Meet TJ Ferrari

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful TJ Ferrari. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with TJ below.

Hi TJ, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I had to sacrifice a lot. Knowing when to remove people from your life when they no longer serve you, professionally or personally, is a valuable lesson. At 13, my email and the letterhead on my invoice were so professional looking that my middle school accidentally booked me as a DJ for an 800 person seasonal school dance. I’ve never been so terrified in my life; I consider this exposure therapy. I always knew I wanted to work in production/entertainment, but I did not know in what capacity, so I would save up for things like my Newmark NS7 and be a mediocre DJ while other kids played video games. I had a knack for art while being business savvy. The resilience to fail and start over was something I learned by the age of 14. I remember my first job at a public access local New York station, and it was within my first week I felt like I belonged. I eventually became aware of the optics; my lunch was a brown paper bag housing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Well, my coworkers would have containers with a proper thermos. I think about those days and wonder, is this imposter syndrome? Why was I the youngest in the room? It makes sense now, considering I still work in the industry, but I knew what I was passionate about and had no social life. It’s good to figure out imposter syndrome so young that you can be less afraid when you’re older and use these skills to earn a living.
From that point on, struggling as a dysgraphic child in New York State public school, I found filmmaking and creative writing to be the only outlets, so I was accepted to Long Island High School for the Arts, where I studied filmmaking. This was a bit of a feeder school to NYU Tisch, Kanbar Institute for TV and film production, where I got my BFA. I wouldn’t be resilient today if I hadn’t been persistent in getting a creative foundation at such a young age. I developed my phrase, Love the Possible. I had to move and start over every year of high school until I could secure a seat in this art conservatory alternative education program under the New York State Board of Cooperative Educational Services known as LIHSA or Long Island High School for the Arts. Imagine being the new kid 4 times. It was worth it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Before I became a Director/Producer and built Bolex Studios, there was a moment when a lot of old cameras from my university were being retired. About 10 years ago, I saw an opportunity to enter a niche market: celluloid film production. In 2015, I created Bolex Studios, one of the last celluloid-based production companies on the East Coast, where we produce, develop, and edit real Kodak film stock. I like to coin “retro trust“ or “nostalgic marketing.” A lot of people think 4K digital is ultra high-quality. Well, when you shoot on film, it’s lossless; you can expand it from the size of a postage stamp to a billboard without losing quality or hitting a pixel. 4k or any digital camera will always hit a pixel. Of course, we offer an array of Netflix-approved camera kits and industry-standard digital camera rigs that any production company would have.
I think many brands and young creatives, even artists, lean into digital filmmaking or digital photography for instant gratification, and they may share the “fix it in post” mentality, adding a filmic filter of sorts. I also think the SD card having such a high capacity doesn’t do anyone a favor. When you have a roll of 35 mm film and only 24 exposures, those are precious images, and you think twice before hitting the shutter. When you have a role of 100 feet of Super 16, you do two extra rehearsals before you roll that camera. It’s a precious thing. It’s not disposable the way people think it is. I like to use the analogy when someone’s trying to teach themselves an instrument: learn the acoustic guitar because it’s slightly harder, then switch to the electric guitar. It’s second nature. Everyone should learn an analog camera and then jump to digital, having the foundation like knowing how light affects an image and how to train your eye to spot the golden ratio. Frankly, I fear that just understanding the mindset of capturing a decisive moment is increasingly lost as new photographers saturate the job market, making editorials and campaigns less exciting. Let us make the equipment and any accessory accessible to anyone, regardless of budget, and see what filmmakers and photographers can do beyond the pixel. It doesn’t mean a music video or a campaign costs much money to make just because it looks expensive. I like that my company resources and team skill set can scale from an independent artist to a Fortune 500 company using our vintage equipment vault or industry-standard digital gear.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think it’s essential always to keep a level head. First and foremost, any Producer is an entrepreneur. Sharpening one’s business acumen is very important. Learning how to say “No” boils down to this: not all money is good money. When you work in a creative or professional space, it’s simple when you are an independent contractor or an LLC: you can’t reason with crazy. So I think it’s good to pick and choose the clients you want and not chase paychecks like this vicious side hustle culture We’ve seen go viral over the last few years. That being said, diversify revenue streams and clientele. Running a rental house, a physical studio space, and a production company have challenges. I walk the walk, so to speak. If I suggest to my client that they should make an Instagram shop. I will make an Instagram shop for Bolex Studios to ensure the funnel works. When the client pipeline is ready, we can ensure we will yield ROI from launch day. It’s more fantastic to troubleshoot on set creatively. Taking words and allowing the camera to capture and visually tell a story for brands and artists. I think audiences can relate to the content from Bolex Studios regardless of what the video is about. Being a small boutique company, whatever the project, we know we will be aligned with our client’s audience, not just making a visually appealing video, whether that be a music video or documentary. Understanding the voice of the viewer makes our projects stand out even more. Amazing things happen when you consider your audience and have that old Hollywood training. This nostalgia marketing arm of the company leads to massive success for our clients. Controlling the production environment as much as possible is a plus. However, I believe great pre-production ensures a good production. A set could be a skeleton crew of five people or a moving staff of thirty. Pre-production allows time for everyone to ask questions, which is the best way to communicate marching orders and get the production to editing asap.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Bolex Studios is a bi-coastal production company based in New York City. We always seek amazing brands and artists. to add to our client roster. As for the crew, we are a little picky but always entertaining, from grip gaff and electric to special effects and motion graphic designers. Team Bolex seeks out unique points of view; ideally, someone with a background in real film production is always a plus. Our team is constantly creating, never not working; we’re agnostic of the industry so that we can lead our talents beyond narrative, documentaries, commercials, music videos, and experiential marketing recaps. Team Bolex creates media that’s an experience or evokes a feeling. I’m happy to say our collaborations, such as Microsoft’s Live programming, Let’s F*cking Date with Serena Kerrigan, Webby award-winning as the first Instagram live dating show; now Serena is on Peacock’s new show “Older Hotter Wiser.” The exhibit for MoMA, “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” was a dream project to work on, and MindMakers is an experiential marketing campaign for JPL NASA in Los Angeles. Being an agnostic of industry translates to saying yes to projects that interest you regardless of the paycheck; one job will lead to the next if you’re talented. Be a student of life, run in the right circles, and you will attract notable clients as you offer a unique perspective!

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