Today we’d like to introduce you to Rayven Routt.
Rayven, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was six-years-old when I realized I wanted to be a filmmaker. I watched “Geri’s Game”, the short film before Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life”. In just five minutes, the filmmakers created a complex character, an intricately beautiful world, and an inspiring, heart-warming story that made me laugh and cry all without saying a single word. I wanted to make magic just like them, and so I spent my childhood behind the lens of my camera, creating little worlds more beautiful and interesting than my own.
I started working full time when I was 12-years-old. I grabbed my camera and filmed anything and everything I could get my hands on and sold the DVDS – theater, sports, ballet, weddings, parties, you name it! When I was 15, I started working with a local television news studio in Cumming, starting from the bottom as a production assistant and quickly growing to run the teleprompter, filming b-roll, and eventually operating studio cameras!
After graduating with degrees in Film and Television Production and English at Georgia State University, I started working with several big-budget television studios and large video production companies. I was doing what I always wanted to do! But I still craved more.
Hollywood isn’t all it’s cut out to be. I met so many people that seemed to have lost their passion for storytelling in such a dog-eat-dog industry. I met my friend, Mike Mudano, an Atlanta actor with a keen entrepreneurial mindset, and we both wanted something different – We wanted to create our own content and create a business that cared about more than just business, a company filled with passionate creators and artists that didn’t just view their work as work. And thus, Routt66 Creative Boutique was born!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
When I first quit my part-time job to pursue art and build my business full time, every single day, I felt like I was jumping out the window and hoping for a mattress to catch my fall. Diving into owning a business means that you have to be fully willing to fail. You might lose money. You’re going to make mistakes. I think the biggest obstacle is learning to get over that and just go for it! The second biggest obstacle is learning to delegate work and hire employees. When I first started, I wanted to do everything myself because I thought I’d make more money by keeping it all. I worked 18 hour days, wearing so many hats. I realized that many of those hours were spent doing things I wasn’t good at. Instead of spending time and energy learning how to do visual effects, I’m hiring a VFX team! Instead of learning Facebook Advertising, I’m hiring social media experts. With the free time, not only am I happier and healthier, but I can make more money because I can get more work done and take on more projects!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with routt66 Creative Boutique – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Routt66 is a handcrafted creative boutique filled with people that truly care about what they do and who they’re doing it for. We put our hearts and souls into creating beautiful, moving works of art for our clients.
We specialize in video production, photography, and graphic design. We’re storytellers that work with families for the most important days in their lives – weddings, birthdays, parties, graduations… for businesses – helping them grow through creative commercials and social media videos, and of course, we love creating short and feature films!
Our Passion is what sets us apart. I like to believe it is our passion that shines through our work. A lot of businesses just do what it takes to get the job done and then send off their footage halfway across the world to be formulaically edited as quickly and as cheaply as possible. They say, “That’s business!” Well, we’re not in the business of business. I believe everyone has a story to tell, and I’ve fallen in love with telling people’s stories. I always start a project by taking the time to truly getting to know my clients so I can represent them as best as I possibly can. I take pride in the extra steps we take to make our work personal, unique, and authentic.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our goal, first and foremost, is to tell stories. We want to bring our passions and the passions of others to life! We want to make meaningful and interesting stories, whether fictional or nonfictional and breathe a new life in the form of video.
2018 will be a great year of growth for Routt66. We’re bringing a lot of new creatives into our family and we’re hoping to keep expanding and growing for years to come! We’re also aiming to move into creating more shorts and features.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.routt66.com
- Phone:770.539.2718
- Email:rayven@routt66.com
- Instagram:@routt66
- Facebook:www.facebook.com/routt66
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