Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenerro Wade
Hi Jenerro , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I grew up in the 3rd ward and attended Mount Carmel High school which is over in the Garden Villas area. I received my undergraduate degree from William Penn University in Oskaloosa Iowa, where I played football and ran track. I then proceeded to pursue my masters degree and moved to London, England; I received a dual master degree in International Sports Management from London Metropolitan University and SUNY Cortland in upstate New York. While in London I worked in the West End at the Novello Theatre as a Hospitality host and part of the front of house staff. Outside of my studies and working i still had the itch to continue my football career, so i sought out a league and tried out for a team which led me to playing for the London Blitz where we won two BritBowl titles and a European Championship in my 3 year tenure.
After completing my degree I started my professional career interning for NFL UK and the Houston Texans. I worked my way up from our Battle Red position, which is the part time marketing events team, to marketing intern. My duties were to execute fan club events through out the city, as well assist with in game, half time and post game entertainment. My desire to work closer with the team led me to transition to the Football Operations intern position where I assisted with the logistical planning and execution of the team and facility management. I was fortunate enough to be apart of the staff that won the 2018 NFL Travel Directors of the year award, where are voted as the best staff of the year by our peers. While with the Texans I was able to assist in other major sporting events such as Superbowl 51, NCAA Final Four, Copa America Centanario, multiple NCAA Football Bowl games. Currently, I still assist as a committee chair for the Texas Bowl, in which I assist the competing teams Football Operations departments.
After my time with the Texans was complete I started my acting career in 2019, starring in 1989 dreams productions stage play of When Temptation comes directed by Harold J Trotter. The show was a success and had multiple runs in the Houston area, along with a multi city national tour. Shortly after I became represented by Pastorini Bosby talent agency which has led to tremendous progression to my film and television career by helping me book multiple national commercial and film campaigns.
After a few years of acting I noticed that a lot of my duties and tasks i fulfilled during my time in sports was basically producing, which led me founding Banjo Beaver Productions in 2021. We have produced multiple award nominated films, with our latest film currently touring the festival circuit, it is a psychological thriller titled “Lips Like Fire”. We just announced on June 6th that it was accepted into the Waco Independent Film festival. We hope for the same or even more success with our next short film, a comedy titled “Write On” which is in post production and should be completed this month. We are currently partnered with other productions throughout the city such as Slidelight Productions and Front Pocket Productions, where we are currently finding ways to give back to the younger film makers in Houston. One way we feel we are adding this value is by the launch of our Take Two Demo Reel Development Service, which is our way of helping younger actors get good quality footage for their demo tapes to book better paying gigs, get a talent agent they have dreamed of, or just showcase their acting talents properly and proudly.
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?
I wont say it has been a bumpy road, but it has been a road full of twists and turns, which I am sure tons of ambitious people experience. Things such as career changes and figuring out what is our true passion in life. Film making in particular is difficult and I know I have a lot to learn, which is why I have made it an effort to attend as many events as possible to learn from others who have done it, such as film festivals, networking events, workshops, seminars and anything else that can help me learn from more experienced individuals. One saying that my team likes to reiterate, is we never want to be the big fish in a small pond. Meaning we want to always be in a place where we are continuing to learn from others, in hopes to pay that knowledge forward by helping other Houston Film makers. One of our largest hurdles has been understanding the Houston landscape and how to get businesses and investors here to see film as a viable business model.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am founder/ CEO of Banjo Beaver Productions which is an indie film production company based here in Houston, Texas. My team and I are a bunch of passionate filmmakers dedicated to creating thought-provoking narratives that explore unconventional characters and spark dialogue about their social circumstances. At Banjo Beaver Productions, we believe in fostering local talent and have had the privilege of collaborating with numerous talented individuals and companies from the Houston area throughout our film production journey such as Front Pocket Productions, Slidelight Productions, Captiv Creative, Timber Pictures, PDX Productions, Panther car and Suite Bread.
I mainly focus my efforts on the producing front where I develop relationships, find investors and assemble the scene as the Avengers would say. But I have been truly fortunate enough to partner with suer talented individuals such and Nick Pinelli who has led the charge on directing most of our project, with his fantastic ideas. Jared Pierson who is a super talented director of photography, who has a great eye and just a super hard worker. Amanda Pfieffer, who is a writer and better yet world builder who has developed numerous award winning scripts and has given us the honor of developing some. Victoria Yap, who is a jack of all trades and does many thankless jobs but ultimately keeps us all on track as a line producer and business partner. Rey Francis, who is a jack of all trades in front and behind the camera, he brings a drive to consistently move forward and always better ourselves. This team and countless others, that would be way to many to name, but you know who you are! We all have the same goal, which is to help continue the growth of the Houston indie scene. We primarily enjoy narrative films and fleshing those type of stories but we also have experience working in the commercial space. We are proud of our Award nominated and future nominated films such as Write On and Lips Like Fire. However we are even more excited to show you things to come and what we have planned. So stay tuned to our Instagram channel!!! (@Banjobeaverproductions)
What sets us apart is our passion and our team work. One of my favorite quotes “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together” We operate with the mind set of wanting to help each other grow and setting our egos aside for the betterment of the team/ project. We all know our roles when assigned to do them but we also love to switch things up in development and encourage each other to learn as much as we can in other areas to make us well rounded. Our current hype statement is “We da best” Team, thats what sets us apart.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something surprising that someone may not know about me is my obsession with Dr. Who. Particularly the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras. Living in the UK during this time, I was obsessed. But outside of being a Sci-Fi nerd I love the outdoors and travel and a huge sports fan. A badge of honor that I carry around is my friends saying I am the most random person they know, and thats me, I am random and I love exploring the unique things about life and the world. A Jack of All Trades.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/BanjoBeaverProductions
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/banjobeaverproductions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/5Zyeu5srqPCeqtFE/?mibextid=JRoKGi
