Rising Stars: Meet Richard Rodriguez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Rodriguez.

Hi Richard, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
So I was actually an actor originally. Until 12 years old. I had a moment where I had an epiphany. It turns out the thing I was feeling and responding to in movies wasn’t just the people I was seeing on screen but instead the whole production and how things were meticulously orchestrated to provoke feelings toward an audience. The way a camera would move at a very specific moment or when a music que would be triggered on a certain line of dialogue.

What I begun to realize was this was all carefully calculated and created by somebody behind the scenes, called a Director and everything I’m feeling inside me while watching something was called Filmmaking.

There was something truly magical to that idea of storytelling being this powerful visual tool.

The Film that actually was the “one” that changed me in 2005 was – as controversial as it may sound – Star Wars Episode 3. The day it came out, I remember being so overwhelmed with excitement I actually got sick before it started and had to refund my ticket. While walking back to the car in the parking lot, I knew I needed to see this and decided I’d power through. I walked back and bought ANOTHER ticket and nothing was ever the same.

I always tell people I walked into that movie as an actor and left as a Director.

Looking back, I think I’ve always loved entertaining. Even after 12 years old and having that “Come to Jesus” moment of wanting to become a Director: I still went to auditions and took as many roles as I could in the school plays, Christmas shows for the church, or doing commercials. I found myself getting in trouble trying to Direct our directors since I felt they were all doing terrible jobs BUT at least I was involved with creating something for an audience. As I got older, I became the cliché filmmaker kid in the family, borrowing (stealing) my parent’s camcorder and shooting little short films/music videos with my friends and younger siblings. Definitely was the black sheep of the family. I was busy shooting all these different things growing up because it was what I loved doing. It was my “sports”.

I also knew the more things I made now was gonna help me later in life since I always had aspirations to do more than just movies. I’m glad I got the early practice when I did because it definitely helped prepare me for where I’m at now.

Alright, 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?
Has this been a smooth road? Absolutely – positively – no.

When you in 6th grade and you tell your teacher you wanna go to Hollywood when you grow up and become a Director and Producer….and he gives a weird look followed by saying: “Oh, you poor naïve child…If only you knew….”

I’m starting to think he knew something I didn’t.

Hollywood is definitely a wild ride in itself. It’s truly not like any other industry in terms of how it’s ran or what advice you could give somebody that’s going to make you more successful. For each person, it’s different but I think that’s why we’re here right? We love the unpredictability. The only place that welcomes true artists with open arms while also feeling like the lions den. This place is not for everybody but if you can find success in whatever field your chasing, I think you’ll see why people stay.

I’m a child of the 90s so all my heroes were people who were shooting Music Videos and commercials before they blew up doing big movies. Since I had no connections to the industry, I figured Music Videos would be my way in. After some success I had with making Short films during Film school, I navigated my way into doing Music Videos. which was where I first got paid being a Director. That’s not to say it was an easy transition because it wasn’t. Shooting a short film verses a music video couldn’t be any more different but what I quickly had to learn was how to adapt to the change of environment. How to sell yourself as a Director while providing confidence to the people hiring you. Doing Music Videos allows you to meet a lot of incredible talents and creative teams but they all come with their own unique personalities. Most are incredible experiences while some (not a lot) can be quite challenging and difficult. I can definitely look back now and see my career is where it’s at now because of those Music Videos days. It blew open a lot of doors for me that I will forever be grateful for.

Because I also edit all my Music Videos for artists, I get to ride the wave a little longer and be a part of that post creative process. Sometimes you’ll be working on a VFX shot for three days until the Artist tells you they changed their minds…

It’s collaborative process but it also comes down to how you handle these stressful moments. When things get tough I’ve noticed about 95% of it is HOW you handle it. The 5% is how you’re going to move forward.

The business side of this industry isn’t talked about very much which is crazy considering if you want to survive in this business, you’ll need to know first and foremost – this is a business and you can’t get to the fun stuff unless that’s handled first. If you know this early on, it’ll make some steps more fluent. Figure out how to design your shooting schedule, create budgets and deliver various cuts on time.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a Writer/Director who also happens to be an editor.

Growing up wanting to make movies and tell stories through a visual art form was a little difficult to do unless you took it upon yourself to learn a little bit about all the different departments.

I remember being around 13 or 14 years old and watching my friend make stop motion videos using Windows Movie Maker (remember those days?) and thinking how awesome that was.

So I guess I got my start learning how to edit the things I Directed off that free program, which seemed to ALWAYS crash. We’d be editing some action sequence with a million cuts and then suddenly, it would just freeze. So that was always a gamble. Once I graduated high school and got into Film school, I finally made the jump to Premiere Pro and all the Adobe programs. I’ve been using that these last ten years doing the short films, Music videos and whatever else I’ve made.

