Local Man Found His Path As Video, Film Producer

Sometimes the best place to be around a camera is behind it.

Over time, Cameron McCasland discovered that being behind the scenes was where he really wanted to be professionally.

McCasland, a 1999 graduate of Edgewood High School, is making quite a name for himself directing and producing in the entertainment media mecca that is Nashville, Tenn. He now owns a video production company, New Valiant Productions, and is a proud family man with his wife and two young daughters.

Getting to this point, though, took some patience and plenty of hard work, McCasland said.

"I came to Nashville thinking I would be in a band, make music and get involved in the recording business. I did that for a while but I got sick of being gone all the time. You can’t make your own schedule in that industry," he said.

McCasland said he realized he needed a change of direction professionally and went into production work alongside some minor acting roles.

"I gained experience in bits and pieces, and I took some awful jobs working on bad horror movies just to learn the business and develop the know-how," he said.

"Now, I’m directing my own things and producing videos and films. I’m still acting here and there, but I’m trying to stay away from that because I like to work behind the camera now," McCasland added.

He is gaining a lot of notice for his work these days. McCasland directed a music video for the group Quiet Company — the band’s leader, Taylor Muse, is a former Nashville roommate of McCasland — that earned "Best Music Video" awards at film festivals in Fort Worth and Jackson, Miss., and took a Silver Remi honor at the Worldfest Film Festival in Houston.

McCasland said the band and the song deserves the lion’s share of the credit.

"I’m not so much surprised by the success because the guys absolutely deserve it. I feel they are that good," he said. "We made it (the video) and sent it out there, but I think the song and the band is what sells it."

The video for the song "Fashionabel" can be seen on the New Valiant Productions Web site www.newvaliant.com.

He has other examples of his work available for viewing on both sites. Notable among those is a series of anti-littering campaign commercials, now airing on Nashville television stations, featuring local horror movie show hosts Dr. Gangrene and Nurse Moan-Eek.

"Dr. Gangrene is very well known in the Nashville area…he has a big enough fan base that we feel the commercials will be very well received," McCasland said, adding that a new series of the horror-tinged public service announcements is slated for later this year.

Although he has veered away from acting, McCasland is no shy guy about being in front of the camera, either. Fans of country singer Alan Jackson will readily spot him as one of the line dancers in Jackson’s music video for "Good Time."

McCasland said although some people think of red hair as a liability for a man, he has turned it to his advantage.

"My mother had red hair, and even though kids will always single out the one thing, she always told me don’t ever be ashamed of that," he said.

McCasland admits to a love of movies, particularly Hollywood classics, instilled in him by his parents, Bob and Teresa.

"My father installed satellite dishes, so when I was a kid, we had a satellite dish. My mother wouldn’t allow me to watch certain movies, but we had channels like AMC and Turner Classic, and I became a big fan of the classic Hollywood stuff," he said.

"I really credit my parents for not letting me go for whatever was the flavor of the month," McCasland added about his film appreciation training at home.

For her part, Teresa McCasland, a theatre teacher at Terrell High School, said she is proud of Cameron as well as her other children.

"I’m glad about seeing some fruition from his hard work and seeing his dreams coming true," she said. "But I am even happier that he remembers his roots, his upbringing and is staying close to those. That is most important to me."

Having experience in acting herself, including roles in TV and movies, Teresa McCasland admits Cameron was the one child she didn’t expect to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

"He has done a little on the acting side, and now he’s on the directorial side, and I find myself in awe of his creativity," she said. "I know most people don’t understand the work and research involved in that, which is taken to a whole other level in film.

"It is a lot of hard work and creativity that goes into it and it is amazing to see my child and his creations come to life," she added.

The past few months have been big and busy times for Cameron McCasland. In April, he became a father for the second time. That big event came literally on the heels of another, working with the production crew of the 2008 CMT Music Awards Show.

"It was such a huge production. I was amazed to see it, because I don’t do a lot of gala events," he said. "But they were shorthanded in production, so here I am working on a show that is the hottest ticket in town because Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) is the emcee.

"It was pretty amazing to see, just a good time all the way around, but definitely a lot of work and a crazy pace. I got out of there at 1 a.m. because it takes hours to clean up after an event like that," McCasland said.

That night would get even crazier. McCasland returned to his car in the parking garage to discover he had a flat tire and no spare in the trunk. He called his wife, Jessica, to pick him up but they learned the donut tire she had also was flat. Opting to leave his car until the next day, an exhausted Cameron got home about 3 a.m.

Two hours later, Jessica went into labor.

"For the rest of my life, I’ve got a great story to tell my child," he said. The new daughter is named Roxie and she has a 3-year-old sister, Marie.

Even after establishing himself in Nashville, McCasland said there are times he gets a little star struck.

"Sometimes, I look around and think it all came so quickly, but I also realize I worked for it for a long time as well," he said. "But I definitely still get stunned…I see country music stars very frequently, and that I still get to see or talk to them is pretty amazing."

Edgewood, Texas, though, remains in the very center of his heart, he said.

"My parents are still there and both sets of grandparents. I’ve got a lot of extended family there, and they all pass the word as news gets around about me. I lived there for 18 years, and I get home fairly frequently…I always want to have a tie there," McCasland said.