Wearing Pants Again
“Wearing Pants Again” is a podcast that explores the journeys of artists and storytellers, uncovering the lessons, challenges, and experiences behind their craft. Through honest conversations and personal reflection, host Lauren Siegal examines what it really takes to create, grow, and keep showing up.
Wearing Pants Again
Guiding the Next Generation of Storytellers with Ryan Watson
Ryan Watson is an award-winning videographer, filmmaker, and instructor at the University of South Florida's Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications. He brings a unique perspective at the intersection of education and storytelling, sharing insights from his career and creative projects.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Launching USF’s first drone videography course and creating new opportunities for students
- Building a virtual production class after receiving technology donations from Diamond View Studios
- Encouraging students to work hard, explore entrepreneurship, and apply their skills professionally
- What makes a good story
- Ryan’s current project, Paper Made, a feature film reboot
- Advice for students navigating uncertainty and balancing adult responsibilities with finding their path
- The importance of authenticity in both teaching and filmmaking
Check out Ryan's website.
For more information, visit the podcast episode webpage.
Hi everyone. My guest today is Ryan Watson. Ryan is an award-winning videographer and filmmaker with expertise in documentary production, cinematography, videography and drone videography. Ryan is also a full-time instructor at the University of South Florida's Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications. I was fortunate to have Ryan as my professor back when I was a student at USF. During my undergraduate years, I actually transferred schools twice. Usf was the third university that I ended up at, and even then I still wasn't entirely sure what direction I wanted to take, but his class helped me start figuring that out. In this episode, we talk about his approach to teaching, how storytelling is changing in today's media world, his work as a filmmaker and storyteller and the advice he gives to students about building a successful career in the industry. I hope you enjoy the episode. Hi Ryan. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Ryan:Thank you for having me.
Lauren:So are you getting ready for the semester to start and what classes are you teaching this fall?
Ryan:Yeah, we start on Monday. I got the drone class on tap. I got two sections of VU at USF and then one section of everyone's personal favorite, EFP electronic field production.
Lauren:For people that don't know what VU is. Can you describe what it is, Because I think it's really cool.
Ryan:Yeah, VU is a virtual production class. It started. We were able to get a uh, a donation from diamond view studios of the view all technology. We got that back in 2021, um, and so what came with that is a full virtual production class that I created and, uh, it's one of the more popular classes. We do everything from you know we shoot motorcycle scenes in there, we shoot, we do lighting exercises, dialogue scenes, we work in the Unreal Engine and then we also send students out to go and shoot their own content based on, you know, some of the rules that we give them of the science of the wall.
Lauren:Yeah, that's awesome. So how long have you been at USF now?
Ryan:I've been at USF for 11 years, about to be 12 years. It'll be 12 years in January. I started as an adjunct in 2014, and I worked my way up from adjunct to visiting, from visiting to instructor one, instructor two, and then they sort of started to show some love to those folks with terminal degrees. And with that came another sort of title, promotion, and now my official title is associate professor of instruction.
Lauren:So what inspired you to go into teaching and then what's kind of kept you at USF for all these years?
Ryan:I guess I've always sort of been a natural teacher. My mom and my family specifically say I'm a very old soul. So I, you know, I just it's just always been something that's naturally been in me. But then at my core I'm a creative. You know what I mean. I like to create things, I like to tell stories, I like to uh entertain and so, uh, when I got, when I the best job I've ever had to this day and this is no shade at USF, the most important job I've ever had was working for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. They allowed me to come in when I was still very young, but I was where I got to shoot cultural events and then special events at the Hard Rock Casino, which really helped me meet a lot of people within the Tampa Bay community. Those folks are still my good contacts that I have to this day.
Ryan:So towards the end of that there was a lot of travel involved and my wife we had kids the travel started to be a little bit too much for me. The upward mobility was not such that I could have had some upward mobility if I stayed in Tampa. I have very good relationships with the folks down in the Hollywood headquarters area, but that would have meant I relationships with the folks down in the Hollywood headquarters area, but that would have meant I would have had to move in order to make a play for promotion down there, and I was not ready to do that, because I love Tampa. So my wife and I talked about me going back to school. I went and got my MFA online through National University everything online courses that took place on West Coast time at 9 pm. Our time was 6 pm West Coast time, so I did not get a lot of sleep during that time MFA. And then I reached out to a former professor of mine who gave me the opportunity to come in and do an adjunct and teach as an adjunct.
Ryan:I came in, definitely probably had a rough first semester, just not only knowing what I knew, so I couldn't, um, I didn't know certain things not to do, but I learned them very, very fast and, um, once that happened then I was like, yeah, this is cool now. Prior to that, I had done work with the Seminole tribe where they would do these youth summer camps where we would bring we'd bring kids, uh, to the reservation for summer camp and we would teach them video, and I was always. I was pretty good at that too, so I did that. Then I started working at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, which is sort of like a vocational school for people who want to learn television production, media stuff like that. And so when I did that for about two years, so I had about three years of teaching experience on my resume. So then when I stepped to USF like saying hey, I'm ready to adjunct, I had some experience on my resume and they were like sure, here you go.
