Production Prism
Welcome to the Production Prism, where we explore the dynamic world of film and video production. Hosted by Torrance Hill, an Emmy Award-winning producer and the founder of Noir Prism Studios, our podcast features insightful guests and delves into the diverse experiences and challenges faced by creatives in the industry.
Join us for lively debates on pressing questions, such as the value of a film school degree versus real-world experience. Hear firsthand accounts from versatile guests like videographer Jules, who shares the intricacies of his lifestyle. Kenia Thompson, a seasoned storyteller and producer, who reflects on her two-decade journey in television.
We delve into important topics, such as client negotiations, the significance of community and faith in creative work, and the personal and professional impacts of the production lifestyle. Whether you're an aspiring filmmaker or a seasoned professional, the Production Prism Podcast offers valuable insights and inspiration to navigate your creative journey. Tune in and illuminate your path in the world of production!
Production Prism
Hard Work Pays
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This episode of the Production Prism features the host, Torrance, interviewing Jules Coy to discuss his personal background and transition into the creative industry.
What's up y'all? My name is Torrance and you are locked into the production prism. And right now, we are going to talk with Jules and get to know a little bit about his story and to get into this creative industry. So tune in and enjoy. The purpose of these episodes, just so everybody can understand, is it's really inspiration, but also just to kind of get to know the folks that's in my circle. And just in as it starts to broaden out, it's just gonna be just the creative circle in general. Um but first and foremost, I'm just gonna have you introduce yourself. Just tell us who you are, what you do, man.
SPEAKER_06Oh wow. For whatever reason, I wasn't expecting that.
SPEAKER_00I know. This is the first time I did it.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06But um, my name is Jules Emerson Coy. For anybody who doesn't know me, I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York. I reside here in Alexandria, Virginia at this current time. Have been blessed to work with Torrance and Noir Prism Studios. We actually met right here in my studio, LED Studios. Um, I had, I mean, at the time I was literally, that was the first year that I was working in you know, media, film, whatever we want to call it. And I had, you know, had the pleasure, uh, you know, I have a customer service background, so I had the pleasure of seeing a lot of people coming in out of the studio. And my mindset was like, I know nothing, so I'm just here to make sure that the clients that are here at my studio are taken care of. And and I mean, really, I'm giving the the story of how we met, and I'll back up to you know, give more, I guess, information on who I am and like how I I got here. But um Torrance came here. I don't remember exactly which client it was. I don't I don't believe it was um it might have been James. It might have been James, yeah, but um I had just I could just tell that you had like a knowledge that I wanted and I needed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And I remember just asking you, like, hey man, like if you ever need any help, like just let me know. Yeah, yeah. And I think we exchanged numbers or email or contact, whatever it might have been. And I think it was probably like six or seven months later, you just have you were like, Hey, I got this project that we're shooting. We're gonna be, you know, going to a park, uh shooting some cyclists. Yeah, can you come like do some BTS? And I was just like, sure, you know, like I don't even remember, I don't even you might have just asked me to come, you might have said something about a budget. I don't know, but it didn't matter.
SPEAKER_00I was just like, hey, knowing me, yeah, it was free, bro. Or or it was petty money because it was a that was a passion project.
SPEAKER_06I was happy to do it. Yeah, you came out, uh just you know, shot BTS, yeah, and you know, he ended up really liking it, and then honestly, he just you know had hasn't stopped calling me since. So we've been able to, I've been blessed to I mean, travel a lot, go go see a lot of different things and experience a lot of different things through by way of torrent. So I just want to let the people know, like, I really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thanks, bro.
SPEAKER_06Um, I mean, like, for real, like, I mean, I'm not I'm not even here. Yes, I had the studio, you know, before we had met and stuff like that, but I definitely don't think that I would have gained a lot of the skills and just experienced a lot of the things that I've experienced over the course of three years without you. Um so even you know, just being able to sit down right now and have this conversation is uh is an absolute blessing. And so I'm excited for you know where it's going and where we're we're gonna climb to because it's all it's only gonna be up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Um thank you.
SPEAKER_06For sure.
SPEAKER_00Because that means a lot, like hearing that. Um I didn't start like I didn't start this company, this newer prison to be like me, me, me, like I wanna, I wanna get rich, I wanna make cool projects. Like the base of it was how do I get other people to live this dream? Yeah, and like since the day we met, like I think you were back there, like as a studio tech, I could tell, like, man, this cat hungry, bruh. Yeah, like he really wanna do this stuff. He works at the studio. Um and I just remember, I remember just like racking my brain trying to find a project to get you on, bruh.
SPEAKER_05For sure.
SPEAKER_00And I just didn't I didn't know your skill level, so I didn't want to like put you on something and drown you. Yeah, but then when that when this the series came up, well, at the time it was Passion Project. When that came up, yeah, I was like, man, let me get jewels on it. Let me see what jewels do.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And since then, that's it.
