The Making of You

AJ Bleyer thought getting rejected by every film school he applied to meant he probably wasn't going to be successful. Instead, it gave him the freedom to explore and throw himself into making videos, without worrying too much about where it would lead.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with AJ, a director, producer, and one of the youngest members inducted into the Directors Guild of America, to talk about rejection, creative ambition, and building a career by figuring things out as you go.

From the doors that close early in your career to how they can sometimes lead you somewhere better than the path you originally imagined, AJ also shares what he's learned from working on increasingly ambitious productions, why his experience as a producer makes him a better director, and how he learned to separate caring deeply about his work from the stress and anxiety that can come with it.

A conversation that reflects on the importance of staying curious, trusting your own path, and learning to enjoy where you are while still pushing toward what's next.

Topics covered: creative careers, directing, filmmaking, entrepreneurship, rejection, career growth, production, creative leadership, stress management, ambition, automotive commercials, DGA, Advent Films

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

Mike Marasco picked up a camera at a skatepark in Simi Valley and never really put it down. What started as a way to document skating turned into a career as a cinematographer, a production company, a skate brand, and a mentorship program he started after a very unusual moment of clarity.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with his longtime collaborator Mike to talk about what it actually looks like to build a creative career on your own terms. They get into the early music video years, the harder-than-expected jump into commercials, and why Mike has deliberately kept his company small even when he had every reason to grow it bigger.

Mike also talks about running a business with his wife, why he never wanted a large roster of talent depending on him, how the skate company he runs on the side keeps him creatively alive, and what he is doing now to mentor the next generation of filmmakers.

Honest, specific, and full of the kind of perspective that only comes from someone who has figured out how to stay close to the work while also building something real around it.

Topics covered: cinematography, director of photography, music videos, commercials, production company, creative business, skateboarding, mentorship, running a business with your spouse, staying creative, mom and pop philosophy, filmmaking

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

Cassie Crosby spent three years in digital media planning before a friend said, just try production. So she quit her job sight unseen, started cold calling anyone who would take her, and has spent the last decade figuring out the rest on the fly.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with Cassie Crosby, a production manager turned line producer turned senior internal agency producer, for one of the most practical and honest conversations the podcast has had yet. They have known each other since 2016 and this one feels like it, two people who have worked together enough to just get into it.

They talk about what freelancing in production actually looks like before anyone knows your name, how she navigated the jump from music videos and scrappy low budget jobs to commercial campaigns with budgets she had never seen before, and what made her decide to leave freelance life for an internal agency role. She also gets into why internal production teams are becoming more valuable for certain brands, what she has learned about managing creative teams and staying on budget, and the one thing she wishes she had done sooner.

Practical, grounded, and full of the kind of perspective that only comes from someone who has actually done every job on the list.

Topics covered: production management, line producing, internal agency production, freelancing, commercial production, music videos, budgets, brand direct production, creative teams, career pivots, production ladder, senior producer

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

Brett didn't have a plan when he moved to LA. Just a borrowed apartment, a borrowed car, and three weeks to figure it out.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with Brett Duchon, a talent agent based in Los Angeles who has spent over a decade at the intersection of entertainment, social media, and brand partnerships. He started at a social media company inside a major talent agency before most people even knew what that meant, built his way up from coordinator to agent, and now works with some of the biggest celebrities and athletes in the world, landing deals that feel like the right fit rather than just the biggest check.

They get into what it was really like building in the social media space when Instagram was still figuring itself out, the decision that shaped the next decade of Brett's career, and what actually goes into matching the right talent with the right brand at the right moment.

Brett also breaks down the difference between a deal that performs and one that lasts, why authenticity is the only thing that works long term, and where he sees the future of celebrity brand partnerships heading.

Honest, practical, and full of the kind of behind-the-scenes perspective you rarely hear from someone actually doing the deals.

Topics covered: talent agents, brand deals, celebrity partnerships, social media, entertainment industry, athletes, career growth, talent agency, brand strategy, influencer marketing, entertainment business

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

Cecily Chambers Robinson did not plan to start an agency. But as she was preparing to quit her stable job and figure out what came next, everything around her started pointing in the right direction. Opportunities began showing up at exactly the right time, and the signs seemed to keep coming, giving her the confidence to follow a path that would eventually lead to starting her own business.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with Cecily, founder of FORM Artists and co-founder of the newly launched Bureau of Artist Management, for a conversation about what it actually means to represent creative talent and why knowing when to trust the signs is everything.

Cecily grew up in LA with comedy writer parents and a photographer godmother who would bring contact sheets to her house when she was eight years old. She spent almost six years learning the business at her first agency, quit at twenty seven, started her own company three weeks later from her living room, and spent the next decade building a roster of photographers and directors working across entertainment, advertising, and beyond.

They talk about the buyout conversation every creative needs to have before signing anything, why AI clauses are now standard in her contracts, what she wishes she had known earlier about trusting her gut, and why merging her agency with the right partner changed the way she thinks about building a business entirely.

Warm, wise, and full of genuinely useful insight for anyone navigating the creative industry from any angle.