Ryan:First semester definitely a rough one. Second semester yeah. And then I picked up some courses at University of Tampa. So I was going back and forth between the two. For two years I was at USF and at UT. A vacancy opened at USF for full time and I slid right in there and got that and I've been here ever since.
Lauren:And I know you also launched the first ever drone course at USF. What sparked that idea?
Ryan:As much as I would love to say it was my idea, it was not. That was the brainchild of the Honorable Wayne Garcia, who, in his infinite wisdom, knew that that was something that was going to make a splash in his community. Going back to what I said earlier, I'm kind of an old soul so I was kind of like nah, these kids need to learn how to shoot on these cameras. Give me some better cameras on the ground first, and then we can talk about drone. And he said yo, you got to get the drones. Trust me, the splash is going to make in the community. That's what we need. So he sent me to University of Georgia for a three-day boot camp on drones and I came back from that and I was like okay, I can teach. That. It really just confirmed a lot of things I already knew and I'm a really big. I'm really big into preparation. I do not like going into things not knowing anything. That is just. I can't work in those situations, even when I think I know I need some sort of verification that, yes, I'm doing the right thing. You know what I'm saying. And when I went to that conference at the University of Georgia and got some of that validation that what I had been doing independently because I had a drone. I bought a drone because a buddy of mine that you know that worked for the tribe, he bought a drone. He's like, yo, you got to get a drone and so he was sort of coaching me on things, you know, just whenever he could, but nothing very formal. So I was really self-taught in a lot of ways, but I was not sure that, while my footage was coming out pretty good, I wasn't sure whether or not I was really good until I went to Georgia and started flying with some of them, people who had been flying for a long time, and they was like okay, you're pretty sharp with it. And I was like okay, now I feel comfortable about teaching this class, because I've taught classes where I was not comfortable and it's been like I've been like yo, like I just don't even want to. You know, I can't do it. In order for me to be the best version of myself, I have to be comfortable, I have to be prepared. I'm not a fake it type teacher. You know what I'm saying. Like if that ever happens, I'll stand up in the class and be like look y'all, I don't really know this. So we're going to learn it together. Make sure your assignments are turned in on time and you won't have any problems with me. We're going to figure this thing out.
Ryan:The very first drone class, it was not I wouldn't say it was a mess, but it definitely was a learning curve. I didn't know how to teach the testing material. You know what I'm saying? Like that was something I learned on my own. I didn't know any of the core, all these these. Now they have all these uh sort of online schools you could do, excuse me, to get my, to get my drone certification. Those were not around when I was doing this, so I'm just pulling random stuff off of youtube and be like, okay, that's a dope question here. You know, and that was that was the way I prepared everybody for the test. And I remember in that first class I was like look y'all All right, here's what it is. Ok, here's a bunch of resources. This is how I learned it myself to learn the testing material. Here you go. And then, by the grace of the Lord, a former student of mine reached out and said hey, I found this online testing material and I think it would be really good for the students to learn the curriculum and I said, hallelujah, so then I was able to incorporate a lot of that into the Canvas course. Hallelujah, so then I was able to incorporate a lot of that into the canvas course, and then it's been smooth sailing when it comes to the, to the flying and stuff that's.
Ryan:You know, I teach videography, just like you know, in my sleep you know what I mean. Teaching people how to, how to fly a drone was very easy, you know. Just, we just do a lot of repetitions, a lot of reps, and so once we did that, it was really smooth. You know what I'm saying. Like we really, uh, we're to the point now where the course sort of teaches itself. Um, all I really have to do is sort of just stand over top of them and make sure some of the etiquette things are done. It made a really big splash in the community. Uh, wayne Garcia was right, because what came along with that was the attention we needed to then secure a donation such as the one that we got with Vue Studios. I'm not sure we have that without the drone class moving the way it was moving and making the noise that it made.
Lauren:Yeah, I had regretted that I did not take the drone class when I was at USF, but then I ended up getting one of those online courses and did it later in life, after graduating, because I wanted to, and I saw all these kids that were coming out of your class and getting their certifications and thought that was really cool. So did you always know that you wanted to go into visual storytelling?
Ryan:yes, um, I knew I wanted to do that because I just I did a lot of I did stuff in high school that I was pretty good at. Um, initially I wanted to be like a sportscaster, um, but then I saw myself trying to be on camera and I was like, okay, I don't like this at all. So, because I already had skills to be a cameraman, I was like, all right, let me just go ahead and and and and make some money off of these skills that I've already been sort of honing since high school. Um, so I've just always watched a lot of tv probably more tv than I should have been watching specifically when I was younger, should have been watching specifically when I was younger and just always just coming up with stories. I'm a huge WWE fan the storytelling that they tell between all their things that they do within their programming, and I've just always been into just telling stories and editing stories and just coming up with concepts. That's just always been something that I've loved doing. Um, and so it you know for it. It's, it's creative.
