Meet Neriah Kharece of Kharece Productions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Neriah Kharece.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Hello! I am a Cinematographer and editor here in Atlanta! My passion for film started at a very young age. Since I can remember film or anything pertaining to art was an escape for me. With my cinematography, I want to visually create images that evoke a feeling and move people. I hope to create escapes and to tell stories that inspire and motivate. I grew up in a very small town and was homeschooled so I had a lot of free time on my hands. I and my siblings were forced to get creative and make the day adventurous so we wouldn’t die of boredom. When I was 7, I loved to play pretend, and I loved writing songs and poems. I loved acting out little scenes I would make up in my head, just doing whatever I could to entertain myself. One day I saw this really cool purple Kodak camera and I begged my mom to buy it for me. When she bought me that camera, it basically never left my hands! I took pictures of every little thing I could. I was always shoving a camera in someones face at every moment of the day. Then my mom bought a camcorder and that’s really were things began. I and my brothers filmed concert shows, we acted out fight scenes, we shot music videos and more. One day we were filming a fight scene and he accidentally punched me in the face! It hurt BUT it was hilarious and we still laugh about it today. That’s how dedicated we were to the craft!

Fast forward to the teenage years, this is where I really started to develop a love for film without me even realizing it. Growing up, I always loved watching the behind the scenes and bonus content on VHS and DVDs. I loved seeing how all the magic happened and how everything came together. Before I even started watching the movie, I wanted to see how it was made. I had a hard upbringing and I quickly started noticing the only things that helped me escape was watching tv and movies. So much so I would watch tv for hours and hours. I would memorize tv shows and then when it came on again I would act out the whole episode and annoy my brother doing that.

So when I was a teenager, I was really depressed and in a very dark space in my head and all I ever spent the day doing was trying to figure out what I could do to distract myself. By this time I wasn’t homeschooled, I was in regular public high school but after I got home I would try to figure out ways to distract myself. I would write songs, write scripts, watch movies, choreograph dances, make beats, make origami, paint, draw, anything but think about my reality. I was a very isolated person and liked being alone. But when I was alone, I had to always be creating something. I loved my little brother but I didn’t play with him much because I was 13 and he was 4. But I and my brother did have a strong bond. So one day I just made the decision to try and film a documentary about my little brother. I thought he was the cutest, most genius interesting little boy and I wanted to capture it all on film. So I filmed with him for a few weeks, I edited it, added music and graphics and transitions, even had some slo-mo in there. And when I finished it I just remember feeling so accomplished and feeling like for the first time EVER that I actually was good at something. So I started filming all the time just small videos with my friends and documenting stuff that really wasn’t entertaining but I just liked having that camera in my hand and capturing the things in life that made me happy. I quickly started realizing that my only happiness and escape was when a camera was in my hand.

So now I am 17 and just graduated high school not knowing what to do with my life and I don’t remember what happened but I was very upset one day and my instant reaction was “where’s my camera” I stormed out of my house and walked to a nearby creek and started taking pictures. I realized that creating and taking photos was my therapy and I didn’t even realize it. Later that day I thought to myself “why was my initial reaction when I was upset to always grab a camera?” So I thought, “I guess I can go to school for photography.” So I looked up art schools and landed on The Art Institute of Dallas. When I went into admissions I showed her the photos I had taken over the years and she asked me if I do video. I mentioned the documentary I did when I was 13 with my little brother but I didn’t want to show it to her because I thought it was crap. But she asked to see it anyways and I showed her and she was really impressed. She asked me if I had been trained or took film classes in high school and I told her no and I remember she said: “your video is on the same level as the students here that have training.” I got really excited when she said that, I really couldn’t believe it. So she told me she was going to put me in the film program instead and I was very hesitant and didn’t want to do it, but she insisted. The deal was that she wanted me to take film classes just for a week and if I didn’t like it she would switch me to the photography program. By the end of the week, I was in love and I knew that film was what I REALLY wanted to do.

So 2013 is when my journey started with film. We were assigned to watch an old 1920’s film and I chose Metropolis by Fritz Lang. And I think when I saw that film my head exploded. I knew that moment that’s what I wanted to do! I wanted to tell stories in a visually stunning way. Metropolis was a film that resonated so loudly and strongly but it had no audio it was purely visual and it painted such a beautiful picture. That excited me so much and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a cinematographer.

