For the July edition of our Creator Spotlight series, we talk to Tyler Price - a content producer with an impressive background in tech and gaming. We're excited for him to share a bit of his story with you, so read on for more! Also, you can expect to see more of Tyler on our socials as we collaborate on video content.
Tyler - if you met a stranger at the airport and they asked what you do, how would you describe yourself to them?
I would say, I’m a content producer, videographer, editor, YouTuber, you know, that kinda stuff. I’m a freelancer who’s traveled the world filming with all sorts of brands, even filming on World Championship stages. I’m a one-man production team that brings my little orange box from show to show to create videos from start to finish.
Talk to us about the beginnings of your career and how you got started.
Originally was slated to work in the government as a contract negotiator for strike weapons but decided marketing and gaming were more of a passion. After COVID hit, I lost my job at a live events marketing agency. Sitting at home, with no job, and no prospects for future jobs, I decided to pick up a camera and go the Content Producer route... make tech reviews on youtube, something I had wanted to do since I was in high school. Through that I found a love for shooting product, writing about product, telling stories and ultimately capturing things in a way only I felt like I could. I had always been a creative person growing up. I made music, liked to draw, loved photography, and decided it was time to revisit some of those passions. I mean, it was COVID after all, so who knew what the future was going to be. Fast forward, and I’ve had the opportunity to make videos for brands like Glyph, DoorDash, GEICO, Anker, Pennzoil, Lenovo, and more both for the brand and for myself on my youtube channel which still runs to this day!
If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice when you were first starting out your career, what would you say?
Get a stable job first. One that will set you up for a long self-sustained future. It may be tempting to dive head first into your passion, but your health and financial sustainability will provide you more opportunities to pursue your passions until they can substitute your job. Sometimes being offered your dream job first isn’t always the best choice. The fact of the matter is, anything can happen. Starting your career in a volatile industry means you could wake up any day of the week and be without a job and you’ll have nothing to fall back on. By choosing to pursue a sound long-term job, you give yourself more flexibility in being prepared for the unknown.
Can you tell us about your earliest influences as well as the people that inspire you today?
As far back as I can remember, I was always inspired by other tech YouTubers like Linus Tech Tips, Jayztwocents, Bitwit, Paul’s Hardware, and MKBHD. Funny enough, most of those content producers still inspire me today and I’ve actually met a few of them. I actually filmed for Jayztwocents and spent a whole week with them in 2023. That being said, a few new folks have entered the mix- Peter McKinnon, Chris Hau, and Gameranx are other YouTubers who inspire not just me, but my content. Especially MKBHD. I feel his team and I have similar ideas of how quality tech reviews should look and I often model a lot of my content after theirs.
How has technology affected your career? Does anything in particular excite you about where technology's going right now?
Oh absolutely! My whole education was in IT and I’ve always been fascinated by technology, gadgets, etc. Particularly, I’m excited to see where computing will go in the future, specifically wearable tech and mobile tech. I’ve always enjoyed handheld electronics and wearables like smartwatches, glasses, phones, and gaming handhelds. Additionally, I’m excited to see where display technology goes. Not just for traditional monitors, but displays in glasses, phones, projectors, and even automotive.
Can you tell us about how you utilize Glyph products in your workflow?
Quite literally every single day. Right now actually. I have three Glyph products; the Atom EV, the Atom Pro, and the Blackbox Pro RAID. As a YouTuber, I often edit my client projects and my own content off either the Atom EV or Atom Pro and once I finish a project, it gets archived on my Blackbox Pro RAID for safe keeping. The Atom Pro has been my favorite simply for its speed. I edit on a Mac and having access to Thunderbolt 3 speeds allows me to move hundreds of gigs of footage from my SD cards or SATA SSDs straight to my Atom Pro so I can easily edit content whether I’m at home in my studio, or on the go with my MacBook. The Blackbox Pro RAID keeps me from having to buy multiple external drives to archive my work. Not only that, but since it supports RAID 0 and Thunderbolt, I have even used it to pull old footage for reference in new videos which has been awesome because sometimes you can’t edit very easily off of a HDD but the Glyph drives have performed excellently. Finally, my Atom EV has actually turned into a game recording drive for my gaming PC. I am a huge Star Citizen fan and often record clips in-game as well as tons of screenshots which I post in the community. It’s kinda my thing. The Atom EV is perfect for that as it’s slim, mine holds 2TB, and is still fast enough for me to move gameplay footage or photos to my editing PC before posting. It’s a great workflow and was an easy swap from my old drives.
Can you tell us about a time having a data storage strategy prevented you from losing important work?
Having an archive storage location has been a life saver for me. Portable drives can get lost easily and since I travel to tons of different shows throughout the year for shoots, there’s a lot of opportunities for me to misplace one of my drives. Thankfully it hasn’t happened yet, but knowing all my projects are safely stored at home on my Blackbox Pro RAID gives me peace of mind when I’m traveling and only editing the most recent projects on my Atom Pro. I honestly think I could do better at backing up or copying my data, but for me, the archive storage strategy has helped keep down on costs for drives or cloud storage while also providing me data safety knowing my data is stored locally and within my control.
Can you touch on some of your more recent career highlights? What were some of the most gratifying moments of your career?
Last year in 2023 I was hired to produce content for Battle of the Brands presented by DoorDash. In total I produced, filmed, and edited about 15-20 content pieces as well as ran a media day on site in Seattle for the live show. I was given full responsibility to manage top-tier influencers in the gaming space. I wrote their interview questions, took their headshots, filmed their interviews, and helped edit them by overseeing an editor and a videographer. It was truly the first time I felt like I was directing my own production and even though I felt immense pressure, the client came back and was absolutely floored by the results. Definitely the biggest and most recent highlight. Additionally, in 2022 I was one of two content producers for the Rocket League World Championship managing all the team content that was requested and delivered to teams. I even got to film the World Finals with my own camera on the stage for the winning moments. That moment for me was probably the most surreal experience because let’s be real, who gets to stand on the world championship stage and feel the energy of the crowd after a grueling match.
How do you stay inspired and motivated creatively?
When I feel uninspired I watch my favorite YouTubers. Sometimes I even watch my old videos. I’m not sure why, but watching my favorite creators make awesome content inspires me to get up and go make more of my own! It’s a rewarding process that makes for a great excuse to binge youtube over the latest popular show everyone’s talking about.
What are some of your challenges as a filmmaker?
My biggest challenge as a filmmaker is being confident in my work. For me, it’s never good enough. I’m my biggest critic and often the biggest roadblock when it comes to releasing content or finding more clients. That lack of confidence sometimes leads to creative blocks that prevent me from making content or finding more work which ultimately makes me feel unmotivated. It’s an unfortunate cycle that I’m actively working to improve. Secondarily, I think the drastic evolutions in filmmaking and content creation have caused a lot of us to feel like we’re being left behind. With new AI models that can generate video through a text prompt, it’s easy to wonder if people will ever notice the difference, and if there will continue to be a need for filmmakers in the future. That uncertainty is both terrifying but also very motivating. Despite its negative connotations, it has equal opportunity to inspire a whole new wave of incredible films and ideas that would have never been present before.
What are the three ‘must haves’ for every filmmaker?
Confidence - be confident in yourself and your work, it shows on camera.
Vision - a clear vision offers a clear path to success and keeps you focused on the idea.
Patience - let it breathe. Be patient with yourself, your team, and allow time for the best ideas to present themselves.
Thanks for sharing some of your story with us, Tyler! Excited to share more of your work with the Glyph Community soon. Until then, go give Tyler a follow on YouTube!