Ryan:I don't I come from a family of, like accountants and social workers and human resource professor professionals and people who worked, you know, very much like jobs for a long time. Then they retired with a pension and all that stuff. And that's just not me, you know what I mean. Like, even though I got a nice little setup here with USF, if I stay here long enough, it's not like. You know, I just had that entrepreneurial spirit that, like I love teaching, I consider myself to be like an academic entrepreneur. You know what I'm saying. Because I'm here, this is 100% my full time job. I take it very seriously. But the flexibility is giving me to make money away from the university has been amazing, you know what I'm saying. And it's been an amazing situation because it's been mutually beneficial.
Ryan:Anything that I'm able to go out here and do as far as my film is concerned and stuff like that, people are like oh, that's a USF professor doing that, you know what I'm saying and then that brings attention to the university that one of their faculty members is out there doing it, and then vice versa for me I get a lot of benefits from people who want to help me out because I'm affiliated with USF, because they view me as an educator as I am you know what I'm saying and so they look out for me and give me things that I can't afford in order to have a successful production. So you know, I'm never. I'm very much the black sheep of my family, 100% the black sheep of my family, the artists, the creative. You know what I'm saying. That's just where I live at. And now you know, my kids are very much artists and probably one of them will be like no, I'm going to just work for 40 years and retire that and then we'll go. Then we'll go back in that same circle.
Lauren:I was thinking back to, you know, when I was at USF. That was the third college that I went to because I transferred a couple of times and didn't know what I wanted to study. But of you know, the three you know schools that I went to, usf was my favorite. Part of it was because by the time I got there I was like what am I good at, but what is also going to be fun for me? And so I'm so glad that I found the mass communications major and I feel like there's so many amazing professors and just connections within the Zimmerman School. Is that part of you know, like what has kept you around all these years? And like what do you think makes the program stand out?
Ryan:Well, at first I wouldn't be where I'm at without, like, wayne Garcia and Travis Bell, like those are my boys. You know I'm saying like I, I came in and Travis was like yo, I'm gonna take you around here, go to syllabus, here's what to expect. You know I'm saying, and even then now still stuff happened that I was not prepared for that. You just can't think, you can't be prepared to teach. There's only just some things you can learn only by being in the classroom and that is it. You will not learn it. No one can tell you. You're just going to have things that happen to you in that classroom that you just have to learn and navigate. But Travis and Wayne, those guys, I mean again, I love them. You know what I'm saying. And so being here in the trenches with people that you really rock with, that you know are always going to look out for you and have your best interests at heart, it helps you push through some of the times. You know what I'm saying, because you're going to have some bad times. You're going to have bad students. You know what I mean. You're going to have students that give you attitude. You're going to have students that lie about what you said to them and all this type of stuff, you're going to have that, and if you don't have that good support system behind you, a Travis, a Wayne you know what I'm saying A Wendy Witt and some of those other folks that I've had the opportunity to work with, like you won't want to be here. You know what I'm saying. So it's always been about the people that I've had in the trenches with me and then once you have that and you just have that peace of mind, then you can go out and do your job. You know what I'm saying. And my job is to educate and prepare students to go out and make money and be professional and continue on to pass down the knowledge that they get within our program to other people. You know what I'm saying. And then again, like you know, you know this some of my closest friends are my former students. You know what I'm saying, and I've been here for again almost 12 years. I need about, I need a couple of hands to talk about or to to count how many of of my closest friends that I rock with to this day. I met them as my students. You know what I'm saying. Like it's a lot of them, the majority of my cast for my movie, my former students. You know what I'm saying. And now we're to the point where you know they helping me with stuff because I don't know, because you know I'm in the classroom and they working in the field, so then they can sort of give me some game that I don't know, because you know I'm in the classroom and they're working in the field, so then they can sort of give me some, some game that I can reincorporate into the classroom. It's been a beautiful thing, you know. But those are the.
Ryan:Those are the reasons why I'm here at USF. You know, I've been here for so long, invest a lot of time. You know, sometimes people get sort of funny. I don't call me the USF guy. I'm totally fine with that. You know what I'm saying. Like it's totally fine.
Ryan:Like there are-workers, the people that I've been in the trenches with, and then it's been those wonderful students, yourself included, who I've been able to stay in touch with over the years, even when you're not in my class. No more. Like that's why I do it. That is the food for my soul that allows me to continue to get up and be like. You know what here go to this semester is ready, let's do it. You know what I'm saying, and as long as that continues to happen, as long as I'm able to have good people working with me as well as meet some incredible new people as you know, students then I'm always going to want to be involved in in educating and film teaching in some way, form or fashion yeah,
Lauren:I was also thinking back to when I was in electronic field production.
