Meet TJ Ali Bowden | Writer, Producer & Content Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with TJ Ali Bowden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi TJ, why did you pursue a creative career?
The 90’s/00’s was such a sweet spot for TV. We were blessed with 106&Park and TRL for our music junkie needs. HBO and Showtime arrived with cinematic episodic & serialized content. We had a plethora of sitcoms to lose ourselves in with comedic relatability. But also, this was a time of the big boom of action figures to extend the film and TV IP that we enjoyed. I would give my action figures story lines and relationships that I created! I was always very imaginative and a little storyteller.

For me, pursuing a creative career in film/television was a no-brainer! The challenge was finding the way in. I’m from the Southside of Chicago and from an era where “practicality” was the goal for setting careers. I just knew I was different at a very young age and the types of movies and TV I was watching was not that of a young kid’s regularly scheduled programming! LOL. Sorry mom. I was watching mature scripted content very early and found solace in it actually. Especially shows like Nip/Tuck (while unsatisfactorily to some), was the first time I saw queer/trans characters on a mainstream broadcast channel. I ate that show up! The drama, the sexy adulting and the life outside of my Midwest-purview! Other shows like Noah’s Arc made me feel less alone and affirmed it was okay to be Black and queer.

While I was navigating a difficult time in high school due to some external and internal bullying, the performing arts and that community became my safe space. I knew immediately that I would only pursue a career in artistry and creativity so that I could be my full self and hope to show representation through my work.

As human beings, we need healthy codependency, healthy representation, healthy community and some forms of identity sharing. In our media landscape, especially now, creativity can uphold these healthy standards of expression for consumption. I love that! I live for that! It’s exciting to me that we can use our natural gifts to artistically create something that inspires people. Creativity is best when it is shared and as an extrovert, I love sharing with people. I feel personally responsible for the creative I put out into the world and that feels good to know my work can touch people in a positive and reflective way.

Filmmaking and producing allows me to use empathy and creativity to express myself. If I weren’t working a full-time corporate entertainment job, I’d probably be making more or at least trying to. But I find ways to express myself creatively to remind my inner child our gifts and purpose.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a filmmaker and a creative content manager currently working at Netflix! As a creative content manager, I produce and direct many of the behind-the-scenes, ‘making of’ video content that gets put out to promote and support the titles on Netflix. It’s a really cool job to get in the nuts & bolts of production and create editorial video content with the goal of giving fans an insight in to how their favorite TV show (or film for my colleagues on that team) was made. I get a front row seat to dozens of successful creative minds and I love it. As a filmmaker, I was recently one of the winners of the John Singleton EmbraceLA short film initiative, gifting me a grant to produce a short film. That short film became an award-winning short and also served as a proof of concept for my first feature film that’s currently in development. Working at Netflix is like activating your right and left side of your brains, constantly and steadfastly. I must admit my strengths are in my creative, right side of the brain and this job is definitely highlighting my growth area in my logistical, left side of the brain! With this job there are times where I’m like omg I know what I’m doing!! And then there are times where I don’t know what the hell I’m doing!! But hey, I’ve learned to give myself grace and lean on folks for help. It’s a wonderful opportunity and I get to create some really cool video creative while working with producers and actors I’m a fan of. So, how did I get here?

The IRTS Fellowship program got me my first job right after college at Good Morning America as a production intern and that’s where it started. I got a taste of highbrow talent, high-budget, high-pressured production and I was hooked. In 2016, I was an Associate Producer at REVOLT TV in NY and we were a sponsor of the Urbanworld Film Festival so I got to go to a premiere of Insecure Season 1 Episode 1. There I met Melina Matsoukas, an amazing director! I told her I had been working in some non-fiction and editorial production but I really wanted to break-in to scripted tv and film but didn’t quite know how. To paraphrase the wonderful & life-changing advice she gave me, it was ‘go to film school and make a network of filmmaking friends and create!’ So that’s what I did. A year later, I entered film school with no technical knowledge on how to direct, produce or screen write! A year and a half later with my diligence and efforts, I wound up winning ‘best short screenplay’ at my MFA graduation! From there it was like okay, time to move to LA and give this thing a shot. I’m jumping over some key jobs and people for the sake of time and character count but I must say, it was folks like Melina, many folks, who gave me advice or hired me for gigs that elevated my professional experience. Relationships are so important and I learned that a lot along the way. I was fortunate that the relationships I was forging constantly showed up for me when I needed and vice versa.

With any creative or artistic pursuits there are a long list of challenges! The biggest one being financial challenges. It’s very hard to create and pursue an artistic career while taking care of yourself in our capitalist society. For me, I stayed diligent with only pursing full-time jobs that got me closer and closer to my overall goals. Whether I was a social media producer on set or a digital producer managing content up to my current job, I’ve always made sure to be strategic with my full-time so that it didn’t detract to much of my scope and energy from creating. I understand this is a very competitive industry and it’s a privilege to get a creative full time job that many folks may not have access to. Creative jobs are hard to attain as well! Another challenge which has been a recent-pandemic one, is imposter syndrome. I suffer from that quite a bit and have leaned on therapy and my community to assist in alleviating that mental pressure. There are different types of imposter syndromes and I suffer from the “expert” version where if I don’t know 100% of what I’m doing I feel like I don’t belong in the space professionally and creatively so I get really hard on myself. Some tactics I’ve learned to assist with this, is to ask productive questions on any given task I’m expected to know or not know, I actively listen more and I schedule meetings/calls with people to express myself so I can further our relationship and build empathy with some of my struggles.

I’ve learned along the way we need people, relationships and trusted sources of community to support us. Whether that support is getting a job or creative support on a project or just a safe-space to be seen. I’ve learned it’s very essential to have all those things to be successful and not give up. Community can be friends, a creative outlet or a creative partner! Relationships are essential and they are vital for survival in this business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a Pisces so I’m intuitive and an extrovert/introvert so the first thing is, which friend is coming, what’s their vibe and what’s my mood. I’m very ‘let’s go with the flow’ but also, ‘let’s have a plan’.

For starters, I love brunch and good food! If we’re looking for a tasty and vibey brunch I’d recommend Toca Madera West Hollywood. For dinner, we gotta pull up on Wood & Water in Studio City. Their lobster rolls and wine menu is next level!

I love good views and art; so I’d throw in the Getty Museum for both! For a cocktail, we can hit Pinky’s in Los Feliz. For wine, Bar Covell on the east side has a really cool set-up and menu.

For wellness, let’s see what SPACE Wellness Bar got on the menu for activities! For a little self-care moment, oh hey milk + honey! Pores poppin!

Black Market Flea is always a vibe and I spend way too much money every time they pop up.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Aw I love this question! I have to give a special shoutout to Mrs. LaToya Brown. I don’t know where she is, I tried a few times in college and my early 20’s to find her on FaceBook to no avail. But Mrs. Brown was the first educator to put me on stage and expose me to creating artistry. I was in 3rd and 6th grade with Mrs. Brown at Shoesmith Elementary in Chicago and she was someone who had an ‘eye’ and ‘ear’ for artistic expression. It was fascinating to watch her curate our school entertainment programming and uplift her students with a stern edge while doing it.

As a kid, you don’t know what you want or who you are until you get some representation and healthy exposure to what makes you special. Mrs. Brown oddly exposed me to this element of myself that makes me special. And that’s my innate creative, storytelling, artistic abilities that I was exposed to so early on thanks to her. Shoutout to all educators! You are the unsung heroes of our society.

Website: https://www.galleryent.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjbowden/