Life & Work with Jerome Spurlin of Orange County

I believe my story began long before I realized I was on a filmmaking journey. When I was a teenager in the 90s, my father purchased a camcorder. His wanted to document our family over time on trips and during holidays. I don’t quite remember what initially sparked my curiosity to the camcorder. Once I figured out how to record, zoom, and plug it in to our TV, I was off and running. I made several videos and mini movies with my friends, my brother, and even some of his friends. The whole process seemed to come easy to me. Mainly because it was really fun, and movie ideas were always there. I was never bored, never discouraged with how the videos turned out. No matter how goofy or silly the movies were, I was just so happy to be able to see our work on our TV. High School and College were full of life’s transitions into adulthood. After a brief venture in music production, the internal attraction to creating images began to come to the surface again. I took my social media posts seriously and made the most out of my cell phone photos. Friends and family would usually leave comments suggesting I should pursue photography. The compliments were nice, but I never considered making a career out of it. I simply loved the process of finding the right shot, the right perspective on a subject, or the best angle on a scene. Cell phone photos eventually transitioned into cell phone videos. That led to extensive study and fascination with various video cameras available at the time. I made the decision to just go for it and purchase a mirrorless camera. Fast forward to today in 2025, I’m still just a person who loves and has so much fun making videos. Out of that nerdy obsession with camera equipment, accessories, and anything cinema, a demanding videography side business was birthed. What comes next is still yet to be discovered and attained. But what I can say for certain is a fulltime career is approaching.

From a learning and education perspective, regarding the technical aspects of filmmaking, it has been a smooth process. It is a beautiful feeling to learn a new craft, even if the learning is slow at times. The sense of fulfillment and empowerment that comes from absorbing information and applying that knowledge with positive results for a client is something that is hard to describe. What I can say is I found what I am passionate about. I can also call myself a bonified filmmaker. If there is anything I am seeking at this stage in my journey, it is more reach. I want to share my work with more people on bigger platforms. These realizations alone are worth more than a paycheck. What has been a struggle is finding where I fit in the worlds of commercial film, social media, and videography. The business of film and content creation, working and developing relationships with clientele are important to know how to effectively navigate through. It has been difficult to become knowledgeable on the film industry which is changing and is sometimes unstable. As a filmmaker and creator, I tend to focus on creating and struggle with being business minded. As a conscious practice to help with growth and expansion, I am learning to stand on what my goals are, and how to represent them as well as myself to potential partners.

My specialty is the micro doc/film. This has been the format where I feel the most creative and free. I prefer projects that require long-form video content as this is how I develop my signature and my cinematic style. Organizations and business have a back story that needs exposure, partners or employees to highlight, services to explain and present to the public, and fundraising to accomplish. In all these scenarios, longform content through the vehicle of a high-quality microfilm or microdocumentary can lead to amazing results and a pathway to success. Bringing together the interviews, the b-roll, and the music with the right pacing and timing in the final edit is where my artistry and storytelling resonate. This video format has been successful for me with nonprofit or community-based entities. Organizations of this type typically deal with stories that have a lot of raw emotion that I have found to be very relatable to anyone who views the film.

It’s easy to reach out and connect with me: [email protected]. I always respond and love meeting people. Let’s chat!

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