Meet Stephen Lemieux

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

Hi Stephen, 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?

Is there anywhere to go but forward? Is there any goal to have other than “Become better at this thing.”?
I think many people confuse the difficulty of industry and of making a name for yourself with “impossibility” when in reality, the impact of the uphill battle prepares you for the difficulty of the opportunities you’ll face.

I think a lot of my life has been an expectation of failure. Seems kind of counter-intuitive, but I’ve been let down so many times by so many of the risks I’ve taken, that I’ve kind of learned to adapt the failures into skills that will lend themselves well onto my next risk.

My grandfather was an entrepreneur and I always really respected the number of times he tried, failed, and tried again. I think from seeing his success and his attitude, I was able to piece together at least a vague image of what it takes to get to where you want to go, and I realized that the only real failure I could experience is to continue doing something that doesn’t make me excited to wake up the next day. I think most of my jobs before I moved to Los Angeles completely bored me after 1 year of doing them. It was only after I met my mentors and got involved in AfterBuzz TV that I was significantly challenged every single day for the entire ten years I was working there.

There were no “lanes”, there was no “That’s somebody else’s job.” – If it wasn’t getting done, I was learning how to do it and doing it until I could train and delegate it to somebody. It’s extremely frustrating and difficult to be thrown into that position, however after I had done it for a few years and looked down to realize the number of skills I had inadvertently become good at, it was extremely eye-opening.

I’m not somebody who behaves well in stringent “Schoolastic” environments, so being told “I know you can do it, just figure it out.” was not only really annoying, but it was incredibly rewarding.

So maybe my resilience comes from understanding that the hardest and most annoying things you’re told to do in life are the keys to doing the things you enjoy.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Growing up, I didn’t have any understanding of what I wanted to do; and the moment I acquired any vague hint or spark, it was immediately doused by self conscious worries and anxiety. It’s not a fun way to live, and it’s obviously even harder when you have a bit of a problem with authority (i.e. schools).

The one saving grace in all of this, is that as you get older, self awareness really begins to take hold and teach you the lessons you should have learned earlier but didn’t. I think the realization that I was able to achieve what I want regardless of what other people think of me was a turning point in my life.

The realization that people’s opinions can only go as far as their circle; and that to truly start anew, you kind of have to just dive into the deep end.

So I did.

At 21, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue Acting. After a year of that, a few superbowl dorito commercial contest entries, some fun little shorts with friends, and a student film or two; I realized that it’s not something that will financially provide me the life that I was slowly putting a picture of together in my mind.

At the time, I was working at Chili’s in Encino; and happened to wait on Maria Menounos and her partner and manager Keven Undergaro. I talked to them about Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and the most recent project I had filmed for a “Hey Dish! Where’s my AMC?” contest, and they offered me a job as a host on a podcast.

Well, instead of that, I just showed up to their studio every night for to help clean it until they’d hire me as a producer. 3 months later, my opportunity arose. 8 years later, I was officially the Executive Producer of AfterBuzz TV.

In my tenure at AfterBuzz TV, I produced over 34,000 live stream multi-camera broadcasts and podcasts, personally interviewed several dozen tv stars, as well as hosted over 100 episodes of after shows for various series. The real benefit to the job though, was being able to help train up and coming industry newbies who came to Los Angeles with a dream of becoming entertainment hosts.

It really did take a while to realize that in any career, the more opportuntities I had to help other people get ahead and get passed the road bumps I experienced, the more fun I had doing it. AfterBuzz TV was a perfect place to learn, help people, network, and really begin my career in the industry.

Then covid hit, and the network shut down, and I moved back to NC feeling like everything I built was swept away.
That hurt a bit.

Within that darkness, I chose to explore the things I enjoyed and choose a direction that would allow me to be passionate and get back to the reasons I went to LA in the first place: To create.

I had always been involved in still photography, but now it was time to explore film. After reaching out to local creators on instagram, I volunteered on a few sets to get to meet some people and understand the state of the industry here; and then I started buying equipment and practicing lighting.

Currently I’m 15 years into my Industry career, but 5 years into being a full-time Cinematographer/Director of Photography. I’ve met some of the best friends I’ve ever had, I’ve made it a point to champion their passions and build them up while also providing them the opportunities to grow; as well as developed a core group of people that I enjoy working with and creating amazing content with.

I’m not here to sell anything. I started film work as a way to explore my creativity, and as I become more and more successful in it, I’ve never been more inspired to mentor young filmmakers and impart my knowledge, guidance, and mindset as it comes to the industry. Hopefully doing this will help to make our local industry more talented and allow my circle to rise with me and find their success.

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?

If I have to choose just 3, I am going to default to the phrases and guidance that my mentor imparted unto me:
1. Half of life is just showing up.
You will always be better off going and doing that thing you really don’t want to do, than staying home and not doing it. You never know who you will run into, what opportunity will arise, or what doors just showing up will open.,

2. The person complaining on the stool next to you has one goal: Keeping you on the stool next to them.
Do not allow other people’s negativity and need to complain pull you down to their level. If you’re with the crew, complaining – you’re not with the director planning. The people who are not where they want to be and are bitter about it are not the people you should be getting advice from. If you find yourself at the table that is only talking sh*t, you should find another table.

3. Rejection is protection.
I can’t emphasize how important this saying has been for me and for others. The ability to see a negative situation in a positive light will save you so much frustrating, pain, and emotions in an industry that can tell you “no” all the time.
How is rejection protection? Many ways.
Girl turns you down? Her loss.
You don’t get that job? Better one is coming.
You don’t book the audition? Do you really want to be in a situation where they don’t want you?
Every negative situation should motivate you only to get better. Bomb an audition? You weren’t ready. Get better. Get passed up for a gig? It’s okay, another one is coming.

My advice for people getting into film, is that there are three kinds of work.
1) Work where you’re teaching
2) Work where you’re learning
3) Work where you’re getting paid
Anything outside of that, you are either wasting your time or you’re being exploited.
Next time you think that free job is a scam, ask yourself “Can I learn from this?” or “Can I help teach them?”
Obviously the exception to this is when you’re doing somebody a favor.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

Absolutely my mentor Keven Undergaro.
I don’t believe I’d be the same person I am today without him. Whether that’s in success, relationships, or personality.
Again, I was not somebody who took kindly to authority. If I didn’t respect a teacher, I didn’t pay attention. I think that’s why it was so important for me to find a mentor I respected and would be loyal to me in return.

Things aren’t always easy; you make mistakes, sometimes you’re blamed for things that aren’t your fault, sometimes you fail to rise to expectations, and sometimes you f*ck up so bad that you think you’ll lose it all.

Having a mentor who is unafraid to hurt your feelings and make sure you know how big you’ve f*cked up, or the ramifications for your mistakes, or even just to let you know that you’re rubbing people the wrong way from certain mannerisms or actions is incredibly important and valuable. I began my journey of self-awareness at around 19; but meeting Keven allowed me to expand on my self awareness and self-betterment skills 10xfold.

Keven is the person who when I didn’t know how to do something, always reassured me that I could figure it out, as I had done so many times before that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://PhotosthatBook.com
• Instagram: StephenLemieuxFilm
• Twitter: StephenLemieux
• Other: https://vimeo.com/user204573691

Image Credits

Photos are all my own.