we have with us mr. Scott Lumpkin who is
a film producer and has worked in
television and film for over two decades
he and his wife Kate own their own
Alabama independent record label him and
his wife and their five children
currently reside in Fairhope Alabama
we’re so excited to have you with us
today Scott thank you I’m glad to be
here so tell us a little bit have you
always known that you wanted to be in
the film industry I’ve always known that
the film industry was fun in the mid-80s
my father brought home from work a video
camera and just kind of let us have it
as kids so we would take it at night and
recreate TV commercials that we saw on
television and my youngest brother and I
would make TV shows it was always how to
beat up your little brother or how to
torture her little brother but then I
would watch TV shows on mute and learn
the shots and how the the angles and how
you would tell the story visually and
convince my parents to buy a second VCR
and I would shoot things and mimic those
shots and recreate those scenes with my
brothers and eventually my sister always
became the bad guy but we would put
those shows together and copy them
shot-for-shot and rebuild them so yeah I
always thought it was fun I never
thought of it as a job and still to this
day I’m waiting for someone to give me a
real job what would you say has been a
skill that you’ve learned from being
involved in this industry this
industry’s taught me so much
I’d say networking meeting people
remembering how to put people together
and how to match people for projects the
ability to tell a story you know that’s
been a key is I look at scripts and read
for several hours every single day and I
break those stories apart almost like a
Rubik’s Cube to figure out how I would
put it back together again so I think
the the ultimate skill that I’ve learned
is is the puzzle and how do you think
that that skill can apply universally
well you know it’s always about
networking and it’s about what you take
with you from different places whether
we just saw someone talk about the
Appalachian Trail and what you take from
those memories as you pass through or or
how piece can be found in silence in the
moments and how to utilize all of the
resources because you never know when
you’re going to do a film about
this while you’re experiencing it or
where you’ve gone or the people you’ve
met and and how it can all come together
to make those those pieces fit you know
I think that it’s a it’s about the
assembly and about how to put things in
the right place at the right time have
you ever worked on a project before
where those pieces didn’t quite fit yes
often but that to me is the challenge
that’s what I like going through is
finding those pieces and figuring out
how to make it work and if it doesn’t
work how do I substitute that piece for
another piece that does fit
I just finished a project that’s one of
my most difficult that I’ve ever done
and every day I would start the morning
and scratch my head and think oh man I
can’t believe I said yes to this and at
the end of the day I’d think okay we did
it you know and it’s always about the
way and if you assemble the right team
and you collect the right people that
you found together you can put your
heads together and figure out that way
and would you say that that is a success
factor for these projects that you’ve
worked on yeah I would I think that that
I mean as a filmmaker the success factor
is how many people can you get to watch
your movie so and the way you do that is
to make the movie as good as you
possibly can so I think yeah you know
the better it is and the outcome the
more audience you have or the more
people you’ve wowed or the more people
that come to you and say they
appreciated the experience yeah I think
the success factor is there I mean we
watch movies or at least I watch movies
and always have as a kid because I want
to fall in love or because I want to be
a spy or because I want to be a cowboy
so if I can create a film that that puts
that feeling in the audience then yeah
I’d say it was a success what has it
been like for you working with your wife
on some projects we’re a good team you
know we we bounce off of each other very
well and we both
have learned over the years not
necessarily from each other but from the
Hard Knocks of this business to
appreciate criticism so we we have a
really good relationship and that I
always joke and say that she’s gonna
edit whatever I do and she always jokes
and says I’m gonna critique whatever she
does but it’s good you know and it’s
always a good criticism and I know and
when I first got started doing this and
I remember being so nervous the very
first movie I ever did and I’m showing
it to my my family and my my parents and
whoever else and they’re looking at the
film and I’m thinking oh man this is so
bad this is so what I do and and
learning to take the criticism and feel
like oh okay that’s how I can make it
better
and so now as the films have gotten
bigger and the audiences have gotten
bigger we do the test screenings and a
lot of directors that haven’t worked
with won’t go and I love sitting in the
back and listen to the people go you
know or hey here’s what we could do this
better and I can take it and and the
cool part about being the person working
the puzzle is I can decide oh I like
that note or no I don’t necessarily like
that note and my kids in the audience
will know that I’m usually pretty good
at doing whatever I want to do anyway so
I’ve learned to sort of listen to what
else everyone says and take the good and
take the bad and figure out how to make
it all work would you say that there’s
any project that you’ve walked into that