SPEAKER_06I I mean I came in and like I said, I live on the extra mile, man. I was just like BTS. I remember Chris was like, bro, like what's this dude doing? I'm like, and then in my mind, I of course didn't see that, but to me, I'm just like, I'm here to capture every single moment. Yeah, and I remember you I gave you the footage and you were like, man, like you told Loki told a story, and I was just so excited because I'm completely new. I don't even understand fully how to quote unquote tell a story. I'm just capturing what happened. Yeah, yeah, you know, like I just I'm just I'm just so you know excited to be there. Um, so it's it's a it's a blessing to you know, I mean look years in the future and just continue to see how we're able to move forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Yeah. So let's let's let's go back before you know, before you got in the industry. Tell us a little bit about what you were doing before um you started working as a freelancer.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah. So like I said, I'm originally from Brooklyn, New York. Uh my parents moved to that. Well, I say us, me and my sisters. I'm the uh youngest of three. I have two older sisters. And my parents moved us down here from uh Brooklyn, New York when I in 2005. I was 12 years old. You know, was a normal suburban kid, yeah, you know, grew up doing, I guess you could say suburban things, just you know, regular stuff out in Virginia. Um so wasn't coming out here to uh because you know, right now we're in Alexandria, wasn't really coming out here as far as like to DC or any the DMV, the real DMV at least. Um was going to uh I went to a the community college called Nova Virginia Northern Virginia Community College. Um I actually got got in trouble um when I was 20 years old, had went away for a little bit, um, was able to uh bounce back from that around 24 years old and essentially came home, was just looking to move my life forward. Um, so I started working, I was working at a restaurant, uh I was working at some other random place, and then I ended up uh seeing an ad to work at a car dealership.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And I wasn't like into sales or had ever done sales, but I was like, well, I think my choices were going to work at UPS or trying to work there. And I was like, UPS, they got free healthcare, but like I don't think it's really fun. Yeah, and like I had went to when I went to school, I had studied psychology because I'm I've always been interested in people. Yeah, like that's just always been like kind of like a fascination about like how people think. Um, so you know, study psychology, didn't finish school, but like with at UPS, I was like, like I said, it uh wasn't probably gonna be too funny drive around a truck, but with uh the car, uh with the the dealership, I was gonna be able to like talk to people. Like I said, I'm not really into sales, but like why not? And I'm probably gonna make good money. So uh applied for the dealership, they literally called me that same day, and I became a car salesman. They trained me. Um, I ended up staying at uh being that there for like a few months, but because I I have a felony, um, you have to have a um a state license.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Because I didn't because of my felony, they actually uh declined my license. Yeah, even though I passed the class. And the yeah, it was crazy. Um, and there's other people that were in a pr similar predicament, um, that the general manager, he was just like, he was actually like blown because he was just like, you know, he could see my character and he was just so encouraging to me. His name was Greg Altman, I'll never forget him. Um, but he was just very encouraging, and he was just like, what? Like, this is crazy. So when it got uh denied, I can't sell cars. So like I actually didn't even get paid for the cars that I sold because they couldn't, they couldn't pay me. Because it was like it was probably like two months. Uh and I mean it was early. So I mean it wasn't the worst thing in the world, but like they couldn't actually even pay me for the cars that I sold because my license got denied. Yeah, and so then he was just so distraught, but then I remember he brought the uh assistant, I guess was yeah, the assistant general manager, and his name was Rob, and he was like, Why don't we just put him in service? And he was just like, Well, let me go, you know, talk to the service manager, and then I was just like, Look, like, I'll do whatever job needs to be done. Like, I wanna, I just want to be here. So he went and talked to the service manager at the time, and they were like, you know, we'll start you as a porter. So I was just driving around cars, driving people to and from where they need to go. And then they started training me as a service advisor um for I guess a few months, and then I became an advisor. And honestly, that's where I learned everything about you know customer service, and essentially ended up doing that for six years. When I when I left there, um, well, I guess not to get ahead of myself, I did that for six years, worked my way up. Uh, I became the the service lane manager, and right before I decided to leave there, I was actually gonna, I was about to go into the office. Yeah, make that good money, and I was really making good money because it's sales, a different type of sales. But um, yeah, I was about to go into that office. And for anybody who's not like familiar with what a service advisor does, but you know, if you come into the lane, need a car uh uh your oil chains or anything like that, I was the one who would help you. And a big part of my money was attached to customer service. So, like I said, you get really good at communicating with people, and I was really dead set on owning my own dealership one day. Yeah, my grandfather is from the Caribbean. He uh literally uh at the bottom of our house, it's a variety store called Boss Man and Sons. Yeah, and so you know, my I hear all the stories about my grandfather and all the things that he did on that small island. Like, literally, the island is 13 square miles, yeah. So, you know, he was able to do a lot. And my dad wasn't an entrepreneur, but some of my uncles were. I didn't necessarily know that like I wanted to have my own business in the way that like I want to be a quote unquote entrepreneur, but I did know I wanted to like be a leader and like own something, like do something that was bigger than just kind of like working nine to five. So the um the automotive group that I was a part of is called Pohenka Automotive Group, they were pretty inwardly promoting, and so they kind of already had like a blueprint and a roadmap to because they were constantly buying new dealerships, yeah. And not I don't want to say strangely enough, but in the dealership world, you actually are you have a benefit by being a minority because if you're getting a new, like a commercial dealership, they generally are trying to give it to somebody who is a minority, meaning black, Asian.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So by being of color, I actually was in a better position, you know, as I moved up the ranks to own my own dealership or be a partner, you know, with Pohanka Automotive Group. And so that was really like the lane that I saw myself going. Um, and and as far as I was concerned, that's what I was gonna do. Yeah, and then my brother-in-law Leroy came into my sister's life. He was he wasn't my brother-in-law then, but a gentleman named Leroy. Uh, he met my sister, they started dating, and he was uh he's an accountant, and he worked for Deloitte. Anyone who knows Deloitte, that's a pretty big company. Yeah, yeah. He was making good money, he's African, um, was an exceptional dude from day one.
SPEAKER_01Or big four. Yeah, whatever it is, big three, big four.
