This is a story about friendship, and it begins in 2004 when Talmadge “TJ” Canty was a recent graduate of 满帆大学’s 电影 program.

毕业后, all of TJ’s friends had packed up and headed to Los Angeles to try to break into the film industry. TJ stayed behind, working on a few pilots and independent projects in Orlando. 最终, he decided he needed to regroup, so he headed home to Michigan with a plan to join his friends on the West Coast as soon as possible.

“I ended up interning for a production company in Detroit,” he says. 40天后, 他们解雇了我, not because of poor performance, but because I was working too hard and they felt bad that they couldn’t pay me.”

Three weeks later, his internship supervisor reached out again — this time with a paying offer. A Bollywood film was shooting in Detroit, and the second AD needed an assistant.

“One of the guys who worked as utility on that film ended up becoming a good friend of mine, 他说, “嘿,人, the Super Bowl is coming to Detroit. I’m trying to get them to bring you on as one of the key production assistants,’” says TJ.

Nearly every story TJ tells goes like this: He got an opportunity. 他交了朋友. One of those friends brought him his next opportunity.

After Super Bowl XL, it was the Tony Awards. After the Tonys, the MTV Movie Awards. 最后, he landed a gig working the 2008 Democratic National Convention, where TJ spent three months working as a production coordinator — and making friends. One of those friends was getting ready to leave her longtime gig with the NBA, and she thought TJ would make a perfect replacement.

从那里, TJ (who happens to be a lifelong gamer) was able to break into the production team for the NBA 2K League. 五年后, he’s risen through the ranks to become the league’s operations and production manager. He oversees major aspects of every event the organization puts on, from budgets to design.

去年年底, TJ's team was in the process of looking for venues to host future NBA 2K League events. He thought about the people who helped him over the years, and suggested 满帆's new esports venue, 堡垒, be one of the venues that was considered. After reviewing their options, NBA 2K League decided to bring “The Ticket,20场比赛, single-elimination tournament featuring all 21 NBA 2K League teams, 去满帆的校园.

“It fired off like a rocket ship,” says TJ. “It was one of our more successful live events.”

Over the course of several production days, TJ had the opportunity to work with 满帆 students, 教师, and staff — both old friends and new.

“One of the common themes in my story is that I never shied away from an opportunity,” he says. “This is the perfect time for smart, hungry people to jump [into the industry]. 你永远不会知道. Maybe you’ll meet the next person to give you a shot.”