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

Alright, Tate thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Consistency was key to the door that helped me learn what I know. Consistency was burned into my mind from a very young age. Growing up as a tennis player, was where I first discovered the impact and outcome of consistency. Being talented at something is one thing, showing up day after day and beating on your craft wins you the race. I saw the proof of what consistency gets you on the road of life. Being able to adapt and reapply the ideology of consistency was always the strongest tool in my tool box.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have learned the effectiveness of being a thief earlier. What does that look like? Acknowledging and being able to observe! Turning your eyes to what other people are doing. What are the winners doing? Sometimes the answers to what you are looking for are right in front of you? How can I take what they’re doing and apply that to myself? Learning doesn’t always have to be the daunting mystery it tends to project itself as.

Locating and understanding skills is tangled in the ideology of consistency like a web. Developing skills and uncovering new skills can be one of the most frustrating endeavors. Through realizing that I have found that developing skills is not finite. I have discovered that my most valuable skill is my consistency as I have referenced. Being observant and keeping my eyes open is another skill I have learned to rely on. Thinking outside of the box and realizing how to open your mind beyond the psychological prison cells has benefited me time and time again.

The one obstacle that has been the most hindering of learning more has always been rooted in shyness. This was something that I have struggled with for as long as I can remember. Climbing over the mountain of shyness was one of the most daunting journeys for me. There was a moment in my life where the switch flipped in my mind. I decided that I not only wanted to get over shyness, but I needed to. Especially in realizing that it was hindering my ability to navigate life. I quickly learned that being uncomfortable in situations of finding my voice was the only way to be comfortable with it. This taught me how to use my voice as a vehicle to move the mountain that was keeping me shy.

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

I discovered the art of filmmaking at a very young age. It was my Dad, who would record things with his old Sony tape camcorder. I was always obsessed with that old camera, and with that, a dream was born.

My Dad further introduced me to the world of cinema through films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I fell in love with these fictional worlds. The idea that this was something that can be created felt impossible at my young age.

As a child, I went to a Montessori school. From there, I was nurtured and encouraged into being more creative. I loved being creative, I loved the environment that it provided for me. I could experiment, mold, and mix reality with whatever I wanted. I learned how to write by writing short fictional stories. I would write stories up into middle school, the tail end of my Montessori education. I was stuck in these fictional worlds. If I wasn’t doing school work, I was writing. However, at the time, middle school graduation was approaching, and it was almost time to leave my creative haven. My school had an 8th grade project. It was a project that was very open ended, it was seen as a send off at the graduation. I always kind of knew I wanted to do a movie. The question was, would I be able to? No one had the idea of making a film before. So I approached one of my teachers Steve Carlson. He was heavily responsible for encouraging my creative endeavors and was teaching me literature, history, and various other subjects at the time. I presented this crazy idea of creating a film for my 8th grade project. He approved the idea, and off I went. The film was more so a documentary. It was my life on camera. It was my testament of who I am and what I wanted with filmmaking. It was truly something special.

High school would be interesting for me. I continued to write stories, through various literature classes. It was in those classes that I found the most creative freedom. I started to garner a taste of what the film world was like. I did two film camps. Both of which were with NYFA (New York Film Academy). I had the privilege of going to their campus in NYC, as well as their campus in Los Angeles. After these experiences, my desire to graduate high school and go to Film School accelerated. I always wanted to go to film school. It just felt more urgent to get there following my experiences at NYFA.

Today, I am a producer. I came to the realization that being a producer made more sense to me after realizing how interested I was in business. Business was always going to find its way into the fold for me. My father was a business man, following my grandfather. It only made sense for me to figure that out. I figured that being a producer, I could blend my new found interests in business, and my creative desires together.

