Relationships, Determination & Drive

0:00 Gary Watkins is no stranger to the show, and his evolution since we sat down with him is nothing short of inspiring. In this episode, he walks us through his latest milestone, landing a major project with Westside High School where he captured the final season of their long -term football head coach. Gary credits his rise to the power of relationships, relentless determination, and an eye for documenting moments that truly matter. Tap in as we explore Gary's growth, creative genius, and the bright future that's ahead of him. All right, y 'all. We are tuning in for another episode of Banked Out Radio Show, and I have a returning guest. I think this might be the third time that we talk, but we have the impeccable, the untouchable. He's out here. Gary is doing things that, you know what I'm saying, one I love. He has all these, let's say titles, videographer, you know, photographer. He's a director. He's an editor. He's a content creator.

1:00 He's a podcaster. He's a new mom back in the day. I hired him. You could have left that part out. I love it. Well, we have Gary Watkins on the show. Gary, thank you for coming back. Man, I appreciate you for having me. I appreciate those humbling beginnings. Just learning so much from you, man. You have been literally, you know, you've been very rewarding to my career and going into entrepreneurship. So I just simply want to get your flowers for that. Oh, man. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, I don't think of it's hard for me to think of the impact that I've had on people because I just want everybody to win. And that's how I look at that or whatever.

1:50 But like you were saying that Jeremy has said that to me and quite a few others. And I'm like, no, I'm just, I just felt like, you know what I'm saying? I was doing what I'm just supposed to do, which is to highlight talented people so other people can know all about them. So they can get the bar rolling and stuff like that. And to like just show them some tips and tricks along the way. So I'm trying to think the last time, it's been a couple of years since we talked. And I know the, we have a lot of different moments we can talk about. One, I want to start off with the sports and filming of the sports and how that has really transpired because the last monumental thing I remember discussing at that time was when ESPN had picked up your clip and it went viral. You know, you got to get permission and all that. Now I look up, you done shot an entire series with the head coach of Southwest? Westside High School. Oh, Westside High School. Yes, for his final lab, which I thought it was very appropriately titled. I've seen some footage of that. You did a phenomenal job. How did that massive project come about? Man, I'm so glad that you asked this question. So just to kind of give you the story

3:22 before. how we got to the actual story. So two years ago, Veterans High School located in Houston County, they reached out to me and I did, they wanted a project done, whereas in they wanted pretty much a hype video for their football team going into the season. And mind you, when they reached out to me, this is like probably two weeks before the kickoff. So I'm working on crunch time at the moment. And but Lord, behold, you know, we made it happen. It came to life. The touchdown club there at veterans, they were overly pleased to the point where they hired me two more times to do content for them. And I took that opportunity as in to segue into the space of, yes, when I first got into doing sports content, I was doing it for the give. these young athletes, these kids, a platform to showcase their talent and just using social media for all the right things. You know, a lot of times it's used for negativity, drama, and things that's counterproductive.

4:33 So I just wanted to take that narrative and use it for what it's really meant for. So now segue into a space where I want to do more documentary style content. speed up that with veterans was in 2023, speed up 2024, almost had another big opportunity with a local school around here, but didn't quite work out how I wanted to. So get into spring 2025. At that point now, again, this kind of goes to some of my sports content is donated to sports center and all these major outlets that you know, you never think about actually even having conversations with, you know, people that work closely to the Sports Center and ESPN, Borrowed Its Life, and just these countless platforms that generate millions, millions of views and spectators. So at that point, now I'm starting to get noticed by guys that's playing professional sports, and they want me to, you know, capture them working out and going to the gym. and doing a day in life with them. And so I had a local former athlete.

5:57 He went to Strafford Academy. He's also to his county. A lot of people probably don't know this, but Quintez Cephas, he got in contact with me and came home for the off season. And so I went out to him capturing content. He also had another young guy that's from Westside High School. he goes by the name of Scooter Risper, which is Coach Risper's son. And Scooter, he played for Mercer University. He just won the conference championship back in 2024. And just speaking on the Risper family, you know, just a family structure that I admire so much because all their brothers, they come together, they work out, the parents show up and support them. And it's just outside looking in, you know. I think I would love to mold my family, my future family in that sense. So it just so happened to be.