Lauren:That was back in fall of 2021 and at the time I still wasn't sure even what I wanted to do after college, because I thought, you know, do I want to be know, do I want to be on camera, do I want to be behind the scenes? And I was looking back at some of the assignments that I did in your class and I think at the time I thought that they were good. But now I look back and it's a little bit cringy for me to look at cringy for me to look at. But I feel like it's also just kind of a lesson that once you just start something it doesn't have to be perfect, but then you're able to look back and see how you've improved over time. What is it like for you to see that growth in your students over time?
Ryan:That is the best part of the job and everyone's got to understand. To be good at something, you have to suck at it first. Michael Jordan was not born dunking a basketball. He at some point picked it up for the first time and he was probably not very good. You know what I'm saying. And so you just have to be comfortable with not being good at something at first, but then having the commitment to put in the work to get better.
Ryan:I look back at myself. I did at grad school. I'm like this will never see the light of day Like this. Ain't like. You know what I'm saying.
Ryan:It was bad, coming from sort of a news documentary background in undergrad to trying to do cinematic stuff. Um, that was a learning curve and I walked in there with with all kinds of just just arrogance oh, I know camera stuff, I know. You know I can shoot, I can edit, I'm just going to be easy. And I was so wrong and my professor beat me down, good. And so you know, when I'm able to give my experience to students and see someone who doesn't know much, they just say, hey, I want to do video and they don't know anything, and I'm able to build them from ground up like that. That's everything. Because every now and then you will get people who have experience. You know, I'm saying you got people who've done video prior to coming to me and then it's just a matter of me just really giving them a little bit of extra sauce, holding them accountable and then maybe getting them to try some different things that they've never done before. But when I get someone who's just fresh out of the womb, shall we say, no video experience to speak of, and then I'm able to build them from ground up and then see them go to being like what they are, like that is, I mean, that's the best part of it your money as an educator. You don't make your money as an educator if you keep getting prodigies and then all you got to do is sort of say, well, you know, just try this, try that. That's not, that's dope, that's wonderful, but that's not. You know, it's kind of like coaching an all-star team. You know, you got a bunch of all-stars. You might have to move some things around a little bit, but it does not carry the same weight as getting a team with people who aren't very good at the start. But then you work with them and you build them and they work hard to become something and then you can put them out there and be like yo, I'm like. You know, this is it. You know I'll drop a name Kayla Hall. You know what I'm saying.
Ryan:Kayla Hall was one we did a casting call for not a cast, a crew call for my movie. I didn't know who she was, she just came out, she came on set. All of my people on set loved her. She did a fantastic job and I told her if you ever want to come to the z school, or if you ever come to the z school and you want to do production, you let me know and I'm, and whatever you need, I'm with you. And she came in and just I mean seeing her growth from where she was in efp to where she is now. She's a stone cold killer where I can just wind her up and point her in the direction and I know my footage is going to come back in the right place. You know what I'm saying.
Ryan:Like those type of things is like those are the ones that that you really just appreciate, because, again, that's where you make your money as an educator. You know there's, there's levels. You make your money as an educator. There's levels to teaching and coaching. In my opinion, the best of the best are the ones who can take people who are not good and build them into being good. That's where you find there's levels to educating. So when I can get some of those people Alyssa Lopez another example came in didn't know nothing and then next thing I know she's on Big Brother flying her drone talking about how she was a videographer and all that stuff Like that's what it is all about, and that's again you know, that's, that's top tier of educating.
Lauren:So, when you have students that come in and don't, like you said, don't have any video experience, if you, if you had to summarize, what does it take to get them to the point where they're able to achieve success?
Ryan:They just have to be able to work, um and and not complain and make excuses, um, that's what it's all about. It's easy to get caught up in the college lifestyle, as, I will be honest, I did. You know I didn't have the same, meant the same. The mentoring I give others my students is not what I had, you know it was. It's just college you party, you go to class and then you get a job afterwards and that's it.
Ryan:And there were so many details that I missed along that journey that I wish I would have had someone explaining to me yo, don't spend that money throwing your birthday party this year to be cool and be the popular guy which me and my buddy yeah, I wish I had somebody like yo. Take that $600, go buy you a camera and start shooting these weddings and these baby showers and all these things that you have going on here. That's what you need to be doing with your money. I didn't have that kind of guidance back then. You know so to to get to the space now where I can just sort of tell the students like yo, like, this is what you need, this is this is what you have to do in order to be successful, be better than me. You know, and while I did have some natural skills that I carried in from high school, I didn't really I didn't, I didn't put them to use like that. You know, try to inspire students to work as hard as they possibly can and understand the difference between partying in college and then partying once you have a real job and you're making real money. There's levels to it. You know what I'm saying. You will party so much better and with so many more resources if you take care of your business when you're an undergrad and tie up all the loose ends and home yourself into a seasoned professional. The partying on the next level when you take and pay vacations and stuff like that. That's what we all need to be aspiring to get to, not these little silly parties that you do at someone's house and all that stuff when you're an undergrad, thinking that you just have to do these things because you're just so overwhelmed with life and college.
