We recently connected with Todd “tj” Stephens and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Todd “TJ”, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
I will admit it hasn’t been easy. Especially as someone who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3. However, as I grew older, I began to understand that everyone is not going to understand why I chose film and why I do it.
You get to a certain point in life where it doesn’t matter how many haters or nay-sayers you encounter, because if you are passionate about what you do, the amount of supporters will always outweigh the haters.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am an independent filmmaker with experience in writing, directing, cinematography, editing, visual effects, and sound design. In addition to that, I am also a content creator for the company SISU Cinema Robotics. A motion control company in the film industry. I am part of their marketing team and I focus on creating content for social media.
We have some exciting projects in the works over at SISU, one of them we just released a video for. A new motion control robot that can hold an iPhone via magsafe.
When it comes to my independent filmmaking, I have a lot going on with that as well. I recently joined a group of filmmakers and we started Rag Tag Productions, where we as a group of passionate filmmakers make the projects that we want to make. We have 3 films in the works right now. I’m primarily the cinematographer however one of the three films I wrote and will be directing. One more project I’m working on is a big one for me. As if what I already had wasn’t big enough. I am writing and directing my first feature length movie!
That project is a personal one for me as its loosely based on an experience I went through last year. The film is called Broken Chords and it’s about a gifted guitarist who has a mental health crisis and uses music to express himself. Music is a big portion of the film as I myself use music to ease my mental state. To sum up the concept with the music there is a quote I found, I don’t know who said it but it goes like this….”some days I need the music, and then some days I need the lyrics.”
Those are some of the new exciting projects I have going on right now.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The biggest area of knowledge I feel like was the most impactful in the film world is being very hands on with technology. Both my parents have been into computers for years. My father works for a tech company and my mother spent some time in IT. Needless to say, I grew up in a tech-savy family. When I got into film, there were only really three big YouTube channels that showed off the technical side of things. Freddiew (Now called Rocket Jump) Corridor Digital, and Film Riot. Through those three YouTube channels, I learned a lot about the technical side of film with hardware and software, and I would play with the same tools that these guys on YouTube were using, following their tutorials, etc. I even built my own computer for video editing back in high school.
A quality I believe also impacted my journey was because of my technical knowledge, I had experience in almost every part of film, I knew a lot about different cameras, and in post production I knew how to edit, do vfx, and sound design. So when I got to film school and my friends wanted to do something for their project but didn’t know how to do it, I jumped in and offered to help.
The last thing took some time, but that was building confidence. I learned overtime that having confidence in yourself goes a long way, cause if you don’t believe in yourself, how can someone else?
So my advice to anyone starting out in film, there are so many resources out there now, there are so many nice cameras that are affordable, there is literally no excuse to not go out there and make a movie. You first movie will probably not be good, but you accomplished something that is very hard to do, you made a freaking movie!!!
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
One thing that I think is very rare these days is having parents that support you. I myself am very lucky to have parents who see my passion with film and support me in having it as a career. There are times where I think they question the many shenanigans I’ve pulled to make my films in high school.
My biggest supporter is honestly my father. From the start he has helped me get started. He bought me my first camcorder, and he helped me build a shoulder rig for it out of PVC pipe. Which I still have. To this day he helps me with DIY projects, in high school he built me a DIY Dana Dolly, he helped me design and build a full on production camera cart, and now him and I are working on building a DIY support rig for the DJI Ronin.
My mother is the one who encouraged me to shoot a hype video for our high school’s football team. I had doubts cause I wasn’t the most popular guy in school, as I’ve been bullied for two things, having autism and being a filmmaker. Yet, I listened to her anyway and I’m glad I did because after I made that video, it blew up, and I suddenly went from a nobody to a somebody in our local community over night. It was pretty surreal.
I will always be grateful to my parents for giving me the support I needed to make filmmaking a real career choice. I can’t see myself becoming an accountant, doctor, or lawyer.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://toddjasonfilms.com/
- Instagram: Instagram – @tj_stephens_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ToddJasonFilms
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
