Today we’d like to introduce you to Connor Gould.
Hi Connor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was 12(ish) my father was very involved in media at our church back in the city I grew up, Sugar Land, TX. The church was called the Bridge Fellowship. I was always fascinated with how cameras worked and the whole “live” aspect of everything. It was an adrenaline rush (yes, at church). I told my father that I really wanted to get into volunteering in the media department and he approached the media director, Chris Estes, about it. He didn’t really know where to put me because he hadn’t had anyone as young as me wanting to hop in that department. He eventually put me in charge of this equipment room. My job was to keep all of the cables and gear organized, as well as taking the batteries out of the microphones at the end of the service (crucial).
From there, I went above and beyond and learned about all of this gear and how things worked. From there, I kept moving up and was controlling a robotic camera during services. When I got to middle school, they had a broadcasting network that I was dreaming of getting into. I got in and would run the broadcast for somewhere around 2500+ students every morning. It got to a point where the teacher, Blake Hambleton, had nothing left to really teach me. We were learning together at this point. For high school, I wanted to go to a private school where I could actually make my own broadcasting network. And I did. I attended Fort Bend Christian Academy and established a broadcasting network there for sports. Now all of the parents and students were able to watch a multi cam broadcast with live commentary for every sporting event that the school had. After running that for a year, I switched gears and had one of my good friends and now reporter, Will Scott, take over that network alongside the vice principal at the time (And its still going today).
From there I switched gears and would get paid to make highlight videos for the football team as well as the players individually. Each season I would bring in about $2k-3k as a sophomore in high school. This here made me a shark and made me want to pursue this as a career. I packed up and moved to Los Angeles at 18 and immediately got to work. My parents helped me get on my feet by covering my rent, utilities and giving me $100 a week… In LA… $100 a week doesn’t go that far and my business mindset kicked in and I took my DSLR camera and would go out and film content for influencers. I would make roughly $600 a piece. My mother came into town with her friends one day for a trip and we did a one-on-one dinner. (Side note: I have always been obsessed with music videos. I used to watch all of the cash money/Lil Wayne videos growing up.) Our waiter, Clayton Johnson, was super nice and we got to talking and ended up really hitting it off and knowing a lot of the same people.
After some chatting with him on this slow night, he was like “I know you aren’t living in the best situation and we have an open room at our house if you’re looking for a change. We’re just looking for someone to pay rent”. He also worked in the entertainment industry and ended up taking him up on the offer. When I moved in a month later, I met one of the other housemates, my best friend and mentor, Aaron Johnson. He asked me what I was doing here in LA and I told him that I moved here because I really wanted to work with this music video director by the name of Hannah Lux Davis. Turns out he was best friends with her and her husband. Fast forward a bit and I got an internship at London Alley Entertainment and got plugged into production there. I was a PA on some of the biggest jobs going on at the time. From there, I befriended their coordinator, Kai Lusk, and started learning how to prep and wrap jobs from a production standpoint.
After two years of doing this, I decided it was time for me to produce. I jumped a couple of steps here on the ladder that rubbed some people the wrong way. I felt that the best way to learn is to just throw yourself in the fire. For my first producing job, I completely butchered it. Not too bad though. I took what I learned from that job and kept pushing. My second project was like night and day from my first and kept it going from there. Today, I work with some of the largest production companies in the industry and artists such as Lil Wayne, Romeo Santos, Chris Brown, and Machine Gun Kelly to name a few. I’ve also produced live multicam broadcasts for clients such as Triller and Verzuz. Currently, I’ve been working on a live concert doc that I am producing for The Driver Era. We just sold out the Greek Theatre this past Sunday. We’re making a whole movie on it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Road has not been smooth at all. There are times where there’s no work and you have to figure out what you’re going to do. I’ve had to switch up on the different mediums a couple of times to keep with the times. I have definitely struggled as a PA and wanted to quit many times. There was one time, I will never forget, I was on a project and I was tasked to deliver 26 coffees to set and the vehicle I had to use was one of the uhaul cargo vans. The set was on a hill and as I have all the coffees on the floor, they all spilled in the back of this Uhaul. I just wanted to cry. I had no help driving up. I cleaned it all up and made it to set. As I radio’ed other PAs for assistance with all of the other coffees. However, before they walked away, I was searching for this one drink. It was for Scooter Braun (artist manager for Ariana Grande, Bieber, (and the list goes on)). I went to hand deliver him his drink (because why not) and we got to chatting a little bit just about production and life in general. He was super nice and genuinely curious of what it was I wanted to pursue in this crazy industry.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I produce live shows, concert docs, music videos, commercials, and short-form narrative projects. I specialize in just about everything visual-related in the music world. Some of the projects that I am known for is one of my latest projects, “Lioness,” which has been handpicked for the prestigious Beverly Hills Film Festival. A heartfelt commentary on the struggles of Iranian women deprived of basic human rights, “Lioness” underscores Connor’s dedication to creating thought-provoking art that inspires social and global change. What sets me apart from others is that I walk around in a very loud cowboy hat and boots on every job. It pays homage to my Texas roots.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Do not choose a mentor too quick. Don’t take advice from someone who hasn’t done what you’re trying to do. Attend every single networking event. Who cares if you’re going by yourself. You are doing this for YOU. When going to these networking events, never come on too strong, but also have something to offer. Show upside and tell these people you are ready to hustle.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.connorgould.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realconnorgould/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connorgould/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/realconnorgould
