Check Out Tazi Starfire’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tazi Starfire.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started off acting while I was in foster care in Bakersfield California as an escape from the homes that I lived at Compton JR high. I played a kid who gets bullied in an anti-bullying music video by a guy named Keenan West. Actually when I was in high-school I had the opportunity to be on the news and talk about the issue. (https://youtu.be/AGdRMoXxhKM?si=EndT3BfVtpDMITf4) I was a dorky orphan boy. Anyway I had fallen in love with acting early on because everyone said I was so “gifted” as they put it. Eventually I fell in love with storytelling as a whole and have been telling stories ever since. I was eventually adopted when I was 17 years old (Crazy story btw) Out of HighSchool I went through a program called Actors Model’s and Talent for Christ which aimed to get christian actors into Hollywood to make an influence, eventually the organization went bankrupt but besides the point. All of the national and global hubs would meet for a showcase every year in Orlando FL and I traveled to showcase my talents in both acting and modeling. I received tons of positive feedback, representative offers, and auditions from the event. Once I was back home I had made up my mind to sign with Rage Talent Agency and After Eden Management and so I did. I would travel back and forth from Bakersfield to LA for auditions and work in both acting and modeling. I was booking a lot but still working part time at an electrical company in Bakersfield. All the while attempting to make my first feature film. After I got feed up being looked at like cattle in the modeling industry, being forced to do audition for roles I didn’t want, and having IP stolen from me by some prominent people in the LA area I decided I was going to drop my representation and make an attempt to start my own studio. Something I dreamed of early on in JR high and have been chasing that dream ever since, I’m so close now. Anyway all of the contact that I had made saw me as someone who could be a means to their personal ends now and I was discarded by them. Oh well. In my search for funding I took every opportunity that came my way, I went to Sierra Leone, Africa on a missions trip, we were there in the bush for 3 months and I learned a lot about myself during that season. I had stopped a riot from happening, saw some mysterious things right before my eyes and even learned how to ride a motorcycle for the first time. It was an unforgettable experience and I still talk with a few of the people holding it down over there today. Once I got back I helped guinea pig a few new charitable organizations. One in particular I’m proud to have been apart of is called City Serve, I would love to start an organization of my own someday that I and trusted people I know run ourselves. Eventually the trial periods were over and they no longer needed my services but also wouldn’t give me a job to work full time, which I was okay with because it wasn’t my calling. I went into a season of trying, I tried working regular jobs, freelancing for commercial companies local to Bakersfield and eventually took a gig for WinShape Camps on the SWAT team which was a group of four that would travel around the south to the biggest summer camps and provide extra support as needed. This is when I was first introduced to ATL, and someone I was romantically interested in. After the camp I moved to Auburn AL with some people I met at through WinShape and lived there for a year preparing for my move to ATL. I started acting, writing and directing. I took gig work for Auburn University and Fox Sports taking photos and on occasion video of the football games and events the school would put on. I made some investor contacts while I was living in Auburn that motivated me to move to Atlanta in 2019 and start looking for land. I also had what was supposed to be a full time job at a production company, turned out to be a dud. With these investors though it was always one excuse or another and then the ultimate excuse of Covid came along and I haven’t heard from them since. I made some good friends riding electric longboards around downtown ATL and all throughout covid we would shred the streets of Atlanta and the belt line and charge at Murder Kroger across from Ponce City Market. I really fell in love with Atlanta’s trees and nature attributes. In Bakersfield is nothing but a bunch of dirt and oil fields and I love being in the city within the forest. Back to my business side though I had started creating again and loosely looking for representation again but never signed with anyone because I was having too much fun making my own projects. During Covid I took on a lot of debt to survive but afterwards I couldn’t get myself out of the hole that I dug so I started to work as a background for film and tv, one to meet people and two to pay down some of this debt I had accumulated. Eventually I got a minivan stripped out all of the seats and lived in there until my debt was resolved. I was background through central casting and then got to know the AD’s and became a PA and then got to know the people on set and connected with the Grip’s the most so I became a Grip. I’m going to jump forward but am happy to fill in the gaps of the story. I produced my first film in 2022 called Jack and Ava. It’s not my story but I pitched, fundraised, hired and managed the money and everything in between. We shot in Hogansville GA for 20 days of production. We had 150k to play with and 32 locations and about 50 employees. Although I didn’t have full control over the films progress or success I did manage to get three offers from distributors and we signed with Freestyle Entertainment and released the film in January of this year. It’s available for VOD (video on demand, pay to watch) Off of the successes like getting best picture at The DaVinci International Film Festival in LA and depending on weather or not the numbers come back good at the end of this quarter I am still pursuing to fund my film studio, the idea is simple, infrastructure ownership and IP ownership and what better place to do this than ATL where the crew’s are experienced and the infrastructure readily for sale.

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?
No, tons of roadblocks and those will always persist but it’s those who don’t quit that ultimately succeed.

But if I have to give you some examples of the struggles along the way I would say the ever changing way of the industry. Foster care wasn’t helpful to my dreams and ambitions. Being so far away fro my family is difficult as well, I think about giving up everyday just for them. Lack of funding is always a rocky road when you’re starting up.

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?
I am a filmmaker, I can take a small budget and depending on how much control I have over the project I can turn what I can control into something good. I was told once that Jack and Ava looks like a 3 million dollar movie well I had 150 grand. I can see a way forward so this industry can thrive but there are so many unwilling to try.

What are your plans for the future?
I’m looking forward to the day my film studio is fully funded and has a runway of a couple years, I think it would be a benefit not only to the Atlanta area but also to the audience I will attract.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tazistarfire.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tazistarfire/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tazistarfire/videos