7:11 you'll get a promo discount as well when you try their product. Banked out B -A -N -K -E -D -O -U -T -T. Slide over to that page, check out what I have to offer and let me know. Quintez Cephas and Scooter Risper and he was running routes with the young guys, right? And he noticed that I was out there with my camera. Again, I'm originally there for Quintez, but just like any other occasion, if it's more than one person seeing me, they want me to capture them as well.

7:58 So Coach Spoon, he was like, hey man, can you record me running routes and stuff? And that's exactly what I did. And he posted it on his social media. And this is when I found out the following that Coach Spoon has. He's another guy that's like taking social media and leveraging it, getting hundreds of thousands to millions of people viewing his content. And he's such an inspirational man, like really admired it. So during that workout, after we finished that workout, we exchanged contact info. And that's when he pretty much told me then and there, like, hey, man, I'm getting ready to go into my last season of coaching here at West Side High School. And I want to do a documentary. But he wanted this documentary to be very unique because he really wanted to highlight and focus on the legacy that he's left, the impact, the countless impact that he don't lay on people like, mind you, Coach Spoon has been at West Side for like 20 something years. Yes. since the opening of the school. So just imagine. Yeah.

9:04 Been there 20 years. And on average, you're going to have like 30, 40 plus players on the team. Just imagine how many people he just encountered in that time. And he always say how guys come back and they just show them love. And he's saying this. And it's another thing. I'm seeing this in person, like game after game, some practices. He got former athletes and students that always come back and showing love. And yeah, man, that's how we got into it. I know I'm dumping a lot on you, but. No, no, it's fantastic. I love it because you're talking about the relationship building. You're talking about curating something to where you actually see the value in what you're doing to as you know, I'm saying film this project.

9:49 I'm looking at it from the standpoint. So like I told you. I shot a reality show and there's nothing compared to this documentary that you did. You know what I'm saying? I followed her around for months and stuff like that, but what you had to do, you had to go and like sit down with other folks. You had to like really prioritize this and it's massive. I don't think the amount of work that people understand you have to put into a documentary type style product and to make it fantastic like you did. Yes, I think what videographers, photographers, and editors, what we do is really underestimated. And a big part of it is because of this thing right here.

10:34 You know, a lot of people, they can just easily, you know, go to the camera and do what they got to do. And they think that's the same process of a photographer, videographer. And let me tell you right here, buddy. No, it's not. I promise if it was that easy, everybody would do it. I promise. Exactly. So you've done that. You put it out. How has the response been for that particular project? The response has been amazing. Again, originally, I'm a Twix County native. I went to Macon. I transferred to Macon with the Northeast High School. But even though I seem like I was so far away from Westside, I've always heard about the culture. I've always heard about how strong the culture is, how it's a winning tradition, and how they always producing young athletes to go to the next level. And mind you, I'm coming from places at the time, Twice County and Northeast at the time, they're just, it wasn't producing a lot at the time. So just hearing about. this legacy that Coach Spoon has left. And I get to see it firsthand and record it. You know, I just see how many people is like, man, we so glad that somebody is here for Coach Spoon and doing this for him because he overly deserves his flowers.

12:04 Yeah, I love it. But you've done that. You've also been in the podcasting space like I am. And I've seen where you like, you know, I'm seeing you like have basically reformatted. I guess would be the word. How is that, you know what I'm saying? One, what made you want to get into that space, but then also what was the, how was the transition from going like what you started with to like, you know, you got to walk Wednesdays and things of that nature. Yes. So here's where I can be super duper honest. So I started quote unquote podcasting in 2020. Right? We all know what happened in 2020. We had a pandemic. So that's when I supposedly started podcasting, you know, just here, we all quarantined on board.

