Tucker Bliss
“My Mom was a freelance writer for the New York Times, and a few other publications. She now runs a small store in our hometown. My Dad cut his teeth on Wallstreet as a stock broker, he continues to do that today and hates it.”
“100% my dad hates his job, and always says “if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life” so that was easy. He also said “just have fun, worry about money later,” which I think helped me take on some more creative projects, and take some leaps. I could always do a crappy Pharma job to supplement the income.”
“I went to Boston University, started out in Marine Biology, panicked and switched to advertising, and then to Film. Lots of decisions, but I didn’t stop changing my mind until I felt I was doing the right thing. Once I settled on film, I had some amazing opportunities to work with 16mm and learn filmmaking from the ground up. I initially thought I wanted to edit, but I fell in love with cinematography and being on set.”
“I got my start freelance ANYTHING. I was editing for 100 dollars a day on small commercial projects, then getting any cinematography work I could for 1000 dollars a project. This was moderately sustainable when I was poor and 22, but as I met more people my day rate got a little higher, and at a certain point I sort of said goodbye to editing because I missed being out in the field. I missed shooting. Editing was a really great networking device though, as I met a ton of agency folks and directors, which allowed me to see how everything worked. A lot of people say you need to decide what you want to do, which I think is true at some point, but in the early days I don’t think I was good enough at anything to decide, so I did it all, pretty well and it was an amazing learning experience.”
“My biggest influence would have to be Spike Jones or Mike Mills, I’m a huge fan of their work and they both got their start in music videos and ads. So it’s fitting and hopefully I can get there soonishly.”
“I started Freelancing at the Mill NY and Mssng Peces, editing and shooting some smaller projects. I shot a few films for the clothing company Johnny Cupcakes right out of college, they were horror inspired trailers for a product release. It was super fun, and logistically challenging, but mostly a bunch of college kids playing with some 5D’s trying to make something “professional.”
“I’m directing full time for 1st Avenue Machine, a production company based in NY, London and LA. I love directing commercials and doc shorts, but I’d LOVE to direct a narrative piece in the next year or two.”