The best boss I ever had was Jim Winston. He was one of the kindest people I have ever worked for. He took a chance on me and gave me the start to my career that others may not have. I had just left another job at a camera rental house and I wanted to step into a bigger role of running a small production company and rental house. I had taught myself to do audio and Jim gave me a chance to run his shop and go out on my first shoot as an audio engineer. Eventually, I became interested in cameras and he trusted me to shoot camera on a few projects. Jim took a chance on me. I was a self taught nobody and his faith in me definitely allowed me to be who I am today. I even won an Emmy for some of my work on a show which was absolutely unreal. Jim, an Emmy award winning cameraman himself, just knew how to make people feel special and believe in themselves. There couldn’t be a better boss out there in my opinion.

I am the owner of Silver Pixel Productions, a small production company and crewing facility based out of Austin, TX. We do projects all over the country. We do everything from commercials to promos, documentary work, television, and brand films. I started the company in 2005, and won an Emmy in 2013 for some of my work on a show called NFL Up. I am a Director of Photography/ Producer. I have worked on tons of shows and fun projects over the years. I had always wanted to do something in the industry since I was a kid, and they filmed some scenes from Terminator 2 next door to my childhood home. My brother and I as kids loved to go to Universal Studios and go on the tram ride. We would film our own little action movies as kids and I had always dreamed of working behind the camera. When I was about 18 my dad had a friend he played basketball with who was a director of photography. He got me my first job at a camera rental house. I worked in the back getting camera packages ready for the cameramen to pickup before their shoots. I got to know a lot of good folks from my time at that first job, and learned a ton from all of them. I never went to film school. I taught myself audio with help from some of the audio guys over there at the camera rental house and eventually went on to my next job running another similar business for my boss Jim who I spoke of earlier. He gave me my real start to doing what I do today. I went on from there to start my own company in 2005. It was a full circle moment when I was working on a behind the scenes job for CSI at Universal Studios Hollywood. I was at lunch one day eating just outside the stage when that Tram ride I had ridden with my brother so many times stopped just outside the stage and was talking about the show CSI. It was a surreal moment thinking about myself in that tram as a kid, mesmerized by all of the magic of the studios. It was definitely a memory I’ll never forget. It was also an honor to have been able to to teach my brother Matt Silver how to do audio himself. He is an audio engineer in the industry as well. He has been working with me since I started my company in 2005.

A time I had to pivot was during COViD. With the industry being shutdown in California, I decided to move my family to Austin. My sister in law had moved a few years prior and we decided to go somewhere less restrictive since the restrictions and closures in California were suffocating. Most production in California was shut down for about 18 months during Covid so I, along with most people in that industry were suddenly out of jobs. At the time I was interested in the history of bourbon and different distilleries around the country. I was one of the founders of The Bourbon Alliance and online group of influencers around the country. We would get together online share a pour and chat about the different stuff everyone liked and recommended. We became good friends and it was something to look forward to during such a weird time in history. Soon after starting our group distilleries would send us sample bottles to review etc. That turned into big groups and companies reaching out and asking me to host bourbon tasting nights on Zoom for them and their employees or friends. I fortunately found myself getting paid to walk sometimes 100 or more people at a time through a bourbon tasting and history behind the distilleries we were tasting. It was a blast and a total blessing that I was able to survive through such a slow time in my career doing something totally different and random. Out of that came another business venture even still. A friend of mine and I began brainstorming how to start our own distillery. We started going through the process of getting licenses to do just that. Covid made that even more challenging with all the supply chain shortages. We ended up with a wholesale spirits distribution license in California. Ghost Town Spirits was born. We are wholesale spirits distributors/ brand reps. We signed our first brand in 2023. We currently have Bluegrass Distillers out of Kentucky, and Rolling Still out of Taos, New Mexico. In our portfolio of brands. We are expanding distribution in California for both brands with more to come. My business partner Steve and I are excited to see what the future holds. We have had so many amazing serendipitous moments so far with the business and the way we have met our clients. The future is looking very bright! Without God and my family, I couldn’t have done any of it!

What helped me build my reputation was word of mouth. That is 95% of my business. The absolute 100% key to success is good work ethic and striving to put in 1000% for any job I do.