Meet TJ Cooley of Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to TJ Cooley.

Hi TJ, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As a young kid I watched a lot of sci-fi and horror movies, and thought I could be a writer or a make up artist. The filmmaking bug really bit me when I was making videos with friends using my grandfathers VHS camcorder. We made mock commercials, funny skits and music videos, What I really resonated with was narrative shorts.

In my 30’s I realized that I could make filmmaking a reality when I stumbled upon a few local people that were involved in the art. I worked odd set positions for about 3 years before I produced my first short. Half of that movie was shot underwater. It was a bit of a challenge getting the actors SCUBA certified and then training to hold their breath during the shots.

I moved on to directing, the first movie I made was for a D&D fan film contest, Without a lot of resources I wrote, shot, directed, and edited the movie. I came in second. I was officially on the road to my dreams.

Over the last 20 years, I made a lot of movies and competed in multiple festivals and film competitions including the 48 Hour Film Project, Fright Film, and The MOFA Three Weeks of Terror. Besides creating shorts and competing in festival I do get to work on professional projects, one project for an airline won me my first Telly.

For the past 3 years I’ve been teaching film at the Ohio Media School in Columbus. Teaching has been great, I get to give back and teach the trade that so many others helped me learn. While I’ve had many great students, It’s been my pleasure to win a Telly we did for a documentary on homelessness, and two of my students won Telly’s for projects they worked on in class.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No not smooth. There are good days, hard days, and days that are great because you survived an impossible task.

Every movie project is a challenge. It could be easier but I always seem to make it more complicated than it really needs to be. A few years back my Nephew wanted to make a movie involving his bi-plane, and we would do it for a 48 hour competition. I said yes to making a movie in 48 hours, with bi-planes in flight, orchestrating aerial combat. Now I just need to find WWI reenactors, an airfield with grass, locations that could be from 1917, costumes from the era, and a dozen or so other issues.

I could have made it all easier and said no. But I didn’t. I managed to find everything we needed, by some odd miracle, and hard work. I’d like to say I’m after something, some big goal, chasing after some other director or producer, I can’t. I don’t make it challenging so I can be better that other people, I do it to be better on the next project, just better than I was yesterday.

Filmmaking is never easy, it has a ton of challenges, every word, every camera position, every light, person, milestone, edit, deadline. And as challenging as it is, it can be a blast.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in narrative projects, storytelling. Depending on the project I’m a producer, director, writer, editor, 3D artist, graphic artist, animator, sound designer, composer, or just about anything but an actor. I’m also a Dad, a husband, a teacher, a woodworker, a craftsman. a son, a dreamer, a magic bean buyer, an artist, a creative, a believer in the possible not the impossible.

Besides doing projects most people wouldn’t touch, I am known for letting new or amateur filmmakers on my set, giving them an opportunity to try filmmaking for themselves. Most filmmakers wouldn’t take the time to train someone else on set. I think people should have a chance to follow their dreams.

I’m proud of many pieces of my work, for different reasons, the biggest is collaboration with the team, I really enjoy watching the team work together and creating a project.

As far as projects go, I worked on a project for an airline, it had a quick turn around, They closed the tarmac during a summer storm really complicating the shoot, I put together a great team, and everyone pulled together to make it a fantastic shoot. The client was really happy, and I won a Telly.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Two tiny letters A I. It’s taking over the industry. Creative people are using it to be more creative, noncreative people are using it to be creative, thinking they are actually artists.

Where were we in film 10 years ago? And look how much has changed. The next 10 years will be much more radical.

Contact Info:

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tjcooley