What Pro Wrestling Taught Me About Filmmaking
In a world where body slams and suplexes reign supreme, I found lessons that changed my approach to filmmaking forever.
In January 2020 I accepted a job offer at DDP Yoga, Diamond Dallas Page’s company. Little did I know this would be the biggest domino turn in my career. It led me to eventually work with All Elite Wrestling, Teddy Swims, Shaq, Paul Walter Hauser, and so many more.
Professional wrestling is a chaotic world full of colorful characters, tight deadlines, and creative people.
Alright, a lot of you probably don’t know much about pro wrestling (or you just don’t care), but let’s get one thing out of the way before we proceed - wrestling is predetermined. Wrestling is pre-determined. As Diamond Dallas Page once told me, “Wrestling might be fake, but gravity is real.” Those guys and girls are basically putting their lives on the line for your entertainment every week. It’s bonkers. Anyway, let’s get into why you actually clicked on this.
1. Flexibility: Rolling with the Punches
A trait I honestly did not have before working in this industry was flexibility. If I was told to do one thing and then soon after was told to do another, I lost my freaking mind dude. I would freeze, need to take a walk or honestly just give up. The lesson that needed to be learned was to adapt to any situation that’s thrown at you. Think of being a filmmaker like being a boxer. Boxers take hits and jabs all the time, but the ones that win are the ones that don’t flinch when hit. The more hits you take the more you learn not to flinch.
2. Listening: Ink It, Don’t Think It
Alright, I’m gonna be real with you guys, sometimes listening is not a strength of mine. My ADHD greatly impacts my ability to fully understand things at certain times. BUT, I’ve only gotten better with age. Wrestling moves fast, and people will NOT repeat themselves a second time for your sake. Anytime I would ask my boss, Diamond Dallas Page, to repeat something he would tell me, ‘Ink it. Don’t think it. Time is valuable, and if you’re making people waste their time repeating themselves, then it’s not going to look good on you. Trust me, I’ve learned from experience.
3. Learning the Language: Embrace the World
Sometimes you can get away with walking into a brand-new world and making it work with surface-level knowledge, but the fact of the matter is that if you fully embrace a world’s lingo, terminology, and code you will win the respect of many. Professional wrestling has an extensive history and vocabulary, so if you really want to work in it, you’re gonna have to speak their language.
4. Speak up!
We’ve all had a bad take of a shot. Whether it’s bad lighting, audio, focus, you name it, but if you don’t speak up and ask for another take, you’re only doing yourself and the whole crew a disservice. Here’s a fun story:
During my second month working for AEW IN 2020, I was tasked with shooting a promo for Jon Moxley. It was a huge deal for me to be given such a high-profile wrestler to shoot. If you’ve ever seen Jon Moxley, you know he’s quite the intimidating dude. I shot the promo, and on my way to give the footage to the editor I knew my shot was completely out of focus. So naive of me to hope that the editor wouldn’t notice that I gave him a blurry shot.
“Trevor… this is out of focus. This has to go live SOON.”
I sprinted all around the arena looking for Moxly and eventually found him. Turns out he was a pretty nice guy and was more than willing to do another take.
But, imagine that I didn’t get that chance and he already finished his match for the night and went back to his hotel. All because I was too afraid to ask for another take. SPEAK UP!
5. Story is Everything: Crafting the Right Look
Ah yes, the best stock filmmaking Q&A response of all time. We’ve all heard it a thousand times, but what does it mean in pro wrestling? Well, mostly the same as it does in everyday filmmaking. Is a character dark and gritty? Probably wouldn’t make sense to film him in a well-lit room. Is a character a raging psychopath? Probably wouldn’t make sense to put your camera on a tripod for them. Pay attention to storylines and characters.
Most of the time a producer will tell you the direction to go, but just knowing a bit more about a character’s story will help you develop a look a lot better.
Pro wrestling might seem like an unlikely teacher, but it gave me tools I use every day on set. Have you ever learned a surprising lesson from an unexpected place? I’d love to hear about it!
