We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Thaddeus Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Thaddeus, appreciate you joining us 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.
I started in high school as a photography assistant. Later I came back to college and started putting together what I learned in high school with filmmaking. If I had it to do over I don’t think I could do it any differently because when I came out of high school digital filmmaking was not a thing. So it was all God’s timing. Maybe the thing I could have done to speed up my process was focus on lighting and finding people that were just as interested in the craft of filmmaking and telling stories as I was.
Thaddeus, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Dr. Thaddeus Jones Jr and I am the CEO of Fanatik Productions, I am a father, husband and friend with a strange addiction to everything film and music related. I love cinema, and have since I was a child. From the first time I saw a horror movie I was hooked. Which is a strange thing growing up in a black household because everything is the devil when it comes to horror movies, at least according to my mother, grandmother and father. All of which went either to catholic school or spent their spare time in church. Me on the other hand I always was drawn to the blood and guts of the movies. So when I became a real adult I decided that I would solve problems the old fashioned way… by making big productions out of them. I mean how else was I supposed to be the business mogul and cinematic craftsman that I am today without focusing on the very thing that separated me from everyone else in the beginning anyway. Telling stories. So here’s the big and short of it I help my clients connect with their clients by getting their audience to connect emotionally with their story. Long story longer made short I teach people to play and be weird on camera and make that work for their brands.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The most recent lesson I had to unlearn is that you have to be all about the business all the time. No one and I mean no one wants to be around someone that is just as much fun as watching paint dry. You have to have some fun at what you are doing. That is a big part of connecting emotionally with people just on a human level. If people think you are not able to unwind and are stiff all the time they will become distrustful of you. I was always taught that we have to maintain a professional barrier and to a certain extent that may be true but people also want to know that you enjoy what you do and that you infuse some of your personality into making things work. Otherwise we are all robots.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The mmost rewarding aspect of being an creative is that there are no limits to what I can do. I decide everyday to get up and be me and put a little of me into everything that I do. Rather that is going on a walk with my camera, cooking and recording with my son or working in the studio on some music there is never a dull moment because I am constantly able to express my self creatively in many different mediums. It is the ultimate freedom to create something that only existed in my mind and share that with other in real time. Film allows me to use all of my creative skills and weird quirks to convey ideas that I couldn’t any other way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fanatikproductions.com
- Instagram: @fanatikproductions
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanatikProductions
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-thaddeus-w-jones-jr-1bb07920/
- Twitter: @fanatikpro
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FanatikproductionsLLC
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/fanatikproductions
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4254464/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
