We’re talking test shooting and beyond with Stewart Cohen on this episode of Workbook Radio.
In this third installment, Workbook Regional Representative Mary Preussel talks with award-winning, long-time client Stewart Cohen about test shooting, kids, and other business ventures.
MP: “Right, so how often do you test?”
SC: “We’re always shooting.”
MP: “Do you plan for your tests or do you just-“
SC: “That’s my New Year’s resolution every year: to plan them better! As opposed to just willy nilly, ‘Hey! Let’s get on a plane to London and shoot something!’ That’s kind of what we do. Then we come back, and I usually, it takes me two to three months to edit it. But, it was a fun weekend.”
MP: “Right? Okay. So one of my favorites [of your test shoots was] is the State Fair of Texas, here in Dallas. I heard after the fact that you were actually given permission to go to the State Fair before it opened to do some shooting?”
SC: “I don’t remember. I’ve gotten kicked out of there more times.”
MP: “That’s funny! I swear…not last year but the year before.”
SC: “Oh, maybe! Yeah.”
MP: “That you guys were-“
SC: “We probably went over there. Yeah. But I think we got kicked out then too. (Mary laughs.) I think the person that told us we could go was not really, did not have the authority…yeah.”
MP: “Oh, right?! Okay, what’s the most important place you’ve been kicked out of?”
SC: “Oh there’re some good ones. (Laughing) But that’s okay! You just take it in stride.”
MP: “Right. And you get the shot.”
SC: “And then you don’t acted surprised sometimes when people say ‘Okay, you can stay.’”
MP: “Oh, right? That’s great. [Tell me] What your celebratory song is. What do you play when you’re happy? When you’re like ‘Oh my god, I just won that bid’?”
SC: “Wow. I don’t have a celebratory song. I wanna…see one of my next lives, I’m gonna be a DJ in Ibiza. So I love, you know, the cool thing these days of course…it used to be we used to create playlists for shoots. And today we have so many music sources, and they’re all synced up so I can listen at any computer anywhere we are. We can listen to anything. So whenever I’m editing at home, I’m always looking. I chase my kids’ playlists, which are pretty good.”
MP: “Right. That’s interesting. Yup.”
SC: “Or even some-of-the-people-who-work-here kids’ playlists. They’re always listening to new stuff; I’m always listening to new stuff.”
MP: “Yup. It amazes me how quickly they learn the words to the songs that you’re like, you know, ‘What’d he say?’”
SC: “Oh and it’s always great, you know. One thing about having kids that’s great is you can go to any show, no matter how teenybopper it is, and justify going. It’s amazing. Just looking at trends and people. I mean I love looking at people, and I’m always out. That’s really where I get my inspiration for everything we do, to see what’s actually happening in the world.”
MP: “Yeah, okay.”
SC: “And when you ask them if they wanna be PA’s on a shoot and you say ‘You wanna PA on the shoot?’ And they’re like ‘No.’ and I go, ‘I really think you should.’ ‘No.’ I’m like, ‘I really think you two should work on this job this weekend.’ And they’re like, ‘No, we really don’t want to.’
And then of course one of them goes to see who’s in town and they go, ‘Oh yeah! Okay! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I think uhh…I think we might be available.’”
MP: “Right. Who was it?”
SC: “Oh it was a Selena Gomez deal. That was the only reason. They figured that out and they were like, ‘Okay, we’ll work.’”
MP: “Right? Oh, they’re so darn lucky. That’s an interesting thing having grown up in a creative environment. What a great world you have shared with your daughters. Are either of them taking up that calling?”
SC: “Nope! Not even. Not even close. One of them I think will be a great producer. I think both would be great producers. The only thing they’ve learned, I think from us, is they can do whatever they want. They can run it. So…”
MP: “Oh absolutely.
SC: “As long as they’re the boss, they’ll be fine.”
MP: “Absolutely. That’s fantastic. I know that you do a lot of things beside photography and film as far as business ventures. Can you give us a glimpse of what that looks like today?”
SC: “Through a series of poor decisions, (Mary laughing) I am now the CEO and owner of SuperStock, which is a photo company. We have 12 million pictures that we license. And I am rebranding [the] company. We are rebuilding it. We’re rebuilding the whole IT platform, and we’re going to make it a cool place to go again. I want to make it a place where commercial superstars want to put their work. And I want to keep prices up. We’re going to try to play in the new arena of having different products for different types of clients at different price points. But, I want to represent the best people in the industry in a good way.
“I think we’ve all gotten beaten up on licensing and I want to try to…I don’t think you can stem the tide, but you can definitely have a collection that upholds it.”
MP: “Nice. That’s great.”
SC: “So that’s one thing I’m doing.”
MP: “Wow. Okay.”
SC: “So that started last year and we have offices in…well. They were based in Florida. The main office is in Dallas. We have an office in London, one in New York, one in LA. So I immediately when I [through a] series of unfortunate events took that over, I got an additional, I think, 14 employees.”
MP: “Nice.”
SC: “So on top of the SC crew. So it’s good though. There’s a lot of camaraderie between us, and we’re looking for some synergy. And I’ve learned a lot of that from the staff that’s been there about the licensing industry. Beause I’ve always been on the other side of it as an individual contributor.
“I was one of the first live action contributors to Getty when it bought its first motion collection way back when. I kind of have come up in the industry and made a lot of money licensing my stuff early on. And actually I can attribute a lot of my success to the ability to license work. And unfortunately I think the guys coming into the world, or the people, the photographers and filmmakers today coming into the world, don’t have that same luxury. Which is unfortunate.”
MP: “Right.”
SC: “We used to be able to go out and you know…I mean, there were times we would basically go to Mexico, go to India, spend [7500]-8000 on a shoot and guarantee you’d triple your money in two years from licensing. So those days are gone unfortunately, and it’s too bad because that’s kind of where you really experimented and played and there were no clients looking over your shoulders, or…you know. So it was really a growing experience. So I feel like it’d be nice to try to see if we could recreate that scenario for today’s filmmakers and photographers.”
MP: “Okay, other ventures?”
SC: “Well we…I kind of play around with some real estate and uhh…So I’m in a loft building that has eighteen spaces. I started off with one, and I slowly own most of the building now. So our studio is in five of them. Like we put together [the lofts], and then we own a bunch of other real estate. It’s kind of nice to us; a lot of people in the industry are tenants in our building. So we’re trying to create a nice community here. And I would love a play that’s just a solid creative community. You know, people from all walks. I think it’s just…it’s a good place. People in the city know the building, and I want everyone to…[get along]. So it is a business thing because I’m a landlord, and they’re great spaces; we take care of them and we’re trying to lease [the lofts] to people, like-minded people.”
MP: “Right. Well you’ve always been very arts oriented.”
SC: “Yeah, well it’s a loft. So-“
MP: “Right.”
SC: “And then I ran with some other real estate stuff. And then in my spare time…I guess I like numbers. So one of my hobbies is trading options.”
MP: “Oh nice.”
SC: “Which I enjoy doing as well.”
MP: “Way to go.”
SC: “You know how some people play Sudoku? Yeah, I trade options.”
MP: “That’s crazy. Your stomach must be made of absolute steel.”
SC: “Absolutely not. No, I make mistakes, just like you make mistakes in this career [photography]. I make plenty of mistakes. But you know what? You win some, you lose some. It’s fun!”
MP: “Right.”
SC: “No it’s truly…if you do it. I’m really not doing anything really risky. So-“
MP: “Ah-ha. Well I’m expecting some hot stock tips after we’re finished.”
SC: “No, you’re not going to get any here. No, no, no, no, no.”
They laugh.
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