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

Taron, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Probably the biggest risk of my career was in 2019, filming a total solar eclipse for a feature film. It was kind of insane. It was our first day on the movie, and the rule of thumb is, you always start with something easy on the first day, to let the crew find their feet and get a win under you. We did the opposite. We had 2 minutes 48 seconds of totality to get a super precise telephoto shot of our actors across a valley against the eclipse, a pivotal moment for the film, with no room for error. We literally had one take. That was definitely the most stressful day of my entire life, and the biggest risk I’d taken. If we didn’t nail it, we didn’t have a movie. And all I’ll say is, when you see the movie, that moment is absolutely worth the risk. No green screen, no special effects, just this totally surreal moment of cosmic and cinematic alignment. If you can, see it in IMAX.

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

I’m a South African born director who grew up in Los Angeles. I started TXL Films in 2005 and we’ve now filmed projects in more the 80 countries and all 7 continents. So far we’ve done 4 feature films about 500 commercials, including a few Super Bowl spots. It’s been a wild ride. We love bringing a big cinematic feel to great stories and messages, from client branding to full feature storytelling. We are just obsessed with the process and we love rolling up our sleeves and solving problems. We focus on creating great experiences for our clients, our crews, and our audiences. The best films and commercials have huge emotional impact, and hit people on a universal human level. That’s really valuable for people and makes life better. That’s our mission, to make films and commercials that really effect people and make a difference.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The biggest challenge with a lot of creative work is making the process real to people. The result is real, but along the way, it’s like, what are you doing? Yet that’s the most crucial time when you need backup and support. With filmmaking sometimes you’ll work on a project for months or even years, like with a feature film, and it only really comes fully together into that polished “cinematic” experience at the very end. All along the way it’s just a million pieces and thousands of tiny iterations. For clients or investors this can be really tough, because it’s like, understandably they want to dip the spoon in and taste the soup, but everyone knows it won’t taste right until super late in the process. So communication is incredibly important, and just being very open and transparent about the work, and crucially, working with people who are willing to have the patience for it. That’s when truly great stuff is created. We’ve been fortunate to have some phenomenal clients and investors who really gave us that space and allowed us to do our best work. It ends up being a big win-win, because they ultimately get the benefit of that work. So it’s well worth the challenge. That’s something I hope every artist is able to experience.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I remember on my first feature film as a director, there was a point where I just got super overwhelmed. I felt totally lost, and I started questioning and second-guessing all my choices. I kind of imploded creatively. What I didn’t realize at the time, and only found out much later, is that everything I was experiencing was a 100% normal part of directing a feature film. Every great director talks about it, and I wish I had discovered these stories and that wisdom sooner, as it would have saved me a lot of stress. The fact is, we stand on the shoulders of giants, and we are never alone. It’s on us to seek out that experience and wisdom, so we’re not having to reinvent the wheel. The more I learn about what Spielberg and Kubrick and Lean and all these others went through, the more I’m able to face my own challenges confidently. Now when these challenges pop up, I’m not phased by them, because I know I’m not the first, I know it’s normal, and I know it’s possible to overcome it. No great success in history was won easily. The great Bob Duggan once told me there’s a ladder of failure that leads to every great success. Not being shaken by those failures or that process and just persevering through it is probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://txlfilms.com
• Instagram: @taronlexton
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/txlfilms

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