C+S Recipe | James Roy
WHO MAKES UP CRASH+SUES?
It takes equal measures of media manager & social media guru, plus a scoop of office manager to make James Roy.
Get to know James a little better:
What made you want to get in to the video world?
That’s kind of funny. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I liked accounting and was good at it in high school. But one day I was paging through Rolling Stone Magazine and saw an ad in the back about being the cameraman shooting rock concerts. I’m a huge fan of Hollywood and thought that would be really cool to go into video production. At eighteen, I got into a video production school in California called Video Tech Institute. They didn’t have schools like that around here at the time (and who doesn’t want to go to Hollywood?!). Coming from a small town, I was surprised that my parents let me go live alone out there for school. When I finished, I was growing homesick, so I moved back to Minnesota. Then I kind of got sucked into the management side of the business, which has kept me on my toes with all the changes in the industry over the past 30 years! But I just enjoy being around all of it, and photography is a side hobby for me now.
What’s the strangest project you’ve been on or oddest task you’ve had to do while on a job?
It may not be the strangest, but I was tasked once during an edit session at Northwest Teleproductions to go get some dinner for Prince. I thought I was so smart that I knew he was a vegetarian, so I picked up some vegetable soup from Byerly’s. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that it was made with beef broth! I never did hear how that went over with him. Later, Prince would come in to CRASH+SUES for sessions, too. I remember he came in here one time wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit. But for all the times he was a client at both places, I never got to formally meet him.
In your 27 years here here, what stands out from other places you’ve been/worked at (or where we are now compared to where we’ve been)?
Obviously, the industry has changed. But CRASH+SUES always had a great family-like culture. I worked with both Crash and Sue at the competition before they enticed me here. Sue was always fun to work with, and it was nice having someone around shorter than me. Crash was always a great, easy going guy.
Favorite song, album or musical artist?
Olivia Newton-John is my all-time favorite music artist. I didn’t even realize who she was until I saw her in the movie “Grease” and since then, it’s been a lifelong obsession. I’ve been lucky enough to meet her 5 times. My favorite song of hers is “Magic.”
So you like animals?
I have always loved animals. My aunt took me to feed a baby deer when I was 5 or 6 years old. That’s where it all started. And growing up we always had a dog in the house. I would always keep fish, and rescue animals like baby birds or stray cats… and it has definitely rubbed off on my girls. Now I volunteer with unique domestic and exotic animals.
