We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tymm Hoffman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tymm below.

Tymm, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

This is a super hard thing to narrow down – I think I have a tie between two projects.

In January of 2008 I answered the hardest phone call I think I have ever or will ever receive.  The woman on the other end of the phone – a social worker at the adoption we were using to finalize the adoption to bring our son home from Ethiopia – had to deliver some tough news.

“Your son didn’t recover from the illness he had.  He didn’t make it.  Brighton has passed away.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks.  The next 48 hours were a blur as I had to let my wife know (she was at work)… and then we had a steady stream of friends come through to show love and support.

But it was the days after this – when the silence settled in and the pain whispered to us “I’m not going anywhere…” – that the creative in me got restless and needed to release something to stay sane.

The branding guy in me – the social media user – the graphic designer – the writer – the video producer knew only one thing: TELL THIS STORY.

And that’s what I did – in every medium I could find.  Writing, interviews in magazines, social media story sharing, memes, graphic designs, storytelling via video, sharing publicly on stages… and picking up supporters and partners along the way.

Fast forward 14 years – and Brighton Academy of Excellence exists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It’s a school that currently has 900+ students underwritten with a sponsorship business model.  They receive two meals a day… their families receive clean water… and there is a focus on learning and growing and helping these children escape poverty.

All to honor our son, Brighton.

I can’t help but wonder how much creativity – how much writing, films, poetry, books, artwork, illustrations, designs, theater, stage, screenwriting… how much of that is lost to poverty across our planet?

Using my skills in this space to help provide a glimpse of a future that can be had for these kids – hands down is one of my most meaningful projects ever.

That one gets the heart tug for sure.

But… the project tied for “most meaningful” to me is a current project I am on that holds a lot of meaning to me and my childhood and is a testament to working with great people who are friends before they are networkable business acquaintances.

I am right now lucky enough to be an executive producer on a good friend’s first feature length film.  But it’s not just any feature length film – it’s a ghost story that blurs the line between fiction and reality, between truth and folklore… and it’s all set in and shot in my hometown I was born and raised in.

And while “executive producer” isn’t quite as sexy as it sounds – I have been able to flip my creative skills to help push this film towards its finish line through graphics, writing, branding and creative input throughout.  I have also been provided the opportunity to get my hands dirty with some second unit and drone filming, location scouting and guerilla niche marketing.

All of this hands-on experience and creative work has been amazing – but it’s not what has made this one of the most meaningful projects to me.  It’s deeper than a drone shot or a finely crafted social media push.

The memories I have of growing up in this town are not the best – challenging childhood, estranged familial relationships and some trauma had caused me to willfully forget most of that time there and I didn’t have the most optimistic perspective of this town.

But this film… this process of crafting and telling a story that mixes reality with fiction – has been therapeutic to me and has allowed me to rekindle some of the love for the true goodness of growing up in this small, haunted, rural town in western Pennsylvania.

And THAT is something I never expected a creative, collaborative endeavor to do.

Tymm, 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?

Here is me in a nutshell:

I was born and raised in a very small town in rural Pennsylvania – where I was provided a limited worldview that I refused to let define me.

My friends and I were lucky enough to be growing up right alongside the culture of hip hop – and coming up with it – year by year – had a deep and permanent impact on my life that continues to this day.

I relocated to the south when I was 15 years old – landing in metro-Atlanta where my eyes were WIDELY OPENED and my world view broadened in the best ways possible.

Hip hop continued to influence me and little did I know it was slowly building in me a creative advocate who would eventually lean into this confidence born from this culture I loved so much to be a voice, a storyteller and a bold advocate for groups who needed outlets for their voices to be heard.

After high school – I studied a little bit of everything at a little bit of everywhere.  Whether it was computer engineering at GA Tech or screenwriting at GA State – or everything in between – I spent years pursuing those degrees “they” say we need.

Finally – I sat down one day and taught myself HTML as it was just coming into the mainstream light and view. That was the pivotal moment for me.  It was at that point where I was able to transition from working manual labor jobs of warehouse work and landscaping – to creative endeavors using skills I was slowly developing.

And while I had no frame-worthy degree to hang on my wall – I strongly believe every class I ever took underwrote where I am today.  I eventually did the legwork to get that elusive degree – finishing out a degree in “web development, design and social media marketing” in my mid 40s… an exercise in persistence and tenacity that I hope my children were able to see and take something away from.

As I gained confidence and skills and honed my talents and ways of approaching work – I have been truly lucky to work with some amazing people on some incredible projects.

Some of the work I am most proud of includes:

– storytelling to help break children free from poverty…

– my music video directorial debut on an original song that was born out of the tragedy of George Floyd and ended up being a strong statement on our current climate as a culture and society in America…

– multiple opportunities to work with Grammy award winning artists and idols of my youth from the hip hop culture on music videos and other creative endeavors…

– intimate involvement with the production and rollout of “Spookt” a feature film coming out in the fall of 2023.

I think the main thing I would want clients to know about me and my approach to work is this – we are ALL living a story – it’s being written out every single day in our every minute.

How we approach that story is where we get the opportunity to stand out and shone or sit back and fade… is your story an open book on the coffee table or a closed book sealed up on a bookshelf somewhere – dusty and never opened?

Let’s tell the stories!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When it comes to goals or missions driving my creative journey – I think there are a couple ways to look at this.

First and foremost – anybody who has ever felt a creative twinge in their body – felt that desire to HAVE TO CREATE – they know well the desire of figuring out how to make a living doing what you desire. Do what you want and get paid for it – and it’s not work, right?

But it doesn’t start and stop there. Because whether or not I am ever paid for a creative endeavor of mine – those creative things MUST HAVE AN OUTLET.

I write every single day. I have enough poetry to fill scores and scores of notebooks. I have a completed children’s book, screenplays, ideas for shirt films, albums, movies, theater …Will they ever see the light of day or will they stay trapped in my notebooks, my “drafts” folder, my mind’s eye?

Who knows… but I do know THIS:

The goal or mission that drives me every single day in my creative journey is simply to create. To make things. To write. To breathe life to ideas. To inspire. To build. To craft. To tell stories… and to hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of existing as an artist or creative is our ability to find the story… to find the beauty… to use our art or our skill or our chosen creative outlet to help ourselves survive and to help others thrive.

Creatives have a unique way of looking at things that others don’t have… or truthfully – the others HAVE it – they just don’t employ it.

Creatives see the inner beauty – the underlying message – the theme not spoken about – the three acts of a story.

When others see a problem – creatives see an opportunity waiting to be accepted.
When others see a challenge – creatives see a solution waiting to be written.
When others see demise – creatives see a third act that has yet to be penned that details the rise that overcomes the demise.

I will forever be grateful to exist with the mindset of a creator – looking at the world through eyes that seek to find the story that needs telling, the solution that needs writing or the birth of a creation that needs an outlet.

For me… it’s the only way I know how to live.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spooktfilm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tymmh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TymmHoffman/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tymmhoffman/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tymmh

Image Credits
all images were either by me or somebody standing nearby me at the time…