you had no idea what to do it in the
beginning oh yeah
I just I just did one where I was
required to shoot in countries that I’ve
never been to before and go to places
I’ve never been to before and as you go
into those countries and you start
looking at the rules they’ll tell you
yeah you can take no one with you so as
I’m traveling in as the only person and
the filmmaker trying to make this thing
you know I don’t even get a phone in my
please so yeah but I find those
rewarding and fun as well I find that
a neat puzzle and it’s a challenge you
know in a different way as the ones that
we can do at home you know I I like that
that to me is the the cool part about
this job do you have a favorite genre or
type of movie no you know yes and no
right now I’ve been enjoying doing a lot
more action I’ve found that the the
scary movies are the easiest ones for me
to package primarily because there are
so many foreign markets now and scary is
scary in any language where comedies
pretty much cultural and love stories or
cultural so you know it kind of depends
on where I am right now I’d love to do a
Western only because I haven’t done
enough cowboy movies and I think there
aren’t enough cowboy movies out there
but I’m enjoying action right now I’m
enjoying the heist movies and the moving
of all the parts that go along with it
and why do you think it’s important for
students to pursue their goals and
dreams well you know reach in your
pocket that’s what you sold your
happiness for I I produce movies and TV
commercials the whole time I was a
student at Troy not knowing that it was
a job that I would actually do or I
thought well this is a way to make easy
cash and it’s kind of fun and I could
work at the half-shell or work wherever
I was working when I was a student here
and would don’t you can’t hold it
against me a bit ditch class every now
and then they go do a commercial and
before I was a senior I directed a
national TV spot and directed some music
videos and thought well this is kind of
cool people are paying me to do this and
as soon as I graduated from college and
I took the the standard job I would find
okay I’m going to work and this kind of
as a bummer when’s my next ability to
take sick leave okay let’s make a few
phone calls if we can book a commercial
or book a music video during that time
and finally it dawned on me one day that
I was waiting for sick leaves so I could
go to a movie or waiting for vacation
time so I could do this or ever how it
worked then I realized you know
it’s way cooler than this nine-to-five
thing why not just try it so I made
myself a goal alright I’m gonna quit my
job at the time I had a cheap mortgage
and I wasn’t married and and it didn’t
have to have a lot so as let’s just do
this until I’m how about 27 you can
still kind of pick up life at 27 so I’m
gonna do the movie thing until 27 and if
it sucks really bad I’ll quit it so 27
came and I was still having fun and
making a living and traveling the world
and I’d said alright I’m gonna do till
I’m 30 and then I’m gonna do it until
I’m 35 then I’m gonna do it so I’m 40
and now that I’m past 40 my wife is like
you know give it up no one’s gonna give
you a real job you’re not starting over
stick with it this is what you’re doing
and you know I like it you know I take a
project that’s that I struggle with or I
take a project that’s really difficult
and I can come home from work at times
you know you know III think I sold
myself short I don’t know how I’m gonna
do this yet and I said yes to these
people and I’m on the hook for a 40
million dollar loan and oh god help me
but I figure it out and at the end of it
I like it
at the end of the day it’s it’s cool and
at the end of the day I can sit down
with my kids and and my friends and my
family and the people that worked on the
movie and watch it and and enjoy it you
know and I my kids can attest that we
just watched a test of my next movie
that comes out in January and we pick it
apart ago yeah okay this is good there’s
some things that need help but we can
watch this and I don’t smack them and
make them tell me it’s great you know I
like their opinion they know to tell me
it’s great but but the reality is that’s
the fun part you know that’s the gift
that’s the that’s the exciting thing and
as the projects get bigger they they
take 11 months instead of three months
so I’m gone and there’s a lot more heart
in it and a lot more tears in blood and
you know everything else but it’s worth
it and just to leave our audience with
one little tidbit what would that be
that you would give them
do it go out I mean it don’t don’t don’t
think that just because of your
limitations or where you are you can’t
achieve your goals you know I grew up in
Alabama I never went to public schools
and never had anyone say Oh a film
producer is a career you can do it’s
something that I kind of wanted to do
it’s something I liked and I went for it
with today’s outlets you can do it too
you know it’s not whatever you need at
the time when we first started you you
had to have a theatrical release to be
considered a successful movie what now
is the world of YouTube and Netflix and
Hulu and Amazon and all these things do
it and and you know don’t let anyone say
no don’t let anyone tell you that you
can’t
I’ve I’d say I’ve probably read 3,000
scripts in my life at any given time
have 20 to 25 movies on my desk that are
all projects that as the kids can attest
I’m about to do anytime in the next two
weeks and keep the pipeline go and you
know chase the goal and chase the dream
and don’t take no for an answer
thank you Scott we’ve so much enjoyed
having you here today thank you all
[Applause]
