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= Gerry Cook = Gerry Cook (born Gerald Robert Cook, May 28, 1956) is an American filmmaker and professional photographer. He is best known for his feature-length comedy, Only a Buck (1987), part of the 1980's home video boom.

Early Life
Gerald Robert Cook was born in Seattle, Washington, to Robert Cook, a Boeing chemical engineer, and Corinne Griffith Cook. He was the youngest of two children. He grew up in Seattle, moving to Spokane, Washington, for school when he was 19. His mother passed away of complications due to Rheumatoid Arthritis 3 years later in 1978.

As a child, Cook excelled in sports and was fascinated by electronics. His first job at 14 was working for a family friend at Radar Electric. He loved to make inventions and rig contraptions.

Education and Career
After graduating from Lincoln High School, Cook completed one year at the University of Washington as a football walk-on. After being offered a football scholarship at Spokane Falls Community College, he promptly moved to Spokane and earned an associate's degree in TV Production at SFCC.

In his early career, Cook made a living as the creative director at Pinnacle Productions, creating TV commercials. Some of his larger clients and products included ABC, NBC, CNN, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, HBO, the Movie Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel, Monday Night Football, the NBA Playoffs, Clueless (TV Series) the Star Wars Trilogy, the Cosby Mysteries, A&E, Mazda, the Honda Civic, Adidas, and Toaster Strudel. Aiming for a career shooting something bigger than commercials, Cook promised himself he would make his first feature-length movie by the time he was 30.

After directing, producing, marketing, and distributing his film Only a Buck, Cook owned and operated his motion-picture company, Heck Yes! Productions (previously named Stratos Pictures) from his home in Bothell, Washington until his retirement in 2015. This company specialized product photography, showcasing merchandise of a number of large corporations for their advertising use.

Only a Buck (1987)
After producing his first short film, Lemons, Cook was ready to make a feature-length movie. He wrote the initial script with colleagues Don Moulton and Charlie Schmidt (creator of the Keyboard Cat viral video), and shot and produced the film in Spokane with Moulton, Schmidt, and Pete Hunrichs. Starring Schmidt, Lanita Grace, and Tim Brandt, it tells the story of J Jordan, a quirky yet likable guy (portrayed by Schmidt) who quits his job as a cameraman at a television station to do something he has always wanted to--make a movie!

After production was complete, Cook and his cohorts hit the road in what they called the Brickmobile--a small truck painted to look like brick with a painting of Cook's face on each side, saying, "Buy My Movie, It's Factory Direct!" and a number to call if interested: 1-800-HECK YES. For the next nine months, the group lived in the Brickmobile, sleeping on boards hanging from the vehicle's ceiling by chains. During their "world tour" (a cross-country road trip), the dedicated group trolled the streets of major cities selling VHS tape copies of Only a Buck for--you guessed it--one dollar. The stunt landed them publicity on several local, national, and international media outlets. The story was featured in Newsweek, People Magazine, and more.

Only a Buck premiered at the Garland Theater in Spokane, Washington in 1986. While actors and producers arrived in limousines, Cook showed up in the beat-up car featured in his movie. He referred to that night as an "extravaganza," in a 2018 interview. The movie never hit the big time, but captivated the hearts of many. It was featured in the 1990 Doug Block documentary, The Heck with Hollywood (1991), shown by Sundance, and "re-premiered" at the Garland in 2018, drawing a large nostalgic crowd.

Personal Life
Cook met Jo Linda Rotermund in Spokane in 1983, and they married in 1990. In 1997 they moved to Bothell, Washington and had their first and only child, Claire Frances Cook, in 1998.

YouTube
Cook currently creates political content on YouTube under the name "Cameramanplan." He advocates for working across party lines to reduce the U.S. debt.