AJ Bleyer

At 21, AJ Bleyer was rejected from every film school he applied to. But at 27, he became the youngest director in the DGA. A completely self taught filmmaker and entrepreneur, AJ’s action-packed career has taken him to zero-gravity, the Pentagon, and nearly everywhere in between. Today he and his company bring over a decade of experience producing grand, technical, productions for clients like Ferrari, Red Bull, Amazon, and countless others.

But this talk isn’t about grand tales or Hollywood highlights… it’s about summoning the courage to swing bigger, and the important lessons learned along the way. With a library of dynamic behind-the-scenes content illustrating his talk, AJ shares the story of how a young kid with no hope built a company, and career, beyond his wildest dreams.

After AJ was rejected from every film school he applied to, he gave up on his dream of working on professional movie sets and began shooting just for fun. But when he began to get noticed, he decided to form an LLC and see how far he could take it. A decade later, AJ and his company are known for their expertise in producing grand, technical, productions for clients like Ferrari, Red Bull, Amazon, and countless others. But beneath his stories from the Pentagon, drifting Bugattis, and floating in zero-gravity lies the true journey — how a kid with no formal training of any kind rose to lead big budget, 100+ crew productions. In a talk richly illustrated by epic behind-the-scenes content, AJ shares key insights on how to successfully develop people, earn trust, create culture, provide feedback to employees, and most importantly: how to continuously push yourself and others to create the best possible product.

When AJ quit his retail job to give business ownership a spin, he had no idea what he was in for. There was no shortage of media production companies in Los Angeles, and at age 23 with no training, education or business experience… he needed to get creative. Luckily, creativity was one thing AJ had plenty of. A decade later, AJ and his company are sought after for their expertise in producing grand, technical, complex, and stunt-filled productions.

In a talk richly illustrated by epic behind-the-scenes content, AJ shares how he was able to stand out from the crowd, create a brand, and build a library of award-winning work for for clients like Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Tesla, Red Bull, Amazon, and countless others.