Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Savvy Jaye. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Savvy, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

After 5 years of working as a web video editor America’s Funniest Home Videos, as well as 10 years since college working as a freelance editor and film maker, I’ve been working as an administrative assistant, 8 AM – 5 PM office job for 7 months. Aside from cleaning houses in my youth, this is the longest I’ve been without a creative job consistently paying my bills.

On the one hand, there is a bit more stability; as with the current climate, film is on a tightrope struggling not to collapse. The economy has affected the industry from film to theater to anything tech-adjacent, and while I am happy to be employed at all– as many are not right now, some upwards of a year– I do miss having the time to do the projects I want to,

The necessity of time is the biggest setback to a creatively unrelated career. I’m still making times writing on my own, editing other projects (free, but passion projects nonetheless,) and building up my resume. By being forced from my comfortable position, I now have to prioritize what I really want to make. I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I still want to return to a more stable artistically fulfilled life. That will be determined by how hard I push, and how lucky I get.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a Los Angeles local, lived in New York City for 5 years, and from acting and singing as a child to moving onto comedy, internet meme-content, and editing, I’ve landed on coloring for film as my predominate focus and interest. I’ve always worked with photo editing since I got my totally-legitimate copy of Photoshop, and I love playing with perfectionism and mold-breaking in coloring choices for projects.

My two biggest strengths come in my meme-making and color grading. I made a meme casually in 2016 which exploded in popularity years later regarding SpongeBob music and Prince Charles, which now as 31 million views. This is in addition to the quick, chaotic edits I did for the AFV social media pages.

I’ve colored a variety of projects, from Horror, to Comedy, to Documentary, including the award winning Smashed and Hidden Secrets. I am currently am wrapping up color on two more projects, and using the misfortune of losing my job in a shaky economy, to continue looking for more strange, indie, unique, high-strung projects, prioritizing not getting too ‘comfortable.’

In both social media editing and color grading, I seek for not just perfection in the technicality of how it’s made, but also the unexpected, and eye-grabbing, something extra the client may not have initially considered. As a multi-faceted artist, from theater to stop-motion animation, I know how to work with a variety of other artists, and bring out their creative needs.

I love the offbeat, the chaotic, the fast-paced quick scroll comedy bit, the eye-grabbing, polished corporate short, and the slow build surrealist film; all of which I love to build and create with like-minded artists.

Also, for the past half of a year, I’ve been trying to learn Welsh. I’m not very good at it, but hey, I’ll go wherever my unpredictable special interests take me!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

It’s easier now than ever to pick up your phone and make a movie, and yet, through tech bureaucrats and old money Hollywood gatekeepers, ‘breaking through’ is still incredibly difficult. I often feel like a failure, seeing how so many people I went to school with at NYU now work professionally in high positions, but then I think of the many who are still working, but still struggling, and it reminds me that ultimately what makes smaller projects and communities come together, is working on smaller things.

‘Making it’ would be security– in theory. In practice, every day, there are talented people trying to make films, host small alternative parties with art, and local artists come together to make something far more incredible than any AI could. Remembering this is how we as artists can rise above an unforgiving economy and a lack of real challenging and unique work coming from those too afraid to make it.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being involved in any creative part of the film industry, or even on-set, you feel the sense of accomplishment. Hours in front of a computer screen waiting for it to crash don’t, and the agonizing wait for wifi doesn’t, but looking at the final product that you and so many others worked on is a tangible result. It’s in the same way bakers and welders and carpenters must feel; “There’s No Business Like Show Business” indeed. It also is a firm reminder– whether better or worse– of who you and they were, and what it was like in a certain amount of time. Live theater it’s in the moment; film (and more usually, digital) is forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.savvyjaye.com
• Instagram: @therussianlunchlady
• Facebook: Savvy Jaye Photo and Video
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/savvyjaye
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@50bop
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6931397/

  https://womennmedia.com/profile/savvy-jaye/

Image Credits

Models: Dash Katz, Mel Jenkins, Joe Perez, Jamila Loubria