13:00 I might set up a microphone, this, this and that, and just talk or whatnot. And I eventually started taking it more serious and visiting to equipment and really was going all in on it. But in the back of my mind, I never really started doing podcasting because that's what I really wanted to do. I'm just creating a portfolio for myself with the hopes that, hey, somebody is going to see this and want to invest in me and be like, hey, we need to hire him as our director, let him come edit our content and do our reels. Like I'm really just, it was really like my job interview.

13:40 So as far as Work Wednesday, Shout out to my guy, my bro, Dark Wiz Denard, Twigs County native. He went on to play professional football and he's currently coaching football overseas. It was about two years ago, Dark Wiz came home to Twigs County and he invested into a new weight room, put money into the weight room. And I just so happened to be there and This was at the time when I was doing my podcast and I got in, I walked up to Darkwiz and I asked him like, hey man, I would love for you to come on my podcast and be a guest. And he didn't give me a yes or no at the time. You know what I'm saying? He was just listening and filling me out at the time.

14:31 I've always followed Darkwiz by the way. I always follow him like dating back to when he was in high school. And I just, I know at the time he was likely filling me out. So he gave me his contact info at the time, and I texted him probably like a day later, like, hey man, you know, I would love to have you as a guest on my podcast, right? I never got a text back. Never got a text back. So I'm thinking at the time, I'm like, I got more work to do. I still gotta keep going. And come two years later, I'm gonna say, that's when he reached out and proposed to me. Another close friend, a brother of mine, Carlos Stevens, is also a Twigs County native. You know, I got to keep dropping these Twigs County. You know, come out of this small place. All right. So he reached out to us. Also another another guy from South Macon, Rashad Wines. And we all came together and formed Work Wednesday. Work Wednesday is a platform. It is primarily about cultivating relationships. motivating youth, entrepreneurship, self -development, and just educating all things positive. That's what Working Wednesday is primarily about. Because again, a lot of content is just so, again, counterproductive. It goes against self -development, cultivating relationships,

16:04 and all those things. So we launched a podcast back in June, 2024, right? We just went on a series of episodes, just generated content, developing episodes, creating conversation, anything that's thought provoking, we're challenging each other, right? And man, we hear the platform is steady going up and we don't have like a series of guests such as Desi Banks. We've had our local legend, Marvin James. We had Mayor LaRonda Patrick, the mayor of here in one of the mayors here in Middle Georgia. So and it's just we got countless other guests getting ready to come on, whether you know them or not. But all these people, they are accomplished. They got a story they want to share. They have a lot of experience and knowledge.

17:01 And I just encourage everybody, any and everyone, young, old, black, white, red, blue, no matter just subscribe to Work Wednesday on YouTube because this is what we all need. Yeah, I love the fact, like you said, y 'all building something, you know, that takes on what everybody else is accustomed to, you know, watching and viewing and stuff like that. And you're highlighting folks, which is phenomenal and showing all the positivity. Do y 'all have like defined roles within? the podcast itself platform, like, are you just mainly editing, someone else handles booking, someone else handles promotion, or do y 'all just pitch in with different? So right now, Work Wednesday is at, we're fully independent at the moment, right? So I'm behind the scenes, I'm setting up the cameras, the microphones, lights, and it's not meet by myself, because those guys, they contribute as well. They do play their part.

18:07 Of course, they do more of the they focus on what guess meets our credentials as far as who can join the podcast, because that is really important. Yes. Just don't want anybody to be coming on your platform. Exactly. Because, you know, people take advantage of platforms and try to spin narratives and stuff like that. And I get it. So I love the fact that you actually have. a criteria for us to come out, like everybody can come on. But you can finish the rest. Yeah, so it's fully independent. We're coming out of our pockets for the locations that we shoot at, the equipment that we use, and traveling. Let me tell you, even though Work Wednesday is a little bit over a year old, we've already been to the lights of Michigan. You know what I'm saying? So like, we really working on continually taking this thing on the road. We almost went to the Super Bowl. You know, that's a little gem I want to drop. We almost went to the Super Bowl. Almost. But but yeah, man, we really out here making moves. But more importantly, we really want to make an impact. I love the fact that you are chasing impact instead of like, you know, this. Being in the podcasting space for so long and seeing the landscape change over time and what some people are using it for versus what other people are using it for, it's like a money grab for some people right now. And I'm like,