Ryan:And I'm sorry if I'm coming off like an old head and stuff, but this is what I wish somebody would have told me. You know what I'm saying and I walk around here from time to time. People still think I'm a student and I'm like you know. I wish in a lot of ways that I would have had this kind of guidance when I was that age, because I didn't, and it was a different time. I don't have regrets, but I understand that that was something that could be improved upon. So that's what I'm going to give to this next generation is just explaining to them about like yo, like if you put in the hard work, there are so many opportunities now that were not there for me when I was in undergrad.
Ryan:Like we couldn't you know, we couldn't rent out professional grade cameras like the ones we got down in the lab and go shoot something or take pictures of, do graduation pictures and stuff like that. We didn't have the money and it wasn't encouraged. We were told to just go get a job. We were not told to yo. You realize you could be making some cash money into your pockets if you grab a camera and go film that probate show with the Alpha Phi Alpha or you go do a bid day video with that sorority across campus. You can make some money doing that. We were not programmed to do that and so now we've got all of that out there.
Ryan:Social media has been the gift of a million. You know it's been an amazing gift. You know it's been an amazing gift for the video artists because everyone wants content for social media and we, as as the people who have trained in this industry for as long as we have, we are the ones who can get that content done in a high quality manner and fast. So for any student that comes to me, it's going to be like yo, what you get out of it is what you put in. If you work hard at it, you can be that next big. You know you can have a very successful business that we I've lost count of. How many former students here have their own businesses and who are doing very well shooting video, photography, editing stuff like that? You have to put the work in period. There's no shortcut to hard work.
Lauren:I remember I think it was the very first assignment in your EFP class we had to use those huge Panasonic cameras and now so many people are. You know, you just pull out your phone and you can shoot in 4K. How do you feel like the evolution of technology is impacting the industry?
Ryan:you like the. You know the evolution of technology is impacting the industry. Well, I do not allow phones in my classes. I would not allow that unless you're going underwater or something like that. I don't allow phones. So mainly because I don't. I just don't feel like like be like people are working hard enough if you're using your phone Like I want you to learn something new. But I totally forgot that you had the Panasonics.
Lauren:You don't have those anymore.
Ryan:No, I forgot. I could not remember whether or not you had the, but then when I thought about it I was like, yeah, she did have the Panasonics.
Lauren:Yeah, but then that was the year that we got. I think it was that year that you got all the new Sony cameras which was amazing.
Ryan:Yes. So look, you know, the technology is a big thing. We have to stay current on that. We have to make sure that we are staying. We're doing our students a disservice if we do not uh, you know keep them up to speed with the technology. That doesn't mean that we buy a new camera every time a new camera comes out. Um, because that's, in a lot of ways, is not feasible financially speaking. But it's just keeping an open mind, right to say look right, here's what we have here, but here's what you can get for yourself once you get out of here, because you can't take our equipment with you, so you won't have to buy your own equipment anyway. Here's what I recommend for you. It's a cousin, it's the next generation of this equipment that we have here in the lab. So you have to, as a professor in this industry, you have to be open-minded, and I'll be honest and say that I did.
Ryan:You know, I've had arguments with former co-workers who didn't want to, you know advance, who were like those cameras are fine, and I said that's it, that's right, they just fine, but they ain't great. And if you want us to be great and have visuals that are great, that are competing with the other schools in this state, then we have to upgrade our equipment period. Because if you go on a tour at Florida State or UCF or one of those schools or something like that, then you come for a tour here and you look at what we got. It's not a competition. They're gonna be like the drones are dope but what else? You know I'm saying so like it took a few years of me complaining and a couple of blowups at faculty meetings not from me, from other people for us to finally be like yeah, he was right, you know what I'm saying. And then when we got that equipment, then it was like okay, now we're set up for the next 10 years.
Ryan:You know what I'm saying. We don't need another. You know we always try to advance ourselves, but we weren't in that. We're not in the Stone Age, no more. We were in the Stone Age before. You know what I'm saying. And now we are right there where we can compete with anybody in the state based on our equipment and the faculty that we have here.
Ryan:So the technology has always been something that has been a blessing for anyone who wants to do the visual artists, the visual arts. Now, technology is a lot cheaper than it was back when I was out there, and there are a lot of hacks when you can buy a little tiny lens and put it on your phone and then that becomes like a 35 millimeter, like cinematic lens, like that, like that stuff is out there. You know what I'm saying. So if you, if you want it, if you want to work hard and you want to learn a lot of resources there that you can do that with, and you know, and and again, it's a good time to be a video person. It really is do you think?
Lauren:well, I, I, I think that having the nicer cameras is amazing, and I definitely am somebody that wants to have nice things. Um, but what do you think makes a good story? Because I know some people will say you don't need a fancy camera in order to to have a good story well, I mean a good story, you gotta have.
