We caught up with the brilliant and insightful J Tyler Pennington a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
J Tyler, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
The best way to learn is to do. Reading books and watching instructional videos is fine and helpful, but as the old adage says: practice makes perfect. Do it bad. Do it well. Everything helps!
Looking back on my writing journey, I think that if I joined a writer’s group sooner I would have improved a lot faster. Everyone is blind to their own flaws, and having other like-minded people help your process was and is incredibly valuable.
For film, just showing up to sets and doing anything and everything is the best way to improve. I kinda-sorta did that starting out, as I enjoy being on sets in whatever capacity they’ll have me, but working as a Production Assistant as often as possible is beyond helpful.
An essential skill, in any endeavor, is learning to remove your ego. It’s hard, and you can’t always do it, but knowing that you have limits on skill and knowledge only helps you go further. Find people who know more than you, ask questions about everything, and don’t worry about messing up.
Oh boy, let me tell you about obstacles! Writing wise, time is the biggest obstacle for me even to this day. It’s such a long process to finish even the first draft. And until you finish, you don’t learn all the little things about editing what you’ve already written (and so much more). Film wise, the biggest obstacle is probably funding. Equipment isn’t cheap, and you can’t learn your craft without equipment. Getting to sets sometimes requires taking time off work, and then there’s the cost of travel. And until you use that equipment, and spend time on those sets, you’re not learning.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m an actor, author, filmmaker, and photographer. I also full time IT job. It’s a lot, and my time management skills are constantly put to the test to do it all!
My first introduction into the business of creating was as a photographer. I bought a DSLR camera, learned how to use it, then started teaching photography at an after school program. Soon after I got the film making bug and make a few -very- low budget projects with some friends. Right before the pandemic started I had my first acting gig as “Corporate Executive #2” in a local film festival and got hooked into that. Around the same time as my first acting gig, shortly after a breakup, I started writing to get through the boredom of it all. Almost five years later and I’ve developed a large group of friends from professionals on the silver screen and written page, to the part-timers who do it for fun on the weekends.
As a creative, I try to provide my clients something fun and unique. When I do a photo session, I’m not looking to build a portfolio for me, but provide affordable, amazing pictures for them. I want to know what the client wants, and work to get them that and more. I try and provide something similar in all my endeavors, be they filmmaking or writing. When I write a script, or run a camera, I don’t force my style on the client, I ask them what they want me to write/how to frame the shot. Obviously my own personal style creeps in, and that’s probably why they hired me in the first place, but I don’t want it to overpower what I’m doing.
As I’ve mentioned, I try to take my ego out of the equation, so it makes it a little hard to talk about what sets me apart. I see people who are hilariously more talented than me in every aspect of creating, be it on a low budget set or in my writer’s group. But, if I absolutely -had- to pick something, I would say my ability to adapt. You want me to be the sound guy today, a production assistant tomorrow, then pull focus the next day? Sure! Want me to help edit your manuscript while also recording lines for an audio drama? It’ll be a lot of work, but I can do it! I like to learn, and doing lots of different things lets me learn a lot. The only way to accomplish that is by adapting.
Overall, the thing I’m most proud about is probably the fact that I published a full-length novel. While my film endeavors are immensely rewarding, the sheer amount of time and effort that went into that book was incredibly. It also helps that it’s received glowing reviews from my fellow authors, and (at the time of this article) a 4.6 star rating on Amazon!
To anyone who may seek my services in the future, know that my goal is to give you what you want, even if it’s different. Different is good in the creative world, and not enough people learn into that aspect.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
As with most things in life, my goal is to make money.
Of course it would be nice to hit it big and retire to the Mediterranean somewhere, drinking sangria on the beach everyday, but I know that’s probably not going to happen. So, my goal is to be able to go full-time as a creative and not have to work a 9-5 job.
They say it takes 20 novels to reach $50k a year in royalties. At this rate I’ll get there in 2042….
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
It’s been said time and again, small business powers America. If you want to support artists, you have to buy their stuff.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jtylerpennington.com/
- Instagram: @jtylerpennington
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JTylerPennington
Image Credits
Shannon Marullo Ahlstrand