The Walkie Check- A holistic talk with creatives

Go for Jessica Tolliver

November 02, 2021 Layne Marie Williams Season 1 Episode 4
The Walkie Check- A holistic talk with creatives
Go for Jessica Tolliver
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode I chat with the amazing Jessica Tolliver. Take a listen as Jessica shares her story working as a black female cinematographer & director.

Whether you are an aspiring or veteran filmmaker take a listen as Jessica drops some serious jewels of knowledge we all need to hear.

Host: Layne Marie Williams

Show Sponsors: 

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Graphics/Logo: Brynne Wassel
Music By: Devin Delaney & Noisefloor LTD

Speaker 1:

Hello, and welcome to the walkie check.

Speaker 2:

Hey folks. Welcome to the walkie

Speaker 1:

Check. I'm cat gross. Be a script supervisor from Chicago

Speaker 2:

And I'm LaMer and Williams, a film director in Los Angeles, California. We're super excited to be working with our friends at noise floor to bring you the most creative and talented people out there to share their experiences, knowledge, and power. On this episode, we do not have our beautiful cat joining us. She is working full time on a union show right now. So I will be leading this interview solo today on the walkie check. We welcome Jessica Toliver. Jessica developed a passion for storytelling at a young age. Jessica Toliver has approached the film industry with a fresh perspective and an unparalleled work ethic. Taking an entrepreneurial approach. She founded her production company, mad Panda lab to ensure she would have the freedom to create films, music, videos, and promotional content. Without limitations. Her drive has led to opportunities working with major brands, such as the Chicago bulls Nike and the Chicago Cubs and 2019 Jessica made her directorial debut and the short film slash music video liar, which went on to win best music video at the various artists independent film festival. Jessica is also a member of the ICG local 600 union as a camera utility. She has worked on the sets of popular series shows such as Batwoman Chicago PD and Fargo. The walkie check is sponsored by on-set headsets. The standard of headset and Hollywood made with Kevlar reinforced wiring and water resistant microphone with a one-year warranty on all products, get your headset and different styles and colors, including the cammo and elite series available at film tools in all Panavision shops, order online@onsetheadsets.com.

Speaker 1:

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Glazer science, their new double rainbow and rainbow two lights are now available with the dual role pixelation. You have limitless effects for your next project. Visit our show notes, superiority yours today,

Speaker 2:

And lay money for Jessica Jessica Taylor. Hello. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the walkie check. Today. We are here with the one and only Jessica Tal over what's up, Jessica?

Speaker 3:

What's going on? What's going on? That's going on with you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's gone. Well, you know, where are you from originally? Currently I'm in,

Speaker 3:

But I'm born and raised in Glenwood, Illinois, which is like super south.

Speaker 2:

So you were like a true Midwesterner. I love it. I love Midwesterners. We always vibe today. I want to chat a little bit about everything that you've done and you've done a lot. You've directed, you've worked in camera department. You're currently working on a lot of really big shows. I want to just chat with you about what it's been like working in the industry, especially during COVID and you know, what are your aspirations and hopes and dreams and you know, what, what advice would you give other filmmakers? So starting there, why don't you tell us a little bit about, you know, how did you get your start in your career?

Speaker 3:

Oh, well, I was took an interest in music videos. That's the thing that kind of reel me in was especially like stuff from the nineties, like Michael Jackson and how, um, I think the thing that captivated me the most is that back then music videos were short narratives in a way. Um, they, yes, they were visuals to the, to the song, but they also told stories. Um, and so I would be a kid who would always just like listen to cassette tapes and CDs and like play music over and over and over again and come up with different concepts. And as I got older, I realized I wanted literally make those concepts concepts come to life. And so that's what real to me in now, do I do music videos now? Not all the time, because there's some reality checks that take place in music videos, like there

Speaker 2:

Brutal. Yeah. I feel like at the music video world and I also love music videos, so I'm right there with you. I w I would love to do way more and I feel like it's like one of those mediums in the filmmaking world where you gotta like, take the time to go build within that world as well. Because like a lot of artists don't have a budget for music fitting

Speaker 3:

