Paul Taylor — Cleveland Cavaliers Video Productions, Live Sports & Building a Career From the First Year Class
Center court. The Cavaliers C on the hardwood at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That’s Paul Taylor’s office. Photo Credit: Cleveland Cavaliers. Used with permission.
Paul Taylor was in TMac’s very first video production class at Hoover High School. A senior who couldn’t make the sports teams. Found a camera instead and never looked back. Today he’s Senior Director of Video Productions for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
His path ran through Kent State, freelance van-life, fifteen seasons with the Cleveland Browns, a brief detour into teaching, and back into pro sports. In this episode Paul talks live production, leadership, hiring, and what it actually takes to build a career from a first-year classroom.
Why It Matters
Paul’s story is the ZWOF thesis in motion, from 2004. A teacher told him he was good at something. That was enough. Everything else, the Browns, the Cavaliers, the Emmy-winning docu-series work, followed from that one moment in a high school video lab. For any aspiring creator wondering if this path is real, TMac’s former student Paul Taylor is the answer.
About This Guest
Paul Taylor is Senior Director of Video Productions for the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he leads in-arena production, digital content, and live game-day operations at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. A former student in TMac’s first Hoover High School video production class and college roommate of Nick Gambone at Kent State, Paul’s career includes fifteen seasons with the Cleveland Browns, work at NFL.com, and a brief stint teaching before returning to pro sports. His path is one of the clearest examples of what the Hoover video program produced, and what it means when a teacher believes in a student early.
Paul’s Bonafides
“
You just lit a fire in me by saying that I was good at something. And that’s all it took.
”— PAUL TAYLOR, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF VIDEO PRODUCTIONS, CLEVELAND CAVALIERSHear This Episode
Episode Timestamps
Your ZoomPod — Exit Ticket
After this episode, you'll know:
- Why your demo reel and how you talk about it matters more than your resume
- What hiring managers actually look for in the first ten minutes of an interview
- How the best leaders develop future managers before those people know they’re ready
- Why getting thrown in the deep end is still the fastest way to learn live production
Gear & Affiliate Links
Trick out your kit, and your wardrobe. Both Adorama and SmallRig are having sales right now. Or wear your photography mood, grab a ZWOF set-wear tee shirt. If you use a ZWOF link, we may earn a small commission that doesn’t increase the price of your item.
Paul’s career started when someone told him he was good at something and handed him a camera. That moment is the whole lesson.
Stop Shooting From the Stands →BUILD NOTE: Full transcript pending paste-in from Buzzsprout.