Film Connection apprentice Jamie Reed works with Billy Bob Thornton!

Jamie Reed, Film Connection apprentice under Zac Adams of Skydive Films in Nashville, TN, just finished working on not one but two music videos for Mark Collie & The Boxmasters. (In case you didn’t know, The Boxmasters are a rockin’ band headed by none other than Oscar-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton!) Zac Adams directed and produced the music videos which were shot in Nashville and Birmingham.

Jamie told us at RRF: “It was a blast shooting the two videos for The Boxmasters. Everyone was involved in a creative way. We all just wanted the best looking video we could possibly make. Even when we were setting up the next shot there wasn’t any anger or greediness. It was all smooth, on schedule, and worked out perfectly. On the second video we shot, I had a couple ideas of shots we could shoot that I believed would look great. …We tried it out. Zac said he loved the shots I came up with! I felt really appreciated on-set and [that] just helped boost morale.”

Jamie’s mentor, Zac Adams, followed up to give us the lowdown on Jamie’s performance, saying, “He brought his A game. We had 15 hour days and I said, ‘Get used to it, that’s the way it is’ and he did, he was great, he was like ‘heck yeah, bring it!’ I had him doing grip and working with the gaffers, I let him direct one scene and he had two ideas for camera angles and I used both of them. I let him do some ‘above the line’ which is pretty cool for an 18-year-old. He gripped, gaffed, worked the lights, he did some PA work too. He brought it! If you’re going to make it in the film business you’ve got to give 120%, giving just 100% is just too competitive. This past week was Jamie’s time to shine and he met or exceeded everyone’s expectations. We had a crew of ten people and everyone was very impressed with him.”

Jamie checked in a few days later, sounding happy and confident about the work he did. “Billy and Mark were a huge pleasure to work with. Billy is extremely down-to-earth and such a great guy. Very, very funny. He never once got angry. He was very involved and helpful. He in fact helped me make a funny video on my phone just for the hell of it. It never felt like work when I was set. It was just so smooth and fun. He also gave me some tips on script writing which I will always remember.”

So where does that leave Jamie now? Thanks to a connection Zac helped him make while on the set of this project, last we spoke, Jamie Reed was en route to see about a potential gig on a Nashville TV show!

Way to go Jamie! Keep on working hard!