Tim Sullivan Exclusive Interview With Variety Regarding Documentary ‘Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story’

Directed by Zeberiah Newman and Michiel Thomas, the short documentary Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story has now added Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone to the project as executive producers.

The film focuses on the life and business of candlemaker Tim Sullivan. The story is compelling and inspiring in its ability to take the viewer through Sullivan’s struggles such as coming out as a gay man and achieving sobriety, and forming his business, Timothy Jay Candles. Additionally, his kindness is demonstrated through his ability to extend his success to those in need – most notably shown through his practice of hiring homeless individuals and recovering users.

In an exclusive interview with Varitey, Sullivan described how his business came to be through working with one of his 12-step recovery program sponsees who wanted to make a candle. Having previous experience in scents through his employment at Lancôme and  Avon, Sullivan attempted to recreate a candle scent that Jackie Kennedy was known to have in her house – the Rigaud green candle. After success, he gave a few of his candles to a friend in L.A. who owned an antique shop. There, Mercedes Bass stopped by and decided to order 48 candles.

Regarding how he began his hiring practices, he states, “I looked at this kid Brian and I said, ‘Have you ever done this kind of work?’ He said, ‘No, but I could learn.’ And then I just started bringing in other people who were looking for work. I would hear people say, ‘I need work.’ I would just go up to them and ask, ‘Do you think you could do this?’ And then word got around and I was mobbed by people looking for work. It was so wonderful for them. But I also knew I was building a business. These are high-end candles and the business became well known.”

McCarthy and Falcone also revealed their motivation for joining the project: “Once we heard the lovely story of Tim Sullivan and began to understand how many people he’s helped in his life through the making of beautiful candles, we realized these filmmakers were telling exactly the kind of story we want to help get out into the world.”