Exactly. You quickly learn. There's not a lot of money involved in music video. And so as fun as it is, you know, it's hard to make, uh, an honest living out of strictly music videos, but I will say it's an amazing segue into filmmaking. If you're looking for a place to start, start with music videos, cause there's always artists, local bands, there's always somebody who's gonna want a music video. Um, and then also it's, it's great, uh, supplementary thing to do to, um, every so often every now and then I'm down to do a music video, especially if, uh, you know, the song is compelling or if I'm moved by the song, sometimes it's not even about the money. It's just about, you know, having fun to create that short narrative. And, um, with music videos, you're able to break a lot of rules and kind of just be at your most creative.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean, the thing that I love the most about music videos is it doesn't have to be linear. Nope. You know, so you don't have to like worry about continuity the same way you can beat MOS. So people can like, it's a little bit more of like the environments I've found at least are a little bit more relaxed. Um, but you know, I imagine like once you get to a place of a director that I really admire, um, Hannah Lux Davis, I like a total girl crush on her. She, um, she, you know, is always directing music videos for like Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande day, um, you know, all those like heavy hitters and pop music. Um, and she's at that level where you're just like, yes, girl, you, you can just do whatever you want now with your, with your aspirations and concepts, you know? Um, so you can certainly get to that level, but you know, it takes the time. And I imagine a lot of those artists have labels that they're working with.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Sometimes it's good to build that relationship with the artists though, because as they grow, they tend to take you with them. If that's the route you want to take. Absolutely. Um, but I know, um, Kendrick Lamar is one of them. He has the same squad kind of doing his videos and his videos are amazing. The ideas and concepts he's comes up with is dope, but that's, that's another avenue that's interesting. You know, if you really want to focus on music videos. Yeah. I would build that relationship with artists that you have that connection with the best.

Speaker 2:

You have any particular artists that you feel like you have made the investment to build that kind of a relationship with or anybody you just love working with. And that way

Speaker 3:

By default, my brother obviously, uh, I I'm a music artist. And when I left my full-time job to go freelance, when I took that leap, uh, I wanted to do something to celebrate that. And so me and my brother decided to do the collaboration for, uh, the short film liar, uh, um, my website now. And yeah, he came up with the song and he gave me kind of full creative control to come up with the ideal. And so I just kind of went crazy and did a no R piece. And that was super duper fun. So, and the fact that he just had created, I mean, complete trust in me to do whatever was awesome. So that was, that was great. So if I had to pick an artist, I guess that'd be

Speaker 2:

My bro, what's his name? His name

Speaker 3:

Is Jason.

Speaker 2:

Jason and Jessica

Speaker 3:

Are, the credits are hilarious because it's like written by Jason, Tyler, Tyler,

Speaker 2:

We'd love a brother, sister duo in this house and we really do. That's awesome. Yes. Speaking of liar, that's definitely something I'd like to chat about today. You directed that, um, that you concepted it as well. It sounds like it was a music video for your brother, Jason lover. What was some of the challenges that came up during that as well as what were some of the victories?

Speaker 3:

One of the challenges at the time, and I had to quickly learn is I did a lot by myself and that was a big mistake, big mistake, I won't say, but it was definitely a big learning lesson. Like the ideal of not to say it can be done because it absolutely can. But the fact that I decided to direct in DP at the same time was really rough. Um, cause you end up kind of neglecting one side when you're focused on the other. It's really hard to do it simultaneously. So it's always good to have a partner or somebody that you can hand over the creative reigns to, if you are going to go that route because directing is a beast. And for me to think that I could do both, it was really bold of me. Definitely. The Victor uses, I harbored a lot of relationships. When I worked at the camera rental house, I met a lot of ACS. I met a lot of just people, various departments. And so we didn't have a large enough budget to pay everybody at the time. But because of our relationships, I always ran over to their passion projects and donated my time. And so when it was my turn, they kind of just jumped right in, no questions asked. And that really meant a lot to me. Cause I knew I was asking a lot, having everybody come out in the middle of January, in downtown Chicago to shoot in the code with me. And it just, it showed me the community that we have here and the fact that we're all kind of just rooting for each other and kind of helping build each other's passion projects. So that was a huge victory, one of the best takeaways.

Speaker 2:

And this was Caslow

Speaker 3:

Yes. And big shout out to Tesla because they also don't gear to the cause. So yeah, it was the whole thing was amazing. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We, uh, we just recently interviewed Kala Gabriel.

Speaker 3:

So that's my boss. I will work there anymore, but I will forever call her boss. Like,

Speaker 2:

That's great. Awesome. So you've worked in a lot of, you've worked on a lot of different productions and your work is in my mind, like very versatile. What would you say like your favorite project recently would be, would it be liar or something that you're currently working on now?