SPEAKER_06Uh exceptional dude from day one, but he uh was Miss USA's photographer and her uh Deshauna Barber, if anybody's familiar.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um, but he was her photographer, so he came up with her. And I just remember hearing about him for the first time. I was laying on the couch, had just came home from work. My sister's talking to my other sister, telling me about this guy, and I'm the youngest, so like, you know, I'm not like old big bro. I'm just kind of like, okay. Like, whatever. Yeah, like okay. And she was just telling me or telling my other sister, and I'm just listening about this guy, and you know, he has a studio, he does photography. And I mean, I'm a blockbuster kid, yeah. So grew up listen or uh going every Friday to Blockbuster, getting movies, getting Chinese food with my mom and sisters. We just you know watch movies. That was that was the thing, yeah. So I think in the back of my mind, I always wanted to like make movies, and even when I was a kid, we we had like you know, little camcorders and like these random little camera things, yeah. And me and my cousins used to make movies, like home movies, but that was like fun, but I never was like, Oh, I'm gonna go to school for it, or I'm gonna like you know, take time to like do XYZ. YouTube was already a thing, you know, by this time, but I never was like, Oh, I'm gonna do YouTube or anything like that. But I think in the back of my mind, I always like wanted to make movies, I just didn't know how. So when he heard about him and he came around, I was just kind of like, you know, this is interesting because now he's the first person that I had ever met that was not only um you know taking pictures and doing things, but he was like making money doing it and he's working with Miss USA. I'm not in the pageant world, but I'm like, hey, I mean, I know Miss USA, you know what I mean? Like that's that's a that's a pretty big deal from what I understand. And now this guy's my brother. You know what I mean? Like, well, I guess at that current moment he wasn't, but he was very active in my sister's life, yeah. So therefore he was around me as well because we all lived in the house still. So I just kind of was like, well, I'm gonna, you know, continue to be around him. I'm making good money over here, but like let me just keep going. And he had a studio in um in uh 520 Street, DC. Yeah, and then he ended up getting this studio today, actually. Well, the studio that we're in today, yeah. Uh it's called LED Studios because it's actually represents Leroy Elliott a DJ. So he had two other partners that started with him, and they decided to leave in uh it was like 2022. Yeah. And 2021, I was kind of like, I was here, but I would just like visit, like come see what they had going on. And it was just like so fascinating to me because I didn't know anything about about it, like this realm. Um, but in 2022, when those guys left, it was like early, and he was like, Yeah, like they're they're leaving, they're gonna get paid out. And like he didn't I'm not sure that he asked me. He might have been like, you know, do I want in? But I'm not sure that he really asked me. Yeah, but I was just like all over. I was just like, I want in. Yeah, and I didn't even know what that meant at the time. I think I was just excited to like we had a physical space. Yeah, I knew you know, he's now he was my brother at that time, and I knew he needed help. He might, he then he didn't say that, but like I could see that you know he needed help to like take care of things. So I thought that I was just gonna come in and kind of like do business stuff, you know, admin work, whatever. You know, little did I know that there wasn't, I guess, too much admin work. For work work, uh, but I you know wasn't I never picked up a legitimate camera and like frame rate, how to take pictures, flat, like it was yeah, he threw you in the deep end. Yeah, it pretty much threw me in the deep end. Um, but I was just you know, had a gung, uh, gung-ho willingness to be like, I mean, I'm gonna figure it out. I mean, I've been through I've been through harder things, yeah. And I mean, if if I want something, I'm gonna go after it and I'm gonna try and get it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And so I just started coming here, was driving, you know, an hour to get out here because I was living in Gainesville, Virginia at the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So just driving out here, taking care of bookings. And at the time, the lady uh, she's not there anymore, but we had a lady across the hallway who did hair and makeup. And the way they used to operate the studio was you know, if somebody booked it, they would just let them in here, but then nobody would actually be here to like facilitate. And I mean, that was like insane to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Because what essentially what was happening is like people that would be here would like go across the hallway and ask her for things like, do you have lotion? You know, just little, little, little. Yeah, but but I mean, because they don't have anybody here to like do you know, do you have this? Do you have that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06And she was getting upset about that, and it was becoming a major conflict. And so when I came here and heard about that, I was just kind of like, you know, customer service background. I'm like, what you mean that there's nobody here to take care of the client? You know what I mean? Like, are you are we insane? That's not a client at that point. You just yeah, business that you don't have anybody to take care of the client. So I I made it my priority to be like, well, I'm if there's a booking, I'm gonna be here. Yeah, and um, you know, we're not and even so to this day, you know, we don't have bookings every single day, but I was come, you know, working full-time, but I was making it a prior to like come here and and take care of the bookings as best as I could. Um, and as I kept coming and kept coming, it just was like, you know, like my my uh love for it just kept growing. Yeah, and you know, like I said, I kind of just wanted to do the business stuff, but people would be here doing productions, whether it be photography, whether it be video, and I'm you know, here watching, and I didn't know that I was giving them free work or free help, yeah, because I'm just thinking, you know, I'm taking care of my client, but I'm doing like PA, like you know, PA work, like, oh, I'm moving stuff around, yeah, doing stuff for them. Um, but kind of what ended up naturally happening is people would just naturally be, you know, uh kind of gravitate towards us and and me because I was so helpful, and I was essentially giving them work that they would have had to pay for. So I think I you know was coming here for a year, and I probably learned in one year what probably would have taken me like five, yeah. Just because you know, people were coming here and I was making sure that they were getting the help they needed, and like those bonds were growing, and people would just tell me, give me the game. They would invite me to places. Um, like I said, that's how I I met you. Yeah, and you know, that's how we ended up working together and how I ended up you know being able to kind of not quote unquote leave, but like now I'm outside of this place where now we have studio managers that are here because yeah, I'm outside doing work. Doing work, yeah. And so that was kind of like the natural progression of I guess how I got into the media industry. Um, I don't want to say it definitely wasn't by accident because I I I chose to leave work. Um, I left work in October 2022. Um left, I was making like I was making like a smooth 85k at my job as a service advisor.
SPEAKER_00And you dipped.
SPEAKER_06And I decided to leave because you know, I I tried to make it work, but it was just so demanding the things that I had to, you know, I was taking care of clients, you know, I have 20 clients. It's very similar to this where you know I have a bunch of clients and you gotta like facilitate everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um, and it was no like at the time I didn't understand I need a uh a mental capacity to be able to do this. Whereas, you know, if I was like, I don't know, at a job where what the the mental capacity isn't as high where it's kind of just like, you know, I might have a sheet.
