You may already know Taylor Camro from his extensive music video production across the country. Over the years, he established a sharp visual reputation behind the lens, shooting for high-profile figures like Lil Mama, directing videos for artists A.Goff and Flo Malcom under Soulja Boy’s record label SODMG, and working closely with the beloved icon Bobby Brown Jr.—son of the Grammy Award-winning New Edition band member and solo artist Bobby Brown—prior to his untimely passing in 2020.
Today, this multifaceted creator has stepped out from the moniker that defined his early visual career and is now operating under his true identity, John Smiley III.
Transitioning from a sought-after music video director and content creator into a full-scale media founder, John Smiley III has spent nearly a decade building a specialized ecosystem designed to solve a critical problem for modern creatives: navigating the gap between raw talent and a sustainable profession. By cleanly separating education, media distribution, entertainment production, and talent placement into distinct operations, Smiley has created an interconnected lifecycle for independent content creators, digital artists, and filmmakers.
The following breakdown details each specific brand within his network, how they function, and the distinct roles they play.
Wolf at Midnight
Established: 2011
Core Function: Lead Entertainment Publisher, Public Relations, and Artist Advocacy
Rather than mixing business education with casual viewing, the media side of the platform is cleanly separated. Wolf at Midnight is the flagship entertainment publisher housed on the Post Affect! platform. Owned by John Smiley III, this brand is the direct source of creative content and entertainment media, keeping the audience locked into high-impact programming while delivering essential insight into key moments across the creative world.
The brand’s roots trace back to 2011, when Smiley first established it directly from his bedroom as a discovery blog on Blogger. After the blog garnered over 500,000 views, Smiley realized the profound impact the platform could have and decided to establish it as a full-on brand dedicated to helping upcoming artists gain global recognition.
In an industry landscape that has become increasingly difficult for indie creators to navigate, Wolf at Midnight remains deeply committed to helping musicians find their audience. The publisher provides completely free public relations and publicity services to independent musicians and artists around the globe. To back this mission, the platform processes hundreds of free music submissions every single day through postaffect.com/music-review.
Taylor Camro & Black Money Power Records
Established: 2018 (Originally founded as Cyber Phonk Records)
Core Function: Music Production, Talent Scouting, and Artist-First Label Development
Before the launch of the studio and agency networks, the entire ecosystem began with music. Taylor Camro remains the artistic moniker and musical persona of John Smiley III. He is signed to Black Money Power Records, an independent record label founded by Smiley. The Taylor Camro project remains highly active, with Smiley continuing to write, record, and engineer original music tracks and produce beats under this name, providing a continuous stream of original audio architecture that ties back into his wider media productions.
As a label, Black Money Power Records actively seeks out fresh independent talent to sign. The label’s core philosophy is built around helping artists navigate the complex, independent side of the modern music industry. It explicitly rejects industry norms like predatory 360 deals, operating instead on a framework that protects creators so artists are never trapped or shelved without real, dedicated support.
Post Affect!
Established: 2018
Core Function: Software Platform, Education, and Digital Marketing Services
Post Affect! is the primary hub of the ecosystem, operating as a dedicated software platform for both entertainment and education. It provides the digital space, tools, and a global community framework—including an active Discord group chat—for content creators to systematically learn how to build, professionalize, and grow their personal brands while keeping up with the latest industry trends.
Beyond its educational framework, Post Affect! operates as a functional service engine for the broader business world. The platform provides comprehensive digital and social media marketing services directly to businesses. This includes structuring professional partnerships and organizing strategic creative collaborations across industries.
To support the real-world production and event needs of independent creators, Post Affect! entered a strategic 2025 partnership with Bay Street Studio, a premier creative space located in the heart of the Los Angeles Arts District. Bay Street Studio is a versatile, 5,000-square-foot event production space engineered for experiential installations, photo shoots, and live events. Through this collaboration, Post Affect! markets Bay Street Studio’s venue services across the entire state of California, bridging the digital-to-physical divide for the creative events production and filmmaking industries. This synergy was highlighted in September 2025, when the venue successfully hosted a live DJing event featuring a lineup of over 15 DJs and drawing more than 100 attendees.
Smiley Studios, Inc.
Established: 2018 (Originally founded as Cyber Phonk Studios; rebranded in 2024)
Core Function: Interactive Media, Filmmaking, and Total Production Pipeline
Smiley Studios, Inc. is the production powerhouse of the network. While it originally grew out of the independent music video, photography, and content creation space that defined Smiley’s early years, the studio underwent a complete rebrand to focus entirely on high-tier interactive media and filmmaking.
The studio owns and manages a complete, end-to-end development pipeline that handles development, production, distribution, and publishing for:
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Feature films and series productions (supported by original scripts and screenplays written by Smiley).
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Interactive software and video game development.
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Books and graphic novels.
Smiley Talent Agency
Established: 2025
Core Function: Indie Talent Representation and Placement
Launched in 2025 following John Smiley III’s move from Las Vegas to Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, the Smiley Talent Agency serves as the professional placement engine of the ecosystem.
The agency was specifically created to protect independent talent and help them secure legitimate career placements. It acts as a direct bridge for creators, getting them cast and hired in in-house film, game, and media productions developed by Smiley Studios, Inc., as well as other trusted independent productions across the United States market.
The Unified Vision
The expansive ecosystem built by John Smiley III stands as a testament to fifteen years of continuous dedication to the creative arts, shifting seamlessly from hands-on independent production to the architecture of multi-media platforms. Each brand reflects a calculated timeline of development, built meticulously over the years to protect and support upcoming artists who are navigating an increasingly complex industry.
By grounding his network across distinct, decades-spanning milestones—beginning with the inception of Wolf at Midnight in 2011, moving into the dual launches of Post Affect! and Smiley Studios, Inc. in 2018, and culminating in the professional placement engine of the Smiley Talent Agency in 2025—Smiley has engineered a comprehensive, self-sustaining landscape. Through this unified pipeline, his fifteen years of industry experience are directly leveraged to give the next generation of global creators the infrastructure, resources, and genuine support they need to build their own enduring legacies.
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