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06/01/2011 12:00 AMEast Haven High School's Jay Miles can now add "author" to his list of credentials.
"It comes back to your story," Jay says. "If there's some value in yourself and what you have to share, the rest will take care of itself."
Those words were directed toward amateur filmmakers, but they aptly describe Jay's own career. Head of the Technical Education Department, Jay recently published his first book, called Conquering YouTube.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) lists Jay's credits as television, film, and theater field producer; stage manager; and first assistant director, but this talented teacher has a far more extensive résumé.
Growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Jay attended high school after relocating from a small Michigan town. Jay says he "caught the theater bug" in high school and continued in college.
Moving to New York City after earning his B.A. in technical theater at The University of Virginia, Jay embraced music and became a working drummer. He also finished his first film shoot while in New York.
"It was an actor's guide to New York, with [Jerry] Stiller and [Anne] Meara," he recalls.
While New York had much to offer someone in the theater profession, some friends invited Jay to New Haven in 1993. He relocated to the Elm City six weeks later.
"It was the first place I'd ever been where sitting at the same table were super conservative ex-military guys, punk rock kids, hippies, and Rastafarians," he says.
While a New Haven resident, Jay began a record company, played in bands, worked in theaters, and shot music videos.
In 2001, Jay left for Syracuse, New York, to earn a master's in TV, radio, and film from the Newhouse School. Almost immediately, Los Angeles beckoned.
"I had an amazing run of some big shows like Dancing with the Stars, to Discovery Channel, Fox and NBC shows," he says.
Five years in, things in L.A. quickly "dried up," Jay says, so he came back east to work in Stamford.
"I did four seasons of [TV series] NHL on Versus, " he says.
He was looking for an opportunity to share some of what he'd learned when East Haven entered his radar.
"I was in negotiations with Southern" Connecticut State University, Jay says. "I had 97 percent of it done, when East Haven [High School] called."
Jay's first visit to the school media center had an impact: "I was blown away by the opportunity."
In the 2½ years since, opportunity has produced results.
"Four, first-place trophies at the Connecticut Student Film Festival [one this past May]; two, second-place finishes; and an honorable mention," Jay proudly reports. "Something's working."
This past April, Jay found more success with a book signing at Barnes & Noble in North Haven.
Writing about YouTube after a successful career in film, TV, and theater may seem odd, but Jay explains through the story of a friend-an Emmy-nominated comedy writer in L.A.
"He did jokes for Leno and he can't get a job. He is super connected, has an agent, and a history of success," Jays says. "So he bought a small house and converted the garage into a studio.
"He's now running six different talk shows, streaming online, winning web awards, and generating huge views," Jay says.
According to Jay, the overhead on YouTube is virtually nothing.
"People build their following, which only costs them their time and creativity," he says, "and they're getting TV shows, movie deals, sponsors because they've got eyeballs."
Jay's book translates traditional production techniques into palatable form.
"Many of the old techniques are still in use," he says, noting that the book shows "how to pull it off on the web with one camera.
"Half of it is about mistakes I've made," he laughs
The book was born of every drop of time that could be wrung out of two years, according to Jay.
"Lots of weekends, holidays, and snow days-which were plentiful this year!" he says.
Jay Miles will give a talk, "Conquer YouTube," the at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 11 at the Hagaman Memorial Library.