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

Warren, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have been a freelance cinematographer my entire professional life. As the industry evolved, I’ve moved into other endeavors. These days, one must be diverse and continuously looking for new opportunities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

This is a bit complicated, because my life and career has taken so many turns, and the industry is in an accelerated state of evolution.

I graduated with a communications / journalism degree from George Mason University outside of Washington, DC. I was active in the development of their new school of communications, working as a technician and creative on in house radio and video projects and being a founding member of the campus radio station, WGMU. During my time as a student, I worked weekends as a tape editor at Mutual Radio Network (now Westwood One), which provided me with professional experience as a student.

After graduation, I was hired as a sound mixer / video tape editor by a small news gathering entity owned by a fundraising arm of GMU, where I worked alongside major American news networks, and publications. I was taught very basic new gathering camera and lighting techniques and soon became the Chief Cameraman at the Washington News Network.

After three years at WNN, I left and went freelance, working as a sound mixer and camera operator for international news agencies, including the BBC, CBC, Japanese television, German television and more. I focused on lighting techniques and became known in my circles as one of the better lighting camera operators in town. Through my work with ITV shows, I established a relationship with a reporter / producer for England’s “This Morning” show and moved out to Los Angeles to shoot celebrity and Americana pieces for that Liverpool based program.

Being in ‘Hollywood’, I became interested in narrative camera work, so I joined a directing workshop at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. As I lived and worked in LA, I met a number of people through whom I was able to make inroads into a career in film and television. I discovered that there were many times more applicants than positions in the camera department. I joined IATSE in 1999 and landed a few day playing jobs on a few shows, and then some full hire jobs on several one season series and a two-year stint on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Being a handheld show and carrying injuries due to years of handheld work, after two seasons on “Curb” I decided to focus on getting on higher production value shows, which proved to be very difficult. I was the director of photography on a couple projects of which I am very proud and picked up some scattered day hire work, but I discovered full time work elusive, so I started thinking out of the box.

I started becoming interested in Western history and created a gambler character, performing at live events and ultimately on television and film projects, including “Westworld”, “Deadwood: the movie”, “Call of the Wild”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and other smaller projects. I have a performance troupe which appears regularly at the Calico Ghost Town during special events as well as events across Southern California, Arizona and beyond. From there I decided to combine my film making expertise with my historical passion, developing historical film projects with local museums and venues, while at the same time being available for feature film and series work as it comes up.

All of that was meant to illustrate that I have learned that diversity, being willing to follow new passions and keeping an eye out for ways to unite everything in one’s past is the key to surviving in this ever-changing industry. A producer friend recently introduced me to another producer as a ‘production savant’, which was a succinct way to describe my vast and varied experience in this world.

I’m a whole picture visionary with years of experience in all phases of production. What I offer clients is an complete package of pre-production, production and postproduction savvy, all with an eye on creating a tight and effective narrative. Everything I’ve done has given me the ability to either coordinate and perform all phases of production, with ease and elegance, on projects big or small.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One word: Collaboration. There is nothing better than working with other creatives in a space where egos are left behind and we build on each other to create something far better than any one of us could have created alone.

That’s what I love about film production: sets are a community of diverse people with specific skills, all working together to create the best result possible.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My sole focus is to create a strong, tight narrative or story. Every project has to have a point or a message, or else it is a waste of time. When I approach any project, I start by getting a handle on the desired result and work my way backwards to the beginning.

That way every step of the process serves the goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: warrenyeager.com
• Instagram: yeager_warren
• Facebook: Warren Yeager