Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Woods.
Hi Thomas, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My mom lives in Jacksonville FL and my dad lives in mobile AL. All my life I have been back and forth from state to state to live with each parent. Therefore, I never really kept friends because I was always moving. So that left me with my imagination being my number one friend. I could always create scenarios or different situations in my head and watch them play out in front of my eyes using my imagination. Sometimes I would laugh or even talk to the scenes out loud and people will look at me crazy. So, I thought I was weird and tried to tone it down some. In my community talents of this nature are almost frowned upon, I thought I had to play sports to be successful go to the military or even just get a really good job. And truthfully growing up success was not a concern of mine; my biggest concern was trying to figure out which side of the family I would be the happiest with. I graduated from high school in 2005 and went to college at Alabama A&M and my major was business management. I had no idea what I was going to do with this degree or even what I’m doing in college I just knew I was here because this is what I was told to do. After two years, I left Alabama A&M and transferred to ITT tech to become an electrician; however, I could not stay focused in those ITT tech classes because they were so boring and all I could do was think about creating scenarios based off the assignments. Then I would zone out and start imagining things like I used to. I never considered going to film school, but I knew then I wanted to do something career-wise that feels natural to me but also do something that will always be needed.
So, I looked up creative schools at Full Sail University that were on that list, and based on my research they had my attention the most. I reached out to Full Sail University to enroll however I could not because of my financial aid have been exhausted from the previous schools. I was told I had to pay it off before I could enroll. It took a few years, but I was finally able to do it and enroll in the school this was one of the best things that I have ever done in my life. The assignments did not seem like assignments, I could use my imagination in wander off in class and maybe even get extra credit for that. While in school I picked up a few customer services jobs, and they all made me feel like the headphones were a leash and I was being controlled and I can only do so much with this company. I knew I had to create my own career path. I had received a camera package from Full Sail University due to being a student to help with the classes online. Once I felt like I had enough knowledge to master the craft of filming I started applying for jobs in that field. It started out slow, but I found a few gigs that would pay me $600 a weekend. That made me realize that if I can make this much money in only two days then why am I clocking in for someone else Monday through Friday, I need to be working for myself. I put in my two weeks’ notice and left my job. The very next week I created 20Twiin Vision Media Productions. And I haven’t looked back since. Because I picked up the camera, I have now seen a lot of things that I would have never seen sitting in someone’s call center answering phones. I got really lucky my very first gig was to be a traveling camera operator for a show called “American Road Trip” that is set be on Amazon Prime and Netflix.
I was recently the Director of Photography for a movie called “Bakerz Union” which is now on Amazon Prime. It is starring Miami comedian Charrell “Kitchen” Kinchen and Jacksonville comedian Ranard “Nod” Ross. Documentaries, movies, Music videos, photoshoots, event filming, and editing are just a few services that my company offers. Working for yourself is not easy, but it is extremely rewarding. Specially to see the smiles of satisfied clients. the Coronavirus did slow my business down a little bit, but when people adjusted it created new avenues for me because now people want to have events and other things such as funerals live streamed because they don’t want to be in attendance with too many people and be in danger of catching the virus. Business-wise coronavirus was scary at first however I do see now that I do what I wanted to do which was create a company that will always be a need.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Lol it has not been a smooth ride. A few challenges have been finding clients. I quit my job not knowing that what I do varies by the season so I have to be ready to adapt and move on to the next thing. My first year was difficult because I hadn’t had that concept of knowledge at the time.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
20Twiin Vision Media Productions, LLC is the name of my company. We specialize in making our clients look and feel better than they already do with professional filming, photography, and editing. Ultimately I want to be a movie producer so my most proud project at this time is the “Bakerz Union” movie written by Gin X and filmed and edited by myself. What sets my company apart from others is that we believe in our clients’ dreams and our affordable prices.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being happy makes me happy. I just want to enjoy life and be happily successful. I want people around me to be happy so I stay optimistic and try to only keep good company. I want my clients to be happy so I will be sure to understand their wants and needs and work hard to create their masterpiece.
Pricing:
- Weddings start at $500
- Daily Rate $200
- Music Videos Start at $200
- Commercial/Ad start at $125
- Editing starts at $75/hr
Contact Info:
- Email: 20twiinvision@gmail.com
- Website: www.20twiinvision.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/teetyme6
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/20twiinvision
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/teetyme6
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/teetyme6
Image Credits
The Eaddy family
