The True Hill City Story of Keith Thomas From Church Showman to Media Success
By: Jeremy Angione | Photos Courtesy: Keith Thomas
The trajectory of success for Lynchburg local Keith Thomas is characterized by his willingness to learn, improvise, and teach. Before his various professional milestones, Thomas was profoundly shaped by the Lynchburg community and his upbringing in the church.
“You can’t be from Central Virginia and not be touched by religion in some way,” Thomas said. “I really appreciate how this community embraced a very youthful, naive, foolish Keith Thomas.”
At a young age, Thomas got his first taste of production thanks to Phil Spinner, a video producer for Lynchburg City Hall.
“He started a youth program way back then that taught knucklehead kids like me how to write, record, produce, shoot, and stage-manage productions,” Thomas said.
From there, Thomas’ resume expanded exponentially. As an adult, he started working at a cable access station in Danville. Thomas then took a job at a NBC affiliate in Danville.
“That’s where things started to grow for me as a professional,” Thomas said.
Aside from television production, Thomas was and remains an avid musician. He attributes much of his passion and understanding of music to his early life in church.
“What I appreciated about the Black Gospel church experience was that it taught me how to hear,” Thomas said.
The nuances of Gospel music afforded Thomas a universal understanding of the emotions that go into and that are conveyed by music.
“It made me sensitive to the human condition,” he said. “It’s the same way I make my content today.”
Thomas’ music career started to blossom as he played gigs around Virginia, networking himself as a reliable “everyman” the whole way.
“I was starting to get connected with the ‘who’s-who’ of the music scene in Virginia,”
he recalled.
Although Thomas did not have a college degree at the time, he took marketing jobs at Radford University and Virginia Tech where he created their promotional material. Thomas says his work at those universities “raised his visibility.”
Despite his lack of technical know-how with certain tools on set, his wealth of experience in various media productions meant that he “understood the gear intuitively.” His various freelance jobs and willingness to fill any role on a set meant that Thomas was often at the top of the list for many producers looking for an experienced hand. An important opportunity presented itself when Thomas’ field producer fell sick while filming an episode of E! True Hollywood Stories about Missy Elliott.
“If you don’t work as a crew, you don’t get paid. We wanted to get paid,” Thomas said.
He already had a connection with Missy Elliott’s mother which gave him the confidence to step up and produce the episode himself. The episode was so well produced that Thomas was offered a permanent field producing job.
In 2013, Thomas moved to Atlanta to produce several reality television shows including Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta. Reality television gave Thomas a unique skill set in TV production.
“Couple that with my technical ability which most producers didn’t have, I sort of became a commodity. You could literally put me anywhere on a set and I could do it,” Thomas said.
After thoroughly establishing himself in the television industry, Thomas returned to Lynchburg two years ago. Needing a haircut, Thomas’ brother recommended a barber. Jordan Preston met Thomas, cut his hair, and the two discussed their careers and ambitions.
Preston owned Music is Forever, a production studio on Jefferson Street in Downtown Lynchburg. Thomas came on board and helped to elevate the studio to grant artists more resources and a
wider appeal.
“We are a global organization, but we are locally minded,” Thomas said.
From his early church days, to his various production jobs, passion drives everything that Thomas produces.
“Whether it’s music, or whether it’s some visual thing that I create onscreen, my sole responsibility on this earth is to make you feel,” he said. “Feel what? It’s up to you.”
