Today we’d like to introduce you to C.J. Woods.
C.J., we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story regarding film honestly takes place back when I was about four years old. My mom took me to an audition, and I was incredibly shy and bombed it.
But leaving the audition I was more fascinated with what was going on behind the camera than in front. Fast forward years later I’m one of the top students in my film class in high school. I knew I couldn’t stop there as I had been writing stories and scripting for about 12 years at that point.
Now comes 2023, I’m 3 years graduated and I have a new lease on life, so I decided to jump into making my first short film with a proper cast and crew…did it go perfect? Absolutely not. But it was an out of body experience to be with people close to me sharing the same love for film and video. The short got released on Amazon and I gained traction within the local film community.
Here I am now and my team and I have worked on digital marketing for various places, commercials, and we’re gearing up to release our first Feature under the SiegePictures brand.
I’m super excited where we’re going and we always learn from our past to improve on what’s next.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
NO! Not at all! Being in the independent film and freelance business is not easy work as we’re constantly adjusting to meet a new goal, stay within budget, beat the weather etc.
For example, our short in 2023 “Listen To Me” saw last minute rewrites a week prior to shooting. I had one of my main actresses drop out and a location lost, so I had to almost completely rework the base of the story.
And with our most recent project, “GardenWood”, our number 1 and 2 enemies were everyone’s individual work schedules not aligning and the WEATHER. Always plan for the weather to absolutely ruin your shoot and have a back up to the back up plan.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
If somehow casually ask me, I’d say I make movies in my free time. But the RIGHT answer would probably be I am an independent filmmaker and actor that dabbles in digital marketing.
I had never saw myself as a “director” until it was placed in my hands by my mentors, Michael Daniels and Jared Evans, when they asked me if I’d try it for our second project together. I had always been the writer through every project and I have honestly close to 90 stories and scripts just in the vault. That’s my favorite thing, creating stories and letting my imagination run rampant.
With my first short being available on Amazon, that’s what I love most about my career so far. And the fact we’re all still learning and growing as filmmakers shows that there’s so much more to be accomplished. It’s truly an exciting feeling when I think about it.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Shy beyond shy. I always stayed to myself, but as I got older growing with my younger siblings and forcing myself out of a comfort zone through work and networking it kinda came naturally to switch from introverted to extroverted.
I’ve been described as “chaotically hilarious” by my friends, and honestly it may be because of all the coffee I consume in a day and weeks time, which fun fact I’ve been drinking since about four years old as well.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingchristv_?igsh=b2FjMnJjaXd6cWFn&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1A2fZrnBvH/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@siegepicturesofficial?si=-144qEUQYXYrcz8l
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kingchristv?_r=1&_t=ZP-91Z26otMhQd