In terms of my success and what I’m known for, I think if you look at the last few years of things I’ve done and the clients I’ve worked with; you’ll see all the awards I’ve won including “Best Genre Film”. “Best Director” and “Best Editor”. I obviously take each project I make/hired to make very seriously but I think some of my most proud work was when Raven – Symone hired me to edit her Directorial debut.

That was really exciting getting to work on that project which had a cast of so many people I grew up watching on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. Being the one that brought that to life was a true honor and the 12 years inside me who watched all those shows would be losing his mind.

I consider myself a Filmmaker who’s very interested in innovation. Each project I’m doing needs to set itself apart and provide its own unique experience. If you can nail the execution, I think audiences will feel it while watching. I can’t say too much right now BUT there’s a new movie I’m currently in development on that, if all goes as planned could be shooting very soon. When you see it, I think you’ll see what I mean by creating fresh ways for audiences to experience something in a new way. It’s a contained psychological thriller that should be fun and hopefully you’ll see an announcement soon!

These last ten years, I’ve been able to achieve a lot. I was mentored by some incredible people from the Music Video side to the Film side of our industry. I’ve made a horror short that got recognized by “Shazam” Director David. F. Sandberg during his Annabelle: Creation contest for Warner Bros. So that was really awesome considering I loved “Lights Out” and “Shazam”. I think Shazam was one of the best comic book movies in the last decade with how he executed that. He’s also a super nice dude.

I think what sets me apart from others is I honestly thought being called a “Director” was always so limiting to the goals and ideas I have. I personally have a lot of other entrepreneurial aspirations with using the platform I build in terms of giving back and working with other industries to build a better future. That’s partly why most of the people I look up to now aren’t really “Directors” per say.

People like Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Jason Blum, Bill Gates, Kanye West have all jumped into other industries to create so many other opportunities that 1) Inspires the future generations and 2) Contributes something truly remarkable that isn’t just from one outlet. They all pioneered new business models and I have the utmost respect for people with innovative ideas and take action.

I wish more Directors would branch off into other areas and offer something more than just asking people to buy a ticket to their next movie. There’s obviously nothing wrong with that but I think for me personally, I have bigger ideas and goals including working with the schools and bringing the ARTS back.

I’ve also been working with artists to create something truly groundbreaking with how fans experience a concert. I’ve always thought there was so much more we could be doing with that idea of performing live for the fans.

So we’re partnering with talent to bring something more immersive that could open the flood gates of possibilities. The concerts in the future will look insane. I can promise you that.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up for me, I think was like most artists but at the same time, it was also different. Where I come from, nobody really has the aspirations to go chase Hollywood or even have the interest, It’s a very blue-collar, get married by the age of 17, buy the house with the white picket fence by age 22 and live happily ever- after. That was never for me.

I was always career-driven first partly because I knew from a young age you couldn’t go after this as a hobby IF you truly wanted to make it to the top. I’m still very far from the top of this mountain but I had the understanding of thinking practical which was to say: If you’re going to do this, you need to make this your number #1 priority.

I definitely had my group of friends growing up and we all loved the same stuff from movies to video games to talking about our favorite bands. Hanging out shooting little movies or presenting projects to our class. Entertaining my school was always something I looked forward to doing with the class projects we had to present. I went to a small private school so any class project we were assigned, I’d sneak anything secular I could to get a reaction. The teacher’s reactions were priceless.

I think my first taste of having an audience react to my work were my classmates. Those were my focus groups.

Every Thursday night would be us convincing our parents to let us go to midnight showings on school nights. So all that was always fantastic having my group of creative friends around me. For years, we would talk about growing up and going to Hollywood and “making it big”. Fast forward to senior year and all those aspirations pretty much died for them which kinda sucked. I knew I had no other options since this was literally all I wanted and needed. Once we graduated, most of them went their separate ways and suddenly, they were consumed by rational-logical thinking which led them to realizing they didn’t wanna try the Hollywood thing. The risk wasn’t worth it and being a broke artist in film school didn’t seem too exciting to them I guess. Can’t say I blame them.

So I started this journey by myself and over the years have built the incredible team I have now.

I’ve always carried this relentless drive in me that I credit toward the success I’ve had and where I’m heading.

I remember in 2011 when I graduated high school, thinking I wanted to go on the ABC show “Wipeout” to prove to myself and the people around me that I could make something happen if I put the effort into it. It might sound dumb but I made “Wipeout” a simple goal and after three years of trying, I finally got the call and made it on the show.

I always tell people if you have any other options in life, go and do that instead. Because the chances of you getting anywhere in this industry are close to impossible HOWEVER, you also never really know what could happen and IF this is really for you, then you go after it with EVERYTHING you got. The stars may align for you!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Solitude Pictures
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/vxrIix1IVfQ