Today we’d like to introduce you to Harley Shook.
Hi Harley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Well, before moving to the Hollywood of the South, I originally came from Pennsylvania, and throughout the course of my life, I’ve lived up and down the East Coast of the USA. I guess you could trace my interest in visual media back to all that time spent watching people and places speed by outside a car seat window as Dad moved around a lot with work and Mom became a full-time homeschooling teacher for me and the later little bro. With the real world changing around me so much, I found myself drawn to the realms of the fictional. I’m a huge sci-fi and fantasy fan, a lover of the visual and auditory arts, and now an active member of the film, television, and broadcast industry
My early years were busy. Grade, middle, and high school were all so jam-packed with extracurricular activities to make up for “the lack of my social life” that I can honestly say I had NO idea what I really wanted to do with my life. A writer? A cartoonist? A professional Lego Builder and Halo player? I tried a lot of things, but as one gets older, time seems to move faster. Boy Scouts, 4-H, church, and Homeschool Co-op groups went by in a blur, and when you’re consistently the “new kid” you were either the center of attention (a nightmare for my introverted self) or a background extra character (which is not anxiety inducing but can sometimes get incredibly lonely.) Despite the circumstances, I was able to form long-lasting friendships during those awkward transitionary years, and then when the family moved to the state of GA, it helped tremendously when we began to put down roots to stay awhile.
Things really came into focus when I started a high school throwaway elective through Georgia Virtual School. Suddenly, everything clicked. I was no longer just consuming media; I was learning the skills to make it! Every project became an obsession that only served to fuel the passion to create more. I finally had a medium I could use to express myself and my ideas. Mind you, I was far too embarrassed to share my passions at first, even going so far as trying my hand at stop motion with action figures simply to avoid roping my newly made friends into my little projects. However, I quickly learned that filmmaking is a team effort, and if one truly wants to convey an idea to someone else, you gotta include that someone else.
In 2014 I enrolled in The Art Institute of Atlanta, majoring in Digital Film and Video Production. We weren’t exactly well off financially so when we took out student loans for this endeavor, we budgeted that I would need to complete a 4- year Bachelor’s Degree in 3. When I finally arrived to the big city, it was a bit of a shock! Going straight from private homeschooling into a public environment full of creative individuals led to an explosion of new experiences, and despite the troubles the school came with, I still thank God every day for putting me there.
Looking back at it all now, each mountain and molehill taught me a lesson. All those harrowing newbie experiences taught me how to make friends, both in class and now on crews, without draining my social battery. Fast paced school schedules translated well into hectic shooting days; and even building Legos came into play as I find myself rigging up all kinds of fun contraptions as a grip, a cam op at a concert, or a V3 on a football show!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A pretty big struggle for me has always been confidence. There’s a saying among our crews that “you are only as good as your last show.” It’s meant to be a motivational statement to light a fire under the rear of people, but to those of us reading this that struggle with social anxieties, you understand that there is always that little bell ringing in the back of your mind reminding you of the fact that it is obnoxious and persistent. I’ve been dealing with that little but loud bell for 27 years, and what I CAN confidently say is it never truly goes away.
I could talk about the ringing of financial struggles as a student loan borrower in an uncertain economy, the chiming of beloved family members falling ill to the extent of wondering if they would even be there to see you when you returned home, or even the clanging of horrible things that are happening currently in a far country and places I have been to before. But there are, were, and always will be things outside of my personal control.
The same topsy-turvy pre-show jitters of facing the unknown will still happen every time I step out the house, no matter how much positive reinforcement your best friend gives you or how heaping the insults of your worst enemy is. The music of anxiety will attempt to sway you to simply “do nothing,” but while alarms may be out of your control, your ACTIONS in response to them ARE. The first step will always be the hardest, and it’s always gotta come from YOU.
