Today we’d like to introduce you to Beverly Hynds and Rob Prior.
Beverly and Rob, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Oh wow. What a question. I don’t know that I can really pinpoint an inciting incident that brought Rob and me to where we are today. It has been a beautiful and wild roller coaster ride. A roller coaster that we seem to keep adding tracks to only we aren’t quite sure which direction it will take us next.
I guess we started our company to have more control over our creative endeavors. Not a surprising cause for starting a company I am sure. We are storytellers always, the shape and form of those stories are as varied as the roller coaster ride. I began as an actor turned writer (screenwriter and children’s book author). Rob began as a comic book artist and book cover artist turned art director and fine artist. He is also adding feature film director to that list.
We have so many different IP’s that we really needed a place to house them all and we were tired of people taking our ideas and making them something we never intended.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
HA! The road to creativity is never smooth, especially when business is involved. There is this wondrous idea you have when you’re first starting out that the creative path will be different for you somehow. That the stories others have shared about their own trials won’t apply. I am here to tell you that you should LISTEN to those stories and learn what you can. It will save you a lot of heartaches.
One story that comes to mind is about a feature we were getting financing for. We went to meeting upon meeting with a group of producers, one of whom was the financier. They loved our idea, the script and all the art that Rob had done for the project to share his director’s vision. Money was put in an escrow account, we met these people’s families, had dinners with them, met their children… a week before pre-production was set to begin the financier pulled the money in the middle of the night and fled to China – leaving his family! It was horrendous. Oddly enough, flash forward about ten years later and Rob is finally directing his first feature… in China!
Other things we have experienced, not for the better, are people stealing our ideas, which always hurts because there are really no repercussions for a poached idea. You have NDA’s and lawyers but at the end of the day, it can be paralyzing. But you have to pick yourself up and keep moving forward with the next one.
There is no end to the ideas living inside you. I think it’s about having the courage to mine them out of your heart and soul, without judgment. There are also the beautiful sparks of inspiration that come when you’re not prepared for them. I have learned to not let those pass me by. I write every idea down. You never know what you will uncover when you start sitting with the seed of a story.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our company is multi-faceted. We learned long ago to not put all of our eggs in one basket. We are an art-based company, specializing in storytelling in numerous genres and multiple mediums. It’s a lot to swallow. Many people are overwhelmed by what we do because we don’t fit neatly into one little package or box. Then again, this is exactly why we formed our company.
We have been very art focused in the last few years. Taking Rob’s art to comic conventions and utilizing art to sell our IP’s to production companies and publishers.
I think I am most proud of the fact that we have not ignored anything in our quest to be storytellers. Every image, every IP, every story in whatever form it shows up in is honored and considered as we move forward. You never know which avenue will allow more doors to open. We have learned that first hand. Rob was moving toward directing, but that road was taking longer than we had hoped. I was moving toward acting with the same results. I told Rob he should go back to his roots as an artist and see where it takes us. So he did.
That was the beginning of a huge chapter for us. Rob was invited to comic conventions all over the US. I placed a pause on acting to manage his re-emergence as an artist. We started selling only five prints of Rob’s art at conventions. It was hilarious! Sitting in a booth with so few images, none of which were geared towards the comic book world.
People liked the art but we didn’t sell much. Rob got bored and started sketching at the booth.
Rob is an ambidextrous artist. Watching him draw or paint is astounding, which is what we found out during the first few comic conventions we did. We also started discovering what images would be of interest to this particular audience, so Rob painted what we thought would sell. We now have over 200 prints that we sell at comic conventions. The two-handed painting has become a show in and of itself. It’s been such a bizarre part of this roller coaster… Rob becoming a performing artist. He has performed on stage with Tech N9ne, Linkin Park, and Flo Rida to name a few. Talk about a mind-blowing turn of events!
Our motto has always been, “Whenever things seem to be going wrong, in reality, they are going right.” – unknown
We will be launching our online store by July of this year at www.robprior.com. I am in the process of speaking with publishers about my children’s books, another realm of storytelling I never realized I wanted to be part of. The kidlet world is a breath of fresh air!
What were you like growing up?
When I was very young I was quite shy. I joined a deaf-awareness theatre company when I was 10 years old and my world changed. By the time I was in high school, I was voted the most loquacious, hahaha. With the onset of social media, I have had so many people from my past drop my notes, as I believe we all have, telling me that they remember how kind I was to them. That has been a true joy for me as we never think of our teenage selves as being anything other than selfish.
I stayed in the theatre company until my senior year of high school. I was also a dancer and avid rock climber before college. My parents made sure I started working when I got my license, teaching me about hard work and independence.
I went to college at UC Santa Barbara where I earned my BFA, Magna Cum Laude. I was honored with a grant to create a play while attending UCSB. It was my first taste of being the storyteller of my own stories instead of bringing others’ words to life as an actor.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.robprior.com, www.beverlyhynds.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/prior2art, https://www.instagram.com/beverlyhynds
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/prior2art, www.twitter.com/beverlyhynds
Image Credit:
Main photo: Dennys Illic
Paintings photo: Rob Prior
People on the last photo: Christine Miner, Kevan Schwartz, Beverly Hynds
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