We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dean Love a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dean, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

As a filmmaker, my whole career has been about taking risks. I’ve traveled through war zones, and dangerous places like landmine territories, scuba diving on wrecks and crawling into unexplored caves. I was shot at twice in Honduras and I fought off a Komodo Dragon with a big stick in Komodo, Indonesia. But, one of my first big risks came early on in my career.

When I got my first paying job at a local TV Station in Columbus, Ohio, I was thrilled. It had always been my dream to work in television and film. My mother had tried to discourage me from studying it at OSU, she said the jobs were too few and hard to get. But I was determined so I took the chance. I worked my way up in local TV and eventually moved to Dayton, Ohio to work at a station there. I was producing directing, shooting and writing local TV commercials, but I wanted desperately to work in the national and international market. One day I heard that “The New Candid Camera Show” was going to be filming for three weeks in Columbus, Ohio and they were looking for Production Assistants (PAs). That is basically a “gopher” who gets coffee and does the grunt work. Although it was a big step down, I decided to try and get on the team. At the interview the director looked over my resume and commented that with my experience as a cameraman, writer, producer director, etc., this position would be a step down. She asked why I would want to do that? I replied that it was only a few weeks and that I had some vacation coming so I could do the first two weeks. I told her I wanted the experience of working on a national show and I would work as hard as any PA. She said she would be crazy not to hire me and that I could start tomorrow.

I showed up on location early the next morning and the director came out and told us that although we would all be paid for the day, the shoot was cancelled. She said a cameraman was supposed to fly in last night from LA but he took another gig and didn’t come in. I raised my hand and asked if they had the camera? She said yes and then got a big smile and said, “You’re a cameraman!”. I replied, “Yes I am”. She said if I wanted to shoot that day the shoot would be back on, of course I did. Halfway through the first day the director told me she loved my work and if I wanted, I could be the cameraman for the whole 3 weeks. I excepted. After a few days the director asked if I’d be interested in traveling with them as their team cameraman. She said she flies them in from LA so there is no reason she couldn’t fly me from Ohio. I was thrilled and I traveled with the show for the rest of the year. It was a fun experience that often had us laughing until our faces hurt, but more importantly, I had my first national credit. The show was unfortunately cancelled after that year. I started working at the local station again in Ohio, I still owned a house there.

Then I heard that The International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine was looking for an Operations Director for their season. Being in Maine, they ran workshops from April until September when the snow stated again. I knew that people from all the networks including National Geographic and Discovery Channel attended those workshops. I applied, drove to Maine (on my own money) and interviewed for the position. They hired me. I gave up my full-time job and I sold my house in Ohio and moved to Maine for a 9 month gig. I met people from all the networks and at one point ended up taking over a production management course as an instructor (I had taught TV production at a college in Ohio). The class had people from Discovery Channel and they really liked my class. After the 9 months in Maine, I temporarily moved back to my mother’s house in Ohio until I could figure out my next step.

I got an offer to teach a Production Management seminar to the Production Management Department at Discovery Channel in Bethesda, Maryland. That led to a job offer at Discovery and a simultaneous offer from Walter Cronkite’s production company called Cronkite Ward. I took the job at Cronkite Ward. The first show I produced for them was “Life on Mars?” and it earned me an Emmy Award.

Without being willing to take risks, I would probably still be making local TV commercials in Ohio, which is fine if that’s what you want, but I had bigger dreams. I have had the great fortunate to have shot in 42 countries so far and I’ve made close to 200 programs that have been seen all over the world by millions of people. Dream big, take risks!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I own a small production company located in New York City. I am currently working on a film entitled “Hope in the Darkness” about Ukraine. We shot there last November and again in March of this year. We followed 2 Astronomers and 2 Astrophysicists into Ukraine to deliver donated telescopes to students in Ukraine. The students had requested the telescopes because with the black outs and power outages of the war, they could see more stars than they had ever been able to see before. These brave scientists were willing to risk their lives to deliver these telescopes to these students because they were so inspired by their bravery and optimism to keep working on their education and keep dreaming about the future. I am currently in post production on that film.

I am also working on a film about PTSD, focusing on the soldiers and victims of the war in Israel. We shot in Israel last year and hope to return for an additional shoot this year.

While my main focus is on documentaries, I also produce commercials, concerts, short films and industrial videos here in the New York City area. I currently have a short film in the film festival circuit which has won some film festival awards and recognitions.

Because I own my own gear and have the capability to do every position from script to screen, I can do videos and films at a lower cost point than the bigger production houses. I keep a list of freelancers and only hire people when I need them. I was recently hired to write a feature film script which has had good feedback and is being shopped around for a feature producer.

My clients are anyone from an actor, to a writer, to a corporation looking for a corporate film. Or, just someone with an idea for a show that wants to make a pitch deck, sizzle reel or pilot.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I been very fortunate to have worked with some big names in the industry. This has led to me winning 3 Emmy Awards, 9 Telly Awards, a Cine’ Golden Eagle, two New York International Film Festival Awards and more. Besides filling up a nice trophy case the awards show that the work I do is of a certain quality. I think when people see the awards I’ve garnered over the years they know that I know what I’m doing and can produce a quality product. Plus, I have had programs and series air on Discovery Channel, National Geographic Television, PBS, NBC,CBS, BBC, and many more networks around the world. I think that also speaks to my ability to tell a compelling story. Plus, over the years I have made connection in the business that can help get a film done and distributed. All this has fortunately added to me having a little name recognition in the business.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have been in the filmmaking and television production business for a long time. The business has changed drastically, and continues to change with AI etc. I started out shooting on film and 2″ videotape that came on big reels. I have stayed up with all the new developments and technology. I can now get an amazing shot with a drone that required a helicopter in past years. Production values have gone up in many ways but the networks have also changed the types of programs they want. They have gone from wanting informative documentaries to wanting cheaply made reality programs. I have continued to survive and keep up with the newest technology and I know a good story that will make a good film when I hear one. I’ve had many friends in the business give up and get out because it’s tough, and it can be. But I’m still here and I’m still making films and shows I want to make and that I am proud to have my name on. There is a resurgence of quality documentaries now coming out on the streaming networks proving that there is still an audience out there that wants to watch good documentaries. One of my National Geographic films was illegally placed on YouTube listed as “educational viewing only” and it received 3.5 million views worldwide without marketing.

So my ability to adapt to the market and the technology changes and my willingness to travel anywhere has kept me in business through tough times and good times.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.deanlovefilms.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deanlovefilms
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-love-2a7a9b372
• Youtube: @DeanLoveFilms

Image Credits

Pictures by Cassondra Holmes