Jerod Couch
From Homeless at Christmas to Emmy Wins: The Journey of Jerod Couch
KELLY
Some people think success comes from hard work. Others believe you just have to be at the right place at the right time. For Jerod Couch, it was a little bit of both.
JC I would say my life is kind of like “The Pursuit of Happiness” a little bit if you’ve ever seen that movie
KELLY
Today’s guest is a two-time Emmy award winning filmmaker, whose life started on the streets of Dallas, Texas.
In many ways, it was the best start he could have asked for.
JC the pieces of a film are all around you in the world you just got a put them together
KELLY
Welcome to Qavah.
(Music: Theme music)
HOMELESS AT CHRISTMAS
JC So I remember vividly my mother and I we were we were staying with a friend of hers and for some reason I don’t know why but we were kicked out this was I think it was like New Year’s Eve so we were like homeless on Christmas I don’t remember the exact age my exact age but I knew it had to be like I don’t know four or five maybe somewhere around there but yeah that’s kind of a very big moment in life
KA WOW So did you have a car
JC Yes we had a car so we were actually we were staying in our car that next day and it was in the Dallas area so I remember staying a little bit next to Lake Ray Hubbard
KA Oh wow OK so did you grow up in the Dallas area
JC I did I grew up in various neighborhoods around Dallas we moved around a lot in that time. And then ultimately around six grade so that would put me around 11 or 12 we settled in the Wilmer Hutchins area which is just south of Dallas right on the edge
KA OK OK So that’s a lot for a little boy to shoulder do you know what led up to that
JC no I know we were always financially unstable and I have never met my father to this day so that’s probably a lot to navigate for a single mother
KA right
JC So that’s kind of where we were at that point
KELLY
Jerod was in the same boat as 1.5 million other students who experience homelessness in the U.S.A., according to a 2018 statistic. These students are 20% less likely to graduate high school, as compared to students in a home with a stable household income.
HOW TO BEAT THE ODDS
But Jerod beat the odds big time. His grandfather, who he had a lot in common with, was a heavy influence on his success.
KA Yeah so do you have any favorite childhood memories
JC Favorite childhood memories yeah I so never having met my father I fell in love with sports early on I don’t know how that happened but it did and I used to do you know I love playing football in the street you know I had a few scars from you know from going knee first into some concrete steps and I used to collect you know baseball cards and football cards I actually used to cut out articles and put them in one of those big binders that you you put photos in so yeah I know I used to love sports I started listening to sports radio when I was like 10, 11 years old,which I kid should be listening to the ticket in Dallas at 11 years old I had the humor of a 50-year-old man when I was like 11 or 12
KA Oh that’s funny well so who was in your family of origin so your biological father wasn’t present it was your mom did you have any siblings?
JC I am an only child so it was just me and my mother my grandfather played a massive influence from about sixth grade on so yeah it was me and my mom and my grandfather for the most part
KA So do you have any good memories of your grandfather
JC Oh yeah I got a ton now he’s he’s probably the hardest working man I’ve ever encountered he you know three days before he passed he was working
KA Wow!
JC Yeah no he a remember one time he so he used to work on when you asked him what he did he he be like I dig dirt Basically he ran one of those big front loaders where he worked for a gravel company and he just say I play in dirt all day but he was working on the the big tractor and and the hood came down and crushed his hand and he had this big terminator like contraption on his hand for a long time and as soon as that thing came off he was back fixing on cars and working there was no such thing as physical therapy for him it was all right I’m good to go so yeah he was he was such a hard worker and such a hard worker and he was a good man
KA That’s awesome so is that your mom’s dad
JC YES
KA Ok wonderful so what are some of the significance experiences that you faced in your in your upbringing that you’d like to share
JC That’s a great question I would say you know definitely having grown up extremely poor that’s a challenge in and of itself I remember moving around a lot as a kid I went to six schools in one year
KA WOW
JC yeah at one point yeah I was just I was always a new kid I was maybe that explains a lot as an adult even when I was in first in college I’m able to adapt you know they called a code switching code switching I had this professor is advisor and he was like you can go between groups of people very seamlessly so yeah I went to six schools in one year they actually thought I was dyslexic but I thought I was kind of I was mentally handicapped I don’t know if that’s the right word
KA Like had a learning disability
JC A learning disability yeah I had a learning disability and when we finally stopped and stayed in one school for six months my grades went from getting C’s to all A’s and I remember at the time that being a big moment and everybody was so shocked right I was and I wasn’t shot because I didn’t think I was dumb not dumb but I don’t think I have a learning disability but everybody around me thought I did and so that was a big moment in my life as far as OK I can do this right
KELLY
Sometimes all it takes to thrive is an opportunity. Once Jerod had stability in his life, he gained the confidence to at least say, “I can try... and maybe I can succeed.”
