Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Shown.
Tyler, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Post college I did a couple months backpacking Europe, moved to Yosemite to work at a mountain resort/hostel directly after. During that six months, I met my now business partner, Perry Perkins, whom shared a love for travel and storytelling. From California, we backpacked Southeast Asia, Australia, NZ for a few months before going back to our separate homes, his in Iowa and for me, Pueblo. I bought my first camera and spent the next 6 months as a line cook by day, band videographer/photographer by night. As I built my music repertoire shooting for local, Colorado-based bands like Beyond Bridges, Project 432, and Euforquestra, that led into bigger gigs with The Expendables, California Honeydrops, Hirie, etc.
Perry and I reconnected, he’d been working minimum wage jobs to pay rent, doing portrait and landscape photography as a hobby. We knew we were ready for something new, something better, and wanted to figure out a way to make a living that would still allow us to travel, use our cameras to tell good stories, and live on our own schedules. Thus, we started Jolly Mule Productions.
For those that don’t know Pueblo, two years ago it didn’t have much of a videography market. The first commercial we ever made was for $50, about frozen yogurt, and we were simply walking door-to-door telling people we now had this brand-new business, making videos. Through various connections I’d made throughout the community, we started shooting everything we could, music festivals, weddings, funerals, commercials, events, with one promise, we’d work our asses off to make something beautiful, and we want to have a good time doing it. Jolly Mule is as much about our content, as we are about relationships. After all, we just like to travel and meet cool people.
Paraphrasing, we eventually started getting government jobs, connected with a couple growing marketing companies, and hiring local videographers we’d seen on YouTube when we needed help. I began speaking at the college classes I’d taken just a couple years before, and started a Summer Movie Series to connect the community with local musicians, artists, and independent films on the couches of my friend’s furniture store.
Nearly two years in now, a lot of the work I do involves shedding a positive light on our city, which notoriously does not have the best reputation throughout the state. So, I create a number of videos on behalf of the city and community groups trying to show off the things I love about the city. I am a founding member of the Pueblo Film Commission, dedicated to providing education, certification, and professional experience to young videographers. When COVID hit, I started the Jolly Mule 48-Hour Film Challenge, which prompted local videographers to make short films over a two-day span, then choose a winner by audience vote, and donating $100 to the winner’s charity of choice. Among other things, the common thread is creating more opportunity for the artists in our community, and I try to act as a bridge for those platforms.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
That’s a perspective question. Any troubles we faced along the way, creating contracts, doing taxes, establishing a creative market where there wasn’t really one, traveling to Canada with $20, applying to film festivals for the first time, getting screwed, not knowing if we had screwed someone, all were learning lessons along the way. With COVID, Perry has actually been in London with his girlfriend since March, which has definitely tested our business in a multitude of ways, but has really signified a new era in terms of our expansion as a company. Survive and thrive, I always say.
Jolly Mule Productions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
In essence, content creation. I started with making videos, taking photos for bands, but those in the music industry can testify that there’s not a lot of money in it. Nowadays, we do a lot of commercial work, tourism type content, lots of weddings, and I’m definitely most proud of how much non-profit, community-based work I’m able to dedicate time to, with more to come.
We just want to enjoy life, man. I think that’s what I’m known for. High tide raises all boats and that’s a thing I try to preach. Help those that need it, have fun when you want to, and work hard when you have to; just keep making ripples.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We completed a two-month trip to Thailand back in September; I hope to finally edit a few short films from the content I filmed, which was interviewing local musicians, cooking school owners, elephant sanctuary founders, in hopes to create a couple perspective pieces. The world needs a little more perspective. I hope my personal investment to change the narrative of Pueblo will only encourage the city to invest in the creative industry as a whole, and allow me to make greater impact, as I know my time there will only be limited in the future.
As the Film Commission develops, I hope it becomes a SoCo sanctuary for creatives. I had taken an active role in promoting our film festivals this year, which of course were postponed, but I hope that gain new life with the young talent we have in town. I’m in talks to expand my 48 Film Challenge, perhaps flying winners around the country, and actually securing them professional work in these fun hobbies they hope to pursue. I made a section on our website called “Jolly News”, which essentially is the pro-bono work I hope to continue to do to highlight people helping people. As I’ve covered a lot of the peaceful protests in Pueblo for local magazines, I definitely think one of my future goals in to work for someone like Vice News, I travel light. I shoot well. And I just want to tell stories that matter.
Contact Info:
- Website: jollymule.com
- Email: jollymuleproductions@gmail.com
- Instagram: jollymuleproductions
- Facebook: facebook.com/jollymuleproductions
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBKF74kWfW0NbUjyceKB4GA
Image Credit:
Jolly Mule Productions
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