Ryan:You gotta get your audience invested in it. You have to have them connect with a character. You know I'm saying, um, you gotta have someone in there. That's got. You know, even if you're telling a story about an event and I use this example a lot in efp if it's an event, it's like, okay, who are the people involved in the event? Who is putting the event on? Who is the event? Who is putting the event on? Who is the event benefiting? You do an interview or have a conversation with those people. Now, we're drawing people in.
Ryan:A statue is just a statue. You can't do a story on a statue of somebody. It's like, okay, this is a statue of somebody. It's like, okay, this is a statue of somebody. Let's talk about this descendant here of said person who's got this statue and what it means for this descendant of this civil rights person who has this statue downtown in Tampa, or something like that. That's how you bring people in.
Ryan:You have to connect with people and with characters, period. We see it in, even like we watch the programming on the animal planet. They give the lions and the hyenas a name and they talk about the children and the brothers and the sisters, and the aunts and the uncles and all that stuff that is specifically designed to connect with humans who value family, kids, our enemies, those type of things. Making things that people can connect to is how you tell a good story. Okay, a beginning, a middle and an end. And again, the Disney formula it works. You know what I'm saying. Any formula it works. You know I'm saying it's. It's been recycled a million times, but it works because we're connecting to people and stories and characters. That's sort of what makes a good story. And then, and then the other thing that I'll say that again, there's levels to storytelling.
Ryan:But for me personally, I like people who tell the truth. I like people who make content that is very close to real life, even if it is quote unquote fiction. Is that how that fight would have happened in real life? 100%. I like stuff like that. That's personally like real life, television, realistic stuff and I'm still into my superhero stuff for sure, love my Black Panther, all that stuff, as you can see. But I like people and storytellers who are not afraid to ruffle people's feathers to tell the truth. The truth is the truth. A lot of people are like oh, it's my truth, it's your truth, it's the truth. And if something happened and it was on camera and the rest of the universe saw it happen on camera, then if you recreate that situation actually as it happened, that's good business, even if it makes people upset. You know what I mean.
Ryan:And so it's just connecting with people, characters, telling the truth and and and having the passion. It's easy to tell when someone has the passion to tell the story. You know I'm saying and I get it when I'm doing. You know our presentations in the EFP where it's like all right, tell me what you want to do your movie on. There's people who have energy and enthusiasm and there's people who are just up there who want to have a grade. I just want my degree, so my mama will stop bothering me. Passion is all of it. When you care about it, you won't tell a good story period I love that.
Lauren:Um, I know you're working on a reboot for your paper line feature film, so what can you tell us about that? And then, for listeners who maybe, um you know, can you fill us in on the story behind it?
Ryan:So it's really just the first movie we did. We did that on about $25,000. Kickstarter donations, all of that type of jazz. It did very well. Premiere went over really well.
Ryan:We did well on the film festival circuit and the goal of that was to always make it sort of like a TV series, to make it sort of an African-American version of Cobra Kai that takes place on a college campus as opposed to a high school. Where Cobra Kai took place, strike happened, the director strike, writer strike, um, uh um, actor strike, and so coming out of that, it became very difficult to sort of get those meetings for like, about um for a tv show. So we made the pivot to making it a feature film and, um, I've just been reaching out to people using our initial visual, some more higher end actors who are not currently under contract, so I will not say their names, but they are very interested. They've given me the verbal thumbs up that as soon as we are done with the script, rewrite um, that we will go ahead and and and make this thing happen. Looking to do that first quarter of 2026, I teamed up with one of the writers of netflix forever, geron horton. He's helping me rewrite the script to make it a little more sort of like you know, character friendly. What we're talking about and I'm excited about that, you know because the goal of it was to sort of feed the audience that has largely been neglected.
Ryan:African-americans love action-based programming. Black people love WWEwe. There's a massive wwe audience that is african-american. Like that portion of the wwe audience. It's like double the percentage of the black pop populate. The black population america is 13 26 of the wwe audience is African American. It's the largest ethnic group that watches their programming. Okay, so it's like I'm in all the blurred groups on Facebook where black people who are into comic books and action and kung fu and all that stuff. It is an audience that is starving for fresh content. Right now we watching black panther a hundred times, we watching blade, we watching, you know, the last dragon and stuff like that. We are thirsty for new content relating to action, martial arts, pertaining to the black experience here in America, and our program, our movie Paper Line, which will now be called Paper Made, is going to feed that audience.
Lauren:Is there anything that you are excited about, anything new that you're going to be bringing to the reboot?
Ryan:um, yeah, well, well, we'll definitely have. There'll be more fighting, of course. Um, we, we are going to increase the, the quality, the visual quality. Uh, we'll have a fight scene, uh, cinematographer, which we did not have the first time. We we just had one dp and then and that was it. We're gonna actually have a guy who specializes in in fight scene, uh, cinematography. I'm very excited about that because that's going to take the visuals, uh, the visuals.