Being a 17-year-old black girl trying to be a cinematographer was a huge joke to everyone at the school. They thought, aww that’s cute. But I will never forget the moment when everyone realized I actually was pretty good at this. By the end of my cinematography course, everyone was asking me to film their projects or to at least help them come up with the shots they should get and that really made me feel good that people liked my work and what I had to offer. Once it was time to graduate we had a portfolio show and I had a lot of people coming to my table telling me they really liked my reel. I got a company asking me to schedule an interview with them as soon as I graduated and I was so excited to see all the companies that wanted to work with me. I was even more excited when I won Best Portfolio at graduation, it was a special moment for me. So the same week that I had graduated the company called me in for an interview. And by the end of the interview, I was signing a contract to start on Monday to work a salary job, full time, with benefits at an ad agency shooting and editing all of their content! I could not believe it I was so excited, how many people get hired the same week they graduate to work at 18 years old making 40K a year doing what they actually went to school for. I cried, for the first time I was so proud of myself and my work and proud that somebody out there believed in me and my work! And that’s when I was really thrown into the real world as an adult.

Life was good, I had a great job, great friends, a great apartment, had my own car and was paying my own bills being very independent and proud of that! But unfortunately, the bliss didn’t last long. I noticed that there were co-workers at the company that did not want me there and I couldn’t understand why. One woman, in particular, made it her mission to run and tell the boss any little thing she saw me do. I eventually felt very attacked and unwelcomed at this company. I was only the second black girl in the whole building so maybe that had something to do with it I don’t know. After 6 months of me working there, I got pregnant with my daughter and that only made me an even bigger target. Everyone really started judging me and treating me like an outcast. I was 19 and they were all in their mid 30’s and higher so I think they just didn’t think I belonged there. But unfortunately, after a year working with them, after I came back from my maternity leave they laid me off A MONTH AFTER HAVING MY DAUGHTER! I was shocked and I felt like it was all apart of the plan to get rid of me the whole time. So now what am I going to do? I have all of these bills to pay and a daughter to take care of with no income. Things quickly went downhill. I tried finding a job but couldn’t find anything. I stayed unemployed for a whole year and a half. I lost my apartment, my car, barely could afford to buy food, it was horrible. If it wasn’t for my amazing mom doing everything she could to help me and her granddaughter, I would have been on the streets. I applied to so many jobs and didn’t get called back for anything. Even grocery store jobs wouldn’t hire me it was crazy. But one day something amazing happened. A recruiter that happened to see my LinkedIn profile saw my work and loved it and thought it was exactly what this company that she was recruiting for was looking for. So she left a voicemail and asked me to call her back and she told me they need a video producer, full time to start work immediately and I said yes before she could even finish. I asked her what the job was paying and I didn’t even really care what the pay was I was going to do it regardless. But then she said it’s for 60K salary, PAID WEEKLY! I almost fainted! I was speechless! I applied to so many jobs and the job that I got happens to be one I didn’t even apply for. Finally, the drought was over and I was going to be able to get back on my feet and move out of my mom’s place and provide for me and my daughter. That job was such a blessing and the co-workers gave me full creative control on projects and trusted me and my work. My boss was so sweet and kind and they were so flexible and understanding about my situation as a single mom being 21. But they didn’t judge me they welcomed and encouraged me. It was amazing!

After a couple of months, I started getting nervous because I really was scared that one day they would let me go just as the other company did. But they never did they actually really enjoyed me being there. And even though it was a great job with great people it honestly was not feeding my artistic soul. Sitting in a cubicle editing and not really being able to create what you want was hard. At the end of the day, you have to do what they tell you to regardless of if you like it or not and I really just felt artistically trapped. I just felt like I have so much to say and so much art I want to showcase, but you can’t do that in a corporate setting. If I create something it has to be approved by one guy and go up the chain of approval and nine times out of ten, by the time it came back and I made all of the changes it wasn’t even my edit anymore. So I really had to ask myself if this is what I wanted to do because I was starting to fill miserable. I was very grateful for the job and I genuinely loved everyone I worked with they were amazing! I will never forget those wonderful people I worked with. But I didn’t want to waste away in a cubicle for the rest of my life, limiting myself on what I could do for the world. So when I turned 22 I made a plan. I said I’m giving myself 6 months to save up as much money as I can and then I’m going to move to Atlanta and chase my dream full on no hesitation.

