We recently connected with Tom Capps and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom , thanks for joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

Phillip Russel and I have been working together with our production company, Thursday Shoots, since 2011. Over the years we have worked on a ton of different video and film projects. The idea for Hey Sharks came about in 2018 while Phil and I were at the Portland Comedy Film Festival. Phil was in the process of editing his father-in-laws actual Shark Tank submission video in the hotel we were staying at. I had watched Shark Tank but it never really occurred to me that anyone could submit to the show and just how easy it was to do so. I said to Phil “so if I wanted to submit something to Shark Tank every single day I could? And it can be anything?” Then the two of us just started riffing on random product ideas ranging from somewhat practical to trying to sell Mark Cuban part of his own shoes. We both had a good laugh and moved on with our day. We won best comedy for our short film Handle with Care at the festival, and then headed back to New York. We continued to work on and created other projects and the yet-to-be named Hey Sharks was just a fun bit we would do from time to time but never with the intention of shooting anything.

Jump to 2023. Phil texted me “Should we do that shark tank thing?” I thought he was kidding but he wasn’t. The idea was to shoot, release and send a new idea to Shark Tank EVERY DAY for one full year. We use a format where I largely improvise the pitches based on prompts. To add another layer, I would never know what the ideas were ahead of the shoot.

The next step was to actually come up with 366 (it was a leap year) unique ideas to pitch. Several people wrote ideas in a giant spreadsheet, and then Phil and a few other producers went through and organized them, deciding which ones would happen when and what order to shoot in. From there it was a matter of organizing crew, supporting cast and other production elements – all of which I was in the dark on and a unique experience for me since I usually help on the producing side of projects. Then it was a matter of shooting them.
We would try to shoot about a month’s worth at a time. I would show up with a big bag of clothing and weird props, not knowing what to expect or what the props were for, and then I would get handed a card with a product or business idea on it and improvise the pitch. The room was always very collaborative, anyone could suggest ideas of their own. It was very important to us that everyone felt involved creatively – we even had a few blank prompt cards so that we could pull ideas from the crew in the room each time!

Over the next year we felt it out. While we had made a lot in the past, this was different. It was A LOT. We changed locations, brought in guests, improved our production value, and of course we had to edit and send these off which was a much bigger undertaking than I think any of us anticipated. It was one thing to shoot them all but because it was so improv heavy there was a lot of sifting through footage, especially in the beginning. We also incorporated animation into a lot of them. We had other projects and jobs we were working on too, so this had to get done in between those, which led to late nights of editing, but we were enjoying every moment of it.

Another challenge to figure out was me. I’m in almost every one of these and even the few I’m not in were still shot on a day I needed to be there. If I got sick or injured, it wasn’t possible to shoot. So when I fell through the floor of my house, broke my ribs and bruised my lung, we had to delay production. Fortunately, we chose to batch shoot these so we had enough in the can to cover us while I healed. We had planned from the beginning to be ahead in case something did happen to me or anyone else on the team. This slowed us down, but we couldn’t be stopped!

We also chose to post them on nearly every social media platform that was available at the time as well as actually submit them to the show. This project had a ton of moving parts and a lot of figuring it out as we went along but ultimately, we released our launch video on February 3rd 2024 and haven’t missed a day since.

We have a little less than a month left. This was a significant undertaking but as we near the end I’m incredibly proud of this project and the fact that we pulled it off. We’ve planned something special as a sort of “finale pitch” when we reach the end, and can’t wait for people to see it. If you want to watch what we’ve done, follow @HeySharks_ on Youtube, Youtube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve never been good at talking about myself and would much rather talk about my team and projects, but let’s give it a shot.

I’m Tom Capps and my company is Thursday Shoots. I sort of fell into the film and TV industry. I always loved TV and movies but I didn’t know that was a job people could have. No one in my family at the time was doing that and I just figured lucky people got to make movies after they did their regular job. I was in an IT program in high school and within that there was a graphic design/animation class. I took that and it changed my brain. From there I started taking film classes and was hooked. I went to college and stayed on that path.

