In stories of success after Tusculum, “graduate” and “alumni” are often used interchangeably; however, the two terms are not always synonymous. Sometimes a degree is just a piece of paper through which success is not defined, and students do not need graduation to find the traits of success. Such was the case with Jason Liggett.
In 1996, freshman Jason Liggett stood tall on the pitching mound at Tusculum College. However, he soon realized playing baseball was what he did, but it wasn’t who he was.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to study,” said Liggett. “I had played baseball since I was seven years old, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
Jason Liggett
Enrolling in a creative writing class was enough to nudge Liggett in the right direction. Taking the class opened up a whole new world of storytelling that both excited and frustrated him. “I hated reading, and we were required to read several stories that really touched me. They weren’t what I was used to but it expanded my thinking,” said Liggett.
With encouragement from his roommate, Matthew Bartholomew ’99, Liggett unearthed an interest in film and cinematic storytelling. “My roommate is the one who opened my eyes to film,” he said. After leaving Tusculum (when?), Liggett enrolled briefly at Pellissippi State Technical Community College and took acting classes. He dropped out after completing his freshman year to begin his journey as an actor. Later he would learn the art of feature writing and screenwriting, and then he wrote content for several online webisodes and A-list music video directors.
It was a long and strenuous process that eventually led Liggett to the director’s chair. “You’ve got to love the process as much as the result,” said Ligget. “I’ve been in this process for seventeen years and I’ve loved every part of it.”
Liggett has worked with big names like Matthew Libatique, Michael Bay, Jeffery Kimbel, James Earl Jones, and Jacob Dylan. “When you’re a beginner, you’ve got to surround yourself with pros,” he said. “I didn’t have the heart to play pro baseball; I had the heart to be pro in the film industry. My heart lies in directing and film writing.”
The things Liggett learned at Tusculum go beyond just what he learned in the classroom, “A lesson I learned from Coach (Doug) Jones was what he liked to call ‘Intestinal Fortitude.’ He believed that we were all great, but to get to that greatness he had to break us down to the point we thought we couldn’t go any further, then he would push us beyond that point.”
Liggett’s experience as a director has improved greatly since he first started the craft, and he still sees where the sport he loved can come into play with his directing. “This is where my experience as a baseball pitcher became relevant to the choice I was making to be a director.” Liggett said, “As a pitcher I had to lead my team, I had to be aware of what went on around me, I had to practice over and over to master the skill, and I had to realize that I couldn’t do anything without my team.” The same goes with directing: Liggett is the leader of the film, he has to be aware of every single detail about the film, he has to practice and help his cast and crew to get everything right according to his image, and he has to know that without the team surrounding him, he would be without a job.
Despite leaving Appalachia to pursue his dreams in the bright lights of Hollywood, Liggett is still inspired by his home region and its literary heritage. In fact, he has several films in the works featuring Appalachian people and themes.
His most recent film, currently in production, is “The Mastiff Revolver”. It is about two brothers who slowly become wanted outlaws as they try to prove their father was framed for murder.
“I’m very proud and attached to this film. It’s a strong bond between two brothers, and I was an only child who never got to experience that chemistry between two people,” Liggett said. “On the news and in our lives, we see a lot of families torn apart. My film is about a family struggling to stay together. These characters are strong and good, but they believe in tough love. This feature is me showing the real side of the Appalachian people, and the deep storytelling element found in the region I grew up in.”
There is something to be said about Liggett’s own toughness in his ambition to dive headlong into film. Although college was not the right choice for him, Liggett recognizes the importance of higher education for students.
“Tusculum is a great place; it was like my home in Bristol. I liked Tusculum a lot, and it pointed me in a new direction,” he said. “If there had been a film program, I might have stayed.”
Even though it was not his path, he would like to ease the difficulty of breaching the modern film industry for students by encouraging them to stay in higher education. He wants to be able to give every college in the region a film production program if they want it. “My dream for my company is to come back to that region and give back in the area of film,” he said. “If any school wanted a film production program, we would want to do that.”
When it comes to reading and writing, Liggett has changed a lot since his days spent in a college dorm room: he reads multiple books to help him with his craft, is always trying to learn new things, and truly enjoys writing every day in order to get more ideas to put on the big screen. “The stories I create flush out the pains and insecurities I have ever had in myself and are being expressed and released from me,” he said. “It’s like everything that’s been locked inside of you is able to be released. The stories I have written have shaped me into the loving, compassionate, aware, spiritually connected man I am today. They become a part of you as a writer.”
Jason Liggett spent a couple of chapters of the bigger narrative of his life at Tusculum College. There, he was able to find his identity. An identity he already had was replaced because of his time spent on Tusculum’s campus. In the end, it doesn’t matter what path you take to get you on the course of a successful career; as long as you work hard, have the courage to dream, and do what you know you need to do, then you will find the success you seek.
By Jonathon Dennis, junior journalism and professional writing major from Rome, Ga.