SPEAKER_04Rinse repeat.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, process it was more like rinse and repeat versus like I had to be creative at the dealership, even though it wasn't this type of creativity, you had to be creative because things are not on time. Every 10 minutes something's going wrong. You know, you have to communicate with people, so you have to be creative in the ways that you communicate and turn a bad situation into a good one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I feel like I feel like you've you've been the king of that, man.
SPEAKER_06Okay, I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00Because a lot of a lot of reason why I just want wanted you to share your story just like you did, was because when you told me your story, A, I had no clue. I had no clue of your of your background as far as service, as far as the time you served, as far as your the short amount of time you've been you were in the industry.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um but from what I hear from your story, there's been times the doors have been like slammed in your face, the license situation.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you just was like, you were like water. Hey, find me somewhere to fit in, and guess what? I'm gonna make a situation happen.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00And I think that that's for me, that's a big part of your story that I find inspirational.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because I don't think that there's ever been, from what I know of you, I'm there's never been a time where it's just been easy.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, no. Nah. I mean, yeah, I definitely would say I mean, just like anybody else, I don't think my life has been easy. Um, you know, I'm a black man in America, so there's that. We're easy at. Yeah, yeah. But um, but I would say my parents definitely, you know, I would say they raised a good child, gave me a good mindset. Definitely. Um, but I mean, honestly, yeah, like my baseline is like, you know, I got through the time where I was locked up, I was gone for three and a half years. Um, that was a mentally enduring time. So that's kind of like my baseline as far as like that was the hardest thing that I've ever been through in my life. So, like, as far as I'm concerned right now, I haven't, you know. Well, I will say entrepreneurship has been pretty testing. I'm not gonna, but I'm just I guess to put it in perspective, like that's the way I view things that like if it's not harder than that mentally, yeah, from my perspective, I'm like, yeah, you know, it's I'll be all right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then like even you've had points where people believed in you. You know, the gentleman at the at the at the dealership. Yeah, the whole license thing could have happened, he could have just been like, hey bruh.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he could have kicked me to the crowd.
SPEAKER_00I ain't got nothing for you, dog.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But instead, like, because of who you are, yeah, folks they're they're they're reaching out to you. Yeah. Even your brother, you know, it's the same deal. Cause I'm sure. I'm sure he didn't go to everybody with that conversation. Yeah, I don't think, yeah. Man, you know, hey, you know, I you know, I bought these guys out, you know, of our partnership. And, you know, without saying it, you know, hey, I need help.
SPEAKER_06You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And but it it takes, I know as a man, it takes a lot to get to that point. Yeah. At least for me. It takes a lot to be like, bruh, I I need help. Even if it's indirect.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, man, a stuff ain't it ain't destroyed yet, but if I don't get this pillar built right here, like now, this house of this house of cars is about to fall. Yeah. Um, so I think I think that's an important part of your story, man. Like you've had people that have been there to help you out, but it's all because of you, man. Of of your willingness to keep pushing, keep going, through adversity, still being a great person, keeping a smile on.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I mean, I never really thought about it like that, but yeah, I guess you're right. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Um so I'm guessing that when you started at the studio, that was that pivot point of this changing from I don't even want to call it a hobby, but like a part-time thing to a full-time thing.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You think that was maybe that per perspective shift?
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Um, you know, it became, like I said, pretty clear to me that at least I didn't I didn't feel like I could do both.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06As far as like be at the dealership and and do this. Now I did, I I left that dealership and I, you know, went to another one where, you know, the system was a little bit different and tried to kind of make it work. But so I left Honda Chantilly in June of 2022, went to another dealership, it was a Dodge dealership. Um, and it was like kind of working because like like at Honda, you know, we worked from it was over from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. So it was like all days and weekends, whereas at this other place, it I think we were closed by seven o'clock, yeah, and there was no Sundays.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_06So, you know what I mean? At Honda, it was seven days a week. So it was like there was no room, it was really hard. You was working there, yeah. I was working there, and like I said, like I got clients. If I'm there, I mean I at that point I was working the morning shift, but like, you know, if something went wrong, you know, I I could have something have to communicate all the way up till 10:30, 11 o'clock at night. Yeah, so it was just like no room realizing now that you know, like those creative decisions, like you need a mental capacity to really be able to like do that. And because I was like literally brand new and like just trying to figure this out, yeah. I had no way to like even put words to like this is too much, you know, for me as uh from a mental standpoint to like trying to figure out. Um, but either way, I you know left, tried to make it work, but then I remember I called what I think, yeah. We were married. Well, did we get married already? I'm not sure that yeah, actually, I think it was right before we got married because it was 2022. We got married in yeah, in 2023, January. So yeah, I was just like I told I called my girlfriend at the time, now my wife. I was just like, Yeah, shit, this ain't this ain't working. And I mean, I had already been talking to her about like wanting to leave, like the whole reason I left um uh Honda was because I wanted to make more space to be here and like do do this. Yeah, um but yeah, she was like, you know, we could transition out, and I'm like, yeah, like we're gonna do it, but I was like, it's just not it's just not working.