Behind every man is a story. Thus is the case for video-director/producer and founder of Mills Miller Media, LLC, Mills Miller.

Hailing from New York City — Uptown and The Bronx, specifically — Miller has managed to build his interactive media service from the ground up. Equipped with a vision and a dream, not to mention the company's savvy business motto: “best quality for the best price,” Mills Miller Media has produced a number of music videos like Fabolous' "Body Ya," Fred Da Godson's "I Am," and a couple of Bun B's clips, among a slew of others. Most recently, he was fortunate enough to direct Jadakiss' "Toast To That" video.

Taking a break from his busy schedule, Miller spoke to XXLMag.com about how he got his start, his aspirations and his experiences crafting visuals for some of hip-hop's brightest stars. Lights, Camera, Action.—Ralph Bristout

XXL: Tell me a little about Mills Miller Media, how did it come about?

Mills Miller: It's actually my name but, when I originated the company I wanted [the] name to reasonate and kind of be something easy for people to catch on to. Once I started with the Mills Miller, it started to roll out of people's tongues easy. When I started the business and was filing the paperwork, the person who I was filing the paperwork with said that name was catchy and this was before I did any video so, that's how the name Mills originated.

How long have you been filming?

I graduated college in 2008, so two years and a half.

That's a pretty short time based on your catalog and all.

I guess I'm blessed and I just haven't really realized how hard I've been going, man. I try to shoot everything that I could shoot and everything I try to shoot I always try to make sure that it is at the highest quality.

Sort of like the group's motto, "Best Quality for the Best Price."

Right, absolutely. There's a lot of videos out there, and I'm not saying nothing bad about anybody because I get inspired by looking at other people's stuff but, I always wanted to be on that level where I didn't want to be [compared to] just like any other internet video. When I shoot videos for artists, I always make it something more than what it is because [it's] an opportunity.

How did you hook up with Fred Da Godson?

Me and Fred, its really a funny story. I knew [him] personally when I got out of college, he was doing his music thing. He wasn't buzzing the way he is now and even myself, we were still grinding. I had did a couple videos that were hot but, at the time I was telling Fred, "I need to work with you." Things happen for a reason and we just never got to work together until about a year ago. We did "I Am" and that sparked interest from the manager he's being currently managed by now, Shawn Prez, who [also] manages Diddy. For that video, Shawn told me "That was the video that made me take notice of Fred." So, when he said that it made me really believe that I must be doing something right. Me and Fred are friends and been friends since before we started working which is a blessing and we just been working.

So the "I Am" video was when you first truly realized filming was something for you?

To take you all the way back, I actually was an intern. I worked on a short film, working free all day from the sun-up to the sundown. [Since] I was doing it all for free and wasn't complaining, I realized that I could do this for the rest of my life. But, as far as directing videos and producing, it definitely came around when I directed a video for an artist named, Nova [for a song] called "I Hate My Job." I had just graduated and was still doing videos but was yearning for reaching the next level and network situation. [Trying to figure] how as a director, can I expand. But, it turned out to get him all this exposure including a MySpace featured video, 100,000 hits, and comments. The thing that really made me say that I could do it was because the artist wasn't really known like that. It would be different if I had did something for someone that was known. I did something that was good and people liked, and that was definitely when I said I should continue with it.

What's one of the things that you try to emphasize in your videos?

I love females and I'm not gonna lie and say that there's no females in my videos but, I try to use them in a way that [they'll be presented] beautifully or a way that can be not just shaking your ass or mysogynistic, you know what I'm saying? Trust me, I love women, man, and I've done my share of strip videos but, sometimes it just calls for that. I'm supposed to do a video for Shawty Lo featuring Twista, it's called "Pocahontas" and it's a strip club video but, for the concept I took "The Player's Club." Your gonna see ass and strippers and shit but, there's a concept behind it. That's the way I try to think about things and go forward with it.

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How did you come up with Fabolous' "Body Ya" concept?

