Joe Collins

Joe Collins is a Director/DP based out of Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication at Arizona State University with a BS in Broadcasting in 1987. After graduating, he spent 2 years working as a camera technician at General Camera in NY, and 1990 he joined Local 644, now the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600. Joe worked his way up the camera ranks in NY, starting as a 2nd Assistant Cameraman working on such films as "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Carlito's Way," "Forrest Gump," and "A Bronx Tale." As a 1st Assistant Cameraman in the mid to late '90's, Joe pulled focus on "Riding in Cars with Boys," "Private Parts," and John Singleton's remake of "Shaft," among others. Music videos and commercials were a steady source of work in the '90's, and Joe worked on shoots for Madonna, Mariah Carey, George Michael, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC and many other artists. He also started working in episodic television as a 1st AC on "Spin City", "NYPD Blue", "Ed" and HBO's groundbreaking "Sex and the City". Joe began "SATC" as a Steadicam focus puller season 1, and was the A camera operator by season 6. Once he began operating, Joe split his time between features and television, and some of his credits here include "PS I Love You," "27 Dresses," "Ugly Betty," "Sex and the City-The Movie," and "Michael Clayton." He operated for renowned DP's including Robert Elswit ASC, Peter Deming ASC, Alik Sakharov ASC, and Terry Stacey ASC. Always with an eye on shooting, Joe took advantage of his opportunities, shooting the Additional Photography/2nd Unit for "SATC" and for "Michael Clayton" and then took over the DP duties on "Ugly Betty" for its final season in 2009, and he has been shooting ever since. Television has provided the majority of Joe's work for the last decade, with series on NBC, ABC, CBS, HBO, Showtime, Amazon, AMC, and USA, and he has established a reputation for being a quick, creative, and collaborative artist. His extensive international experience on productions shot around the world includes Europe, Africa, Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Hong Kong. He's also an active episodic director, having joined the DGA in 2013. Joe's most recent projects are "City on a Hill" on Showtime, "For Life" on ABC, "Divorce" on HBO, and the feature "Super Troopers 2" for Fox Searchlight. Joe is repped by UTA.