Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Yarbrough.
Hi Jeff, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Started in a small community theater with a 640 seat 1920’s art deco theater, and quickly became president of the arts council, and the theater. We were sponsoring plays, concerts and art of all types. That lead rather quickly into video production, and my first feature-length film project in Memphis. I went deeper into music videos, features, shorts and industrial/educational video production. A few years ago, I also dove into live event production, and currently have an 8 channel switcher for live events. Yarbrough Media Productions does many events per year, and we produce the Nashville Music Awards every year. Along with my beautiful wife, composer, music producer, we are known for bringing people’s stories to life in new and unique ways.
For years, I had also stuffed all the stories and scripts back into my head, and refused to write until the time was right. I knew that writing was an exacting discipline and a show rises or falls based on the script. A few years ago, I was traveling extensively and so I started listening to all the books that I could find on script writing. I started with Blake Snyder and his “Save The Cat” series and several of the biggest names in script writing in Hollywood, and then, I started to write. “Crane Heist Revenge” is a feature-length film and it is about half finished. This is an Oceans 11 kind of story. Then, I wrote X-BUS, a Sci-Fi TV episodic series that is like Knight Rider, on steroids. It has been featured in 4 different film festivals so far. You can see the movie poster in the pics section.
Next, I am writing a faith-based TV Episodic called Killer Orca that is also Sci-Fi with a redemptive story.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are always struggles. The butterfly cannot emerge from the cocoon without struggling to be free, and this builds the strength needed to fly. Some struggles included the transition into film from other occupations.
We are constantly learning and pursuing unique ways to do it better, listen to clients closer, and bring their ideas to life creatively.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
When someone sends me a script, or an idea, or story, after immersing myself in the story, I start looking into what I can do to tell this story accurately, at first. Then, I want to be as creative and outside-the-box as possible. I like to explain it like a steak dinner. My client brings the steak. It is my job to season this steak and cook it so that it is much more savory and tasty than anyone else. The creativity goes into the script, and all the way down to the shots we use, and the editing. In my pics, you will see a baby grand piano (my wife’s) that we hauled up , and set up on a waterfall at a family’s pool to shoot a really cool music video. These are the shots I love!
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
In the next 5-10 there will be much more AI infusion into the work process, and some say that it will take over. I know I have seen some very impressive AI films, but at the end of the day, it is still going to be human creativity that takes over and does the job best. You can tell the difference. I believe that Humans will always have the upper hand in this.
It looks like Yarbrough Media Productions will be more active in the live event space as post-covid society seeks more in-person seminars and meetings. We will be more active in music videos and short storytelling as well as delving deep into some feature-length films.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yarbroughmediaproductions.com
- Instagram: @yarbrough_media_productions
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeff.yarbrough.73
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefferyallenyarbrough
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hoverjeff
