Albeit unconventional, my career path has stayed steady in media production with the majority of it being video or film production. Before I dive into the backstory, let me tell you a little about what I do today.
Today, I am a multimedia producer with my primary focus being filmmaking. I currently hold a salary position with a major brand however, I continue to run my business and freelance on the side. Yes, my toes are dipped in a bit of everything BUT, I believe it is just that which has led me to the success that I hold today. I sound like a jack-of-all-trades, and that's fine, but we can leave out the master-of-none phrase because that simply doesn't fit here. Again, I focus on filmmaking but what the 'multimedia' houses is also photography, graphic design, and motion animation. I'll tackle the relationship between all of these media types in another blog but for now, let's look at my backstory.
I've been around art my entire life and have always enjoyed it. I was a communication major in college and took graphic design, photography, video production and art courses. When I say courses, I mean about one course each. I had no clue what I wanted to do when I graduated, and I felt ill prepared for the real world. So, I took some random jobs until I found my spark. A friend invited me to work on a film set for a nationally syndicated hospital commercial. That is when I fell in love with filmmaking. If you know anyone in film, then you know, it is not for the faint of heart. Filmmaking is indeed a long hard road filled with all kinds of bumps, twists and turns. That one production led me to another, and then another, and then another (#setlife). I worked on commercials, reality TV shows, documentaries and films. I got bumped up to an associate producer role on NBC's The Profit. I got to work on shows like NBC's America's Got Talent and MTV's True Life. But there were a few problems with all of that. 1) South Carolina has next to no film or media presence so that meant I had to travel a lot (mostly to Atlanta) and use the money I was earning entirely on F&B, travel and lodging and then 2) my work volume was dependent on others and sometimes it was low volume. I wanted to stop relying on others for work and start producing the opportunities myself.
I started my own business Coffee & Camera which I still own/ operate to this day. It's really just an entity I do business through, but I market myself as my name - Anthony Neil Cook. My business dealt primarily in the real estate and wedding industries. I photographed and filmed single-family homes for Keller Williams and photographed and filmed weddings. I had a very solid salary for being freelance media production in the upstate of South Carolina. Another friend brought me on with a real estate company that specialized in resort and resort-residence sales. We worked closely with Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton. This opportunity expanded my horizons and led me to traveling all over the Carribean, Mexico and Central America. This was also where I better learned to photograph and film people since we introduced lifestyle shoots at each of the resort villas. It was a dream job. However, it became difficult to spontaneously freelance with them and operate my business which was on a fixed schedule.
Sarah and I got married in 2017. She lived in Atlanta at the time so that was inevitably the best move for us. I took on a salary position for a year at a studio in Buckhead and then I moved to another salary studio position also in Buckhead. Both positions had very low ceilings, so I hit my growth potential fast in both of those companies. After that, I accepted a salary video producer position at Cortland which I still hold to this day. We get to do a lot of commercials and lifestyle ads which I truly enjoy thoroughly. Still, I operate my business on the side and freelance some as time allows (which isn't much as you can imagine).
At this point, I maintain multiple income flows - salary, freelance and passive. The passive income can barely be considered because it's small and I need to learn how to grow it. At this point, I'm still a photographer, graphics artist and filmmaker - a multimedia producer - someone who is able to get lead the projects by directing but also getting in and creating.