I THOUGHT I WASN’T READY
JC I think that’s been a common theme in my life where when I went to college to the University of Texas I was so scared because I came from a underprivileged school and I thought I wasn’t ready and I thought everybody there’s a genius and like I wasn’t prepared took me all of a semester and I realize these folks don’t work as hard as me and I’m not I’m not as ill prepared as I thought I was so you know just started taking advantage of every opportunity and the same thing happen when I went to ESPN when I got there I’m a production assistant I’m intimidated but I realize OK I’m just as creative or I can be just as creative I work as it hard if not harder and I wonder if it might be a common human experience where in any situation you might feel a little intimidated but I think my life experiences have set me up for all of that
7:12
KA WOW That’s awesome so how did you get to UT?
JC well I so well in high school I made distant grades and I was involved in a lot of activities national honor Society ROTC I played football I played baseball I was in the science club
KA You were involved
JC Yeah I know I the story of my life is doing too much it’s like you’re burning the candle at both ends and I stick a third one in there so I can get there faster but yeah I applied and came down to UT in Texas A&M and I had more friends in Texas I think that was the ultimate deciding factor yeah I made good grades in high school and I did the extracurricular activities
KA That’s awesome well I will here’s a little tidbit of information every time a student moves they lose six weeks of education
JC Oh I believe that
KA So the fact that you were able to overcome that and have and go to UT is amazing like that is incredible so way to go that’s awesome
JC I Actually went twice I went and got a grad degree from UT so
KA So you got your undergrad and what is that
JC so my undergrad was radio television and film and my graduate degree was masters in business administration and MBA
KA Well you’re very well-rounded
JC Thank you I try when I got to ESPN hi my first thing was intimidation my second thought was like wow there’s a lot of us here so how in the world do I stick out because you know production assistance at a network they’re a dime a dozen so I was like OK well I need something else plus I was in Connecticut and there wasn’t much to do and it was called so I spent my nights at Starbucks or the library studying for for the GMAT and I was like well let me get out of Connecticut let me find a way back to Texas
KA Oh that’s awesome I get it I’m not I don’t like the cold weather either it’s not fun at all
9:30
JC And Connecticut is like it’s around the year like six months out of the year it’s cold
KA Oh yeah that’s that’s dreadful for Texans absolutely
KELLY
Just as things were looking up for Jerod, the Great Recession of 2008 hit the United States. Suddenly, his two degrees from the University of Texas plummeted in value.
KA so you went did you go to ESPN right out of college out of undergrad?
9:47
JC Yes I know it was I graduated in 2007 that was a round the great recession and it took me about eight months to land there and in the meantime I spent time in Dallas and I’ll tell you that one experience since you’re talking about experience is one of the ones I like to tell so when I graduated from UT I got a job doing commercials so essentially I’m handing out flyers or items at the Cotton Bowl
KA OK
JC A very humbling experience for you to graduate you know a college degree my undergrad degree you know used it for years you have all this swagger and you think you’re the man and now you’re handed out diet Dr Pepper at the Cotton Bowl and this one moment sticks in my head and it probably will forever it was the cotton ball game I forget what teams were playing it was like Missouri and Arkansas or somebody I don’t know and this young college student young lady comes up to me and I hand her a diet Dr Pepper because that was my job for the day and she was like who are you going for and I was like well I went to the University of Texas sew I really don’t I don’t care I don’t have a horse in the race she was like oh you went to UT and now you’re passing out diet Dr Pepper?
KA Yikes
JC And I was like oh that cut deep it cut deep because it was true and I was like as you know that really I don’t need any extra motivation that was just kind of like lighter fluid like poured on you know my my coals
KA Oh my goodness yes so did you make a choice
JC At that point yeah I don’t know if I went back and worked the commercials I might’ve done it a timer to and definitely if I had any you know if I didn’t have those blinders on or I wasn’t extremely focused I definitely was after that point it was like OK you have this film degree and let’s make it happen like what are you gonna do and I do remember that you know a month later two months later I was working SXSW Direct TV that was only for a week or two but still I was able to you know it was great that was a great experience like I ended up carrying a purse one day and the next day I was interviewing a famous artist from the UK
KA OH wow
KELLY
Jerod began to seek opportunities like a moth seeks a flame. His only goal was to be in an environment where anything could happen. Because maybe, just maybe, it would.
