We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ethan McCoy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ethan, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.
My beliefs don’t apply to every profession, but personally a hands on experience is one of the best ways to get students and newcomers in the entertainment industry the growth necessary for the real world.
I personally didn’t take a class on how to use photoshop or premiere. Instead I tried to replicate works that inspired me, and from there I learned more techniques and grew my “skill”.
During college I felt there was much more book work rather than actually getting to work. Much rather try to build that artistic eye, it was much more on the fundamentals of the programs or cameras being used. While still important, I think it’s best to work on content, focus on details later as you grow.
Ethan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I graduated high school in 2020 during Covid, and I had someone of an idea that I wanted to work for filming sports teams. So with nothing truly going on during the lockdown, I scrolled online looking for potential possibilities.
Then one miracle happened and I saw the UNLV Football team was looking for graphic design interns. I had never made a sports graphic, or even knew much about them. So for the next 2 days I made about 5 fake template graphics with images and assets UNLV provided. Each graphic taking me about 3 and a half hours because I had no clue what I was doing. After turning my projects in I reached a call saying that I’ve been selected.
During my time there I was able to learn filming and editing for the team, attend their games, and gather so much knowledge about how the behind the scenes of sports looks.
After some time, in 2021 I was reached out to by Dallas Kreil to work with UNLV Hockey as a videographer. Again just growing my craft and experience in my work.
Dallas at the time also worked with the Henderson Silver Knights, and because of him I was able to join the Knights as an intern in 2022. This was my biggest jump in my career, as it was apart of a professional sports team.
As time went on I’ve been able to become a part time creative thanks to Ricky Witt and Matt Styck with UNLV Athletics, full time with the Henderson Silver Knights, film the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, and work a numerous amount of freelance events and opportunities. Not to forget the amount of amazing people and friends I’ve made.
Overall my main goal in this career is to keep capturing emotional moments, history breaking achievements, and give the fans a great experience to take home and remember.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Connections.
Every job I’ve gotten has been because of someone I know recommending me. It really is the strongest tool and blessing. You don’t have to be the greatest in the world, just be kind and open to trying to things, and it’ll benefit you in the long run.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding thing is seeing players and fans interact with my work. There’s nothing better than when a crowd laughs at a comedic hit that a team and I planned for hours developing a video.
Making sure the emotion I wanted comes across is what I desire every time making a big video.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://emccoy702.myportfolio.com/work
- Instagram: ethanmccoyyy
- Facebook: N/A
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-mccoy-959573201?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Twitter: @ethanmccoyyy
- Youtube: N/A
- Yelp: N/A
- Soundcloud: N/A
Image Credits
Lucas Peltier
RJ Forbus