Today we’d like to introduce you to Timothy Robins.
Hi Timothy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Clear Lake, a suburb of Houston, thinking that I wanted to be an engineer or something like that. There were a lot of kids with parents who worked at NASA near me, so that seemed cool. But in highschool, I quickly realized that I wasn’t that great at math. Not thinking much about the future, I ended up taking a theatre class for an art credit, and was encouraged to audition for the school Improv Troupe.
Many of the people in that class also took AV to make skits and commercials for Improv shows during school, and this really appealed to me. Through the rest of highschool I would work with my friends on video projects, eventually making short films and a super low budget feature with the help of our AV teacher Scott MacKerron. By my senior year, I didn’t know of anything else I wanted to do, so that’s how I decided to go to UT Austin for a Radio Television and Film degree.
Between 2017 and 2021, the majority of my free time was devoted to working on projects for myself and my friends. There was a lot of weekends where I would miss out on a party or a Spring Break trip to stay in Austin and work on something. I cycled through all of the positions on set before landing as a Producer. Partially because nobody else really wanted to do it, but also because it was rewarding helping my friends bring their projects to life.
After graduating from college, I kept in touch with the people I had met and continued to help them out. I found work in Houston and have been here ever since, working remotely with my friends on their projects. I’ve helped them build up their production companies, make music videos, commercials, shorts, and most recently a feature film. My closest collaborators are Jack Gross, Samantha Hussey, and Beo Lerman, all of who are very talented creatives that I feel lucky to call my friends. I’m really thankful that I’ve been able to keep in contact with them while making things we really believe in.
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?
The biggest hurdle in wanting to be a filmmaker is that there is no set path to follow. People will tell you to go to film school or move to Hollywood and start working and the thing is both are good options. But all of the small steps that come before and after aren’t laid out, and everyone has a different journey to making it.
After graduating, I was very stubborn and wanted to try to make it as a freelancer. It’s completely doable, and I have plenty of friends who have made it their full time job. But after a very hot summer and some health complications, I realized I wasn’t cut out for it. It took a long time to find a job, as fulltime employment in anything related to video production is very competitive. I hadn’t found my niche in Producing until later than some of my peers, so I eventually settled into a job outside of the industry that allows me the free time to work remotely on projects and travel to Austin for production.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Working as a Producer, I get to follow projects from beginning to end, thinking on my feet to solve problems and make sure that we end up with something we can say we’re proud of. It’s a lot of logistics, and with how broad the responsibilities are I can go from working on budgets one day to sourcing clown costumes the next.
Having experience in various different positions has helped me in my role as I have a good understanding of what is needed for everyone to be able to do their job well.
I think what sets me apart from others is that I can stay calm when things get stressful, and I’m always respectful to the people that work on projects I’m organizing. Being reliable as a coworker and showing that we care for anyone who works with us goes a long way in building a positive reputation.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
The best advice I can give is to make things early, build connections with like minded people, and say yes as much as possible until you’re busy enough to say no. The only way to get better is with practice and research. The more you work at something, the more mistakes you’ll make, and the better you’ll be at avoiding them in the future.
I would also say that working on other people’s projects is super important. If you want to make movies but don’t want to work on anyone else’s, you’re going into things with the wrong mindset. Working with other people is a great way to learn, build connections, and in the worst cases learn from others mistakes. It never hurts to even work down a level in a more junior role if you don’t have a reason not to. Some of the best connections I’ve made are from meeting people this way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://trobins.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tim.oe.tee/?hl=en
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trobins-com/
