Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Jackson.
Hi Nick, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I first moved to Nashville in 2020 to study music production at Belmont. Like most 18 year olds in Nash, I thought I knew what my entire career would look like in the entertainment industry – but within a semester, I realized my chops didn’t hold a flame to most of the talent here. I ended up switching my major to Motion Pictures and without much of a plan I bought a camera just because I figured a film student should probably have one.
A few weeks later, my roommate was playing a writers round and I brought my camera along just for fun. I quickly realized that this camera allowed me to become a part of the music process without every having to touch an instrument. This became the leaping point for my whole career. I started shooting any show I could get into, making posters, live videos, short films, the works.
Fast forward four years, and now I’m a full time freelance visual artist. I’ve toured doing photo/video, shot for some of my favorite artists, I do CGI for LED backdrops at touring/festival shows, and I’ve had the opportunity to direct a number of music videos, live sessions, and narrative projects- I’m living my dream!
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?
Of course not. Freelancing is a scary world. One one hand, I have absolute freedom. I get to be my own boss, make my own schedule, decide what work I do and don’t have to do, it’s a dream! But on the other hand, I never know what’s going to pay my bills, I never know when the next job is coming in.
Those things always seem to work themselves out. The hardest part for me is the mental game that goes along with it. I’m only 23, a year and a half out of college, and I’ve made it this far. But, I often find myself wondering where it can go from here. How can I push myself to strive for more? How can I build a real career, buy a house, start a family, all the grown up things.
It feels daunting, obviously, but I’m so lucky to live in an area with a number of role models who have all done this before. Bryant Bural, Carson Butcher, Dawson Waters, Victor Picazo, just to name a few. In Nashville, freelancing is as viable a career as any other, and I can’t wait to see what other struggles pop up along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The one piece of work that feels like my greatest accomplishment so far is a proof of concept short film I directed back in April. It’s called ‘Hostage of the Glacier’, and follows my great grandfather through a few of his endeavors during WWII. We shot in a real c47 ( a WWII transport plane), had real period uniforms, a crew comprised of some of my best friends and fellow freelancers. It sounded impossible, but it was everything I could ever wish for.
With my personal projects I often find myself in positions where I’m trying to do the impossible. I tell people my big fantastical ideas and they tell me they’re just that, impossible. But my secret weapon? I’m as stubborn as someone can be. In what world should a 23 year old be shooting a movie in an 80 year old warbird in Kentucky? Especially for a story that takes place flying in the arctic circle? Of course that comes with challenges, but I just went full steam ahead anyways.
The project is still a work in progress (turns out it’s going to be kinda hard to make a grounded airplane look like it’s flying), but nonetheless I’m still more proud of it than anything else I’ve ever done.
How do you think about luck?
None at all. I’ve found a lot of success, and it would be easy to chock that all up to luck. I could name a million times where I’ve been in the right place at the right time, but I was only in those places because of how hard I worked to get there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nickjacksonvisuals.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickjacksonvisuals
