Page 20 - BEQ Magazine Iss 21 rev01072022

there showing me what it’s like to be successful is the right choice for some people, just not for him.
as a gay person. So I want to put myself out there “I wanted to get to it, to learn the basics, then get
and show people, it’s possible, you can do anything to work.”
anyone else can do.” While sitting for his senior pictures, the pho-
tographer started telling Bly about a friend’s son
who went to a school in Florida and earned an
associate’s degree in one year. The school was Full
A self-professed film geek, Bly fell in love with Sail Real World Education, at the time a technical
the medium during a harrowing childhood illness. college focused on the recording arts, animation
“I was 11 years old and in the hospital, dying of and film and television. It is now Full Sail Univer-
meningitis,” he said. “My brother was home alone sity, an institution offering associate’s, bachelor’s
because our parents were at the hospital with me, and master’s degrees in entertainment, media, arts,
and he decided to start making these funny videos and technology with an emphasis on real-world
with his friends and our home video camera. Our industry experience.
parents brought the tape in for me to watch and I “I thought, if I can do that, get the training I
started laughing at it and from that day, I got pro- need in a year, then I’ll go to college,” Bly says. So he
gressively better.” packed up and went to Florida
From then on, Bly was for a year of intensive study.
hooked on the power of visual I feel like we’re doing At age 19, he moved to New
storytelling. At first, he envi- a lot to be an inclusive York City with his associate’s
sioned becoming the next degree from Full Sail and a
Steven Spielberg – Jurassic company every day, but passion for the film industry.
Park is still one of his favorite I thought, as the CEO, I At 20 he got a job as a
movies – but soon realized should be talking more, I coordinator for The Beastie
that his talents lie elsewhere. Boys as they were gearing up
“At school, when I had should be putting myself for their new album, To The 5
access to all the video gear, out there more. Boroughs. It was then that he
I would spend a week edit- heard about an opportunity
ing something together and to marry his two passions -
it would be okay. Then my entertainment and entrepre-
musician friend would come in and sit down for a neurship.
couple of hours and make the most beautiful thing,” “I was working with Adam [Yauch] and over-
he says, shaking his head ruefully. “I realized that heard another production assistant talking about
I’m not the most creative person when it comes to how his roommate had this visual effects gear and a
storytelling, but I am good on the business side of free room in Manhattan. They were thinking about
things. I’m good at wrangling people and getting a starting a company and I thought, ‘I have to be a
project done.” part of that!’” he recalls.
Fortunately, running a company was also a child- In 2005, at just 21 years old, Bly became one of
hood dream. At 16, Bly started his own production the founding members of The Molecule, a visual
company called “Free Will Entertainment” where he effects studio.
produced videos for the Ronald McDonald House in
Danville, Pennsylvania.
Dreaming of a career in the film industry, he
knew some post-secondary education was neces- Bly’s 20s were an exciting time of self-realiza-
sary but chafed at the idea of spending four years tion. Growing up in a small factory town in Pennsyl-
earning a degree. vania at the turn of the millennium, Bly knew he felt
“I felt like four years in school would be a waste differently about girls than his friends did but it was
for me,” Bly says, choosing his words carefully. He years later when he understood why.
wants to be clear that a traditional four-year degree “I was kind of late to the game,” he says with

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