Film Connection apprentice Jamie Reed: Anything is Possible

Jamie Reed has been fascinated with making movies for just about as long as he can remember. “Growing up, I would make tiny movies with a crappy camera that my parents had…I liked film because it could take you out of the world and put you in a different world for a certain amount of time and make you forget everything. Anything was possible inside of movies.”

Despite the passion Jamie had to work in film, he felt attending a stately institution wouldn’t be something he’d get the most out of and says, “I wanted to gain experience through action.” Sitting in a classroom for passive lecture-oriented film studies wasn’t something he wanted to do. “I was not a person ready for four years in a college class.” Getting into filming hands-on and learning how the pros really get their shots and do the work was far better fit for Jamie, who wanted to do more than read books and talk film theory.

Film Connection matched Jamie with Zac Adams, an Emmy-winning director and producer in Nashville, Tennessee. At Skydive Films Jamie had a hand in production right from the start. On Jamie’s very first day in the program, Zac and the crew were shooting an interview for Autism in America, a documentary directed and produced by Zac and Jamie was asked to help set up the lights. Although he was nervous at first, he says Zac was great at explaining how things were done: “‘All right, this is what this means’ and ‘this is how you do it like that.’” Jamie says, “I was being taught on the set…He was getting me involved, and it got me extremely excited for everything ahead.”

Well that was just the beginning. Jamie went on to play an important role in the making of Autism in America and sounds pretty proud of himself when he says, “I did audio, I did lights, I shot some footage for it that is actually in the film and helped edit it,” though he’s quick to point out, “I didn’t edit it myself, you know, but it was me, the director, and the editor in the room getting it finished.”

Both Jamie Reed and fellow Film Connection apprentice Matthew Gibson are receiving Assistant to the Editor credits for their contributions to Autism in America which premiered in Nashville a few weeks ago. Now, Jamie is working on Iron Will, another documentary produced by Zac, which seeks to tell the stories of soldiers dealing with PTSD, narrated by Billy Bob Thornton.

Besides the documentaries, Jamie’s been involved with production on a number of Skydive Film’s projects, from music videos to commercials and corporate videos. He’s also got plans for a short film and is currently raising funds for his project.

In a very short period of time, Jamie has found that whole other world—the world of professional filmmaking. He isn’t sitting in year one of a four year program, listening to lectures, he’s learning, “This is how you do a shot. This is a wide shot.” He’s getting what it takes to make his own movies while he’s shaking hands, connecting, and working with the pros. As a child, Jamie came to love the movies because “Anything was possible inside of movies.” Well, looks like Jamie is discovering just how true that is.