Arthur Byrd

YOUNGSTOWN — As a toastmaster, filmmaker, video journalist, adjunct professor, podcaster, author, and frequent supporter of local arts, Arthur Byrd has been an ongoing contributor and participant in this area’s culture.

“I have a Monday-to-Monday mentality,” he said during a recent interview. “I am always thinking of stories or an adventure to do. I work in the early morning when it is very quiet. One of my keys to getting things done is taking three-to-five-hour vacations during the weekends. No work or projects during this time.”

Ensuring that his life features mental breaks, his approach includes “very simple things like going to the beach to read, a great restaurant, a lecture, museums, poetry readings, theater productions and concerts like Joss Stone or, especially a local band like The Vindys and, of course, going to the movies.”

He continued, “I am inspired by seeing others’ creativity. Plus, I know the effort taken to be creative. I like to support the Valley’s arts society.”

As a member of the worldwide speaking and leadership club, Toastmasters, since 2009, Byrd belongs to Executive 408 Toastmasters Youngstown and the Warren Toastmasters.

A typical Toastmasters speech usually lasts six to seven minutes a specific topic.

“Toastmasters is a safe environment for someone to practice public speaking with evaluations and doing different roles within the club,” he said. “One of the best things I enjoy about Toastmasters is watching people grow in their speaking abilities and enjoying their journey.”

In 2016, he earned the highest honor in Toastmaster education, Distinguished Toastmaster.

Byrd became involved with Toastmasters as a means of “improving his speaking skills” while he was teaching telecommunications and film classes at Youngstown State University.

While he is front-and-center during his Toastmaster speeches, Byrd regularly placed himself behind the scenes as a film director and scriptwriter.

His interest in telling stories that use visuals began in childhood. “I watched a lot of TV and movies with my dad. I liked the TV stories and how they were put together. I also went to a lot of Saturday matinees at local movie theaters.”

Because he knew Arthur had an interest in films, Byrd’s father, a sanitation truck driver, found and brought home a Super 8 camera in the pile of goods to be thrown away.

“There were no instructions, and back then, there was no internet. I had to go the library to find out how a Super 8 camera worked. At the time, I had a paper route delivering ‘The Vindicator’ and saved up to get Super 8 film from K-Mart. I put the film in the camera and a battery and for the first time I heard the clicking sound of a film camera. I was ecstatic.”

Byrd shot flowers in his front yard and scenes along his street.

“It was all shaky. I believe I had only four minutes of film. So, I decided to do a stop-motion movie where you clicked one frame at a time. I used one of my action figures holding a sword. I remember it took four hours on a hot August Sunday in my bedroom to film 20 seconds of the action figure lifting the sword up. It was so good to see. A few years ago, I found that first reel of film.”

Combining his desire to communicate stories through a visual medium, Byrd attended and graduated from YSU with a Bachelor of Arts in telecommunications in 1985 as well as a minor in criminal justice and an associate’s degree in applied business in 1992 after graduating from North High School.

The bachelor’s degree led to a lengthy period as a video journalist at WFMJ-TV 21 chronicling news and sports footage for daily newscasts.

“I went into TV because I like news and the adventure it provided with no two days the same, interesting subject matters and seeing justice and corruption at work. As a video journalist, I was the driver, video shooter, sound and lighting person plus the editor. I learned how to work efficiently, shoot what I absolutely needed, light fast and get clear audio and move on,” Byrd said.

While at WFMJ, he and a colleague received a 2002 first-place award from the Ohio Associated Press for Best Investigative Reporting for the news story “Missing Money.”

The knowledge gained through college and experience at the television station influenced his move to writing and directing his first movie in 1991, “The Taunt.”

“When I went to filmmaking seminars, I realized I was already doing all the things to make films. I just applied what I did in TV news to filmmaking. I invested in video equipment and learned how to edit on a computer. I would research and then write a script and be shooting within three months. TV news was the best film school for me,” he said.

Since then, Byrd has made more than two dozen films and documentaries, many of them screened at film festivals in Los Angeles and Cleveland. His films, as well as his video essays, can be found on his Youtube channel, https://www.you tube.com/@abyrdjr/videos.

He was also one of the founding members and former chairman of the Flick Clique, a Mahoning Valley-based group that brought independent films to the area.

Retiring in 2008 after 21years at WFMJ, Byrd moved on to one creative endeavor after another.

“It was a great experience but I wanted a change to do something else. I got a chance to teach more classes at YSU. So, I took it,” Byrd said.

He wrote an interactive ebook about the history of African-American films, “History of African-American Films, a timeline of Struggle, Repression, Redemption and Artistic Spirit.” It contains links to movie trailers of the films discussed in the book and is available at https://issuu.com/abyrdeyesview.

Byrd continues his storytelling ways but, other than video essays, he’s moved toward audio productions.

“I’ve always been a fan of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater with E.G. Marshall, which was audio stories with sound effects that were scary. I’m a huge audio sounds effects nerd. When I worked overnight as a radio engineer at WQOD/WBBW, I would go into the studio where they made commercials and cut audio tracks with sound effects.

“My passion for live action filmmaking was starting to go down. I had written five to seven scripts that I thought I would do as live action short films. Then, I thought about the scripts I had written that would translate well to audio.”

His plan is to eventually stream the stories on digital formats.

Among the videos on his Youtube channel are episodes from one of Byrd’s three podcasts, “Before and After the Movie,” which discusses a film immediately after viewing it along with his co-hosts father and son, Baron (Scooter) Reynolds and Baron III (Little Scoot) who is 16.

“The podcast is special to me because I have known Scooter’s family for a long time. When he and his brother, Marquis, were 5 and 6 years old I would occasionally take them to the movies at CinemaSouth. When he moved back to the area from Florida, we started going to the movies again.”

Byrd also makes “The Cool and Interesting People Podcast” where he has conversations with interesting people he knows, and “What I Said At Toastmasters” podcast that consists of his speeches and presentations. Both are available to listen to at abyrdpodcast on Soundcloud.com.

“I am not the most organized person,” Byrd said. “I just break things down into doable parts. I may write one day, edit podcast another day and set up for next things another day.”