GREAT EXPERIENCE AT SXSW
JC Yeah I know it’s crazy how life works what happen was it was like the UK SXSW theme and the producer I was working with she was on her side time she was working for DIRECTV but on the side she was also doing a documentary for the BBC and which and then she kind of forced me to stay with her until three in the morning which I wasn’t supposed to because I wasn’t getting paid but I was 22 and I was just there along for the ride and so she lost her voice at three in the morning and she was trying to do interviews with the artist she was doing the documentary so I carry a purse and I’m looking at the cameraman flounder trying to ask questions to this hip-hop artist and he has no clue what to ask I had just spent four years at UT and I had my own hip-hop television show
KA OH my goodness
JC And so you know divine intervention do you know I’m looking at him and I don’t wanna overstep my bounds but I’m like this is bad so I kind of a slide I like slide a kick in hey I didn’t know the guy really but I look at this flyer and I was like hey what was it like working with this famous hip-hop artist from the United States he had worked with UGK and he saw his eyes just lied up and he just starts talking and talking and talking and then I look at the producer and she’s like keep going keep going keep going so I slide in the chair and I just commits to talking to him for 30 minutes and the rest of the week I went from carrying a purse to to being treated almost like talent and I was doing all the interviews because I had built a rapport with even when she had her voice back and that’s a sidebar story
KA That is awesome
It just fell in your lap and you were the right person at the right time
JC Indeed and you know at that time I’m like a man I’m about to make it I’m about to blow up I did blow up but it was a great experience
KA Right right but it it may have boosted you a little bit to know that you were going the right direction
JC Correct correct
KA So did you always know you wanted to be a filmmaker
JC No why I again going back to listening to The ticket I wanted to be I wanted to be a sports radio host and I don’t know if you listen to the ticket but they are the reason I get kicked off college radio and because some think the tickets can do some things you can’t do as even the ticket gets away with the lot that it other professional radio stations wouldn’t get away with around the country but yeah I didn’t want to be I wanted to be a sports radio host in but when I got to UT I created a television show and then I also worked on the sports TV show I was the producer of that and I realize that I like creating and building a show and building a business more so than talking on the radio I love the intricacies of putting a team together because it’s all a puzzle the pieces the pieces of a film are all around you in the world you just got a put them together
KA Wow that’s awesome
So you moved into film how from ESPN?
JC No actually when I was in college I did an internship in LA and the internship I actually had was at a record label well in the evening so we did this thing called UT LA and it’s where we get class credit so we were still going to school while interning by day and one of the teachers of the class he was a famous I was a famous he was a well-known producer in Hollywood and we had to submit a treatment for the move me just like a blueprint you’re kind of a rough outline of your movie and out of the tower class he like to movies mine and this other girls and so when I went back to school I was like i’m gonna take a screen writing class So I took two screen writing classes route my feature film and then I kind of put it on the back back burner when I went to ESPN learned the television game and When I I didn’t really come back to Film probably until when I created my most recent television show #washed before that I was doing documentaries a lot of commercials and kind of feature stories
KA Ok
REFLECT ON HIS JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
KELLY
Jerod has used his creative skills to reflect on his journey to success. He is producing a TV series that examines the many paths that life can take.
