Today we’d like to introduce you to Patty Mooney.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always been a storyteller. I started writing poetry and songs young, dreaming of a creative life by the sea. That instinct followed me west and eventually into filmmaking, where I found a way to merge words, images, music, and movement into one medium.
I met Mark Schulze on Valentine’s Day in 1982, when video production was still in its infancy. We recognized early on that we shared a deep curiosity about the world and a willingness to take risks. Together, we built Crystal Pyramid Productions in San Diego, creating work that ranged from educational and corporate films to documentaries about culture, wellness, travel, and sport. Over the decades, our projects have taken us around the world and into communities that mattered to us, often long before those subjects were considered mainstream.
In parallel, I kept writing. Poetry turned into songs, and songs turned into albums under my musical identity, Candace Love. Much of my music draws from lived experience: love, travel, loss, endurance, and joy. In recent years, I’ve been revisiting and releasing this body of work while continuing to create films and documentaries with Mark.
Today, we’re still doing what we’ve always done: telling true stories, exploring new tools and technologies, and staying curious. Our path hasn’t been linear, but it’s been deeply intentional, shaped by love, partnership, and a belief that creativity is a lifelong practice. It’s my chosen vocation to bring joy, love and fun into this world that really needs it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all. It’s been rewarding, but never completely smooth. Mistakes and challenges are what we learn from.
We chose independent paths early on, which meant freedom but also uncertainty. Building and sustaining a creative business for more than four decades required constant reinvention, long hours, and a tolerance for risk. There were financial stretches where we bet on ourselves instead of taking safer options, and moments when the subjects we were drawn to were considered too niche, too early, or too controversial to attract support.
As a woman working in male-dominated fields, I often had to assert my voice and my authority, sometimes in rooms where I was underestimated or dismissed. Creative work also asks you to stay open, which can be emotionally demanding, especially when the stories you’re telling are personal or politically charged.
In my 50s, I faced a major physical challenge when I had to undergo two total knee replacements. Recovery required patience, humility, and persistence, and it forced me to slow down and rebuild strength from the ground up. It changed how I understood resilience, not as pushing through pain, but as adapting and continuing forward in new ways.
Technology changed everything multiple times. We lived through the transition from film to analog video, from VHS to digital, and now into AI-assisted tools. Each shift required learning new skills while letting go of familiar ways of working.
What carried us through was persistence, curiosity, and our partnership. We trusted our instincts, stayed true to the stories that mattered to us, and kept going even when there was no clear roadmap. Looking back, the struggles weren’t detours. They were the education. Challenges that we could learn from !
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our work lives at the intersection of storytelling, film, music, and lived experience.
Together, Mark Schulze and I run Crystal Pyramid Productions, San Diego’s longest continuously operating video production company (est. 1981); and New and Unique Videos, San Diego’s first and only stock footage library (est. 1985). We began in the early 1980s as VHS special-interest video pioneers, at a time when home video was just emerging. We’ became widely known as the “Grandparents of Extreme Sports Videos,” a distinction rooted in our early instructional mountain biking titles that helped shape how the sport was taught, filmed, and shared worldwide.
In the early 1990s, we expanded that work globally. In 1993–1994, we traveled with our mountain bikes through nine countries, including the United States, while producing the award-winning travel-adventure documentary Full Cycle: A World Odyssey. The film helped introduce mountain biking tourism to regions that had never experienced it before and reframed the sport as a cultural and connective adventure, not just an athletic pursuit. Full Cycle continues to reach new audiences today and is available on multiple streaming platforms.
Beyond mountain biking, we specialize in documentary filmmaking, educational media, and story-driven video projects exploring culture, wellness, travel, sport, and social change. We’re known for stepping into subjects early, often before they were considered mainstream, and for telling those stories with authenticity and care.
Alongside the film work, I’m also a poet and songwriter under the name Candace Love, creating music drawn from true stories of love, travel, endurance, and memory. Music often weaves directly into our films, allowing us to tell layered stories that move both visually and emotionally.
What I’m most proud of is longevity with integrity. We’ve sustained a creative partnership and an independent business for more than four decades by staying curious, adaptable, and true to our values. What sets us apart is that our work is lived first, then told. We don’t chase trends. We follow experience, and we craft stories that are “evergreen.”
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
If I had to name one, it would be persistence rooted in curiosity.
Talent matters, but curiosity keeps you moving forward, and persistence keeps you going when there’s no guarantee of success. We’ve stayed interested, in people, in places, in new tools, and in stories that hadn’t been told yet. That curiosity pushed us to take risks early, whether it was pioneering VHS special-interest videos, traveling the world with our bikes, or embracing new technologies decades later.
Persistence is what carried us through financial uncertainty, physical challenges, shifting industries, and cultural resistance to new ideas. Combined, curiosity and persistence allowed us to adapt without losing our identity. We didn’t try to outpace others. We stayed the course, kept learning, and trusted that honest work done consistently would find its audience over time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sandiegovideoproduction.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/pattymooney69
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/newanduniquevideos
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattymooney/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@newanduniquevideos
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/candace-love-740529314
- Other: https://newunique.com
Image Credits
Crystal Pyramid Productions
