network that will help a small business get off the ground. So doing things like becoming a member of the (Greater Starkville Development) Partnership, Starkville Young Professionals, the forum leadership class — those things have really helped me meet people and establish that network.
Do you like it here in Starkville?
I have lived a lot of places and this is the first place I ever felt connected to the community. I do call it home now. I”ve never followed local politics before. I”ve never been involved in local issues. I do feel you can voice your opinions here. I”ve seen this community move in the right direction just in the short time I”ve been here. It”s getting better. It”s become a place where I really want to live. My wife and I talk about it a lot. Like I said, she was on the job market and could have gone anywhere. With my job skills, I could go anywhere. So we think a lot about the kind of place we want to live. Now, Starkville is becoming tough to beat. I never thought I”d say that, but it”s true. Right now, I can”t think of anywhere else I”d rather live.
On the Web
www.troyderego.com, http://starkvilleeats.com
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