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like when when this industry calls you, man, like it's a call and it's a pool when it's what you really want to do. Yeah, and it is hard to make space for other things. Like to this day, I don't I mean, I think I think one time I may have did like DoorDash for like a day. And I was doing that, I finished. I felt great, like I was like, oh man, I made some quick cash. Ain't nothing against DoorDash. And if somebody does that to supplement what they do, I ain't I'm not dissing you or nothing. I'm just saying, yeah, I realized that during that time I could have been doing something else. Like the way I see my entrepreneurial journey is there's so many things that need to be done, and it depends on what I put time in, yeah, what I outsource for someone else to put time in, and maybe I'll check it, you know, regulate it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And what is the growth? Like what's the goal? Yeah, so if I'm going to work, I gotta work within my business. Yep. And so I'm not I'm not dissing anybody for doing things outside their business, but like much of what you're saying, yeah, at that time, you like, man, it's either I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna put my whole body into this, yeah, or I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_06Pretty much. And it was it was as simple as that. And it was like two two things. At that time, I was like, because I'm 33 now, I'll be 34 this year. So I was like, either I was just about to turn 30, or yeah, I was just about to turn 30. And so didn't have kids yet. I mean, wasn't married yet. I mean, was planning on being married. Yeah. Because, you know, I was ready, you know, have the plans of asking her to marry me in the in the works. But I was like, I'm not gonna have this, I'm never gonna have this this time again. Because I'm like, I mean, if I was 21, I mean, I was young and dumb, so who knows what what I would have thought of 21. But I just knew that I'm like, you know, if I end up having a kid in the next two, three years and I try to do it then, like, that ain't gonna work. So right now is the only time I have where I'm, you know, kind of essentially young and free. So that that was number one. But as you were saying, like, I'm gonna put all my time. If you break down this math equation, and this is literally the equation I said in my head. Well, I had written it out, but they say it takes like the 10,000-hour rule. Yep, that's how you become an expert. If you put 40 hours a week at work and 20 hours a week into your business, it's gonna take you seven and a half years to reach that 10,000 hour mark. Yeah, if you put 60 hours a week and that's the only thing that you're doing, it's gonna take you three and a half years to reach your goal. And so I was like, well, seven years is not bad, but like I don't want to just kind of like be suffering for seven years. If I'm gonna suffer, I'd rather have it be like for that three, three and a half, and then kind of like get to where I'm going. And not that you know I'm um automatically gonna arrive, but I'm gonna get to a a level of skill that now my work is worth something. Yeah, and not just that I'm good, but like I have a legitimate skill set, you know. I I'm essentially a tradesman. Yes, and so that was the equation that I did, and I'm like, well, no, I mean, I'm not actually working 60 hours a week, but I'm putting all of my time, all of my effort into this one thing all the time. Yeah, I'm gonna get to where I'm going faster. Yeah, almost. And it was just as simple as that.
SPEAKER_00I almost think you have to obsess over this when you're in that beginning phase. And even and even when you get to the point where it's like you're past that beginning phase, yeah. Where you're still trying to lock in. And you know, the the 10,000 hour, you know, that that that scenario, I don't even want I don't want to call it a rule, but I like to call it a rule sometimes. Yeah, yeah. But the 10,000 hour rule, yeah. I if you if you take okay, take 10,000 hours out of it. If I told you I'm gonna give you 10 million dollars, do you want it in seven years or you want it in three? Nine times out of ten, you're gonna say, bruh, three years. Yeah I'll wait, I'd rather wait the three than the seven every time. Every time, yeah, and and I'm that's that's the exact scenario. Yeah is okay, am I gonna continue to do this full-time thing and slowly get to my goals and and and you know, in my part-time life, my you know, my five to nine, yeah, or am I just gonna jump in and do it? Yeah, and I know that like full-time is not for everybody, yeah, but I will say I have not, I didn't make these strides in my company until I went full-time. Yeah, and I had to have a conversation with my wife after we just had my firstborn son. And that's when I had to decide this is what we're doing. And to this day, I remember my wife very supportive. But in that absolute moment, she was like, Well, what are we doing? Yeah, because to her, she didn't know what was going on up here, yeah. She just knew that I'm saying one thing and I'm saying, hey, I think this is gonna work. Yeah, and you know, she's like, all right, well, do it.
SPEAKER_04You better do it.
SPEAKER_00But I I would say, and I'm gonna ask you your advice to to some to folks that are getting in the industry. I would say going full-time into creative work, A, it is not for everybody. B, there's huge risk involved in it. Sometimes it it may work out, you may luck up and get a um a customer or client or contract that can hold you over. And then sometimes you're not. It takes a lot of planning.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and I think I think the last thing is have a plan. That's the only way I was able to do it. I'm sure that's the only way you were able to do it. Yeah, you didn't just be like, I'm gonna go free time, I'm I'm gonna go full time, and my goal is to sit down and have a whole lot of free time.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, nah. I mean, I would say that my plan was that I had extra money. There we go. So that's a plan. So that was that was my plan. So I mean to echo what he we he's saying, um, yeah, you know, like I said, I was 30 years old when I decided to make the pivot. So, you know, if you're older and you do have a family and stuff like that, um, you know, as you probably already know, like definitely don't just you know make rash decisions. I would say, you know, you're gonna have obviously have to consult your wife, consult your loved ones, and like make a plan, figure out like, okay, if you are gonna make this take this step, like how are you, how is it gonna actually work?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um, but I would say if you know you're young, like 18, 19, 21, and you don't have a family, like you're single in the world, I mean, yeah, you still want to have a plan, but you know, you definitely have more room for like error, like, you know, go after it and like kind of just I mean, you know, it's okay if you gotta sleep on the couch, because you know, you're a single dude or single woman, like it is, it is what it is. Um, but you do have to have the wherewithal to be like, you know, have have some foresight in what your plan is. And so for me, because I was working at the dealership, um, even though I didn't have a kids, we weren't married yet, I did have a lot of money saved up. That's cool. So for that first year, that was really able to cover me. And I and I knew and I understood that. And even in that first year, I had known that I wanted to move here to Alexandria. Because I was like, man, this is like all the work is out there, like this drive is like it's not working.
SPEAKER_03It's insane.
SPEAKER_06And you know, I have a uh a townhouse, a three-bedroom, a garage, three in uh three bathrooms. That's what we were living in. I currently live in a one-bedroom, one bathroom apartment with my wife. Yeah, she was not happy about you know, necessarily.
