Today we’d like to introduce you to Graham & Rin Ehlers Sheldon
Hi Graham & Rin , 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?
We met in college at Indiana University studying theatre & production: two hams who bonded over our love of swimming, Tolkien, Monty Python, and of course—movies. We were fast friends who became inseparable pals, and now we’re all that and married. After college we moved to San Diego. After about five years of working for other people, we realized we needed to start our own company, if we ever wanted to see each other. (Production typically demands a 12 hour day.) We named our company after the proverb that used to hang in our movement professor’s office. “Fall down seven times. Stand up eight.” That’s how Stand Up 8 Productions was born. 10 years later, we’re still going strong.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well, we graduated into the middle of a recession, so the start of the climb was especially steep. Then social media, streamers, and YouTube really changed the landscape and workforce we thought we were entering. New platforms widened the arena in someways and congested it in others. Luckily, we are highly adaptable and enjoy how different parameters can morph one’s skillset and challenge creativity. What we really struggled to navigate was the pandemic and the subsequent strikes. For myriad reasons, the absence of work was justified, but that hasn’t made the last few years any easier. In 2020, we had our busiest year ahead of us on the books with a series we had already shot in the middle of our largest distribution deal. By the end of April, every single shoot was cancelled and the deal was pulled. We still haven’t brought the company back to the output we had pre-pandemic, but we get closer with every project.
Apart from that, we work in an industry that has some pretty rough ideas about what a workday should look like, what conditions on set should be. Most workers got to toss out the 12 hour + workday with the Industrial Revolution. Despite having great unions, there are still entertainment industry-wide standards that make it very difficult to have any kind of life outside of work. That was one of the reasons we started our own company. Maybe someday we’ll convince enough of our brethren that we deserve an 8 hour workday, like everybody else.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
When we started Stand Up 8, we really focused on stories of human resilience, and we try to keep that thread intact as we move forward and grow. When it comes to the technical side of things, we do our best to be educated on the latest technology, discerning what is usefully cutting edge over what’s just flash and noise. For instance, resolution has been made into such a marketing tool that most people don’t even know that when they pay for an 8K shoot, their audience will stream it in HD anyway. The artistry and experience is really what makes a beautiful image. You can have a terribly lit, awkwardly composed shot that is captured on the fanciest and most current equipment. The eye and point of view of the filmmaker matters more than the brands she uses. Additionally vital is the atmosphere created for the people in front of the camera by the people behind the camera. We take great pride in our ability to put folks with all level of experience at ease. That stems from a genuine curiosity in all different walks, accompanied by a true desire to show people in their most optimal lights. (Pun intended.)
We are opposed to budgets that spend too many dollars that don’t end up in the final cut, so in commercial work or production consultation, we try to advise clients away from trends and toward creating evergreen, striking content that makes an impact. Even though we have had the opportunities to work with giant companies like Disney and Legendary Entertainment, we still really love working on independent projects. When time allows, we also really love creating images and content for local businesses. Why shouldn’t a mom and pop brunch spot have beautiful, cinematic images to entice their customers to join them on Sunday?
We also own a great deal of what we use on set, and so we can typically give more bang for the buck than another production company that relies on a great deal of renting. Graham has become a very trusted voice in cinema product reviews over the years through his work with CineD.com. That has allowed him (and by association our crews) to test the latest and greatest tools of the trade in the field.
We prefer to make work that matters, and so documentaries have been a large part of our portfolios. Since we both wear many and complementary hats, we can also pare down to just the two of us, which is not typical. Not only that, but when we’re traveling, we save productions money as a couple that can share a room. This has allowed us to join or head productions on 6 continents. Whether it is just the two of us, or we are helming a large crew, we have been told often our passion for filmmaking is infectious.
We truly believe *how* a piece of entertainment is made comes through in the final piece that the audience takes in. Most problems in production are top-down. If you feed your crew VERY well and let everyone know she is a valued contributor to what the collective is making, the work can be joyful. Our favorite aspect of the work has been to continue building this network of other filmmakers, with whom we love working. We continue to find folks, who are enthusiastic about filmmaking and actually enjoy the work (and who keep the drama in front of the lens). We hire those people again and again, so we rarely have to put out any fires, where the crew is concerned. One of the greatest compliments we receive from people we hire is that they would shoot anything with us because the atmosphere is such an enjoyable one.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Oh our backgrounds are so very different.
Graham grew up in multiple places, though his original hometown is Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. His family is creative, full of writers. His father is a screenwriter, novelist, and producer of many kinds. His mother is a novelist, as well as an editor and a nurse. Pursuing the arts was never presented to him as something intangible. Being a filmmaker was acknowledged as a perfectly valid career path, though a difficult one where he would have to work very hard.
Rin was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She grew up on a farm— riding horses, mucking stalls. Her father was an engineer and her mother was a bookkeeper at their family’s church. She is the youngest of three. Theirs was a huge Catholic family, most of whom grew up within shouting distance of one another. “If your mom was calling your name out the back door, it wasn’t unusual for her voice to be joined by an auntie’s.”
Graham traveled around the world with his family, while Rin didn’t see the ocean for the first time until she was 20. Our lives were rich in very different ways—a regular City Mouse, Country Mouse.
Pricing:
- Reach out! You might be surprised what we can do for you within your budget.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rinehlerssheldon.com and www.grahamsheldon.net
- Other: https://www.mzed.com/courses/selling-the-punch