While in college I met a group of people who I would go on to form our production company, Thursday Shoots with. We were all like minded and wanted to try to shoot something every week. The only day that worked for everyone was Thursday, hence the name. We’ve been working together since 2011 on everything from commercials, feature and short films, web series, TV shows broadcast news AND MORE! Thursday Shoots is a full spectrum production company providing services from pre-production through post as well as equipment and social media posting and promotion. I wear multiple hats, as does everyone on this team. The majority of our projects are based in comedy or horror but we have worked in every genre. We make content for clients, but also projects for ourselves for fun, and with the goal of getting into film festivals to network and spread awareness of our company.

What sets us apart is our collaborative nature on and off set. At the end of the day we are creating something and while that can be stressful and exhausting sometimes, it shouldn’t be miserable. It’s important to us that everyone involved feels like they are working towards something and not just there for the sake of it. We try to make our sets fun and want everyone to be involved as much as possible.

I’m most proud of the fact that we are still together and that people continue to want to work with us and come back no matter what the project. I’m proud of Thursday Shoots. This team has been such a major part of my life and I can’t imagine not having them.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’ll share two. One physical, one mental.

As I mentioned, I fell through the floor of my house while we were in production, broke 7 ribs and bruised my left lung. This meant that for about 2 months I wasn’t really able to shoot. Fortunately we were clever enough to backlog a bunch of pitches and were able to keep up with our posting plan. I did however shoot a pitch from the hospital and when I came back did need to figure out how to do these while being a little less physical. Talking hurt so doing a lot of improvised pitches was a bit challenging but it all worked out. Also trying to sit at a computer to do animation while on that many pain meds was an experience. We also decided to weave my injury into the plot of our series, since I was able to film a pitch while at the hospital. My character was injured a few months after I was, and we came up with some pitches related to my injury afterwards. We also occasionally call back to this moment for anyone who might be viewing our pitches regularly.

The other moment was when we lost about a half a day worth of footage and had to go back and re-shoot everything again in the same day. Our camera had somehow switched itself to timelapse mode (if you are using Blackmagic cameras always check this; it’s not obvious.) By the time we realized it we had shot 16 pitches. Because of the nature of how we make Hey Sharks that material was just lost. We could get close to it but there was no way to truly do it exactly the same way. We all went to our corners, took a few minutes and came back.

Most other crews may have shut down and let this ruin not only the rest of the day but the rest of the project… but not this team. Everyone rallied. We raised each others spirits and reshot what we could, which was almost all of it, and then finished out the rest of the pitches we needed for the day. We came back stronger than ever on our next shoot. It might be my face on all these, but the people who made this series possible are the absolute best.

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.

I don’t think this is unique to me but it is something that I feel people don’t really get when it comes to creatives. There is no clear path and it’s not about the money.

Most other professions have a path. Do A to get to B so you can eventually get to C. As a creative, that doesn’t really track. There are steps you can take to get on a trajectory but ultimately the track changes. There is no stability or guarantees.

The money isn’t, and can’t be the driving factor. I have worked gigs that have paid me well and I hated every minute of it, and worked on projects where I wasn’t paid a dime but valued the experience so much more. Hey Sharks is a prime example actually. We made 366 pitches and a short film finale. Our audience isn’t massive, and we probably lost money on it overall. I also work on a popular TV show. When I mention the TV show everyone is super impressed. When I say Hey Sharks more people go “what’s that?” and while I’m proud of the work I’ve done on the TV show, I’m even prouder of Hey Sharks and if I had to pick between the two it will always be Hey Sharks and the work I get to do with Thursday Shoots.

The money and the notoriety are secondary. It has to be. If that’s all you’re chasing then you are going to be very miserable. It’s hard to not want those things, especially in a world of social media, but just make the thing you want to make. I promise there are people who want to see it and be a part of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thursdayshoots.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heysharks_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeySharksTSP
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-a-cappps-21b60326/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HeySharks_
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@heysharks_

  https://www.threads.net/@heysharks_?hl=en

Image Credits

Kevin Etherson
Alec Wirth
Jon Arevalo