19:39 that's not what podcasting is about. It's about presenting value to the community, into your audience. So when they listen in, they tune in, whether it be audio or they watch it, you're giving them some type of via that they can walk away with. That's the whole point of it. Now you reap benefits outside of that, yes. But money shouldn't be, you know what I'm saying? Oh, I'm gonna start with a podcast so I can make some money. Or I'm gonna start with a podcast so I can get sponsored or whatever, get the bag, whatever. Like, no, because then you're just like all these other people who start stuff in the number show. Like, I don't feel like, I had this conversation earlier with a fellow podcaster in, she's in North Carolina. And she was like, she felt like it was oversaturated. I felt like it's not. because there's not a lot of active podcasts. So like Apple, 5 million, just on Apple alone. Yeah, there's 5 million podcasts on Apple, only 500 ,000 are actually active. And that's across every single genre. So you're talking about competing sports with movies in true crime and entrepreneurship and business and music and all that. Only 500 ,000? That's a very small number considering the amount of people that we have in this world and 500 million people listen to podcasts. So there's not enough subject matter yet for those 500 million people because all the other people who are not active have gotten into it for the wrong reasons. But I love it because it's a low

21:09 barrier entry industry. Anyone can start a podcast, but not everybody can build a platform. And that's another thing too. I want to clear up what I was saying about Work Wednesday. Work Wednesday is not a podcast. That's just, that's a segment of our platform. We're really working on building this into a brand. You know, like we're really serious about building a bridge with the youth. Like myself, I got three mentees. Oh, wow. You're busy. Yeah. What? Three mentees? I got wood and I'm busy with her. Yeah, so I got three mentees and I'm constantly checking in with them, making sure they are right and they are, make sure they're on the right direction. So just as well as my guys, Shard, Carlos, DQ, they have mentees as well. Exactly. So we really, we really want to build a bridge with the youth and build relationships.

22:17 So what's next for Gary Watkins production? What did you personally want to take on? And then from a business standpoint, what do you feel is next? So for Gary Watkins production, right now what's up next is got another documentary cooking up. It's going to be with Veterans High School basketball. I want to give a shout out to the new head coach for Veterans High School, Brandon Driggers. I want to give a heavy shout out to this guy. This is why, and just to kind of give you a story right quick. Building relationships and networking with people is so, so, so important, especially in this space of entrepreneurship.

23:07 You remember when I was telling you that Veterans High School football, the touchdown club, they reached out to me a couple years ago for hype videos. And that's when I met Coach Driggers, right? And he told me, you know, like, you know, per usual, everyone asks, like, what all do you do? And I give them the best answer I can at the time. And he was like, oh, okay. Well, when I get this head coaching job in two more years, I'm going to be reaching out to you. two years later here in 2025, he did exactly that right after he got the head coaching job. So right now we're working on a documentary for his first year as the head football coach for Veterans High School. That's currently what's going on.

23:50 The next major move that I really want to put in place. I want to get a studio. Okay. I want to get a studio and star, of course, the indoor photo shoots, podcasts, is going to be right here at Gary Walker's production. I want to get a location. You ever think that when you do your studio, and with all the contacts and stuff that you have, and the content creators that you know that you'll open it up to others to use as well, or will this be specifically under the guise of, you know, contracts? in development that's supposed to come up under the Gary Watkins brand.

24:38 So I haven't thought that far ahead as of yet, but I mean, that would likely be the end goal or the second half goal to where people can rent out this space. They can come in, do their photo shoots, post their podcasts and network with others. What's the feedback been from the community now since, you know, you're putting yourself out there more. More people have known about you and they see the massive project that you take on. Do you feel like, you know what I'm saying, you're more like a celebrity status now or at least brand recognition and people might be a little out putting to you at first because Gary, you have accomplished a lot of great things.