Speaker 3:

Um, I think each project is so unique and I think that's the beauty of filmmaking is there there's each project and production requires a different kind of approach. It's a different kind of experience. So it's really hard to pinpoint a favorite. Um, I mean liar was a blast and a half, obviously I wrote something and it would be, if I were to shoot it, I need funding for it. It would definitely be my greatest creation yet. I, I guess the screenplay was wonder child and it was a finalist in the camera, ambassador, community builders grant. I think about the, the screenplay all the time. I think about the concept. I really, really, really want to shoot it. It's something near and dear to me and it's very personal to me. Um, we shot a proof of concept and even that alone was super duper fun, um, to do so. Um, yeah, I think it's yet to come.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the way we want it to be. Right. You know, like always growing, evolving and making the best work, the next project and you know, learning from that and taking that on to the next thing. And you know, I'm having flashbacks of when we worked on Gallagher rhythm together. Oh

Speaker 3:

Man.

Speaker 2:

It was so cold. It was so like,

Speaker 3:

Oh man. Yeah. Literally for the payroll,

Speaker 2:

For the paper route seeing gosh yeah. Shooting a bicycle, somebody riding on a bicycle definitely would love to do that again. Um, you know, again, I think it's just one of those things where you gotta sorta like, just jump down and figure out what works and what doesn't

Speaker 3:

Do. It's, it's crazy. It's like hindsight is always going to be 2020 in this. Like you're always going to look back at your work and you're always going to be like, I should have approached it this way, but you can't have that, that hindsight unless you just do it, just allow yourself to suck. I know that sounds, that sounds crazy. But it's the truth embrace sucking for a little while it gets better.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Like I feel like, especially if you're, you know, a writer or a creator of any kind, like it's gonna take some time for you to foster your voice and, you know, try out different aesthetics and you know, especially depending on like where your interests are, um, you know, you, you're in camera department and um, and also a director. What do you love specifically like about both of those department

Speaker 3:

With camera? One thing I'm learning about camera back. Like in the earlier days I was a bit of a geared chunky one at the latest and greatest. And I always felt like I couldn't create my best work without these tools. And that couldn't be further from the truth. Something that I learned is essentially all the camera does is captures what's in front of you. And that's something really important to remember, you know, the sensor size, how many, you know, the resolution, how many pixels, it doesn't really matter if what's in front of that camera, you know, isn't moving or riveting or something like that. So it's, it's really important to equally pay attention to the stuff in front of it versus the camera. And I know that's weird because to say that's my favorite thing about the camera, uh, is, is kind of counterintuitive, but it's the truth. Uh, you know, how are you going to light these people? Are these people really bringing their best talent forward? Are they really in their emotions and conveying the character? Well production design, that's a huge, huge, important asset. You're only as good as your production designer is that on point, all that deserves as much, if not more attention than what if you're shooting on a red or a menu, like you could be shooting on a DSLR camera and it'll still look amazing. If the stuff in front of it is amazing and directing, directing is awesome because it's for me to be a good director, you have to be a really great communicator because you have something in your head and your objective is to get it out of your head to many, many different departments and many different team members, whatever your final product is, is a Testament to how well you collaborate in communicating with your team. And that's kind of one of my favorite things about directing. Um, and I feel like neither one of them can be mastered cinematography or directing. I feel like you're always going to be alive student. I don't think you can ever say you like conquered directing,

Speaker 2:

Right. Can you imagine, oh, that sounds like I don't want that. I don't want to conquer that. I want to continue to be a student. I know. Right. You worked in camera and Jannie for St. Francis. What was that process like? What was it like watching Alex Thompson directs? And now that the movie has gone, gained so much traction, how has, how has that, how, how have you processed all that?

