Lou Blackmon
“My Mom is an artist - abstract media painting and some sculpturing. Dad has been an attorney for 30+ years. Both of them encouraged me to practice some sort of creative habit. My Mom was big on visual expression and visual language. My Dad was and still is a very gifted writer. He taught me the importance of editing.”
“Both my Mom and Dad have been very supportive of me. My Mom has always been greatest supporter and my Dad was somewhat concerned about me choosing an atypical career, but ultimately both see the benefits of the work I’m doing. Now I think their biggest concern is me maintaining a healthy career and life balance - these days it’s very easy for me to get lost in multiple projects. Both of them are very keen on the importance of mental and spiritual health.”
“I went to Atlanta public city schools from K to 12. I went to Ithaca College in the finger lakes region of upstate NY.”
“I switched up my degree a number of times - psychology, communications, writing. But I ended up getting my degree in Business with a concentration in marketing. It’s proven to be the right choice since I now manage everything about my business on my own.”
“During my summers in-between semesters at IC I started out as a camera PA/intern for a small production company in Atlanta, State Line Films. During my time there I worked on a documentary, a commercial for Coke Zero and several spots for TNT. I also worked as a B camera operator for a DP who put me on several promo shoots for the CW show the Vampire Diaries. This was all before the MCU and Pinewoods studio boom in Atlanta; back when many bigger productions were only shooting in Atlanta as a cheaper location alternative to Los Angeles. A lot of the productions were very scrappy then and they often threw newbies in the deep end. After graduating from Ithaca I moved to Brooklyn and started working as a freelance DP and would ultimately start my own production company, OddOneOut Productions.”
“When I first arrived in NYC I interned at a small production company in Union Square working as a script reader. From there I started PAing on various sets, mostly in the camera and g&e departments. I also worked for a time as a teleprompter operator for the American Movie Company and as a photo assistant to a photographer in Tribeca. I learned a lot about shooting table top and still life.”
“My first ever paying job was a shit storm of a production on the Million Second Quiz during the summer of 2013. I was a part of the digital streaming team. I was placed on the late afternoon and after midnight shifts and I remember it was difficult to keep track of time since production placed us in a blank room with no windows at the back of the studio. It felt like what I imagine working overnight at a casino is like; slow and weird.”
“I have a lot of influences in my life, but in terms of who has influenced my narrative work I would say David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Suschitzsky, ASC come to mind. Some of my favorite films are: Blade Runner (1982), Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También, Crash (1996), Alien and City of God. Some writers I like to refer to are Pete Hamilll, Joan Didion, Isabel Allende, Stephen King and Caroline Knapp.”
“Right now I am focused on producing more original content through my production company and so far my DP Zachary Grullón and I have shot a commercial for Nike Football (soccer), are in post-production on a documentary short, and in pre-production for a short sci-fi film, Call the Sandman, that we plan to shoot this summer. All of this is during the first 6 months of this year. And a feature film (Pulling Wool) I shot last year is premiering later this year sometime between late summer-early autumn.”
“I would like to continue growing my company and producing more through it, but maybe not in charge of the day to day operations. I’d rather be a creative than a company officer. ultimately I would like to carve out some kind of niche for myself working in Commercial/branded content, narrative, and documentary. I’d also like to be a dual city citizen. I think I’ll hang around in New York for a while longer - that other city I haven’t decided on or found yet.”
“I want my work to reflect my company’s name - I want my work to always retain some amount of quirk, weirdness, intrigue and/or offbeat inflection. I think that extra element of oddness adds another layer and a signature to whatever project I’m currently focused on. And I’m grateful to say that my job is going to work with my friends and to make something new each time. More information about my upcoming sci-fi short can be found at callthesandman.com”