Rob Hardy is a producer and director with a two-decade career who has worked on popular movies and TV shows such as Stomp the Yard, The Gospel, This Christmas, Obsessed, Takers, “All American,” and more.
Established by Rob and Shaun Hardy, the Amazing Stories Foundation was formed to identify, vet, train and mentor BIPOC career seekers to strengthen and diversify Georgia’s film and television workforce.
Hardy opened up about how they are getting young people involved.
What inspired you and your wife to launch the Amazing Stories Foundation?
Amazing Stories is a foundation that my wife, Shaun, and I started. We partner with Nina Packer and the city of East Point. It basically [happened]because I was a director working on a bunch of shows in and around Atlanta. There were great crews, great people, but it’s not always that diverse. I remember having some conversations with some producers and they would always say, “Well, we don’t have the people because we can’t find them,” and I knew a lot of great people that wanted to do stuff that just needed a shot. I said OK, then I’ll see if I can find some people. We put together this program, partnered with the city of East Point, shout-out to Mayor Deana Ingraham and everybody down there, and launched our program out of there in 2019. We went and got people, we trained them how to work in below the line, and what below the line [means], is that you have actors, directors, writers, and that’s the people that you see in the big credits; then there’s everybody else. The people that shoot it, that drive trucks, carry cable, cook food, style your clothes, all of that stuff. We wanted to create a program for them.
How are you getting young people involved?
As our foundation has evolved, we have looked to try to get more involved in local high schools, especially with juniors and seniors. We want to let people know that this business is out here because Amazing Stories is only for adults, 18 and up, but there are a lot of high schoolers that aren’t sure what they want to do and don’t know what career opportunities that are offered. We want to go in and encourage them to be filmmakers, and to be able to come on sets. Here are some opportunities that you can do as a real career, especially in case you decide maybe not to go to college, you might be able to do that coming right out. We were able to partner at Carver [STEAM Academy]. and that’s going to be one of our partner associations and one of our partner schools. … For us, it’s all about exposure, you plant a seed early, it grows into something that you circle back later on, and you meet [them]down here and you help that keep going.
