We recently connected with Philip Schrei and have shared our conversation below.
Philip, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Back in 2018 I was living every bladesmith’s day‑dream: sparks flying, shop stereo cranked, orders stacked higher than my anvil. I’d just auditioned for Forged in Fire, the hit reality tv show on the History Channel—and a few months later I was on set, sweating under studio lights instead of Texas sun. Session 6 Episode 17 ” The Partisan” aired June 2019, I walked away champion, and business boomed…for about five minutes.
Cue late 2019: whispers of a mystery virus. By spring 2020, COVID had turned “booming” into crickets. Knife shows canceled, supply chains snarled, customers tightening belts. Meanwhile I’m still grinding steel in 130° heat when the forge is lit, coated in sawdust and metal shavings. Every time my little girl ran in for a hug I’d say, “Hold up, Dad’s covered in gunk.” Most nights I could barely stay awake long enough to wash off the grime.
That’s when the lightbulb flicked on.
My degree is in sound and video production—I’d always dreamed of running my own media co. The pandemic yanked the rug out from under the knife game, but it also handed me a chance to reboot before life (and my back) had permanent damage. So I sold off the forges, the anvils, the whole razor‑sharp circus, and rolled every dime into cameras, lights, and a beefy edit rig.
Risky? Absolutely. Starting a media company in the middle of global chaos felt like cliff‑diving with a GoPro in to a cup of water. Tech was evolving at warp speed, and I was swapping hammers for hard drives overnight. But the payoff was immediate: no more toxic dust in my lungs, no more “Maybe later, kiddo.” Today I shoot food, products, brands, Youtube shows and mini‑films instead of knives, and I still get that same rush—only now my daughter can jump straight into my arms without me worrying about iron filings in her hair.
The gamble cost me my comfort zone, but it bought me time, health, and family moments I’d been missing. Turns out the hottest fire I ever walked through wasn’t on a TV forge; it was restarting from zero and betting on a different set of sparks—the ones lighting a soundstage. And I’d do it again tomorrow.
Philip, 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 used to greet each morning with a lit gas forge blazing and the sounds of some heavy instrumental industrial prog rock blasting through some shop speaker. Back in those days I was “Philip the bladesmith,” the guy who could coax a thin temper line out of 1095 steel and make it sing on the judge’s cut test. A degree in audio and video production sat quietly on the shelf while I chased sparks, leading all the way to Season 6, Episode 17 of Forged in Fire—where I left the arena as champion.
Victory felt like green lights forever…until COVID flipped them all to red. Knife shows vanished, clients disappeared, and the Texas heat kept reminding me that hugging my daughter covered in metal dust was no way to live. One muggy night, half asleep in the shower, it hit me: your first love was storytelling—why not forge with pixels instead of steel?
So I sold the anvils, grinders, everything, emptied the shop, and filled it with cinema‑grade cameras, soft‑boxes, and a workstation that purrs like a muscle car. Schrei Media was born—just me, a tripod, and a mountain of faith.
These days, Schrei Media is a lean crew serving fellow dream‑chasers—restaurants, makers, and small‑to‑mid businesses who need their story told without the beige buzzwords. We craft:
crisp brand & product photography that stops the scroll,
cinematic short‑form video tailored for reels, ads, and mini‑docs,
full web‑and‑social content packages so owners stay visible while running the show, and
voiceover/audio polish for podcasts, promos, and narration.
Clients come to us when their feed looks like a yard sale or when they swear they “don’t have a story.” We prove them wrong by digging until the heartbeat shows, then wrapping it in light, color, and sound so real people feel it. My bladesmith past still guides the process: obsessive detail, craftsmanship, and a healthy respect for deadlines (because molten steel waits for no one).
What sets us apart? A craftsman’s eye married to a filmmaker’s brain, a faith‑and‑family core, and a strict policy of respect—if I wouldn’t say it over coffee, it doesn’t go in your video. The proudest wins aren’t trophies; they’re moments like shooting 100+ dishes for Palette Indian Kitchen and watching their online orders go up, or seeing a jeweler raise prices after our photos finally matched her artistry.
Most days, my daughter strolls into the studio, plops on the couch, and says, “Papa, that’s cool.” That sentence is worth more than any metal I ever forged.
If your brand’s feeling beige or buried in “meh,” let’s change that. First brainstorm’s on me—coffee’s mandatory, metal filings optional.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was the kid who never bothered memorizing locker combinations—by the time I could find homeroom, we’d already be packing up for the next zip code. Thirteen moves before sixth grade does that. Add a dad who treated fear like a motivational tool—belts, Bible verses, and “boys don’t cry” on repeat. Physical, mental, and spiritual abuse 24\7. The world starts looking less like a playground and more like hostile battlefield territory.
Schoolyard friendships? Forget it. I was the shy weird new kid unsure of who he actually was. With no roots, no allies, and a head full of panic I didn’t have words for, I grabbed whatever numbed the buzz saw—beer in middle school, the hard stuff in high school, anything that made the clock spin faster and numb the pain.
Fast‑forward to my early twenties: diagnosis cocktail—CPTSD, panic disorder, ADHD. It felt like a lifetime membership card to the Island of Misfit Toys. But somewhere between therapy worksheets and chain‑smoking Winston Reds, I found a forge. Literally. Heating steel until it glowed, then hammering it into something useful felt like taming the chaos in my head a little, just a little. Every clang on the anvil was a rebuttal to every lie I’d absorbed growing up: You’re not enough. You’ll never finish anything. Wrong—here’s a finished blade; here’s proof.
The forge carried me all the way to Forged in Fire, where I beat the clock, the heat, and three other smiths—live, on camera. But resilience isn’t a single highlight reel. A year later COVID bulldozed the knife orders, and the anxiety train tried to leave the station again, so bad that at 37 years old I got shingles for the first time. On my face! Both sides!
Do the panic attacks still knock? Yep. Do childhood ghosts still whisper? Every so often. But the difference now is I know the drill: breathe, pray, call the therapist, pick up the camera. Trauma lit the fuse, but resilience is choosing—over and over—to turn that explosion into propulsion.
That’s my story of resilience: not the victory on TV, not the shiny new company—just the daily decision to transmute hurt into craft, fear into motion, and loneliness into honest connection through the stories I tell for others. If the odd kid with thirteen schools and a bruised heart can do that, maybe the next odd kid who sees one of my videos will believe they can, too. All things are possible with God.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The best part? Watching someone light up when they see a moment I captured—whether it’s a business owner scrolling through fresh brand photos or a family replaying a milestone reel. That spark of joy feels like a front‑row seat to the creativity God lets us borrow for a minute. It’s humbling, it’s fuel, and honestly, nothing beats it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.philipschrei.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schrei_media/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilipSchreiPhotography
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-schrei-52275958/
- Twitter: https://x.com/SchreiMedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SchreiMedia
Image Credits
Philip Schrei