SPEAKER_00You went from MTV kids to uh to the apartment, which is still nice. I ain't this an apartment, but that is a lifestyle change.
SPEAKER_06It's a lifestyle change. And I mean, I had to understood though, though, that like if I had to sacrifice, you know, comfortability to like get where I'm trying to go. And you know, like I said, I did have a good amount of money saved up. Um, my you know, wife, she had a good job at the time, so it was gonna work, it was gonna cover us, and we were gonna make it work. Um, but I knew that I had to make it work fast. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then and I'm gonna say the last point is I did have a plan, and I and I forgot the the the other thing outside of planning. You have to have faith.
SPEAKER_06Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Like I prayed so much about it. Um I just sat in in in thought sometimes, just thinking it through. And I'm a big believer in writing, you know, journaling. Um, especially my goals and ambitions. I'm really not a journal, like, hey, today I feel like I'm I'm not that journal, you know, type person. Yeah, I do it occasionally, but faith. Yeah, and and I and I've other business owners, other successful business owners I spoke to, they will tell you, find God.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because you're gonna need him. I mean, you're gonna need him anyway, but you definitely gonna you're gonna need him.
SPEAKER_00And and for me, you know, Jesus Christ, for somebody else, it may be Allah, it may be, it may be something, it may be a different guy. Yeah, but you better have faith in something, yeah. Because the journey that you're about to go on as an entrepreneur, in a creative entrepreneur, like we ain't talking about like we ain't talking about like you said, like a dealership where I'm selling something that somebody wants and needs right now. Yeah, we selling something that's invisible and that's a luxury, yeah.
SPEAKER_06That's deep, yeah. It's a luxury. Now that's that's so real. And then one of the things you had said was um dang, what was you had said uh why am I going blank right now? Uh I said a whole lot. Yeah, you had said a whole lot. Thank my rapping, bro. I mean, but just having a framework, having I mean the faith. Yeah, um, oh, you were saying, yeah, um being a full-time business owner isn't for everybody. Yeah, and that's and I mean, outside of a plan, outside of like you know, having a dream, like I do really believe that yeah, being a full-time business owner isn't for everybody because you do have to have a certain type of mindset to overcome and expect, you know, if you are a person of faith, you know, I do think you're able to overcome because with God you could do all. Um, with that said, even if you do and walk with the Lord, that doesn't mean that you know you need to be a full-time business owner because it does take a different type of just will, a different type of grit. Um, you know, you got to be able to roll with the punches, you got to be able to pivot, you got to be able to, I mean, just do just really do a whole lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and push yourself. Yeah, you know, you have to, we spoke about it. You have to, you have to be your own boss, yeah, and tell yourself today you're working. Yeah, this time is not just chill time, you know. You take a lunch break. I know for myself, I take a lunch break, I treat like I'm at an office. I take a 30-minute lunch break. Yeah, that's all I give myself. And it's not it's not because I want to work so bad, but because I want to go home, yeah, and I want to go spend time with my wife and my kids, and I don't want to think about work. Yeah, so if I can take 30 minutes to eat, and the other 30 minutes I go go myself back to work. But it's that part that people don't think about, and everybody can't do that. Everybody can't say, hey, I'm gonna wake up and treat my my entrepreneurial journey, my job that I give of myself, yeah, as as if I'm clocking in for somebody else.
SPEAKER_06Now that's that's so deep because this uh well, this year, it's the early 2026, but the last like three, four months, and I mean maybe even before that, but kind of like what you're saying, like treating it like a job, I guess from a a base a base sense, like I mean, I always would come and you know on a job and like kind of be presentable. Um, I don't necessarily think about it like I'm clocking in or clocking out, but I you know was in a corporate world, so like I understand that like you know, when I'm on the job, like there's just certain things you can't do, there's certain things you can't do. So I think that was just innate. But the thought process of like working and operating, not just when I'm on the job, but just in general, like Monday through Friday, that's the time for me to work, you know what I mean? That that type of uh framework. I didn't start thinking of like that until very recently. Um, and I say that because yeah, I mean, once I left work, I was waking up at you know four o'clock in the morning to to go to work and be at the dealership. I had to be there for six, and I got there early because I didn't want clients to be right in my face as soon as I got there. I wanted to be able to like, you know, roll into my day and like you know, get things going before I talk to people. And so I operated very disciplined and very systematically. So as soon as I left work, you know what I mean? I'm like, hey, hey, I'm a hey, I'm not gonna be up, you know what I mean? Like, I don't gotta be up early. You know, okay, I'm an editor now, you know, I'm a videographer now, so like late nights and like you know, I work whatever. And that was, you know, the mindset and that was the attitude. And you know, I kind of I guess you could say suffered or pushed through that. Um, but after you know, two and a half, three years of kind of operating that way and just learning and growing, I realized that yeah, what by the time I wake up at eight, nine, ten o'clock, now that I'm actually in it, you know, at the studio, that was one thing. If there's a booking, I already know what it is, I can kind of pull up. But now, you know, when Torrance is like, hey, you know, we got this gig, I gotta edit, I gotta do, you know, I gotta do that, I gotta do this, I got my own stuff going on, I got wifey, you know. Yeah, I'm like, okay, I now I gotta like balance all these things, and I can't just do whatever I want. Yeah, so I'm like, you know what? I'm I'm I'm gonna go back to like I was working. Cause I am working, like you said, I'm gonna get up at four o'clock in the morning. Cause for me, I'm a morning person, so not saying that you have to do this, so no judgment, because I've been saying that people are like, dang man, like you're making me feel I'm like, look, this is just what works me. This is what works for me. I uh as a kid, I swam. I would get by 3:45 in the morning, go to school, or excuse me, go to practice, then go to school. So that you know, very quickly made me a morning person. That's what I did throughout high school. And then once again, like I said, I had to uh essentially do that when I was at work. So it became like natural to me. I you know, stepped away from that for some time because I'm like, okay, cool, I'm out of it. But now I'm back in that space where I get up early, uh, able to get like, you know, my first round in for the day. By the time people start hitting me up, I'm ready, you know, I've already done work or kind of gotten what I need to do done. And then I could, you know, talk to other people, reach out to clients, emails, whatever, whatever. And so by the time, you know, it's at night, I'm tired, but I'm actually ready to lay down. And even if I'm like, oh, I still got more stuff to do, I did the best that I could do for the day.
