I got started in all this mess back in the summer of 1995. I was a PA at KAMU-TV in College Station. I ran camera, floor directed, directed, produced, ran sound, did titles & graphics, schlepped cables, set lights, did location shoots, and any grunt work that needed doing. All of that for live and taped shows. I even spent a week underneath the building with the rats, running CAT-5 cables all over the place. That gig paid one penny over minimum wage; and to this day its my favorite job Ive ever had. Good times.
From there I decided film school at North Texas was the way to go. And so I went. Concentrated more on film as time went on; but always kept a hand in video and audio. Shot for NTTV Sports, ran programming shifts, and produced a live-to-tape late night show that aired every other week. Think "USA Up All Night"-ish. Wed run some shows while shooting interstitials in the studio that wed run upstairs and air in-between. Wed take calls, have people drop in, run all over campus to interview random folks. Man, I wish I still had some of those tapes.
During my stint at UNT I was also a recording engineer at the college of music. That gig was a blast. We recorded recitals and concerts all over the facility. We could run up to 4 live gigs at a time from the control room, plus one more remote with the portable DAT. Got really good at trouble shooting. No matrix router. We used and old telephone patch bay!
As a day job during school, and even for a few years after, I was a projectionist & Booth Manager for Cinemark. Worked at several different theaters in the Dallas area, including the IMAX. Got to open that one! Tons of fun.
I eventually ended up as a producer at a dot-com in Dallas. We did product demo videos. Mostly electronics and software; but other things as well. I even got us into cars for a bit. Unfortunately I got laid off; and the company went belly up about a month or two later. From there I went to work at the rental house we used for most of our video shoots, MLD Equipment Rental. Started out as the Prep Technician. Prepped all the electronic gear for jobs and inspected/cleaned it all up when it came back. Also did deliveries form time time, set up AVID systems, and maintained the company vehicles. By the end I was the Prep Tech, the Video Engineer, the HD specialist, occasional Rental Coordinator, IT guy, and whatever else needed doing. One of the highlights of being there was getting to go on a shoot for HBO. I was the video engineer for a documentary that was shooting in a medium security prison in Louisiana. That was a crazy 3 days!
In 2004 I had the opportunity to relocate back home to Houston. I went down there on a 6 month contract to edit some footage I had shot for a local company, Frazer Ltd., some months before. About 2 months into the job we all realized the massive scope of the project and it became a full time gig. Ended up that they had me build a video production department from the ground up. We later merged the video dept. and a few other assets into a marketing department. The assistant I hired for myself back in 2007 is still there, as the video guru (super proud of that kid). I was there until Christmas Eve, 2015.
In early 2016 I sold my house and moved to San Antonio to be close to my parents. Theyre getting older and not traveling as much. Its been nice being right down the road from them. I did a few freelance gigs in 2016, but mostly spent time hanging with the parents and traveling with the dog.
So now here I am. Slowly attempting to get a drone biz off the ground. Although I still do a little bit of everything. In fact, I just recently did a campaign spot for Janice Whitehead who just was elected Mayor of Sealy, TX!
Id love to say Im doing video full time. But the reality is, Im doing it whenever I can land a gig. Trying to avoid having to work for the man again, but we shall see. Gotta do what you gotta to keep the bills paid. But even if I do, Im still going to do the drones and the video work. Love it all too much to give it up. And even though Im based in San Antonio, Im happy running around just about anywhere for a good shoot.
Anyway, thats me in a nutshell. Probably more detail than you were expecting. But hey, why not over deliver (where appropriate)?
Work samples at : http://sealeadams.com