After gaining experience from being a producer, I started to realize some really core factors. Respect is a number one necessity. It goes from the top, all the way to the bottom. It doesn’t matter if you’re on set or not. There’s tends to be a hierarchy complex on sets where lack of respect typically follows. This is something that I have found unacceptable overtime. I made it a commitment of mine to make sure that this kind of behavior doesn’t occur on the projects that I am a producer of. I can say that I am proud of what I have done to try and make my sets a healthy and fun environment. On my projects, I have made it a staple that when we break for lunch, that no one is sitting alone. I love having an environment where the entire crew and cast eat together as a group. It allows for conversations to be had, connections to be formed, friendships to be made. All in all, I think it makes for a better project and group collaboration. I believe that my main mission as a producer is to make the environment a safe haven for everyone involved.

I follow a lot of the disciplines I have mentioned prior in my journey of being a good producer. I listen, learn, adapt. I mentioned steeling and being able to take lessons from others and adding it to my tool box. You need to be humble enough to understand that you can learn from anyone and anywhere. That could be through a mentor, someone you work with, a friend, someone you meet walking down the street. The capacity to learn something new is limitless. You have to be humble and hungry to be able to see that.

As mentioned prior, consistency was something that was key to my journey, especially in learning my craft. I don’t think I would be anywhere near to where I am today without being consistent. Showing up has definitely been the most impactful for me. Especially if I had a commitment to what that might be. I realized that if I wanted to be a good producer, I had to get up early and do the work, I would have to stay up late and do the work, I would have to show up and do the work. Taking advantage of opportunities and making the most of it has also added into my philosophy.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have learned very early, how hard life can decide to punch you in the face. The biggest hiccup that would effect my life, would be when my Dad passed away when I was 10. Witnessing a losing battle of cancer as young as age 10 was not something I never imagined. I would sit there and think, surely this won’t happen. I never thought that this was something that I would endure. I was a 10 year old kid at the time, what would I know? I saw that this disaster that stained my childhood had multiple effects over who I would become. The immediate sadness, fear, anger, and grieving process, would not be the only things I would take away from this.

It was a tough battle, dealing and learning how to cope with what what had happened. This was a reality now, this was my life now. However, I was fortunate enough at the time to have access to the resources to help with coping. However, I would sit there struggling with questions that seemed impossible to answer. It was a very scary and daunting time in my life that I saw little to no approach to.

I reached a point in my grief where I realized in my internal dialogue that I wasn’t going to allow this to impair me. I decided that this wasn’t going to be something that was going to drag me down or consume me. By around age 13, I would start to see a real difference in how I would start to approach my life. It was then when I discovered tennis, which would be an outlet for me. It was at the tennis courts where I would meet my coach MJ, who saw and recognized my struggle, anger, and sadness with what happened. As it was something that he had also shared the misfortune of losing a father at a young age. He would give me the answers to the questions I was having. It was through MJ that I would learn how to perceiver.

In the end, I would discover resiliency through dealing with what that event was for me. I’ve lived through life going through different things that are hard. However, I have found myself under reacting or feeling underwhelmed by whatever issue that was present. I have seen that I have been able to power through hardships. If not, being able to quickly adapt to the situation. I fully reference the capability of being resilient, back to what I experienced as a 10 year old child.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to be a fountain of wealth, I wouldn’t say that in the way of monetary value. I take the lessons of what my late father left before he passed. He was a well traveled person, a kind person, a humble person. He was someone, in my mind that I have recognized as a person of wealth. I want to be able to travel around the world and be able to strike conversations with different people, I want to be able to jump the hurdles of language barriers. This was something that my Dad was notorious for being able to do. He would talk to anyone about anything. There was a specific story that my Dad had struck a conversation with a taxi driver whilst visiting another country. He was so interested in the culture and learning this persons story. I see wealth in that way of life. I want to continue the legacy of who he was. My goal is to emulate what my father was, and spread his ideologies as not only a producer, but a human being.

I can set goals in my life in terms of being successful and being a creative. I can see and find the reality of navigating towards my goals. Whether that is through winning awards, or producing a film that garners renown. I can do that by working hard and staying positive on my path through my ideologies that I have highlighted. However, my longterm goal is to stay true to being respectful. My goal is to be a successful film producer that creates great films that were created in a positive, safe, and fun environment.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Tate.Frailey
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/tate-frailey-592a74239

Image Credits

Jwest_art

makenaschmidt.photography

myself

on instagram