SPEAKER_00You know, you gotta close that book.
SPEAKER_06I gotta close the book.
SPEAKER_00It's like, all right, like at some point I gotta stop working. And that's why, like, and that's why I mentioned that. Because everybody can't, like I said, everybody can't do that. Yeah, but that it's a it's it's a tool. It's um I mean it's a tool, it's a mindset as well, but it's helpful. Because when you treat it like that, then you start to understand when when am I not working? And when I started treating my days more like a nine to five, although some of our days are insane, yeah. You know, like today, I've been working all day today. Tomorrow I'm gonna work all day tomorrow. Yeah, because I'm on location. But the days when I'm not and I treat it like it's a nine to five, I gain a little bit of balance. Yeah, you know, yeah, there's just scales, it's just a little bit of balance, yeah. That you know, those are the days where yeah, I'm at home, I'm you know, I may cook, I'm hang out with the kids, hang out with my wife, and I'm not like we trying to watch a TV show and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna edit it. Yeah, yeah, oh I missed it. Ah but um, you know, to kind of get to a wrap point, what's you may have already given a piece of advice to someone that's that's gonna enter this industry, yeah. But what's a piece of advice that you would give to someone that's interested in getting in this industry or a piece of advice for someone to continue pushing forward towards their dreams?
SPEAKER_06Um that's a good question. I would say, well, one, I mean, as far as your dreams, never give up. If if you know you feel like you have a dream or something that's been put in your heart or purpose that's been put into your life, never give up. Just continue to pursue it. I mean, no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is, like just keep going. Ask God and keep going. Um, but as far as anybody who wants to get into this industry, I would say there's no better time, honestly, than now. Because I mean, I think a lot of the the tools that we have, I mean, AI, all the things, it it has made prosumer gear and content that much easier to get into. And I think I've honestly been blessed to kind of come in at this point. Because I'm like, man, like I wish I would have started messing around with this stuff when I was 18, 19 years old, like started editing because I would have been, you know, a little bit more adept and like it'd be more like second nature. But I also realized like, you know, I have a lot of um, you know, I'm 33, so I'm not old, but like I'm not 18, 19, 20, where you know, these kids like they grew up with TikTok, they grew up with these things. And like I feel like editing and content creation is kind of like second hand. Whereas, you know, when we were like 13, 11, 10, being a content creator wasn't a thing. It wasn't a reality, at least not yet. And so I kind of am growing up in a way in a space where like, you know, I didn't come into the industry 10 years ago where a lot of Certain technology wasn't out yet. And there was, you know, there's kind of like the this is the way things are done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And now there's like a whole new category of technology where it's like, well, that's the way things are done, but like there's a whole bunch of things that you could do to like get it done, maybe not perfectly, but almost just as good. Almost just as good. And you know, we're not talking about feature films here. We're talking about, you know, essentially something that's gonna end up on Instagram. Yeah. So it's gonna get the job done. So I guess what I'm saying is like I've been able to kind of grow up in that balance of like I understand the old structure, but I'm growing up in like a new school. Yeah. So that's why I say there's no better time than now that like the barrier to entry is so low that yeah, anybody can do it, but it does take a certain mindset, a certain you know, grit to really push through, especially because it is the best time, but that means there are more people doing it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So I guess you you know, take that with the with the good and bad, because it's like, well, it's a it's a good time to get in, but everybody's doing it, so that just means there's more competition. But I would say that all the tools are available to us at you know a pretty low threshold to be able to get in. And I'm and I honestly feel blessed to kind of have like uh uh that that new mindset, I would say, of like, yeah, I don't need that to get this done. No, and honestly, I've had a lot of my peers like kind of tell me that because they're like, you know, I mean, like, we're this is the right way to do it. I'm like, well, yeah, of course that's the right way, but like what's the faster way that you know, and we can still get the quality and efficiency that's there has to be a balance, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's it is it is fast. I mean, I'm we we worked with with television networks, broadcast networks. Even they are now getting to the point where it is fast. Like, yeah, we have we have I like to call it the higher the hierarchy of content. This this whole one of these episodes, I'm gonna break down the whole reason why this podcast is called the production prism. Yeah, but think about a beam of light going through a prism and what comes out. And that beam of light, use that light's never gonna change. That's gonna be your your um it's gonna be your creative intent, right? What you wanna do. Yeah, the prism is just what's gonna multiply. And the prism can be like your equipment, it can be it can be what the project is, yeah, but what comes out is that finished result. And the thing is, I feel like a lot of what's happening now, like I said, even in broadcasts, the higher up things, they have this these big projects that requires all this fancy stuff, yeah. And then you have everything else in the middle part right now. It used to be like, oh well, I still want that kind of like social media content to be high-end. No, they want a plethora of it, yeah, and then you have that small little bit, that small little bit of content that is still like okay, we want some little bit of high-end social media content, but a majority of it is quick and dirty stuff. You have the upper echelon stuff that's gonna broadcast for air, yeah, whatever. That's just what it is. You look at your favorite influencer, you you look at um YouTube, you look at Netflix, everybody's doing it. They got that heavy lift. I need a production crew, and this, that, and the other. Then you have the stuff that's just like quick and dirty. Oh, can AI edit this? Oh, bet.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we're gonna put it on social media, and guess what? We're gonna get a whole bunch of likes, and people are gonna be waiting for the next thing. Yeah, nobody's gonna talk about, oh man, this wasn't shot on this, or this didn't look like no, yeah.