Topics covered: artist management, photography representation, creative agencies, Bureau of Artist Management, FORM Artists, key art, entertainment photography, buyouts, usage rights, AI and photography, personal work, testing, imposter syndrome, business partnerships, synchronicity, trust your gut

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

What does it take to go from Uber driving while struggling with credit card debt to booking a life-changing role in Hollywood?Michael Vlamis joins Ryan Huffman to talk about how luck, synchronicity, and believing in yourself and in the people around you can become the foundation that makes success possible - one of the most honest and energetic conversations on the podcast yet!

From grueling acting classes to intimidating executive producers in audition rooms, Michael walks us through his journey, the struggles of making it on your own, what it means to bet on your projects, and how being ready when the opportunity of a lifetime comes your way can actually change everything.Best known for his starring role on Roswell, New Mexico, Michael has also written, directed, produced, and starred in his feature film debut, Crossword, and recently joined the cast of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Through every chapter of his career, one conviction has remained the same: believing in your craft, showing up for the people around you, and leaving your ego at the door will always take you further.

Randi Wilens has reinvented herself more times than most people attempt once. And every single time, it started the same way: she saw something, trusted her gut, and went after it before anyone else understood what she was doing.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with Randi, founder of RW Media, to trace a career that started at USC film school with no computers and no cell phones, ran through the golden era of music videos producing Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone" and Nine Inch Nails visuals, and eventually pivoted into a world of global animation, immersive content, art installations on historic buildings, and speaking on panels in India and Dubai.

They talk about what it meant to build the bridge between music video directors and the commercial world before anyone believed it was possible, why the music industry's corporate shift broke her heart, and how a single stop motion commercial on KCRW in 1996 quietly changed the entire direction of her career.

Randi also gets into her philosophy on outreach, curiosity, and connection. She reaches out to 15 to 30 new people every single day, never takes no for an answer, and genuinely believes her best clients are the ones she has not met yet.

Warm, wise, and full of the kind of hard-won perspective that only comes from someone who has been building things for decades and still shows up every day like it is day one.

Topics covered: music videos, animation, immersive content, art installations, career pivots, RW Media, Michael Jackson, curiosity, networking, talent representation, map projection, the Sphere, South by Southwest, immersive experiences, creative careers

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

TJ Hoover didn't plan any of this. He just kept saying yes, kept showing up, and kept finding ways to be useful in rooms where he had no business being yet.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with TJ Hoover, creative director, lighting designer, and co-founder of See You Later, to trace the full arc of a career that started with four little lights at a church in Florida and grew into designing some of the most iconic live experiences in music today.

They talk about the European festival tour where TJ failed ten times in a row and still made it work, the free plugins he built that quietly became his calling card, how the pandemic sent him into film production and what he brought back from it, and why sometimes the most powerful career move you can make is just changing what your Instagram bio says you do.

TJ also gets into what it means to run a business when the decisions you make affect more than just yourself, why being only as good as your last gig keeps you sharp, and why at twenty nine years old with a sailboat he has never sailed, he is finally starting to think about dreaming even bigger.

Honest, energetic, and full of the kind of hard-won wisdom that only comes from someone who figured it all out by just doing the work.

Topics covered: lighting design, live music, touring, See You Later, creative direction, entrepreneurship, Doja Cat, pandemic pivot, film production, experiential events, brand activations, career growth, dream bigger

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

Chris didn't plan to become an AI agency founder. He planned to take a gap year, teach horseback riding at a summer camp, and maybe figure out his career along the way. One cold email to a small LA production company changed all of that.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with his old colleague and friend Chris, co-founder of Winston Agency, to trace the full arc of a career that went from intern at a one-person LA production company, to project manager in London, to building a 160-person global agency at Mediamonks, to betting everything on AI two years ago before most people knew what to do with ChatGPT.

They get into the tools that actually work, the ones that don't, and why the real competitive edge right now isn't about prompting. It's about automating the unsexy back end of your business before everyone else figures out they should be doing the same thing.

They also talk about beast mode, manifesting, why smaller companies will always beat bigger ones in the early days of a new wave, and what it felt like to walk out of LAX after years of trying to get back to LA.

Honest, genuinely useful, and full of the kind of hard-won perspective that only comes from someone who has lived through every major shift in the industry.

Topics covered: AI tools, agency life, entrepreneurship, Mediamonks, Winston Agency, creative production, automation, prompting, ElevenLabs, Midjourney, ChatGPT, career pivots, beast mode, building a team

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.

Drew Shenfield didn't map out his career. He just kept saying yes to the right things, listening to the right people, and betting on talent nobody else was paying attention to yet.

In this episode, Ryan Huffman sits down with his longtime friend and Mosaic talent manager Drew Shenfield for a conversation about sixteen years of friendship and what it actually looks like to build a career in entertainment from the inside out. They talk about cutting teeth at WME, getting honest advice that changed the whole trajectory, and finding clients by sliding into DMs before that was even a thing.

Drew gets into the long game of management, why conviction and taste are the only two things that really matter, and what it felt like to finally see a client's work land a cultural moment with K-pop Demon Hunters on Netflix. He also gets real about burnout, Instagram at 2pm, and why taking care of yourself is the most underrated career move you can make.

Honest, funny, and full of the kind of perspective you only get from someone who has been quietly doing the work for years. This one is worth your time.

Topics covered: talent management, entertainment industry, career pivots, comedy, Netflix, film festivals, burnout, mental health, creative careers, talent scouting

The Making of You is hosted by Ryan Huffman, founder of Huffman Creative. New episodes drop regularly.