Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Grimm.
Hi Julia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I first moved to Los Angeles thirteen years ago, right after graduating from film school on the East Coast, I thought I was only coming here for the summer. At the time, I was living in a small house that I shared with a couple of friends in Echo Park (three bedrooms for $1500 – oh how times have changed), working an internship for a prolific documentary filmmaker and hustling side jobs to make ends meet. That internship quickly turned into a full-time job, launching the start of my professional career and the beginning of my journey into defining who I am as a creative, a producer, a community-member, and…an adult.
Since then, I’ve lived a lot of lives. I’ve spearheaded and produced documentaries and commercials, worked in digital media content and video marketing at startups, produced narrative shorts and five seasons of a TV show (CAKE on FX Networks); I’ve worked with million dollar budgets and made music videos with < $500, overseen large crews and been a one-woman-shop videographer. The common throughline, though, is that I’ve always tried to surround myself with people who share similar values—especially the belief that success doesn’t have to come at someone else’s expense, and that respect and kindness matter more than the bottom line (and produce much better results!).
That’s what makes this chapter of my professional life with SLAQR Studios the most fulfilling yet. Starting the company with my creative producing partner and longtime friend Michelle Simunovic has given us the ability to take real ownership over the kind of work we do and how we do it—to define what matters to us and to build a production model that actually reflects those values, project by project.
Needless to say, it’s been a very long summer!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We officially started SLAQR Studios at the beginning of 2023, but we were unknowingly crafting the building blocks for our business long before that by investing in the creative relationships around us and building trust within our community. That groundwork has been essential, especially given the state of the entertainment industry over the past couple of years, which has felt like a rollercoaster for I think just about everyone in it. One of our biggest ongoing challenges has been maintaining a steady flow of projects that not only sustain our business, but allow us to support the incredible creatives we collaborate with. Like many small business owners, we’re figuring it out as we go, but we’re proud of what we’ve built so far and grateful to be doing it together, surrounded by people we admire and trust.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about SLAQR Studios?
SLAQR Studios is a woman-owned creative production company, working across branded, music, and entertainment. We’re passionate about supporting artists of all kinds – creative directors, musicians, designers, photographers, etc – to develop their visions and bring them to life. We love coming up with original creative too, but we get a lot of satisfaction from projects where we can work with an artist’s concept and curate the right team to execute – projects like collaborating with designer Kimberly Corday to shepherd her first fashion short film, Love Is Not All, into fruition, and working with artist Alex Da Corte to produce the stills for St Vincent’s latest album campaign.
We’re lucky to know a lot of incredibly talented directors, musicians, cinematographers, animators… and we genuinely love putting together the right team for each project—kind of like planning a fun party.
We work both with agencies and direct-to-brand, pitching full campaign creative concepts and executing them from idea to completion. On the brand side, everything from social-first, digital content to broadcast spots are within our wheelhouse. We also have a background in working with entertainment studio partners on show launches, brand tapes, and promos, which is a creatively unique type of storytelling.
We love meeting new people, and no project is too big or too small. For us, everything starts with a conversation—and at the end of the day, it’s all about bringing people together to create something meaningful (and having fun while we’re at it).
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
We’re relationship-driven collaborators, and we approach each project with the belief that the best work is born out of an environment where everyone involved is treated with thoughtfulness and respect. We’re high-concept thinkers, and we put a lot of care and detail into every interaction we have and every project that we work on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.slaqrstudios.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slaqrstudios
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/slaqr-studios/
Image Credits
Mk.Gee – Bradley J Calder
St Vincent – Alex Da Corte