A recent example is my current career movement with ESPN’s 2023 football season. I’ve been gunning for a position in the video side of their broadcast crews for some time, and this year I finally got my shot when I filled in for a buddy of mine. This was it, the break I’d been working towards: to go from living gig-to-gig and show-to-show to possibly getting a more stable position and moving up in the company. All great news, if it hadn’t been accompanied by that little gong that lives just to get in your way, screaming in its tiny little voice: “You’ve been doing this job for years, you know all its’ ins-and-outs, but what if TODAY you mess up and fall flat? Then all those friends and crewmates that supported you will know you truly don’t know what you’re doing. You’re a FRAUD. In the real world, there are no do-overs, no rewrites, NO TAKE TWO’S.” I didn’t have lead feet, I had a hollow heart, and it was draining my proverbial social battery faster than I could charge it.
Other struggles, financial, familial, career or relationship-related; all of it can snowball and spiral out of control if you don’t make that first initial step. That leap of faith. So, like timid 11-year-old me staring down a diving board with a post near-drowning born fear of water, I put one foot in front of the other and walked right off and out. I walked right out into that new position, the same way I walked straight out to make my first student film, then later my first feature, my first football show, my first music festival, my first Emmy Nominated National Championship game, my first Super Bowl show, etc.
All of it started by holding my breath, putting one foot in front of the other, thanking God for John 14:27, and letting Him show me that the internal fears were wrong or at the very most surmountable.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an independent contractor in the realm of film, television, and broadcasts and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
I’m probably most known for my work with ESPN, and their college football shows, as well as CBS and NBC’s sports world but I also enjoy hopping over into the more narrative side of the moving pictures industry. I currently specialize in the utility role and camera operator on the broadcast side, and as a grip and electrician onset, but as my career progresses and I learn more, I’ve found myself experimenting with areas like visual effects, voice acting, learning assistant camerawork, and even scriptwriting now.
I’ve been told that what sets me apart is that I still have a sunny disposition in the oncoming tidal wave of uncertainty. (A happy little byproduct of simply putting that one foot in front of the other I mentioned.) I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy, a drop in an infinite bucket, but I’m always eager to learn more and to share what I have found to help me navigate this closely-knit industry so far.
Some of my biggest shows include: Super Bowl LIII, National Championship (2018), League of Legends World Championship Semifinals, (2022), and various NBA, CFB, MLS, and Bowl games. I’ve also done Supercross races, College Gameday stage shows, and now the more recent Pat McAfee show.
AEW Dynamite and Collision is a recent addition to my narrative excursions like the second season of “The Encounter”, the film “Breach” (2020) featuring the now-retired Bruce Willis, and the historical drama “Love, Courage, and the Battle of Bushy Run”.
I also love dipping in the music scene: helping out with Katy Perry’s “Witness Tour”, chilling with the many talented artists at Electric Forest (2023), Hangout (2022), and Forecastle Fest (2022)… and all the while still trying to squeeze myself into the projects that fuel my creative passion which is very similar to the kind of films and shows friends and fellow VoyageATL interviewees Hudson King, Justin Solaiman, and Shane Nelson create. Absolute geniuses, the whole lot of ’em.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
There’s so many, but as I mentioned during the challenges question: the key to everything is in the action of just putting one foot in front of the other. Nike’s slogan of “Just Do It.” can be applied to literally anything; no matter how big or small you are feeling in that moment.
You can be so creative that you create problems for yourself by overthinking or underthinking it. I’ve learned and I am still actively learning that it’s best to do your research, weigh your pros and cons, keep your eyes and ears open, and then just DO IT.
Go write that story you always wanted to. Go draw that comic strip. Go practice that instrument. Go ask that person out. Go outside your comfort zone and no matter how scary it is, keep putting one foot in front of the other.
I’m going to keep doing the same on my end and seeing where God takes me, and what He leads me to do next, and if this article reaches out to just a single person, then I look forward to hearing about your journey when our step-by-step paths inevitably cross.
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