a film producer and has worked in
television and film for over two decades
he and his wife Kate own their own
Alabama independent record label him and
his wife and their five children
currently reside in Fairhope Alabama
we’re so excited to have you with us
today Scott thank you I’m glad to be
here so tell us a little bit have you
always known that you wanted to be in
the film industry I’ve always known that
the film industry was fun in the mid-80s
my father brought home from work a video
camera and just kind of let us have it
as kids so we would take it at night and
recreate TV commercials that we saw on
television and my youngest brother and I
would make TV shows it was always how to
beat up your little brother or how to
torture her little brother but then I
would watch TV shows on mute and learn
the shots and how the the angles and how
you would tell the story visually and
convince my parents to buy a second VCR
and I would shoot things and mimic those
shots and recreate those scenes with my
brothers and eventually my sister always
became the bad guy but we would put
those shows together and copy them
shot-for-shot and rebuild them so yeah I
always thought it was fun I never
thought of it as a job and still to this
day I’m waiting for someone to give me a
real job what would you say has been a
skill that you’ve learned from being
involved in this industry this
industry’s taught me so much
I’d say networking meeting people
remembering how to put people together
and how to match people for projects the
ability to tell a story you know that’s
been a key is I look at scripts and read
for several hours every single day and I
break those stories apart almost like a
Rubik’s Cube to figure out how I would
put it back together again so I think
the the ultimate skill that I’ve learned
is is the puzzle and how do you think
that that skill can apply universally
well you know it’s always about
networking and it’s about what you take
with you from different places whether
we just saw someone talk about the
Appalachian Trail and what you take from
those memories as you pass through or or
how piece can be found in silence in the
moments and how to utilize all of the
resources because you never know when
you’re going to do a film about
this while you’re experiencing it or
where you’ve gone or the people you’ve
met and and how it can all come together
to make those those pieces fit you know
I think that it’s a it’s about the
assembly and about how to put things in
the right place at the right time have
you ever worked on a project before
where those pieces didn’t quite fit yes
often but that to me is the challenge
that’s what I like going through is
finding those pieces and figuring out
how to make it work and if it doesn’t
work how do I substitute that piece for
another piece that does fit
I just finished a project that’s one of
my most difficult that I’ve ever done
and every day I would start the morning
and scratch my head and think oh man I
can’t believe I said yes to this and at
the end of the day I’d think okay we did
it you know and it’s always about the
way and if you assemble the right team
and you collect the right people that
you found together you can put your
heads together and figure out that way
and would you say that that is a success
factor for these projects that you’ve
worked on yeah I would I think that that
I mean as a filmmaker the success factor
is how many people can you get to watch
your movie so and the way you do that is
to make the movie as good as you
possibly can so I think yeah you know
the better it is and the outcome the
more audience you have or the more
people you’ve wowed or the more people
that come to you and say they
appreciated the experience yeah I think
the success factor is there I mean we
watch movies or at least I watch movies
and always have as a kid because I want
to fall in love or because I want to be
a spy or because I want to be a cowboy
so if I can create a film that that puts
that feeling in the audience then yeah
I’d say it was a success what has it
been like for you working with your wife
on some projects we’re a good team you
know we we bounce off of each other very
well and we both
have learned over the years not
necessarily from each other but from the
Hard Knocks of this business to
appreciate criticism so we we have a
really good relationship and that I
always joke and say that she’s gonna
edit whatever I do and she always jokes
and says I’m gonna critique whatever she
does but it’s good you know and it’s
always a good criticism and I know and
when I first got started doing this and
I remember being so nervous the very
first movie I ever did and I’m showing
it to my my family and my my parents and
whoever else and they’re looking at the
film and I’m thinking oh man this is so
bad this is so what I do and and
learning to take the criticism and feel
like oh okay that’s how I can make it
better
and so now as the films have gotten
bigger and the audiences have gotten
bigger we do the test screenings and a
lot of directors that haven’t worked
with won’t go and I love sitting in the
back and listen to the people go you
know or hey here’s what we could do this
better and I can take it and and the
cool part about being the person working
the puzzle is I can decide oh I like
that note or no I don’t necessarily like
that note and my kids in the audience
will know that I’m usually pretty good
at doing whatever I want to do anyway so
I’ve learned to sort of listen to what
else everyone says and take the good and
take the bad and figure out how to make
it all work would you say that there’s
any project that you’ve walked into that
you had no idea what to do it in the
