We recently connected with Kate Rodriguez and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I first fell in love with filmmaking as a preteen. In high school I shot a few productions and was planning to attend film school. Plans shifted and I never went to college at all, and by 2020 felt like I had left the world of filmmaking behind. But the itch was still there. I shot a couple of little films by myself just for fun, using songs that I enjoyed, and that re-inspired me. The summer of 2020 I pulled together family members and friends and shot a Star Wars fan film. We had a ton of fun and started planning to create a full show around the characters and storyline. During production, my husband showed me a TikTok of an amazing makeup artist, his cousin Brooke Waits, and suggested I reach out and bring her on board to help with the alien design. I was impressed but also intimidated, and I declined reaching out. That fall, I met Brooke herself without knowing that she was the super awesome intimidating makeup artist. We bonded over film, faith, creativity and art, and she did my makeup for the premiere of the Star Wars fan film in March 2021. Around that time Brooke asked about my plans for the rest of the episodes, and I showed her my outline. She asked if I needed a producer for the project. I said that sounded great. We went out for sushi and talked about it for several hours. Later that week, my husband casually suggested the idea of Brooke and I going into business together. I talked to my friend Skyler, who owns several companies, and asked about LLCs vs. nonprofit vs. sole proprietorship and how that all works. His reply: “Why would you not want to make money?” Brooke and I decided to go for it. Our friend Cheryl, another business owner, walked us through the process of starting an LLC. On April 29, 2021, we walked out Cheryl’s front door and made a video announcing our partnership and some of our plans for the future. We had no idea what a wild ride it would be.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a lifelong creative in a number of different fields. As a child, my favorite pastimes involved dressup, drawing, writing stories and putting on backyard plays. When I was 12 I had an ambitious idea to produce a backyard play featuring several families from church, and my mom convinced me to buy a camcorder instead and film it, as that would be logistically more feasible for her and the other parents who had to drive all of us kids around. That little project sparked an intense interest in me to keep working on film. As I’ve thought over the years about why filmmaking grabbed me, I’ve realized that it’s because a movie or film project involves so many different types of art. You have the art of cinematography, acting, costume design, interior design or other set design, lighting design–all types of creative work are needed to make a movie. Now that I’ve been professionally involved for 4 years my big passion is to find all the creatives and get them working in their strength zones and passion zones on my projects.
Granon Film Productions LLC provides corporate videography and editing and color grading post-production services. Our clients range from podcasters who don’t like editing their own stuff to indie bands needing music videos to companies looking for someone to create their commercial. A lot of our business is created by word of mouth, and our goal each time we’re hired is to provide the absolute best we’re capable of in every sphere, and to level up for next time. My partner and I are Christians, and as such we believe in putting our all into our project because, as the ambassadors of Christ, our behavior and our product should reflect Him. While we are far from perfect, that goal drives us to continue leveling up to not only be the best, but to find the best collaborators to work with. Our motto is Grit, Elegance and Conviction. If you take bits of those words and combine them you get Granon. If a project aligns with those 3 terms then it’s a project for us.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
2024 was a low year for us. The prior year we had a bunch of client work and really fun personal projects, and compared to that, 2024 felt blah and useless. It was also a transitional year for the company, as I had just had my son and was learning to balance mom life and self-employed life, and my partner Brooke got married and moved 3 hours away. I wouldn’t say I seriously contemplated quitting, but after another phone call when I was ranting about taxes and fees and business licenses and basically everything to do with the State, I said, “Why don’t we just lose the LLC and be a sole proprietorship instead? The only benefits to being an LLC are legal protection and it making us look more legit!” Thankfully Brooke talked some sense into me and I agreed to renew our business license. In the second half of the year we worked with an awesome client who is very well-known in the Christian social media world, and that was a huge confidence boost to know we were able to provide what he wanted on such a high level. That was a validation of my skillset too, as previously I had been doubting if film was even the career for me or if I had any talent and ability that could help anyone in any regard. Thankfully, I’ve been much better mentally ever since then, and 2025 started off with a bang and isn’t slowing down at all. We’ve been so blessed with client work and are working on our biggest film yet.
Any advice for managing a team?
People are my favorite part of the whole filmmaking journey. I love working with people. Thankfully we know a lot of very good people who are also very good at their jobs! As humans when we are plugged into our strength zone, we thrive, and that enthusiasm is contagious. If I can fill a crew with people who are 100% excited about their role, we’ll have high morale and a fun time that will help us push through the late nights and the 29th retake of the 17th scene, etc. Choosing your team members wisely will get you very far.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://granonfilmproductions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/granon.films/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@granonfilmproductions
Image Credits
Ethan Hansen, Brooke Landis