Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Jadallah. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Chris Jadallah is a working DP & Director, aspiring comedian and actor. Currently, he owns and operates Calliope Films.
He is the creator of the sketch comedy troupe Kitty Get a Job. Which now has a completed pilot and is currently seeking distribution.
Chris has over 14 years of professional directing and DP experience, not counting his first short film screening held in his leaving room at age 5. Chris discovered his love for storytelling & being behind AND in front of the camera at a young age – the family camera rarely left his hands. It was his high school live morning news show, WPHS, that showed him that these loves could be a career. WPHS is also where he developed the love for creating sketch comedy.
During his professional career, he has worked on national and regional commercials, documentaries, reality TV, short films, sketch comedy, web videos, brand videos, and music videos. Calliope Films has also secured a working relationship with the A&E channel’s media company, working on shows like Cold Case Files and Interrogation Raw.
Chris started as a freelancer and still works as freelance DP/Director but quickly saw the demand to be more as his client base grew. Thus, in 2015, Calliope Films was born. Calliope Films now does work all across the country, focused in the Southeast & entire East Coast.
The Calliope Films staff is very small, fluctuating between 2-4 salaried staff members and a team of 20-30 freelancers hired regularly. However, Chris feels lucky to have his right hand and producer also be his partner in life. Sierra Hobbs has been working with Calliope Films since 2018. Learning how to collaborate together has been a challenging but extremely rewarding experience. Due to them being partners in life and in career and their different backgrounds, Chris & Sierra are able to bring another level of authenticity to your project and are always two steps ahead of each other in the best ways. And it makes travel jobs a lot more fun…
Chris has also developed a very high-risk tolerance, as you kind of must have to make it this far in the industry. The current plan is keep Calliope Films operating in NW Florida while also expanding to New York. However, this expansion to New York is his riskiest venture yet.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think the biggest struggle is learning how to getting out of your own way. More specifically, I think creative minds have a way of being more critical of themselves. It’s hard to fight the battle of imposter syndrome, or feelings of NEVER being good enough, or that you’re not as good as him or her. And sometimes, it feels like you aren’t getting better. However, I’ve learned that a good deal of what’s happening is just that your personal status quo is increasing. Your bar is always raising, so what you deem as passable or good is always a moving up and staying just out of reach. So, you FEEL like you aren’t getting better, but you are! The bar SHOULD always be raising. But man… we are mean to ourselves.
And, of course, as a business owner AND a creative, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also acknowledge the struggle of balancing business growth and keeping consistent cash flow into the business. We have to really measure how fast to grow our business, because that client paying the bills this year may be gone the next.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
It’s always hard to narrow down a specialty. Mostly because of my fear of being pigeonholed and ONLY being hired to create one kind of thing for the rest of my career. It’s a battle. It’s a battle, because I know that it helps to specialize, to be able to say you are an absolute expert in this ONE thing, but also, I like making a bit of everything. And due to the small market I started in, I HAVE made a bit of everything.
However, I like to believe we specialize in dramatic and/or comedic storytelling that is heavily led by and assisted by the visuals. Which I’ve learned are actually way more closely related than people may think. Dramatic storytelling and comedic storytelling both follow a very similar structure, they both take precise timing and emotional cues to tell exactly the story you want to tell, without too much fluff or distraction. Tragedy + time = comedy. I love making people laugh or feel something. Feel anything really. That’s why we watch videos and movies – to feel something, to feel connected, to feel like you maybe have been there too, and wow, they are kind of like me, AND we made it!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
It makes happy that this is even my career to being with. I feel incredibly lucky that I get to point a camera for a living. What a wild thing.
AND I’m lucky enough to get to go to work with my partner in life. This makes every job personal in some way and allows us both to bring a level of genuine care to each project, and it’s pretty cool.
But I also really enjoy helping other people get where they want to be in life. I love seeing other people get to experience a version of what they want to do, even if just for a day. I like being in a position in which I can help provide those experiences, from hiring people on set to helping tell people the stories they want to tell.
It makes me happy, in a bittersweet kind of way, to tell stories that matter. If I can do anything to help with my camera and storytelling to effect some positive change, then that’s a huge win for me. Because if we are lucky enough to have a platform, even a small one in our small town, I believe it is my right and responsibility to use that platform and the tools at my disposal to make a change. Getting to use my camera to tell stories that matter, to educate, and to create art people can relate to makes me happier than anything.
And I really, REALLY like making people laugh.
Pricing:
- $15k-$500k
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.filmsbycalliope.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/filmsbycalliope/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/filmsbycalliope
- Other: https://vimeo.com/filmsbycalliope
Image Credits
Dee Dee Kohl Photography
John Lee
Sierra Hobbs