beginning oh yeah
I just I just did one where I was
required to shoot in countries that I’ve
never been to before and go to places
I’ve never been to before and as you go
into those countries and you start
looking at the rules they’ll tell you
yeah you can take no one with you so as
I’m traveling in as the only person and
the filmmaker trying to make this thing
you know I don’t even get a phone in my
please so yeah but I find those
rewarding and fun as well I find that
a neat puzzle and it’s a challenge you
know in a different way as the ones that
we can do at home you know I I like that
that to me is the the cool part about
this job do you have a favorite genre or
type of movie no you know yes and no
right now I’ve been enjoying doing a lot
more action I’ve found that the the
scary movies are the easiest ones for me
to package primarily because there are
so many foreign markets now and scary is
scary in any language where comedies
pretty much cultural and love stories or
cultural so you know it kind of depends
on where I am right now I’d love to do a
Western only because I haven’t done
enough cowboy movies and I think there
aren’t enough cowboy movies out there
but I’m enjoying action right now I’m
enjoying the heist movies and the moving
of all the parts that go along with it
and why do you think it’s important for
students to pursue their goals and
dreams well you know reach in your
pocket that’s what you sold your
happiness for I I produce movies and TV
commercials the whole time I was a
student at Troy not knowing that it was
a job that I would actually do or I
thought well this is a way to make easy
cash and it’s kind of fun and I could
work at the half-shell or work wherever
I was working when I was a student here
and would don’t you can’t hold it
against me a bit ditch class every now
and then they go do a commercial and
before I was a senior I directed a
national TV spot and directed some music
videos and thought well this is kind of
cool people are paying me to do this and
as soon as I graduated from college and
I took the the standard job I would find
okay I’m going to work and this kind of
as a bummer when’s my next ability to
take sick leave okay let’s make a few
phone calls if we can book a commercial
or book a music video during that time
and finally it dawned on me one day that
I was waiting for sick leaves so I could
go to a movie or waiting for vacation
time so I could do this or ever how it
worked then I realized you know
it’s way cooler than this nine-to-five
thing why not just try it so I made
myself a goal alright I’m gonna quit my
job at the time I had a cheap mortgage
and I wasn’t married and and it didn’t
have to have a lot so as let’s just do
this until I’m how about 27 you can
still kind of pick up life at 27 so I’m
gonna do the movie thing until 27 and if
it sucks really bad I’ll quit it so 27
came and I was still having fun and
making a living and traveling the world
and I’d said alright I’m gonna do till
I’m 30 and then I’m gonna do it until
I’m 35 then I’m gonna do it so I’m 40
and now that I’m past 40 my wife is like
you know give it up no one’s gonna give
you a real job you’re not starting over
stick with it this is what you’re doing
and you know I like it you know I take a
project that’s that I struggle with or I
take a project that’s really difficult
and I can come home from work at times
you know you know III think I sold
myself short I don’t know how I’m gonna
do this yet and I said yes to these
people and I’m on the hook for a 40
million dollar loan and oh god help me
but I figure it out and at the end of it
I like it
at the end of the day it’s it’s cool and
at the end of the day I can sit down
with my kids and and my friends and my
family and the people that worked on the
movie and watch it and and enjoy it you
know and I my kids can attest that we
just watched a test of my next movie
that comes out in January and we pick it
apart ago yeah okay this is good there’s
some things that need help but we can
watch this and I don’t smack them and
make them tell me it’s great you know I
like their opinion they know to tell me
it’s great but but the reality is that’s
the fun part you know that’s the gift
that’s the that’s the exciting thing and
as the projects get bigger they they
take 11 months instead of three months
so I’m gone and there’s a lot more heart
in it and a lot more tears in blood and
you know everything else but it’s worth
it and just to leave our audience with
one little tidbit what would that be
that you would give them
do it go out I mean it don’t don’t don’t
think that just because of your
limitations or where you are you can’t
achieve your goals you know I grew up in
Alabama I never went to public schools
and never had anyone say Oh a film
producer is a career you can do it’s
something that I kind of wanted to do
it’s something I liked and I went for it
with today’s outlets you can do it too
you know it’s not whatever you need at
the time when we first started you you
had to have a theatrical release to be
considered a successful movie what now
is the world of YouTube and Netflix and
Hulu and Amazon and all these things do
it and and you know don’t let anyone say
no don’t let anyone tell you that you
can’t
I’ve I’d say I’ve probably read 3,000
scripts in my life at any given time
have 20 to 25 movies on my desk that are
all projects that as the kids can attest
I’m about to do anytime in the next two
weeks and keep the pipeline go and you
know chase the goal and chase the dream
and don’t take no for an answer
thank you Scott we’ve so much enjoyed
having you here today thank you all
[Applause]
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