TV/Video alumnus is a star in his field with wisdom to share

'I love what I do and I make it look easy'

Tom Diaco’s credits in the television and film industry are formidable: a 10-year run on The View, stints with soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children, NCIS, The Academy Awards, and an upcoming Sylvester Stallone production, to name just a few. 

Currently he is working on Good Morning America (GMA), the entire NBC lineup including Saturday Night Live, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe and the Rachel Maddow Show.

A Steadicam and JIB owner/operator, Diaco has spent his career making creative decisions behind the camera. Diaco was already on his way to this two-decade run of success when he arrived at Southern Westchester BOCES.

A student at Ardsley High School, where he graduated in 1996, he was looking to expand his knowledge of video production. What BOCES provided was further immersion into the work that had become his passion.

He credits his success to his reputation for a strong work ethic and for delivering on the work he promised.

“The reason why I get so much work is because I love what I do and I make it look easy,” Diaco said. “This is not a job for me. This is fun, and I get to tell a story through the lens as an extension of me.”

The TV/Video Production program at SWBOCES today boasts a state-of-the-art studio with leading-edge hardware and software tools. When he arrived, however, the program was still new. His instructor at the time helped him develop field experience to go with his studio expertise.

Besides being involved in the A/V department at Ardsley at the time, Diaco filmed events through the business he founded and still runs today, Diaco Media Productions, Inc.

“When I went into TV/Video at BOCES it was a pretty interesting area because I already had a pretty big background,” Diaco said. “As time went on, I started realizing my schoolwork was in a better place as long as I was into TV production.”

He would go on to study at the New York Film Academy.

His father, Ciro, had a friend with a connection in the marketing department at ABC. Through that connection Diaco landed a meeting Production Manager Joe Cook at the morning talk show, Regis and Kathy Lee. Hearing about Diaco’s home studio, Cook said he had to come and see it for himself. He hired Diaco the next day for a Mother’s Day Special, and they still work together to this day.

Diaco gained experience shooting three independent feature films through the first production company that hired him at age 12 as a camera assistant. That led to subsequent projects, including the making of The Raven’s Cry.

Two years after Diaco joined the company, owner Michael Dolgetta hired him as a camera operator on a movie he was making. Michael had seen his work loved his handheld camera work and composition.

At BOCES, he said, his talents and passion were recognized, and he was given the chance to pursue them.

“My biggest advice that I would give to anyone who wants to be in this business is that you have to immerse yourself fully because everyone else is biting at the bit to get in,” he said. “People don’t realize the intense level of how many people want to do this.”