Speaker 3:

It's exciting. I think there's always one of the most exciting things to firsthand witness someone else's trajectory like personally, knowing that person and seeing that person grow and seeing that person on the other side and getting the accolades that they deserve. That's always exciting because that means like blessings are in the same neighborhood or, you know, you could be up next type of deal. So it's always exciting to see that, um, and to, to kind of be in the trenches in the beginning where he showed me the look book, he showed me kind of just the small PDF of what his vision was because at the time I worked at Caslow and he was like, Hey, we really would love to read from Caslow as a possible. And can you be used sort of that liaison to connect us to production and being a second AC and being part of that up into seeing the final product on a rooftop and screened on like a rooftop film festival. And then again, just seeing articles pop up, not even through Alex, but just you're like scrolling and you see an article and it happens to be about the production that you, you know, helped put together. Uh, all of that is just it's really cool. It's really cool. So shout out to Alex, that's, that's amazing. His, his project is another Testament to the community thing too. A bunch of people volunteering their time, hopping in, um, doing what they can, if they were free to Saturday or Sunday, it didn't really have anybody full time like that. So you're just rotating anybody who's willing to jump in. So that was, that was cool.

Speaker 2:

What are you currently benching?

Speaker 3:

One of my guilty pleasures. I hate to say it is, um, this reality show, little women, Atlanta

Speaker 2:

Spicy. Tell us more. Oh my God.

Speaker 3:

It's just, it's about little people just navigate in life. But ironically, one of my favorite characters, her name's Ms. Juicy, and it's her like her confidence for me and just, she calls herself the queen of Atlanta. She always speaks positivity and stuff like that. And it's interesting that, you know, you get that from a little person. You would not expect them to have such a big, big radiant confidence about them. But man, I don't know. It keeps me coming back to watch it. It's the weirdest thing. I never thought I would like reality TV.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think especially like as filmmakers, we do need to consume things that feel like it's not work sometimes. You know, I think everybody feels that way. That's why reality TV shows and you know, some of those TV shows or movies where you can just sort of go on autopilot. Like it's just, sometimes you just need to go step into the television and experience something else. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

That is actually that never thought about that. Like why do I watch that show?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Cause then turn off. You can just like, you know, enjoy and hang out and there's no end result needed there.

Speaker 3:

Sure. It's much. It's a lot harder to watch it with the analytical I though. I know when I watch things like Lovecraft, for example, I was watching that. I still try to, I don't know some something, well, the fact that a, it was filmed here in Chicago. That's always in the back of my head. Whenever I see kind of trending shows or shows that are popular, it's still hard to view it as a, you know, an audience or a consumer, I should say. I mean, I always end up watching it with the analytical I'm checking the cinematography, I'm checking the directorial skills and that takes the fun out of it sometimes.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Like it can be like, oh wow, that was a really cool shot. Let me just like reverse and watch it again. Oh, it's on a Dolly. Oh gosh. I currently started watching American horror story. I mean, I've seen bits and pieces of it before, but I'm now watching the coven and the shots on the mirror are in

Speaker 3:

Everything though.

Speaker 2:

It's super fun. I love having a blast watching it. Um, I, you know, it's a bunch of like Stevie Nicks S and like the woman that plays precious, um, Gabrielle sit a bay. She's fabulous in it. And I was so glad to see her. It's definitely a guilty pleasure kind of show, but I tell you why Jessica, like watching the cranes that they must have used and the steady cams, like some of those shots I'm like, whoa, how did they do that?

Speaker 3:

It's very stylized. Yeah. Lots

Speaker 2:

Of like, bird's-eye sweeping one take. And that really, like, I think a lot about the actors, you know, like, there's this one particular scene where Gabrielle said a bay and some of the other talent are like standing up on a balcony and there's clearly some kind of like jib or crane that like moves towards them. And then they like perfectly on cue start saying their lines. And that's just like, that's some serious pro hit your mark. Like, Ooh, buddy, love it. Hurley goals covered in goosebumps, just talking about it because I'm like such a dork for that kind of stuff. And like, that is absolutely the level I like want to get to. And I feel like you are the same way. You're like, yes, GIBS.

Speaker 3:

I was watching this course about just intentionality with, um, camera movement. Like the whole course is like a five-hour course on just, um, camera movement. And it goes deep. It goes deep. And so it's, it's rewarding to see shots like that, where everything to the cue of the actors is on point. Everything is in alignment with the movement of the camera. Um, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I would like love to see like the BTS of all that, you know, like, you know, they had many of people on walkie, like probably so many monitors,

Speaker 3:

Like pulling his

Speaker 2:

Hair out and he's pulling his hair out. The director's like, who knows where the director was, you know, somewhere being like and go, and then like seven other people are being like, go. And then like three people are being like now, you know, it's just, it's so fun and crazy what we do. We've got a really love it.

