Meet Elsa and Guillermo Sevilla of Sevilla Productions, LLC/KPBS-TV in North Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elsa and Guillermo Sevilla.

Elsa and Guillermo, please share your story with us.
I fell in love with storytelling and writing in 6th grade and by 7th grade, I knew that I wanted to be a television reporter. My mom suggested I become a radio announcer because my teachers mentioned that I was a social butterfly in class.

I was a writer for my high school and college papers. I majored in Political Science and attended Southwestern College and San Diego State University. I did two internships in college, one at NBC San Diego and the other at C-SPAN in Washington, D.C.

My first job was as an Assignment Editor Assistant at KGTV-10 in 1990. For the next 17 years, I worked my way to a video editor, writer, producer, reporter and fill-in anchor. I learned as much as I could as fast as I could.

Within five years of being in the business in 1995, my husband, Guillermo Sevilla, and I started our own video production company, Sevilla Productions, LLC. In the meantime, I was also freelancing and contributing stories for KPBS-TV since 1998. By 2008, I needed a change in work schedules so that I could spend more time at home with our daughter, Samantha and son, Julian. That’s when I turned to KPBS. I wanted to increase my contribution to stories. Unfortunately, KPBS was not hiring but the Programming Director, Keith York, suggested I start my own show and he asked me what were my interests. I said history, historic places and antiques and Historic Places was born. We are now celebrating 10-years on KPBS with up to 70-documentaries produced. We are also producing a new series on California History with a focus on pre-contact and when the Europeans arrive in San Diego in 1769.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
For the most part, working at KGTV-10 was a smooth road. The work was consistent as I worked as a freelancer for 12-years. Creating our video production was not easy. It took a lot of hard work and strategic planning to create our client base. The work was great but also challenging in meeting project deadlines and raising small children. But all the hard work has paid off. We are celebrating 28-years of working in Broadcast News and 20 years of video production.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Sevilla Productions, LLC/KPBS-TV – what should we know?
Our video production company specializes in community and company/small businesses/non-profit organizations storytelling. After working in Broadcast News for 28-years, I can tell you that everyone has an amazing story. Whether it’s a company or an individual person. Besides producing 5-minute video stories, we focus on producing documentaries for KPBS-TV. Our focus is history, historic places and the people who shape San Diego.

There are a lot of proud moments. Both my husband and I were born in Tijuana, Baja California so learning English was a big accomplishment, going to college, becoming a Television Journalist, working on amazing stories, creating our own video production company, winning a few awards have meant a lot.

We are a husband and wife, multi-award winning, bilingual team and we work on both sides of the border – San Diego and Tijuana, Baja California. Both my husband and I both have a passion for storytelling.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Guillermo Sevilla, my husband and business partner, deserves so much of the credit. Without his support, experience and talent, we wouldn’t have our production company or be able to produce videos or documentaries for KPBS and clients.

Guillermo is a two-time Emmy Award Winning Photography. He is also the Director of Photography for Historic Places on KPBS. Guillermo is part of the process of producing, shooting and editing every piece of video story we produce.

MANA de San Diego is also a big supporter of my work. They are a non-profit organization of professional women in San Diego. They were my first clients when I started our production company in 1998. With their support, we have been so busy ever since. Through their networking efforts, I was able to expand the production company to include new clients yearly.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sevillaproductions.com
• Phone: 619-977-5940
• Email: elsa@sevillaproductions.com

Image Credit:
Sevilla Productions, LLC, Elsa Sevilla, Guillermo Sevilla

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