Ryan:The first one was solid, but this new version is like, if we incorporate that kind of camera movement, it's going to be really something special. And then it really just gets to dig a little bit more into the story of the fraternity. The lead character, why he's at the university, how did he overcome these things that has been placing for him, why did he want to join the fraternity that he joined, and then what did he have to do to finally finish his project or his process. Those things were not covered in the original version because we just ran out of money. You know what I'm saying. But they will be covered in detail in this next version. But they will be covered in detail in this next version.
Ryan:I've had very good feedback from people who've seen sort of my pitch deck, my script. Even though script's being rewritten, we still have some really good ideas that are going to come out of it. And again, just feeding the audience, something with some classic people within the Black martial arts community who I will not say right now because we've not got any, we don't have ink to page yet. But when I sit down and I talk with them and explain to them what I want to do with them, they are like yo.
Ryan:This is really cool.
Ryan:Let me know when it's go time and it is getting close to being go time um, where can people watch the film? The original film is currently streaming, for now on amazon prime and to be um, it will be there, uh, probably, I'm thinking, until the end of this year and then I'm going once the re, once this final script is is done, we're going to take that thing down to make sure that maybe I might leave it paid on like voodoo or something like that, for people who want to see what the original looked like before we got a bigger budget. But for right now it's available on amazon prime and tubi. The reboot um, that is to be determined. We're gonna shoot it and then we're going, you know, see who, who wants to mess with it. But we've had conversations with with streaming services beforehand, letting them know that this is what we're working on. They, you know we've had a degree of interest and they're like when you're done, let us. And so that's the way we're going.
Lauren:Awesome, you know, kind of going back to the college. You know years, I, and for people I think a lot of people even when they're in college they are still figuring it out. A lot of the time they don't know what they want to do, as was the case with me. So what advice would you give to students who feel uncertain about their path?
Ryan:Well, first of all, it's okay to be uncertain. It's okay. You just have to sort of find the middle ground of being uncertain and understand that you know you got to be an adult, you know. So while it's cool to be was, it's okay to not know for sure positioned to pay your bills. You know what I'm saying. Period and that's just being an adult.
Ryan:I've had times in my adult life when I'm like dang, I don't know what I really want to do, but I still got to go to work. And then who knows what happens when I'm going to work and just giving a good effort at work and it opens doors that I didn't previously see. So for a college student who is not sure what they want to do, you just got to go to class and give a good effort in whatever class you're taking, even though if you're not sure, have a good effort. You know what I'm saying. And even if it's not your thing, if you show that you give a good effort, I don't know any educator that that does not appreciate students who give good effort, like I've had students who have been like I don't know if I want to go and do film or production or anything like that and they just keep it real with me up front and I'm totally fine with that, like I appreciate it. And then all I say in return is well, look, make sure you work hard while you're here. You never know If you end up coming out of this wanting to do this video thing cool If you don't cool, but we can still be cool, like you know what I'm saying. Like I don't just collaborate with my former students that are videographers. We have a lot of IPRA former students that I'm very close with who have helped me in some of my branding and all of that type of thing. And if that is a better place for you to be IPRA reporting and stuff like that I'm going to always push you you know what I'm saying to go where you want to be.
Ryan:But it has to start with having a good attitude towards things that you don't like. It's kind of like champions do the things that they don't like to do with the same energy that they do the things that they do like to do, and that's where you find that sweet spot of what you can tolerate, what you want to do with yourself. You have to give. When you're unsure, that means you give everything that's put in front of you, equal attention so that you can figure out what it is you want to do. But if you're unsure and then you're giving bad effort, then it's like, how are you even going to find out what you want to do? Because you're not even trying at what it is you think you want to do so you don't have to. Again, like you know, it's like people are late bloomers.
Ryan:I'm all for people who get, like you know, career changes, stuff like that. That's amazing. Like my mom did a career change as she was I think she was like 45, you know what I'm saying and that was dope, like good, but she didn't dog it while she was on her career change you know what I'm saying she still understood that she had to go to work and work hard in order to find that thing that she could be good at, in order to get to that next space in her life. You know what I'm saying. And so that's just something that every student, you don't have to know it all right now. You don't have to make the life decision right now, but you have to understand that you got to be an adult. But you have to understand that you got to be an adult, and you have to in order to find what you want to do, you have to give good effort to the things that you're trying out.
Lauren:I think that that is great advice. Um, when you think about the impact that you want to have through your teaching and through your creative work, what do you hope it will be? Oh I love throwing the deep questions at people question.
Ryan:I look, I I think that, um, when, when my creative work is, a lot of it is based on my experience. I'm learning now to sort of write things that I haven't lived. I'm writing a second feature film, an action film, where it's not based on my experience, but I'll just say that, you know, as far as like a legacy situation, that's sort of what this question is about, right? You know, I, as a storyteller, I want to be known as a guy who was not afraid to just talk about the things that people talk about, but they don't often see it. When we did the Ivory League Confessions of a Black Faculty my first film back in 2020, there wasn't nobody prepared for that. I went to a place, a serious place, on that movie, but it was a real place and I was not afraid to do it because there's a lot of content out there.
