Cinematographer/Director/Writer Tom Callaway Shares Stories Of Breaking Into Hollywood

In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with cinematographer/director/writer Tom Callaway, a very talented fellow whose credits include: Broke Sky, Feast, Road House 2: Last Call,  Undead Or Alive, Who’s Your Caddy?, National Lampoon’s Gold Diggers, Critters 3 and 4, A Warrior’s Heart, Heebie Jeebies and The New House Party, just to name a few. Tom is a hard working guy, he has over 82 credits as a cinematographer on IMDB. You may have also seen him on TV working behind the scenes of the Feast, a Project Greenlight movie. His directorial debut, Broke Sky, was an official selection of the South by Southwest Film Festival, won the best narrative feature at the Memphis Indie Film festival and won the Grand Jury award at the Dances with Films Festival. Variety had the following to say about Broke Sky: ""An exceptional example of American indie filmmaking...begins on a ghoulishly jaunty note and then audaciously shifts gears into a powerful noir." Tom and I talk about everything from how he built a dark room in his closet as a kid to shooting a movie in 3D to how to make your own opportunities.

 

THOMAS L. CALLAWAY'S BIO

Tom is a native of Waco, Texas. He grew up with 6 sisters, who provided eclectic
influences for Tom in his childhood. He attended Catholic school, and after surviving evil nuns and loquacious priests, he enrolled at Sam Houston College.

Tom was always interested in movies, and three in particular always stuck with him. COOL HAND LUKE, MIDNIGHT COWBOY and IN COLD BLOOD. It was the work
of Conrad Hall in the latter film that inspired him to become a director of photography.

After a stint in the Navy Reserve, Tom made the big move to Los Angeles in 1982,
finding employment in the movie industry two weeks after he arrived.

His start as a cinematographer came in 1986, with the Texas-shot movie GHOST
RIDERS, and then the mighty cult epic ASSAULT OF THE KILLER BIMBOS. That
led to a string of genre movies, with increasing budgets and higher profile casts. To date, Tom has worked with such talents as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alan Arkin, James Coburn, Christopher Plummer, Richard Chamberlin and Angela Basset.

He has photographed over 80 feature films. He has also shot several network television shows, and a number of TV movies. He added to his impressive resume recently by appearing in the reality TV show PROJECT GREENLIGHT, which chronicled the making of John Gulager’s FEAST.

Tom is presently at work developing his next project as a director.