I gotta give credit to Fab, man. [He] actually had a lot of ideas and the producer that I worked with on the project, he came with the idea of people falling down. Fab is funny, he said one of the chicks should fall down and hit her head on a brick or something like that. [Overall] It was his idea, Fab is clever and creative, I just took that and ran with it. He came up with the little other ideas like the newspaper dude or the dude walking up to him and he just falls, shit like that. Sometimes artists have their own visions for their videos and it was a good vision and came out to be like a real dope video. The song was hot at the time, it was a dope single, and it was off a mixtape. For a lot of these artists, the mixtape songs turn into more for them and they don't even know that once the videos goes out that it turns into more.

Who are some of your role models?

On a music video scale, absolutely Hype Williams. In other scales, I'd say F. Gary Gray, Antoine Fuqwa, Tyler Perry and Spike Lee, among others, on a film scale. But, music videos, Hype Williams. I watched his videos when I was young. Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson's million dollar video when they were liquid and shit, that's crazy to me. Then you know, so many people directed Michael Jackson videos but, definitely Micheal Jackson because his videos are just hands down movies. I remember when his videos used to come on Channel 5 and I used to wait at eight o' clock then go to sleep because I had to. Spike Jonze is dope [too]. He did Pharcyde's "Drop" where they were walking backwards, that was crazy. Michel Gondry, I actually interned at his company called Partizan Production in New York.

How was that experience?

I actually learned a lot. I worked on the set with him as a camera operator on a Bjork video. He directed videos for Madonna, Kanye West's "Heard Em Say," and more. I was able to be blessed, like when I first came out of college. In the ending of '07 to the beginning of '08, I was interning there for six months. You know, getting coffee and just running errands, paying my dues. I think it helped me in my aspirations to run my own business.

What goals have you set for yourself within the next five years or so?

Within the next five years, I definitely want to get into feature films. Absolutely commercials. That's always been the goal and obviously becoming financially in a better position with the music videos. The more you grow in the music video world, the higher the budgets. Although the budgets have decreased, there's still people passing out budgets out there. Like Lady Gaga videos are $100,000-150,000 budgets, Jay-Z budgets are high, Beyonce's budgets are high like that. Best believe, the lowest is like $80,000. That's still paper. You do three of those a month and you're hustling, taking your percentage, come on man, you're doing just fine.

What artists would you hope to do videos for in the near future?

Jay-Z, Beyonce is fucking dope, of course Lady Gaga, who doesn't want to work with her? There's so many artists like Trey Songz, Lupe Fiasco, Bruno Mars. Definitely, Kanye West hands down. This dude is just amazing like he inspired me and I'm not even a musician, man. He came in the game making beats, nobody believed in him, and I kind of feel the same, [like] an underdog. Even though, I'm doing this and people are loving what I'm doing, I still feel like I've got a lot to prove. That's [how] Kanye inspired me, man, the fact that he didn't let people who was telling him not to rap, get to him. I actually did a spec music video for him like a year and a half ago called "Street Lights" off the 808s & Heartbreak album. Spec videos are videos you just do off of love so when I did it, he actually put the video up on his site at the time. This was before I did anything for Fabolous, Bun B, Jadakiss, any big artist really and I was just passionate about the music and the shit moved me so much that I was just like "fuck it, imma do it." The shit got a million views on the site and he even went as far as putting it on his site and saying, "I appreciate when people do these type of videos." It defintiely put more exposure to my name at that point and at that level.

What do you have to say to those that are on the come-up?

Number one, you really cannot stop, you have to continue to go. Number two, you cannot be discouraged, everyone is gonna have an opinion. I'm just blessed to have very supportive people in my corner. There's been times where I had so many positions where people from LA stepped up to represent me and I'm still not represented. I'm doing this on my own merit. I wrote for artists like Tank and other rock artists. I wrote for artists that I actually didn't get to work with but, that didn't stop me from saying that it's not going down or I'm not doing my thing. It just made me look at where I'm at and see the opportunity that I had to write for them. You got to keep perfect your craft everyday. If you don't do this everyday like an athlete, you're never gonna achieve a goal that you want to attain. Be focused and know exactly where you want to go and remember that persistence is key.

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