Ryan:And, again, I'm a victim of my own circumstances. I'm a professor, so I learn, I research, I watch everything, I pay attention to who doing what and everything like that, and I'm like I'm going to carve a lane for myself where I'm not copying anybody else and nobody has my style has my style, and so my style is to sort of tell the stories that people just kind of be like I don't know, and I'm going to put some stuff in there that people are like, oh dang, he went there. Absolutely, that is Ryan Watson style. So with the ivory league, with paper line, there's some stuff in there that made some people uncomfortable. That's my style. You know what I'm saying and now you know this for being in the classroom with me. When we in the classroom I'm going to say some stuff to you that it's true it might make you uncomfortable, but it's me telling you what can happen to you if you make certain choices when you go out into the field. If you don't want to listen to these things that I'm telling you and you go out in the field and you do dumb stuff and it ruins your reputation. Like that's just my style.
Ryan:And so the, the, the legacy and the I guess the, the, uh, the ryan watson brand is a guy who's going to tell you the truth, even if you don't like it, in the visuals, in my teaching, because I've had very good success in doing so, and I can't tell you how many times people, even some of the Greek life folks who was like, ah, you telling our business in a movie. I've had so many of them hit me up and say yo, thank you for putting that together. That was really well done. You know what I'm saying. So again, like, while some of the people on social media might troll and all that stuff and I know that there's all those things those rate my professor and all of that mess that be out there, you know I've had way more people compliment me on my work than I've had people tell me that I didn't do a good job or that I'm not a good teacher. And you know I stay focused on those things and that's where I live and I do not plan on changing at all.
Lauren:I respect that. I think that's awesome and I'm so grateful to have had you and I mean all the professors at the Zimmerman School are so awesome and I feel like you can just tell how much you genuinely care about your students and so thank you and, yeah, I really appreciate it.
Ryan:Well, I thank you, you are a great student. Well, I thank you. You were a great student and, um, you know you. Yeah, I remember you came in this office and was asking me about I think it was your one minute doc and you were like how is this like how? And you were like the only one who came. No, it wasn't your one minute. I think it was your movie trailer.
Ryan:Now that I think about it, oh yeah yeah, and I and you were like the only one who came in for feedback and I was like, okay, like because you know you want to act like I'm just this scary dude and whatnot. You know I really do roll my eyes at that like you're afraid of a guy with a bunch of comic books and toys and stuff. You see, in my office I got pop figures and my all that stuff behind here, you know. So I'm like you know, you coming in here, you afraid of me, do what I'm gonna do, breathe fire on me. I'm gonna just look like I was.
Lauren:I maybe was a little bit afraid of you at first, but then I I mean, by the time it's my my third college that I'm going to I'm like I genuinely do care and I also wanted it to be good. But I think that you know, I that and that project that I worked on in that class like I was actually really passionate about it. It made me realize I can have something that I'm passionate about and I can create a story out of that, and and so I'm so thankful that I had that assignment in your class that really just forced me to to create it yeah,
Ryan:and look, I was afraid of my cinematography professor.
Ryan:He, he was a, he scared me like he had and I didn't even meet. It was before I even met him. Like we did online courses and it wasn't like zoom where you could turn a camera on and see him. You just heard this voice and he had this deep voice and I and he knew everything to know about cinematography. There was no weaseling out of any of his stuff and he, he used to scare the mess out of me.
Ryan:Um, but then when I, when I trained under him and he gave me some feedback, saying, yo, you got you showing some good instincts there, man, like I like what you're doing there, like when I was able to win that guy over, my confidence went up like so high. You know I'm saying and, um, you know it's, it's okay to be afraid, you know to be a little bit intimidated. You know I'm saying it's, it's cool. You, you just can't be like, you know I'm not going to do it, like, yeah, he scares me, but I'm still going to take his class because I know he can get me to another level and that's always my, my, my thing is like there are people that I'll be like yeah, that cat, he ain't nothing to mess with. Like you know, let me make sure I get some good sleep before I go into there. But, like you know, you just can't be, you just can't be a whiner, you know, and just say you don't you, you he's mean, he's gonna fail me.
Ryan:I don't fail nobody, unless you're not coming to class yeah, and so I don't know what these, some of these urban legends be coming from, but I just, I just charge it to being, you know, dramatic college students, you know yeah
Lauren:think, I think you're doing something right.
Lauren:So, um, yeah, it was great chatting with you. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Ryan:Thank you for having me.
Lauren:Thank you for listening and a huge thank you to Ryan for joining me today. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to follow or subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening so you don't miss future episodes, and if you found value in this one, I'd really appreciate it if you could rate the podcast and share it with friends or anyone who might enjoy it too.
