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About
Jody Eldred
Award-Winning Executive Producer
Jody Eldred has been a director, writer and cameraman for over 30 years.
As a teenager in the early 70s, Jody shot the weekly Sunday worship service network broadcast of The First United Methodist Church in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. And in his first year of college, he was hired as a sports photographer for KSLA-TV (CBS) in Shreveport. He worked there for two years, covering the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl, advancing rapidly from photographer to reporter and moving into news as a reporter/photographer in 1979.
Later
in 1979, Jody was hired away by KTBS-TV (ABC), Shreveport, also as a
reporter/photographer. In his five years at KTBS, Eldred became Chief
Photographer, during which KTBS' 15-man news photography team was named
best in Louisiana by U.P.I., beating out teams from much larger stations
in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. KTBS went on to win the title three
years straight.
During his
years at KTBS, Jody won 19 awards for photography and producing,
including Best Feature Story in the United States from U.P.I., Best
Feature, State and Region from both U.P.I. and A.P., First Place,
Excellence in Journalism in Spot News, Southeast Region from Sigma Delta
Chi/Society of Professional Journalists, and First Place in Spot News
and General News coverage from Louisiana U.P.I. and A.P. 
The 1980s
Jody left KTBS
and moved to Los Angeles in December 1984. He began work as a freelance
director/cameraman. The following spring he was hired as a segment
director on ABC's "Hollywood Close-up", whereupon he joined
the Director's Guild of America. He was subsequently nominated by the
DGA as Best Director of a Documentary for "The China Experience:
Beyond the Wall", which he also produced, shot, co-edited and
co-wrote.
Since that
time, Jody has directed and shot literally hundreds of documentaries,
news reports (for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and the BBC) and segments for
shows such as "20/20", "Primetime Live", "Good
Morning America", "Dateline NBC", "48 Hours", "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung", "Day One", Ed
Bradley's "Street Stories", "Entertainment Tonight",
"That's Incredible", "The Tonight Show with Jay
Leno", "Oprah", as well as many shows for MTV.
Network assignments have ranged from up-close coverage of the Los Angeles riots, the Malibu fires and the Northridge earthquake, Peter Jenning's ABC Primetime Special on the O.J. verdict, to a BBC interview with Charles Manson, and the acclaimed Lifetime/Christie Brinkley hour documentary, Rocking the Boat: Women Race for the America's Cup. He shot two recent programs which won an Emmy and a Peabody award.
Plentiful assignments as a director and producer in multi-camera live and tape have prevailed as well. Jody's slate is quite expansive: from a daily eight-hour live three-camera fashion program, to four-camera sports/comedy shoots for ESPN, the three-camera live audience cut for ABC's prime time sitcom Family Matters and Warner Brothers' Too Something, an hour-long four-camera TV special with Steve Allen and Michael Medved, and a multi-camera live special on the Moscow Dance Theater. He also executive produced, directed and wrote 7 national commercials for crisis pregnancy centers, and a Hi-Def 24P music video with Billy Preston, Ray Parker, Jr. and Deniece Williams.
Recently
In 2003 Jody spent a month in Kuwait City, Kuwait, shooting ABC Network News coverage of the Iraq War. He was responsible for all of Peter Jennings', Diane Sawyers' and Robin Roberts' pieces on location in Kuwait for ABC News, Primetime, and Good Morning America. Currently, he is working his ninth season on 1st and 2nd units for CBS's primetime drama J.A.G., and his second season on the J.A.G. spin-off Navy N.C.I.S., including the first-ever High-Definition shoots for both series.
In 2004 Jody won a prestigious Emmy Award for his camerawork with Mike Elwell and reporter/ producer Mike Cerre on the "Fox 2/5" episode of ABC's Nightline, a nearly 2-year long series covering the Fox 2/5 Marine company from preparation to deployment to and in Iraq, and their return home and subsequent re-deployment a year later.
Jody's latest project is a documentary that is airing nationwide on TBN and PAX called "Changed Lives: Miracles of The Passion." He is the Executive Producer, Director, Writer and the driving force behind this 1-hour television special which captures the true stories of people whose lives have been radically changed or who have had a supernatural miraculous experience as a result of seeing Mel Gibson's groundbreaking film "The Passion of The Christ." Due to the program's overwhelming popularity, it is now available in DVD and VHS format at Wal-Mart and Best Buy retail locations across the country. In addition, Jody authored a book by the same name, which is published by Harvest House Publishers and available through retail stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble, as well as on Amazon.com and Christianbooks.com.
Jody Eldred currently resides in Marina Del Rey, California, where he continues his work producing, writing, directing and shooting specials, documentaries, multi-camera shows, commercials, music videos and news/reality segments. Jody has a BA in Sociology from Centenary College of Louisiana, did graduate studies at Louisiana State University (LSU), and is a faculty member at the World Journalism Institute.