Today we’d like to introduce you to Lou Blackmon
Hi Lou, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began freelancing in 2010 when I landed an internship with a small production company in Atlanta working as a camera production assistant – I was still a college sophomore at the time. After graduating from Ithaca College I moved with my best friend to Brooklyn, NY in the summer of 2013. Even though I had graduated with a B.S. in business administration I always knew that I wanted to work in the film industry and work my way up to being a director. Once I moved to the NYC I immediately began contacting any NYC-based film production company that was either hiring or offering internships to recent graduates. In probably the first 5-6 months of moving to the city I had heard a resounding “No.” from at least two dozen prominent film companies – I wasn’t deterred yet, but I did begin to worry a bit as I watched my monthly grocery budget begin to shrink. Like many fortunate moments in life, mine came when I was least expecting it. I remember being in the Union Square Barnes & Noble in the screenwriting section when a young woman roughly my age walked up to me and asked me about the book I was thumbing through. Our friendly conversation lead to her handing me her boss’s business card and said that they were looking for new interns. I sent him an email the same afternoon and he quickly responded and suggested I come in the following day for an interview. The next day I met him at the studio he operated out of in Tribeca and after a 20 minute, very casual interview he put me to work on the shoot they had that day in the studio. Later that fall I was promoted to the studio manager position and I remained at that Tribeca studio for five years. Since summer 2013 I have also worked as a freelance director, cinematographer, producer, rigging gaffer, and teleprompter operator on a very wide variety of projects ranging from Hollywood studio films, cable dramas for HBO and Showtime, commercials for General Motors, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Coca-Cola and music videos and documentaries. In this same time I also founded my own production company, OddOneOut Productions (Ox3Pro), and with my business partner and frequent cinematographer, Zachary Grullón, we have expanded the company and continue to produce quality content for our clients. We remain dedicated to telling stories from the margins and amplifying the voices of the amazing individuals we have collaborated with over the last 10+ years.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Life as a career-freelancer in the NYC film industry has and will continue to be an ever-changing landscape with an ever-changing set of variables. I can say, personally, that a more sedentary and routine-oriented career is not something that I had ever imagined for myself. BUT, the consistency and security that comes with a W-2 instead of a 1099 does become more and more alluring as I enter my fifteenth year in my career. Some of the more recent obstacles like the COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent film union strikes have sent shockwaves through the film industry as a whole. And the looming potential or threat of artificial intelligence has caused many freelancers, union members and executives to speculate what the future of our art form/business will look like in the foreseeable and eventual future. I don’t pretend to know what the outcome will be, but I am sure of what I want my own trajectory to be. I have been fortunate enough to have a job that I not only enjoy but a job I’ve wanted since adolescence. This is something that I have come to value above the many different struggles I have endured and will face in the future. The luxury of choice in one’s career is something many people do not get to experience and is all the more reason that I have become more grateful for it as I continue on in my own journey.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a freelance filmmaker living and working in New York City. I have worked in the industry for 10+ year as a multi-hyphenate, but I have more recently focused on directing and producing my own narrative films, commercials and commercial documentaries and music videos for local artists. In the last four years I have directed three short films, one I wrote too, and one feature film and I am happy to say that all four films have received some sort of acclamation – all four films I produced through my own production company, OddOneOut Productions which I founded in 2013. My short film “Call the Sandman” won several in-competition prizes at several prominent film festivals, including best short at the Blue Planet Sci-Fi Film Festival in Nanjing, China. My feature debut, Maggie (2023), also won “Best Narrative Feature” at the 2023 Sugar Loaf Film Festival. I am interested in stories that focus on individuals and subjects that are maybe outside the lexicon or popular interests and I don’t know if that sets me and my collaborators apart, but we definitely think they are worth pursuing and giving a platform to.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
At a certain point talent and skill level out and the struggle becomes more about who can take the biggest beating and still stand.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.OddOneOutPro.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/louciusblack
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/oddoneoutpro
- Twitter: https://Twitter.com/oddoneoutpro
- Other: https://vimeo.com/oddoneoutpro
Image Credits
Photo credits include: Zachary Grullón and Shawn McCarney Alviz.