SPEAKER_06You gotta be faster, you gotta adapt with the times.
SPEAKER_00You have to, and like what you're saying is is is awesome because I kind of consider myself a part of the old guard because I kind of I learned a lot from those guys when I was younger. Yeah, and I learned a lot of don't do that. It's not how that goes. And now, like, even like working with folks like you and other people, I'm starting to go over to like, hmm, well, maybe let me let me see what this looks like.
SPEAKER_06Hey, if it works though, it produces the output that we need. Whereas I mean, like, kind of like what you're saying, like some a lot of the output that we're going, it's not, it isn't going to a broadcast. No, we're not talking about a feature film here. No, we are talking about like this clip, this recap that we're you know getting money for, that we have all this equipment for, it's going on Instagram. Yep. And I mean, even if it's not going on Instagram, it's going to your website, it's still like the the end destination is not, you know. I mean, it there's a lot of effort for for that. And it's like, well, yeah, if we can make that that workflow more efficient from our perspective, why not? Why not?
SPEAKER_00Because the viewer expectation on that platform, yeah, social media, website, the expectation is lower now.
SPEAKER_06And I mean, and it's going to yeah, that like on my phone, like I'm dropping. Um, I don't know if you've seen any of the we did like the for MetroTise, yeah, yeah. Which is my directorial debut by the way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need y'all to check out MetroTise. It's like that. Well, yeah, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
SPEAKER_06Um, so we we have a uh focus group coming up on February 13th. You know, who knows if this will be aired before or after, but I'm sure it'll be after. But either way, we did uh these skits where there are uh people are like talking to our therapist. You know, so I cut the reels, I shot it vertically, which I'm still like kind of baffles my mind because you know I want to be a student, so I'm like, okay, you know, framing horizontally. Yeah, now it's flipping it vertically, just kind of like, even though it's the same, it's just different. Yeah, but I shot it vertically so you know we could get the most quality. When I download it to my phone, I'm like, man, this looks great. Like that joint clean. Yeah, that joint sharp. As soon as you download it to Instagram, I mean it's still clean and sharp, but dumped on. I yeah, it's not the video that I have in my in my folder that I'm looking at on my phone. It's not if it's one-to-one, it's not comparable. So that doesn't mean, of course, that you know, we try and produce trash, but because we're the the subject matter experts, we now could say, Well, yeah, why why yeah, we don't need to go get the the Sony Venice to add all the things on it just to shoot that. We can just go get the Night Gon Z R. Yeah. And run around, you know, the client still looks the same. They don't care about the mat box no more. No, at least not in that this situation that we're talking about. They don't care about the mat box no more, they don't care about they just want to make sure is it does it look good overall, and is it what I need? Yep, and how fast can you get it to me?
SPEAKER_00So because that last part's the most important part to them. How fast can you get it to me? Because if if it's it can look great, it can be perfect, but if it took you two weeks to get it, they're like, Well, who don't care about all that stuff, yeah.
SPEAKER_06So you gotta move with the times, and as long as you're able to do that, and I mean, like you said, the barrier to threshold is is lower, and so us having that knowledge and understanding it, I'm I'm I'm all for it. Yeah, you know, I understand anybody who's you know holding on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a there's a lane for that, there's a lane for absolute perfection, there's a lane for yeah, and and we do that. We have we we we film a docuseries with man, we I mean we shooting, we shooting for the moon, yeah. And it's like it is it is that, but there are also things that we film where it's like it doesn't have to be that, it just it just needs to be clean, it needs to be presentable, but it doesn't need to be the stratosphere, like we got a 10-man crew, yeah.
SPEAKER_06We you know, is I mean, yeah, I think we're in a good place to kind of be like, you know, sometimes I don't know if you ever did like martial arts, but you know, they tell you like, okay, go 20%, go 30%, go 60%. So because like we're the subject matter experts, essentially, we just I think we need to do a good job in like understanding what that and not to say you give 60% to a job, but under more like, you know, I only probably need like 40% of my gear, or you know, I need something that is able to you know just be more efficient and fast. Where I mean, as much as I mean, because for me coming in, I definitely wanted to like be a student and I want to do it right, yeah. And I mean, I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think people should not want to do it right, so that's also not what we're saying.
SPEAKER_00I think we're not saying being mediocre, we're not we're not preaching mediocrity, yeah.
SPEAKER_06But I think it's it's more like the way I view it is like Steph Curry could decide what shot he wants to take whenever he wants to take it, but only because he's done the work. Yeah, and I mean if you're not a sports fan, then maybe that went over your head. But if you are, then I think you get it. Like, you don't just get to do whatever you want without having put the work in. But once you have to understand, like, I want to know the rule so that I know why I'm breaking it if I choose to break it. Yeah, not just like, oh, well, I don't care about the rules. No, I do, but if I'm choosing to break it or choosing to deviate from it, I understand why I'm deviating from it, and there's a reason for it, and I know how to go back to it and when to you know move away from it if if need be. Yeah. To one, I mean, just make my life easier. And ultimately, if it's getting the client what they want, that's what pays my bills. So that's all I'm here for.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Yeah, well, Jules, this was great. Thank you. Yeah, we got to talk a little bit about you know your story. For sure. We got to talk about the industry. It's I appreciate you, man, doing this.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, thank you for having me on here. Y'all, you know, check the pod out. Yeah, I mean, this is a good brother here, so I hope it does numbers. Not because I'm on this particular episode. This episode. Um, but nah, just in general. Um, I mean, you'll be hearing a lot more from us. So appreciate it, bro.