Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Pate Russell.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Daniel Pate. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story really begins with my mother and father. They were rebellious, young parents with an idea that the institution of education was not good enough for their children. The first ten years of my life were spent in homeschooling; contrary to what that implies, the majority of my childhood was spent outside playing in the woods. I was unaware, but for my parents this lifestyle was not to be sustainable forever. We moved closer to the city and public school absorbed me into the “system.”
Ten years pass, I find a connection with a couple of fellow students at the University of Mississippi doing something I knew nothing about: filmmaking. We hit it off. I brought music to the films they were producing and they brought me closer to the craft. After I graduated, my future was unclear. Bussing tables and playing in a rock & roll band held me under the illusion I had a good life and things were looking up. Not until it occurred that my “independence” depended upon a meager paycheck did I decide that the best move was to relocated to Chattanooga to pursue filmmaking as a career. The post-grad life was stagnating in that college town. There was no hesitation.
In 2014 we founded our company, Deer Run Media, with the goal of becoming the top filmmakers in a small pond, a notion immediately challenged by the evermore pertinent tasks of growing a business. For the past five years, my sense of ownership has evolved into something indestructible yet simultaneously sensitive to the wild environment of business. It is my art, after all. But above and beyond everything entrepreneurial, the essence of what I do acts as the fuel that feeds my fire. I have dedicated my whole life to creating art through many mediums, but the joy of producing cinema is something to which I will never find a boundary. Our team currently produces commercials, films, and music videos with some incredible organizations and people, and we have no intention of ending that trend.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth roads put me to sleep. While our travels have been smooth on occasion, I look for the road least taken. This can lead to avenues under construction, grueling and winding marathons, or dead ends. You just have to learn, remember, and remain tenacious in the event that you lose your sense of direction. Most of the struggles are usually battles I have with myself. Of course, relationships with team members and some of my clients have resulted in stressful situations, like a visual treatment being rejected or my creativity being ignored. But if that’s not hard enough, then comes the little critic inside my head who has unlimited access to all of my pain-points and constantly prods them. Everyday is a struggle if you count the endless fight we have with our egos. If you can learn to love yourself in spite of your human condition, then keeping the lights on in your business is cake.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Deer Run Media – what should we know?
My company is named Deer Run Media after the neighborhood we lived in during our formation. We are a video production company and directors collective specializing in cinematic content. Our background is in narrative and documentary filmmaking, and our style is often described as authentic. There is plenty to be proud of, but the most inspiring accomplishments should be credited to having earned the ability to do it for a living. The way we interact with our clients and everyone on set is our unique brand. There is no amount of money to be made that would dilute the importance of having fun – we don’t take everything so seriously.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Filmmaking is collaborative. So is business development. Nothing grows in a vacuum. To have lasted this long is a feat in and of itself, but it would not have occurred without our family investing in a bootstrapping startup (we were a low-risk investment. lol) As a collective of directors, we each owe our maturity to individuals willing to share their time and wisdom, but as a team we would respond in unison the name Alan Arriveé. Alan was our film professor who exposed us to the CRAFT (italics) of filmmaking, and as a result we became friends and colleagues, writing and producing work together for the last several years. His advice and support were the catalysts for embarking upon this wild adventure. We owe a great deal to him.
When it comes to managing a business, we’ve had a couple of consultants work with us only to become close friends throughout our time together. Olivia Martin, Emerson Burch, and Mary Twitty each have exceeded their capacity of normal mentors, having invested so much of their time in reorganizing operations and marketing strategies that it began spilling over into the life-coach fountain – going beyond a professional relationship to resurrect us from foggy visions and workplace laziness. I speak for the collective when I say that the momentum of our trajectory is kept accurate by their selfless inertia from the beginning. My girlfriend is superwoman, I swear. She’s younger than I am but so much wiser than her years. When times are tough there’s no one else I can confide in quite like her. Without saying it, she’s says, “don’t give up.” It’s a sort of ineffable feeling, but it motivates the hell out of me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.deerrunmedia.com
- Email: daniel@deerunmedia.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/deerrunmedia
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/deerrunmedia
- Other: www.linkedin.com/daniel-pate-russell-drm
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