Today we’d like to introduce you to Colson Peacock.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
All my life, I had an insatiable need to create. As a child, my siblings and I took our parent’s VHS recorder and made our own home movies of lightsaber battles in our backyards. Middle school would be me running around with friends to make homemade horror slashers films in our local neighborhood. In high school, I would act in plays and musicals. My sophomore year, I received the honor of writing and directing my own one-act play. However, I will attest to this day it was too wordy and not enough action happens. In my early teens, YouTube emerged where I could experiment with different visual mediums in order to entertain an audience with immediate feedback. The common thread throughout all my experiences was a desire to experiment, to venture out into the unknown creatively, and piece together a story worth showing and telling in an interesting way.
I was born in Bellingham, Washington. At the age of eight, we moved to a world completely alien to us, Florida. In my humble opinion, the state is still a home to strange aliens. After four years in Florida, my family packed our lives up and moved to Georgia where I came of age in the suburbs outside of Atlanta. At age 11, I declared I wanted to be in movies when I grew up. That childlike sense of wonder never wavered. In my undergraduate studies, the road to a formal film education proved to be a tricky one. It took me a total of 3 schools to find a program that was the right fit for me. When I arrived at my final destination at the University of Georgia, I was out before I was in. Despite my short time there, I seized every opportunity I had to get practical on hands experience in filmmaking inside the classroom and outside. That can-do attitude led me to Los Angeles, a place where I planted my feet post graduation with only $200 in my bank account, a 12-year-old car, no home, and an unpaid internship. Through dedication and hard work, things worked out. An internship turned into a job. Two months of couch surfing turned into a stable living situation far away, two hours away from work, into a stable living situation two minutes away from work. I was going to make my dream a reality. But once the reality of a job and home were secured, life didn’t get any easier. If anything, I just reached the next level with new challenges.
Open to new opportunities, I found myself doing anything and everything required of a film production. I said yes to working on commercials for ads that play during the Super Bowl. I said yes to working on Season 14 of The Bachelorette. I said yes to working on music videos. My favorite music video experience was working as a PA on the music video Ain’t It Funny by Danny Brown directed by Jonah Hill. The music video happened pre mid90s and practice for Jonah to get into working on set in the director’s chair. My time on set is not limited to only professional productions. My film schoolmate/ friend/roommate Nathan DuConge has trusted me the opportunity to work on his creative projects in the indie film trenches for the past few years. Nathan wrote, directed, and produced an eight episode web series in 2017 and a short film in 2018. For the EDEN web series, my official title was 1st AD but the type of indie production required me to wear multiple hats, such as script supervisor, boom operator, and craft services. For his short film DR. FRIDAY, I provided the Behind the scenes documentary shooting and spearheaded the social media campaign to promote the film.
Has it been a smooth road?
When I first moved out to LA, I had only $200 in my bank account, a car full of all my belongings, knew a limited amount of people in the city, and had a tent in my trunk. My determination and naivety kept me afloat. Sleeping in the woods and working in the city was a considerably option, validated by the fact I kept a sleeping bag and tent in my car trunk at all times. If I was to go back home to Georgia, I would have to fail first. Before I failed, I had to give myself an opportunity a chance to be, like Marlon Brando’s character Terry Malloy says in On the Waterfront, “a contender”. Even if that meant I would be temporarily homeless. I was to learn how to make it in LA before I could make it anywhere else.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Currently, I am working on a nine short episode avant-garde webisode series to showcase on THEA app. What sets me apart is ultimately what makes me, well, me. I was born hard of hearing and it gave me a different perspective on life, which I bring to my filmmaking. I have very different voice and vision from my peers. I don’t align myself in the Spielburg/Lucas/Zemeckis camp of filmmaking, which tends to be more popular with the resurgence of 80s nostalgia and spectacle. Instead, I align myself with the Lynch/Korine/Kubrick camp of filmmaking to really make films like reality bending sensory experiences for the viewer.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is a great place to start out, sink your roots in, and grow. Opportunity grows and grows in Atlanta every year as it intends to be a major hub for entertainment. People are bringing outside creative talent to bring stories to Atlanta but few are Atlanta grown stories. The city must invest in funding feature films and other long-form stories for local homegrown talent.
Contact Info:
- Email: colsonpeacock@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colsonpeacock/
Image Credit:
Mr. Colson picture taken and edited by Shandton Williams II. The rest of the photos are by Colson Peacock.
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