Meet Jerry Grimes

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

Jerry, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.

Being a child of a rural background, my persistence was born out of resistance to the narrow expectations some people had of me. While my family was generally supportive of my desire to explore the arts, literature, and creative endeavors, I was from a region within the United States where the idea of a child from a lower-middle-class family studying filmmaking and art was not only laughable but also unheard of. I grew up in Eastern North Carolina during the late 1970s and early 1980s. While visionaries like Spike Lee, John Singleton, and Julie Dash were producing films, I resided far from metropolitan areas like Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, where I could access such cultural phenomena. I had not yet heard of the brilliance of Oscar Micheaux or Melvin Van Peebles. Fortunately, my godbrother, Luther Truesdell, and his uncle, Pravit Dejcham, taught me how to use their video and film cameras. I was learning to film and edit on analog devices at seven years old, which was a rarity. This informal education was coupled with my older brother Jimmy allowing me to read his extensive collection of comics. My childhood home burned a week before Christmas in 1982, and my brother’s collection along with it. In the aftermath of the house fire, Luther and I met and grew up together collecting comics and making short films on VHS, then eventually 16mm and digital. For two decades, we were told in so many ways that no one from Goldsboro would ever travel to Los Angeles or “make it in Hollywood.” Luther and, later, my close friend Marc Thompson continued making short films and albums. We would eventually meet Aaron Philip Clark while I was studying at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and we started the Cave AudioVisual Enterprise (CAVE). By 2001, we saw our first feature project, “Death of a Preacher,” accepted into the official selection of the Hollywood Underground Film Festival. The film spawned a sequel, and between 2002 and 2007, we produced music videos, commercials, graphic novels, and short films. Fast forward to 2025, Aaron’s career is flourishing, and CAVE is preparing for a reemergence that will see a reissuing of all previous work with new projects, including a digital comic that I wrote and directed, with Luther, Marc, Aaron, and a talented team of international animators and SFX artists. Furthermore, the idea of a filmmaker from Goldsboro, North Carolina, having incredible success is no longer unthinkable but doable, as demonstrated by the successful careers of Lloyd Briggery, Stanley Aughtry, Jr., and Ticarus Bunch. The next generation of creators, artists, thinkers, builders, and visionaries from rural areas, humble beginnings, and unlikely places has abundant evidence that persistence, ignoring, and looking past nay-sayers matters most. I urge any dreamer to find creative rather than destructive uses for their anger and disappointment while surrounding themselves with one or two people who dare to dream as they do. Combining creative energy and supportive friends will make the haters and nay-sayers secondary characters in your life story rather than the central focus.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Under the umbrella of my work, I am, first and foremost, a communicator. I have spent 20 years pursuing work that, at a distance, seems at cross purposes. I have run for U.S. Congress, but I am not a politician. I have pastored congregations in Chicago and North Carolina, but I have always been bi-vocational or tri-vocational with higher education and marketing jobs. Then there is CAVE, which has been anything from a smoldering ember to a celebratory bonfire of creative energy and focus. My academic work also occupies much of my life at this juncture, as I am pursuing a fascinating rediscovery of the history of Historically Black Colleges. The big question is, “How do all these things work together?” My answer is that they don’t, which is great. I want, and need, to be able to sit in different rooms and have other conversations. I have attended a seminary and a conservatory. I have sat on governing boards and worked with start-ups. From flourishing businesses to burgeoning creators, I prefer the “Magic Johnson” approach to life and success. As a native Tar Heel, I consider Michael Jordan the greatest of all time, but I have found the “Magic Johnson” approach to success to work best for me. This is to say that Magic Johnson was a point guard who could play center or forward. He could pass the ball, shoot from the perimeter, or drive to the basket. Likewise, I foresee helping to grow CAVE into a small but vigorous bicoastal production company capable of creating an expansive array of projects while continuing to write, research, and lecture. The media landscape is changing by the nanosecond, and within these shifting plateaus, there is space for a comic book artist/educator/researcher/theologian/commentator/musician/filmmaker.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Many other people, in various ways, have expressed my thoughts here, so here are the skills and qualities I have found most helpful. First, you’ll need to create to-do lists. Many times, a sub-list is necessary for the critical things. Create a weekly list of “must-dos” and daily lists of the “absolutely must-dos” while building in time for unpredictable events. I often tell my students, “Build a little chaos into your schedule by assuming something out of nowhere is going to happen and schedule enough time to address it.” Secondly, I recommend doing what is most difficult most often. Whatever is hardest en route to your goal should be done first and as frequently as possible. Tackling the daunting stuff makes everything easier. Finally, try to normalize yourself to chaos as much as possible. It is easier said than done, but by occasionally abandoning the idea of “normalness,” chaotic events have less of an impact on your health and outlook.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me is what they did not do: they never stopped encouraging me. My father, who passed away in January of this year, had far more faith in me than I had in myself for most of my life. As a parent, my mother and father’s actions taught me never to stop encouraging my child, students, or anyone genuinely seeking to do great things. It costs nothing but a moment to say something that will give a person the strength, the hope, or the desire to keep moving a little closer toward their goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jerrygrimes.com

Image Credits

Photo 1: David Cheek
Photo 2: Jae Jacob
Photos 5 and 6: Hyaacin. @hridoyakhon1