Chris Elley (born September 15, 1977 in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

) is the founder and current director of the

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

-based film production company Electro-Fish Media Inc. He holds two

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s and two additional nominations.

Early career

Elley began his film career at the age of 15, producing short films and a local cable variety show in his hometown of

Seguin, Texas Seguin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Guadalupe County, Texas, United States; as of the 2020 census, its population was 29,433. Its economy is primarily supported by a regional hospital, as well as the Schertz-Seguin Local Government C ...

that included appearances by celebrities such as

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

. By age 16, he was interning for San Antonio

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

television station

KENS-TV KENS (channel 5) is a television station in San Antonio, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Fredericksburg Road in northwest San Antonio, near the South Texas Medical Center, wh ...

. There, he covered the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

. Elley produced film material throughout high school and college, including hundreds of TV commercials. The international television debut of his work came in 1996 when he won a national video contest sponsored by

Friskies Friskies is an American brand of wet and dry cat food and treats owned by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, a subsidiary of Nestlé global. Friskies was initially introduced by Carnation Company in the 1930s as a dog food brand. When Friskies c ...

cat food that premiered his commercial during ''

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

''. Elley earned a bachelor's degree in Communications Studies from

Texas Lutheran University Texas Lutheran University (TLU) is a Private university, private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America university in Seguin, Texas. History The university traces its roots back to 1891, to an academy of the first German Evangelical Lutheran S ...

and a master's degree in Mass Communication from

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

Career

In 1999, he accepted the position of Senior Producer of Creative Services for the

-owned and operated television station in Austin, Texas. He would later be promoted to On-Air Director, Creative Services before leaving the station in 2001 to produce private content. Elley directed the 2004 cultural documentary "Barbecue: A Texas Love Story" (named to "Best of SXSW" series for the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Film Festival) featuring

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurr ...

Kinky Friedman Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman (born November 1, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, and former columnist for ''Texas Monthly'' who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and ...

Art Alexakis Arthur Paul "Art" Alexakis (born April 12, 1962) is an American musician best known as the singer-songwriter and guitarist of the rock band Everclear. He has been a member of several notable bands, in addition to his own work as a songwriter f ...

Ray Benson Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United St ...

and others. The film screened at film festivals around the United States and for U.S. Congressional members, was released on DVD in 2005 and re-released in 2009. The film is available nationally at

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category "Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Program". Previously, Elley had directed a documentary film on the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Apollo space missions titled ''In the Shadow of the Moon: People of the American Space Program'' and a documentary film on the Texas Theatre in

titled ''A Projection of History''. In 2007, Elley's Electro-Fish Media released a documentary film about people who live in an abandoned ghost town in the West Texas desert, titled ''Ghost Town: 24 Hours in Terlingua''. That film received an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Documentary – Cultural" and was Emmy-nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Editing." In 2009, Electro-Fish Media received an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Program Achievement – Heritage" for their series on

Loudoun County, Virginia Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...

which can be viewed at the site for Loudoun Convention and Visitors Association. Elley is currently producing and directing a documentary feature on football in Texas and is on hiatus from producing and directing a film on the current state of country music. That film closely follows Texas musicians the

Randy Rogers Band Randy Rogers Band is an American country music band from San Marcos, Texas. The band is composed of Randy Rogers (lead vocals), Geoffrey Hill (guitar), Jon Richardson (bass guitar), Brady Black (fiddle), Les Lawless (drums), and Todd Stewart (gui ...

and features musicians such as

Tracy Lawrence Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1 ...

Dierks Bentley Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to Capitol Nashville and released his eponymous debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's ''Modern Day Drifter'', ar ...

and

Shooter Jennings Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He is the only son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning over two decades, Shooter Jenni ...

. Elley splits his directing, producing and writing responsibilities with his wife and collaborator Cile Spelce. Elley splits editing duties with co-editor Dave Rehm. Elley also contributes to magazines such as ''Chile Pepper Magazine''.

Public speaking

Elley frequently speaks on Texas culture in academic or pop culture settings. In June, 2005 he joined

and a handful of other Texans in New York City's

Madison Square Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, fourth President of the United States. ...

Park to educate New Yorkers on the significance of Texas BBQ to the state's identity. He has also appeared on numerous radio and television shows including ''

BBQ with Bobby Flay Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

'' on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

and the international radio program ''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

''.

Critical reviews / press

Reviews of ''Barbecue: A Texas Love Story''
efilmcritic.comAustin ChronicleFilmThreatMSN Slate Magazine
Reviews of ''Ghost Town: 24 Hours in Terlingua''
Pegasus News

References

*Weinberg, Scott
"Barbecue: A Texas Love Story"
''eFilmCritic'', March 23, 2004. Accessed June 1, 2007 *Ankrum, Nora
"Pit Crew"
''The Austin Chronicle'', March 12, 2004. Accessed June 1, 2007 *Aronsky, Rory
"Barbecue: A Texas Love Story"
''Film Threat'', October 4, 2004. Accessed June 1, 2007 *Meyer, John P
Pegasus News
''Pegasus News'', April 26, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2007

External links

*
Official Website

"Barbecue: A Texas Love Story" Official Website

"Ghost Town: 24 Hours in Terlingua" Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elley, Chris Living people 1977 births Writers from San Antonio Film directors from Texas