Speaker 3:

You know, as we move into like this whole digital age of like, just downloading everything, we do kind of lose the sense of ETS. I do like miss that, especially on like Blu-ray and DVD discs, they used to be like a whole little section on BTS. Cause even like, I'll Google things, like, for example, I will be like, how did they do that shot total is normally not anything on it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. They're like keeping it secret,

Speaker 3:

Secret.

Speaker 2:

All right. Let us, who are some of your favorite artists and mentors that have helped you along the way?

Speaker 3:

Big mentor of me that really kind of pivoted the way I looked at Cameron and lighting is, uh, Morgan Cooper, shout out to coop. He took five mentees and kind of just gave them a bunch of homework and critique their work and kind of just help them on their journey. And I didn't know, at the time that Morgan Cooper was gonna blow up, he is the guy that filmed, uh, the concept of air, which peacock picked up, um, the, the dramatic version of the fresh prince. Um, now he's a director of that series. The series got picked up and now he's in, he moved to LA and it's crazy. So that's another one where you're like watching their trajectory like, whoa, he, he was definitely somebody who kind of, uh, dug into my lighting side and helped me fine tune it and help me try to discover, you know, my, my style and what resonates with me to people within the industry that, um, I often confide in is Tommy Maddox. He also recently became part of the American society of cinematographers. He's an ASC member, which is really exciting. And Jody Williams, um, he recently shot coming to America to then now he is working on power, uh, book four or something like that. Um, but both of them, I appreciate it because they both have families and really, really demanding jobs. But, um, at any given time I can text her, call them and they'll say like, Hey, what's up? What's, you're having trouble with anything. What's going on. Talk to me if I have any questions about the industry, if I'm making any big decisions, it means a lot that I can go to these people who are just so established in the industry. So Cooper, Jodi and Tommy

Speaker 2:

Love it. That's awesome. Yeah. It's important to have those people that champion you along the way. What are your interests like outside of work? What do you like to do? And what do you dislike?

Speaker 3:

And my partner was talking about that. Like, what are our identities outside of film? Because when I watched tutorials about film, like that's not a real hobby. I have a dog and my lovely mom watches my dog because I work 12 hour days. So I love my, uh, my winter dog and we do Wiener dog activities. So

Speaker 2:

I love it. I love animals. Cuddles are very important. Yeah,

Speaker 3:

I'm very much so. And he loves his cuddles. He's not afraid to let me know. I love to eat. I don't know if that's a hobby either. Um, a ramen connoisseur. I love ramen. I think Chicago's a great place to be because a lot of ramen shops are everywhere now. And so it's like my goal to eat at all of them. So I have like a list of ramen shops I have at at, and that I need to eat it and just hanging out with friends. Um, I love being a good company. Um, my birthday is this Saturday, But yeah, honestly, I'm just gonna like have a bonfire and invite friends and we're just touch

Speaker 2:

Rosa marshmallows and marshmallow, maybe drink some whiskey.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

I already know I'm already there on your birthday already. Yes. So this is a pretty large question, but what do you hope to achieve in this lifetime?

Speaker 3:

I think the end game for me is really to make an impact as a cinematographer. I think that's, I mean, directing is, is awesome, but my heart is really in cinematography. And I think one of my, my motivations or driving factors is the lack of African-American women in cinematography. So like one of my, like as cheesy as it sounds, my, one of my biggest goals, I think it would be hilarious to win an Oscar because I don't think anybody would see that. And they would feel some type of way of a black woman won an Oscar for cinematography because we have to have a woman at all when an Oscar we've come close, but we still have not gotten there after decades of doing this. Um, and so just to really make that mark and just to let younger women know that it's possible, and there's a market for you here in this industry. I think black women bring a different style to send them photography. Um, and so that's the end game. You just really make some noise as a DP.

Speaker 2:

That's so powerful. That's so powerful. If you had any advice that you could give, you know, any women of color that want to break into the film industry, especially in cinematography, what would you tell them?

Speaker 3:

I think there's no greater time than now to get started. We can easily access things like cameras and lighting and it doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't have to be special. I think it's a matter again of just doing it and fine tuning your craft and just, just learning this beautiful behind the camera. I know it's beautiful in front of the camera and I know a lot of women aspire to be in front of the camera, but it's a beautiful thing behind the camera to Come see what we're about back here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I'm I'm so with that, I love being behind it. You know, like once I stepped behind it, I was like, oh, this is the spot where I am meant to be, you know, like sure can get in front of it. Totally get if I need to want to can happen. I think that's the case for most people, but man, I love being behind it. Absolutely. What kind of like camera styles, are there any particular lenses or just geek out with us a little bit over some gear that you're currently working with or excited about?

