Meet Tanner
My love for movies began…
When I was a kid. Growing up, I immersed myself in video games, but as I grew older, I found myself shifting to photography and films.
My love for films mainly focused around Disney animated pictures and super hero action flicks. One of my favorite movies as a kid (and still is today) was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. In 2012, my life changed when I saw The Avengers for the first time. While it is an unconventional choice for what got me into cinema, it is what makes me who I am today. I began to watch YouTube videos about The Avengers, which led me towards watching film critics, some of who I still watch to this day. As I watched more and more movies, my love and appreciation for the art form began to increase greatly. My appreciation came to a peak when I watched Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). After watching this film, I knew exactly what I wanted to be.
I wanted to be an actor.
For the next two years, I poured my energy into pursuing my dream. I tried out for plays, researched as much as I could and I had support behind me. By the end of high school, my peers encouraged me to audition for perhaps the most prestigious acting program in the city: The acting program at Webster University. So, I did it. I auditioned. I fell in love with the university. I told myself it’d be a great place to go to college. After a few months, I got the letter in the mail: I hadn’t made it into the acting program, but I did make it into the university.
Of course, I knew rejection was a possibly, but I thought that I had done a good job. Instead of beating myself up, I decided my major would computer science. This was an easy pick for me since I had even more experience in this field than acting and I did enjoy it at the time. So I enrolled into the computer science program.
My freshman year of college as a computer science major was awful for me. I was completely and utterly miserable because I felt like I was lacking something to motivate me. I never realized how much I craved being challenged creatively. I didn’t know what to do and I felt lost once again.
That all changed when I watched Swiss Army Man. My life was never the same.
That movie made me remember how much I love movies, what they meant to me, and how beautiful and magical they could be. It made me cry, laugh, and grin like a maniac. I realized I wanted to spend my life trying to make something like this. I wanted to be this. This is what I wanted. I was going to make movies, rather it be in front or behind the camera.
So, I changed majors. Starting in the Fall of 2017, I was a Film, Television, and Video Production major, and immediately it was night and day. I felt and still feel so much more happy and creatively fulfilled. I made quite a few short films in college, and a few of them even won me many awards. I had no idea how amazing it was to be recognized like that in an artistic capacity before.
In May of 2020, I graduated from Webster with my Bachelor’s in Film Production alongside a Minor in Computer Science. I went out into the world a new man, with new challenges ahead of me.
Of course, I never stopped creating. The COVID-19 Pandemic became a mighty hurdle, but I still managed to create content. And then, in February of 2021. I teamed up with my closest friends to launch Bomb Squad Productions, a YouTube channel and production company where we all work together, and make some killer stuff. It’s the best creative outlet I could’ve asked for, and I’m having a blast.
I’m so glad that faithful day in 2017 changed me as much as it did, I wouldn’t be the same man I am today. I’m glad to be here, creating art and entertainment for you to enjoy. It is the greatest gift and privilege I could’ve ever asked for.
