Filmmaker, founder of tommysTV
Hometown: Baton Rouge
Age: 34
Tommy Talley is a man on a mission. His goal? To become the Capital City’s go-to creative firm for video content.
Talley spent years in Los Angeles working in the big leagues of film and reality TV before returning home to Baton Rouge. He created tommysTV and quickly caught the attention of brands such as Raising Cane’s, Wal-Mart and the New Orleans Pelicans, who hired him to shoot campaigns.
Today, tommysTV produces branded digital content for companies and organizations in the greater Baton Rouge area with an emphasis on finding unusual, innovative ways to broadcast content—such as Talley’s newest partnership with Uber and Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area.
• Talley and his wife married at 21 and trekked to Los Angeles at 23 to start Tommy’s creative career. He survived Los Angeles and the reality TV industry for six years, which he calls “an impressive feat.”
• He founded the tommysTV start-up on his own in 2012 and grew it to four full-time employees.
• He ran a campaign for Louisiana Economic Development titled Come Home Louisiana that won awards at regional and national levels, including an Effie Award and a Baton Rouge ADDY Award for “Best in Show.”
• He organized “Ride for a Cause,” a fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area. Talley volunteered as an Uber driver for the month of November 2015—Alzheimer’s Awareness Month—and donated all funds raised to Alzheimer’s Services.
His plans for 2016:
“Video is becoming so powerful, but the world is so staticky—there’s so much video content, so much noise, everywhere you go. I want anything we do at tommysTV to be awesome and hold your attention through all of that noise.”
“I first met [Tommy] on StartupBus. … I sat down next to him, and we proceeded to spend the next 72 hours within like six inches of each other, so I got to know him pretty well pretty quickly. I got a firsthand look at watching him produce his work and seeing the care and attention he put into it, the passion and creativity he puts into his craft.”
—Logan Leger, founder/CEO of NewAperio