KA Well so what is your life like today
JC Right now my life is consumed by an individual television series that I created three years ago called #washed it space right here in Dallas and we are on season two and I am in post production Purgatory
KA Well congratulations on season two that’s awesome so season one went well
JC Season one did went very well we are I think our biggest accomplishments were we went Dells small but mighty award
KA Congratulations
JC And thank you we were nominated for best comedy by the end a series of words in LA and we were selected to I think for other festivals in season one all the way from Harlem to LA
KA OK So tell me what this series is about
JC So it is a coming of age or a coming of adulthood and #washed is short for washed up it’s a social media term and I see it as you know when we’re a kid you know there’s this phrase where you’re like when I get rich I’m gonna do this and you know 30 is a mile stone it seems like by 30 I’m gonna be famous and I’m gonna be rich well a lot of us me included wake up at 30 and dad hasn’t come to fruition right and so this is what the show explores and it’s it’s from an urban sprawl respective and the first name of the show was quarter life crisis well if 30 was a quarter life crisis we live to 120 so that didn’t
#washed Is a social media term short for washed up and I thought it portrayed what I was trying the ideas I was trying to get out was you’re too old to just be a dreamer yeah young enough to reach your dreams so now you’re in a situation where it’s put up or shut up and season one was centered around one character and male character turning 30 and kind of chasing his past while his future slips away season two we you know we had the community support we had local and national success so I we rebuilt the entire series so season two is more 2.0 Because we go from a single lead to an ensemble our crew went from 30 people to 150 people are writers room we have a writers room now and it’s six people with an even gender split and we had a new director of photography so visually looks different lighting even sonically it’s different the soundtrack so amazing so yeah it’s it’s coming of adulthood just to kind of bring it back around and trying to doing with the internal conflict growing older and dealing with that
KA So do you think that people of that age group do they find it disappointing to get to adulthood and just go OK this is it
JC Definitely it all varies from person to person right I think it also varies from topic to topic like you might be great in this one area but you know say financially or you could be financially but you’re not great emotionally so how do you deal with that and it’s and it’s also you know I compare it to an athlete right I’m a sports guy right your prime athletic years In sports is usually like 28 to 32 and the reason being is that you’re more athletic at 22 but by 28 your mental sign at the game has caught up to your athleticism and it’s intersecting so your athleticism is still good but maybe not as great as it used to be in the same thing with life I think is that this might be the case You know I could do you know when I get to my 40s and 50s I could be thinking differently but I do see it as in your early 30s You reach a point where you know a little bit like when I was at ESPN I had all the energy and hard work but I don’t know much but now I know a little bit and I might not be as energetic as I used to be but now I can put the pieces together and you have to you have to do that or you at least attempt to do that in life and if you’re disappointed in any aspect I think now is a good time to address that right
KA Right yeah that’s a very good point
so when you filmed did you film pre-pandemic?
JC I did we looked up we wrapped principal photography in November 2019
KA. Oh awesome because this has been a crazy season
JC It’s a crazy season and it worked out great because I would’ve been stuck in a dark room editing and working with editors to get this done so the pandemic lock me down and I could tell my wife well we can’t go anywhere so I can spend 16 hours a day working on this
KA That’s awesome yes
KELLY
From working without pay until 3 in the morning, to a nationwide lockdown, Jerod has been able to see the opportunity in every situation and seize it. He even reflects on how the absence of a father spurred him on to greatness.
KA So you’re married OK you mentioned your wife so that’s good so what do you think gave you hope to continue like when you were when you’re little and things are in your moving around what gave you hope to continue on in order to have to get to success
JC you know I think a lot of times people say oh do you ever miss not having a dad or do you miss Certain when you’re growing up and you’re in the midst of it that’s all you know so I was it I don’t look back on it SOL was so sad and this was bad it was life you just kind of dealt with it and I would say you know gave me hope I would say the light switch clicked on around sophomore year of high school and I looked around me and I was it sad or depressed or anything but I looked around me and I said OK if I don’t start taking accountability for my actions in my life then I’ll I’ll stay here and you know I never wanted to stay there I never wanted to be poor forever right in my whole goal was like all right let me get out of the situation let me work my way out and I had teachers I had coaches I had my grandpa I had people who supported me and made sure whatever I fell down they were there to catch me or push me along right and and I do think the snowball effect of success you know you get a little success you experience you know winning some thing for me it’s addictive I don’t know if that’s for everybody but I the first time I started like OK I like getting awards or I like winning
KA right yeah
JC It drives you and this is a bad way to look at it and I’m trying to change there’s a football coach for the Redskins I think his name is George Alan and he said he loved he hated losing more than he loved winning so I’m always constantly trying to win or trying to get better and of the ante
KA Yeah so do you feel like that you’re always open to learning new things