Speaker 3:

Um, so I'm team airy all day being in a position of working in a rental house and then just this just shooting with various cameras, this dish, something about that sensor. It's just beautiful with the skin tones and just the color science of it all. They just, they got it dialed in that no other camera can quite bring. I also love Canon cameras. I actually am on the market. I might my buy another cannon. This would be my fourth Canon camera. So I think cannons are very reliable for the women who are starting off. I think grabbing a Canon T2. I, uh, something simple like that for a few hundred dollars is a great starting camera. It's going to teach you all the basic elements that you need to know in order to shoot with the area, because the camera is a camera at the end of the day, they all kind of have the same objective. Once you kind of wrap your head around that you can operate with any camera except for film. Maybe I feel it was a little intimidating, but digitalize. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean shooting with film, that's definitely on my like bucket list. Um, but yeah, it's just a whole other beast, you know, we, we can do it, we'll do it, but it's, it is a whole other

Speaker 3:

Beast and pressure. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, and there are incredible digital cameras out there. What are you working on next? So on the DP side, I've just seen two rough cuts of two of the films I shot. They're really cool. One of them is called hanging in there. If you check my Instagram, I just posted some steals of it. It's a quite dramatic, which I love, uh, drama as far as lighting. It's like my favorite style and on the opposite end of the spectrum, there's another pilot that I shot called at the garden into a puppet show. So that's a lot more kind of lighthearted and different, different style, a little bit more hierarchy. So it was fun to see those two come together. And I'm very excited for the directors

Speaker 2:

Yeah. At the garden. That's a great spot Sula and a scope point studio, shout out to grace.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Shout outs. Very nice. She's the one that brought me on. I love that. That's great. Yeah. In both situations, it was, um, both women, who've never worked with me directly before, but still dropped my name in the hat and still vouch for me as if they did. So shout out to grace. And Amanda was the other person who just swore up and down and I was the person for that project and she never worked with,

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. Love that. I mean, that's, that's such a big part of this industry is, you know, people will ask me a lot, like, well, uh, you know, how did you get like this gig or that gig? And I'm like referrals, You know, like I, I know that I need to be like hustling myself out there more like I've got some reels that I've just recently, um, I wouldn't say finalized because let's be honest. We're always like updating our reels and always building new work. But, um, yeah. I just have not been putting the energy into like pushing it out there to people really. And I mean, you know, that's part of why people get agents and managers, so definitely got my eye on that. But yeah, it's just like referrals are such a huge part of landing gigs. I think, especially once you get to a certain point. So I love that that's, you know, your last two projects, you know, so be nice to people, you know, you never know who somebody might become. I've said that before on the walkie check, like just be a kind human, be easy to work with and have fun. Cause like it does matter. And it's like, why else? Like, why else do this be in this industry? If you're not having a good time, you know,

Speaker 3:

The days are too long to not.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you mentioned your Instagram earlier, so where can we follow you? Where can people go and watch your work?

Speaker 3:

The website is, um, Jessica Tyler, dp.com and then my IgE is Jessica tolerber underscore DP. So yeah. So my name in DP and you'll find me and

Speaker 2:

I've got one final fun question for you. If you could go back in time and give a pep talk to your younger Jessica self, what would you say?

Speaker 3:

Let's say trust yourself a little bit more because you might know more than you think you do shoot a little bit more, cause there's so much more to learn. Just don't lose sight of the main goal. That's I still need to tell myself that today working in the industry and the TV shows and other, even other people projects, that's, it's awesome and it's rewarding, but also just don't lose sight of the stories that you need to share. And the cause, you know, you never know who needs to hear your story. Your story is equally as important. You put a lot of long hours into so many other projects. So please just don't lose sight of why you pursued filmmaking in the first place. Because more times it's not more times than not is because you have a story to tell and that's important to leave on this earth.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. I love it. Thank you. Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of the walkie check. Be sure to give us a like and follow on Instagram and Facebook after walkie check and at legacy Marine pictures also special, special, thanks to our executive producers, noise floor LTZ. And we look forward to the next step.

Speaker 1:

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