A pair of Canadian Valley Technology Center graduates from Piedmont have embedded themselves well at a young age into the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

Carson Morris and Tristan Chisolm completed Digital Media Technology three years apart at the school’s El Reno Campus. But they are well acquainted now as industry grips, who typically set up and operate camera rigging and lighting for filming.

Both Morris, 19, a Piedmont graduate and a December 2021 completer at CV Tech, and Chisolm, 22, a 2018 Piedmont grad, are affiliate members of IATSE, which claims the title of the “Union Behind Entertainment.” Members work in live theater, motion picture and television production, trade shows and exhibitions, television broadcasting, and concerts.

Digital Media instructor Afton Jameson said IATSE is comprised of regions, and she has learned the two CV Tech graduates are the youngest workers in IATSE 484.

Morris has recently worked on the critically acclaimed Paramount Plus series Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone. The new crime drama revolves around a New York mobster who was just released from prison and was subsequently exiled by his mafia boss to Oklahoma. The series is a biproduct of the state’s production incentives under the “Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021.”

Digital Media is one of nearly two dozen full-time, daytime program options at CV Tech. It is open to high school students and adults. Students build either a professional business portfolio or a video demo reel. Curriculum also includes advertising, drone certification, photography and video editing.

CV Tech’s Chickasha Campus offers a similar program with more of a marketing and desktop publishing emphasis. For more information, visit cvtech.edu.