JC I try to be as much as possible yes and I do know being independent filmmaker I don’t think I hope I’m not always an independent filmmaker but as an independent filmmaker and especially creating season two or even the entire series if somebody faltered I had to be there to learn that job or had to be there to pick up the slack so you know I if I can’t afford to pay someone to make graphics I go learn Photoshop if I can’t I’m gonna learn you know how to do something if I can’t pay some buddy to do it I have to learn how to do it and if I can’t learn how to do it I have to negotiate you know I do you have to say OK I can’t pay you right now but can I give you this or can I give you that or can I give you points like how can we get this done and It’s the same thing with like locations we shoot in Dallas and we have 30+ locations in season two you’re asking somebody to come into their business or come into their home or wherever it is for 15 to 20 hours on a Saturday or Sunday so and in the film projects you don’t have a big budget so it’s like OK you negotiate or your bag are you barter I come in and I’ll do a video for you right I’ll put your logo in our show do you know how can we how can we get this done
KA Right wow so do you feel like our people pretty open about that or are they like that’s too much
JC It depends and it depends from person to person I remember I was talking to a producer in LA that was trying to shop us around and he’s like hey how many permits and how many how hard was it to get I see you have a lot of occasions and I was like well you know and Dallas you know you get permits and you but people are a little more open whereas if you’re in LA or New York there’s a lot of people out there shooting and there’s unions and there’s people that will shut you down but in Dallas people are a little more open maybe because where I don’t know because we move at a slower pace or a little more hospitable or you know it’s just the film industry isn’t as huge as they are in those big markets
KA Right absolutely so when you were when you were 15 would you have seen yourself where you are now
JC Not in this forum that is like not as a filmmaker as I wouldn’t think I would’ve definitely thought of as a radio host or somebody in sports media
KA Would you have any advice for yourself your 15-year-old self
JC Try to figure it out sooner yes so at 15 I would probably say keep doing what you’re doing continue to work hard and probably try to be more purposeful When you get to college I was very purposeful at first when I worked hard and I tried a lot of things but sometimes when you try to be Jack of all trades and you end up being master of nothing and you know trying to sound like when I went to LA and I was I interned for to record labels I don’t really wanna work at a record label I was just looking for an internship in LA where ass if I went back and said hey you’re going to get a chance to go to LA for an entire summer how about you intern at a film studio and when the producer of your the teacher of your class who is also a big-time producer says he likes your movie how about you stick out there stay out there a couple extra weeks and meet with him that’s what I’m saying
KA And maybe you know sometimes you don’t even realize what those opportunities are until it’s in hindsight you know what I’m saying
JC Yeah you definitely don’t like attending UT all the stuff that I got to do as a like a student that new nothing I was on the sidelines of the Cotton Bowl at the UT Oklahoma game and now I would kill to be in the sidelines but every year I was on the sidelines I took it for granite I’m only here walking around the sign lines with LeBron James in Emmett Smith and I’m just like wow this is life you know the storm supposed to be now you look back man that was that was kind of cool
KA Wow and it’s interesting when you’re not in that position where you’re a part of the in crowd or the invited you know you go out that was really nice when I was in that situation you don’t appreciate it until you’re not in that situation so I know what you’re saying so what would you like people to take away from your story
JC My story as a whole it’s perseverance you know and consistency I would say perseverance in my adolescence and basically not getting caught up in what you don’t have and taking advantage of all that you do because they’re all opportunities in crisis we’re fighting now in Covid in a pandemic everybody some people are whoa is me and there’s other people like this is an opportunity this is a chance to do something different in my life and then I would say in my later years it’s just consistency and it’s cliché but I learned this in grads do and it’s really help me with with being an independent filmmaker because it’s so hard and got grad school going to grad school at night and on the weekend this hard it’s about showing up every day and you get overwhelmed by the enormity of what you’re trying to do but if you can just break it down into small tasks and I would I do is I have a list in my iPhone and it’s in the notes and I just every day I have tasks to do it always contributes to a bigger goal but if I look at the bigger goal I just get bogged down and I won’t be able to get anything accomplished so I just say perseverance and just consistency showing up every day and Chipaway at life don’t try to you know if you if you go out if you sit out to do something mighty mental it can’t be accomplished unless every day you’re chipping away at it
KA Wow that’s really good that’s some really good advice I like that I agree with that
KELLY
So at the end of the day, maybe you just need to be at the right place at the right time. Maybe you need to carry the purse of an interviewer so that you might get to talk to a famous hip-hop artist.
But according to Jerod, it takes a lot of work to get to the right place at the right time.
KA so tell us where we can find season two
JC So we are launching on September 2 which I think it’s going to air after that season two season one is on Amazon prime season two will be up there as well but also it’ll be on washedseries.com which is our own platform we’re trying to build that out It’s always good to be on Amazon as well
KA Yes not a bad thing
JC Because you know you want here’s another tip I learned fish for the fish are at
KA There you go
JC That’s where the viewers are yes it’ll be in watchseries.com and on Amazon on our first generation you never know what’s gonna happen in the future
KA. OK so is it washedseries.com
JC correct
KA with an ED WASHED series.com OK awesome well thank you so much for your time I sure do appreciate it I wish you all the luck I think this is this is awesome and you’ve come you’ve done amazing things with your life already and you’re young
JC Thank you so much thank you for the kind words and it’s been an exciting experience this life of mine
KA yes It has been you’ve done so much but thank you so much
