Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Emerson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Paul. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up in northern Ohio and watching mass quantities of TV and movies, I made the assumption that everything must be filmed in Cleveland. It was the biggest city I knew, so it makes sense I guess.
Cut to 30 some-odd years later and I’ve been in the film/commercial industry in Los Angeles for 20 of those years, producing content through my production company, Good Ride Machine, since 2011.
In high school, I wanted to be an animator. I was living in the Bay Area at the time and drawing constantly, so at 16, I visited an admission’s person at Cal Arts to blow them away with my wares and to prepare them for my inevitable admission’s application. By 17, I found indie film and the application never made it to Valencia.
So instead, I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago because I’m a glutton for frigid temps and because Walt Disney went there at one point. Between registering for classes and actually moving to Chicago, I fell further in love with movies and audited an intro to film class where we scratched celluloid, shot on hand-crank Bolexes, and watched Michael Snow’s “Wavelength” (which I still find to be brilliant, by the way.)
But it really wasn’t until a chance meeting with one of my fellow avant-garde film students where the direction of my career would be nudged. Running into them in the lobby of our dorm, I learned that they had just come from the set of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (shooting on location in Chicago at the time) where they had been a bona fide extra. An extra. On a real set with real actors. Amazing.
I immediately went out and got an agent. Seemed like a legit way to get on set and a few film students had asked me to be in their stuff and I kind of liked it, so there it was. And interestingly, it worked.
I moved to Kansas City where my mother was living and bought every book on the business of acting that I could find at B Dalton. I went to acting class, took workshops, followed all the tips in “How to Be a Working Actor” and made friendly with casting directors. Five months in, I found a local agent and booked my first gig- on an actual set- of a training video starring Roger Lodge.
A couple months later, I was cast in a feature film with Simon Baker and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Sure, I had to drive to Nebraska on my own dime to do it, but on-set was where I needed to be.
My SAG card, a handful of commercials, and a stint as an extra in an Ang Lee movie later- I made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles.
I landed in LA and got an agent and booked my first national commercial within four months. I found out later that this wasn’t generally the timeline for most newbies. My first job was with a then (somewhat) unknown Zack Snyder.
Over the next several years, my career continued on that track, appearing in a handful of spots a year, making a nice living and- more importantly- learning about the film/commercial industry and how exactly a set works.
I worked with Jason Reitman, Michel Gondry, and Zack Synder (a couple more times)- shot with master DP’s like Rodrigo Prieto, Bob Richardson, and Bill Pope- and rubbed elbows with creative execs from nearly all of the world’s best agencies. It was an unbelievable education.
A decade or so into my training and I came to the realization that I was creatively starved. While I was seeing other’s visions through, I wasn’t putting anything of my own creation out into the ether.
I teamed up with my photographer buddy and we entered one of those “make a free commercial for a company and if you win we’ll pay you” contests. We made a spec for AT&T, spent $50 on one location, and stole the rest of them. Our spot was voted as one of the top 10 that year, but nary a dollar was won.
I posted the spec on Facebook and an actor buddy of mine saw it and asked me to direct a sketch he wrote. It was called “Lie Detector”. We spent $300 to shoot it in four hours at a shared workspace office. I took six months to edit it as I had no idea how to edit nor had the appropriate equipment to do so.
So half a year later and the 3:40 short was ready to go, but I had no production company to attach its release to…which is how Good Ride Machine was born. It was a moniker given by my step-father to our beat-up AMC Eagle station wagon when I was a child, and I knew the name belonged somewhere in my adult experience; my production company was the perfect place for it.
We took “Lie Detector” on the film festival circuit where it performed well and quickly became a crowd favorite. After the circuit, I decided to give it its final resting place on YouTube with little, if any, expectations.
It took a few months, but “Lie Detector” went viral, hitting the front page of reddit and every other digital outlet at that time. It was translated into a dozen languages and the view numbers hit in the millions.
I got emails and calls from managers and agents, an offer to direct a feature—and when the dust settled, I received an offer to direct, write, and produce an ad campaign for NoIP.com– a DNS company out of Reno, NV. And that’s really where Good Ride Machine’s story began.
Since 2011, Good Ride Machine has built a reputation of producing high quality digital and broadcast commercials and content, working with some of the world’s leading brands from Uber and Alamo Rent A Car. From concept to production, GRM has met clients’ creative and budgetary needs, exceeding expectations with both the work that we create, and the positive experience that our clients have.
As for myself, I now direct both freelance as well as through Good Ride Machine. My education continues as the scope of the projects I jump on grows, and my understanding of the ad industry and storytelling grows with it. Though filmmaking remains challenging, and the needs of clients and brands is ever-changing, I could not imagine a life without it.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has decidedly not been the smoothest of roads. Though I’ve been very lucky in many ways, that luck has always been bolstered by ignorant optimism and obstinate positivity. In any business I believe this to be true, but perhaps especially in the entertainment business your motivation and tenacity needs to be carved out of granite.
When your product is essentially YOU, the self-doubt mental gymnastics seem to never rest. But as you move your way down your bumpy road and get hit off-course and knocked down countless times- you get back up, reaffirm some good words about yourself, and keep moving forward.
And then if you’re able to get through those seemingly endless spans of inactivity and helplessness, you’ll have laid the foundation for an abundant career and a stronger sense of what you’re capable of doing. And you’ll surprise the hell out of yourself.
Good Ride Machine – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Good Ride Machine specializes in branded and commercial content, both in the digital sphere and for broadcast. We can work client-direct and build a campaign from the ground up, seeing it through to production, or we can take an already solid piece of creative and bring it to life for an agency.
I pride myself on my love of collaboration and communication, allowing for every professionals’ input to be heard and considered. My sets are cohesive and respectful and my team of craftspeople are the absolute best in the business.
Good Ride Machine’s unofficial motto is, “Be excellent to each other.” Thank you, Bill and Ted, we could not agree more.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am most proud of making the transition from commercial actor to commercial director. For years as a performer I would wonder what went on in the conference room while the director and production company producer presented to the agency and client.
The first day that I walked into that conference room armed with my pre-production book and a clear vision on the project that I was about to shoot– that was my proudest moment.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10153 1/2 Riverside Drive #783
Toluca Lake, CA 91602 - Website: www.goodridemachine.com & www.paulemerson.tv
- Phone: 818-941-4296
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/goodridemachine
- Facebook: facebook.com/goodridemachine
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