25:24 I don't know if you understand the magnitude of what you've done. And that is huge, especially for that area, because sometimes that area can cultivate a small mindiness when it comes to stuff. But you've been able to pull out stuff that people in bigger cities have resources to that have not even done what you've done yet. Man, it's crazy that you ask that because when I first started in 2018, I never, it's kind of like similar to what you said in the opening.

26:10 Like you really don't realize how much of the impact that you're making when you're doing what you feel like, either you feel like you're supposed to be doing it or you just enjoy doing it. When I first started this, I was just simply doing what I enjoy doing. I never did it with the thought of, I wanna impact someone, change their life, or I want mentees. I never asked for those things. I'm just doing what I enjoy doing most. Kind of like the, I guess, celebrity factor. I almost feel like a celebrity to the kids. I get approached a lot by kids. Which is cool because they see what you're doing. And like I said, I think you've elevated the space to a whole nother level. And you will go down in history as one of those people who helped change and was a trailblazer. So if no one, you know what I'm saying, tells you that, I'm telling you that here now. You're going down in history. I love it because I know other people had the opportunities to be able to do something like that, but I don't think they would have pulled it off like you because you can tell the way that you shoot. You are definitely passionate about how you present your subjects. Yes. Yes,

27:42 I'm overly passionate about how, if you're in front of my camera, I want to get this right. I want it to be perfect. Even though perfect is not always obtainable, I want to get close to it as possible. You know, they say, shoot for the stars, but if you don't reach the stars, you will at least land on the moon. Exactly. So that's always my goal with anything that I do, man. And yeah, and there are times, like, here's something I have to grow into. I used to be the kind of camera operator where it's like I'll shoot any and everything. Now I'm at the point where I'm selective and I'm more intentional about what I want to shoot because that's how you're going to get the most out of my skills, my crafting experience. I love it. You should, yeah, you're definitely at that point where you're supposed to be selective. That's just the natural state of people who are dope like you are. you shouldn't be shooting everything and you know the people who really want you if they want you like you should have it to where you should have a waiting list and people will wait two three years just to do a project with you because they know when it comes out it's going to come out that fantastic and they would be happy to get the phone call talking about hey i'm about to be free in the next two weeks clear your schedule because here i come This is your opportunity to shoot with Gary Watkins Productions. And if

29:14 you miss your opportunity, that's it. It just is what it is. So yeah, I see that for you. So yes, I'm trying to think. Is there anything that I've missed? Man, you essentially hit all the main pillars and talking points. Where Gwensday, GWP, Man, you hit all the main talking points. Of course, the projects that I'm doing, man, your own point. Your own point. Well, Gary, let everybody know, how can they get in contact with you if they want to get on that waiting list?

29:55 Hell yeah, man. So again, this is Gary Watkins Production. I am a middle Georgia -based digital creator. You need photography needs, videography needs, graphic designs. Pretty much anything related to content. You can find me at Gary Watkins production That's Facebook Instagram tick -tock They got this thing called threads now. I just met I just met somebody off of three is today in person Yes, I love their friends as well But those are the primary way is to get in contact with me. I also have a website. It's Gary Watkins production calm and Yeah, man Tap in with me, man. We're going to get you right. And you're going to love it. Also, please tap in with Work Wednesday on all platforms as well, especially on YouTube. Subscribe on there. Again, we got great content on the way, and it's something that we all need. There you have it. Gary Watkins with Gary Watkins Productions. You can tap in with him. Tap in with Wednesdays. I said that right, right? OK. Sorry, see now my brain went somewhere else work Wednesdays network work work Wednesdays work is phenomenal Content I've seen it y 'all go and subscribe keep supporting his platform support that platform For all the positive platforms out there y 'all can always keep supporting

31:25 this platform as well