Every day I listened to motivational speaker Les Brown, and I saved up as much as I could and when the 6 months came, all the ducks were not perfectly in a row but I said I’m going regardless! I was scared, I was unsure, but all I knew was I have to do this for me and for my daughter. No dream is too big and I believe in myself enough to give myself a fighting chance. I’m not going to settle for less or try to lower my dreams and expectations, I’m going for it all the way, jumping in head first. I have greatness within me waiting to be unlocked and I know this is what I was meant to do. So I and my friend who helped me move, packed up a U-Haul and drove from Texas to Atlanta. I got my LLC and started pursuing this head on. I am a full-time indie filmmaker and a fulltime single mom and I took a chance on myself for the sake of showing my daughter that no matter what the odds are you can make your dreams a reality. The odds have always been stacked against me but I refuse to be apart of the statistic.

Coming from a single parent home, with an incarcerated father, a dysfunctional family setting, being very sheltered because I was banned from doing a lot of the normal things kids usually could do, being a black woman, and now a single parent myself, I have had so many people tell me my dreams were too far of a reach. Someone like me is not supposed to make it. So many people told me to stay on the job I was at and told me how stupid and ridiculous it was for me to leave all that behind after I just went through a year of hell, to chase my dream but yet here I am. Yes, it was a risk but it was worth it. I have done so much in my first year here in Atlanta. I’ve gotten to shoot for some celebrities and also work with some great people in the film industry. Georgians are so nice! they have really welcomed me and helped me when I need it and given me direction and connections when needed and I am learning and growing more every day. I am thankful for the struggle I went through because it made me fearless and strong I didn’t think I would make it through all of that when I lost my job but when I did survive I was like okay I got through that so NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW! If it wasn’t for my daughter I would not be here. She gave me the strength to keep going, she gave me purpose. I know for a fact she came here to save me and she did and now me and her are taking on the world together, partners in crime! and she loves being in front of the camera and I even bring her on set sometimes and she loves watching me work and it makes me so proud that she has an interest in film too. I even put her in my projects sometimes.

Now I am currently filming a web series, filming a documentary, working on a short film, and just got 2 official selections at 2 festivals for a recent film I wrote, co-directed and shot and edited called “My Talk with Shelly” I have a lot of productions I am working on just trying to work and grow and collaborate with other artists, hoping to get my name out there! I am so proud of how far I’ve come and so excited to see how much farther I go! And I feel so blessed that I got this interview with Voyage! I really didn’t think anyone cared about what I was doing but it feels good to know that’s not true! Thank you to all my family that got me through that rough time (especially my mom) and supported my decision to move here! No dream is too big!

Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest obstacle is being a single parent. I run into a lot of problems just trying to figure out who is going to watch my daughter when I have to go film but I always figure that out. But sometimes it’s a financial thing because childcare is so expensive so when I have to be on set for 12 hours that’s a hefty bill to pay when I drop her off for that long. So it is hard for those reasons but I always find a way to make it work. And obviously being a young black female in a male predominant world is always hard but what people say to me or how they feel about me or when they judge me literally doesn’t bother me at all I’ve been through worst so it’s not hard to deal with, but it can be annoying sometimes to have people judge you just because your a woman.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Kharece Productions – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Kharece Productions is only a year old company. Right now we film all aspects of video. We cover weddings, commercials, trailers, films, events, web-series, training videos, and more. We also handle all the editing aspects as well. We are hoping to grow our team more and more, as of right now I only have one team member, Amore Brewer aka my little brother, who composes all original music for all of my films. He is such an amazing talent to only be 14 years old! I am lucky that we can collaborate and make great work together. But I am happy to see my company grow as I make more relationships and connections here in Atlanta, which I have already started doing!

The main purpose and goal of Kharece Productions are to create works of art that speak volumes and has an everlasting effect on audiences. I want my films to always evoke a deep emotion and I want my audiences to feel something after experiencing my film. Rather it is feeling hopeful or happy, or inspired, forgiving, feeling heard, or just making the audience really question things or think, also, of course, bringing awareness to things and starting difficult conversations. That’s what I want every film of mine to do.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I like so far about Atlanta is the film community here. Everyone is willing to work together and create something amazing and help each other tell each other stories. Also, everyone here is a hustler, everyone has their own business or just started a company. I love that I am surrounded by so many go-getters and trendsetters.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.neriahk.com
• Phone: 404-682-6705
• Email: KhareceProductions@gmail.com
• Instagram: @Neriahk_Video

Image Credit:
Greg Patten, Amore Brewer, Dwayne Jerome, Torique Kenyae (aka TK )

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