We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rich Varville. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rich below.

Alright, Rich thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

RSVP FILMS LLC. For years I’ve had various entertainment endeavors including music production and film production under different names. Eventually, I combined them under one parent company named RSVP. Which is an acronym for Richard Stephen Varville Productions.

Rich, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was enamored with movies from a very young age. At 10 years old I was allowed to go see Star Wars with my friends, without parental supervision! Well, I lived on an Air Force base in Denver, Colorado so it was a pretty safe environment. Although, that film made a huge impression on me as to what can be accomplished with some imagination, I fell in love with creating and producing music as I advanced into my teen years.

Learning to play the guitar at age 14, I would practice for hours every day. It was an obsession. That quickly evolved into wanting to perform on a stage. By 16 I was in a band performing on stage and “living the dream” as they say. That lasted for many years and was an exciting time in my life. But, that wasn’t enough. I progressed into learning audio production, mixing, and producing music which lead to me starting my first recording studio at age 27. After producing many albums and being delighted at hearing my music on the radio it still wasn’t enough.

After following the home recording trend, and anticipating it really becoming a consumer mainstay, I decided to sell my recording studio. Which was a smart move because almost every piece of expensive gear I owned was obsolete within a year. Whew.

Now what?

I was still in love with playing and performing music. A band I was performing with needed a music video. I said “I can do that.” The band members were slightly more than skeptical. But, hey, we didn’t have money to hire a production company so let’s give this a try. Well, it turned out pretty good and spawned my new career in filmmaking. You see, it wasn’t merely a music video. It was a short film story intertwined with the performance. From that point I was pursued by many bands to make videos for them. After 20+ music videos, most of which had story lines with actors and sets, I felt I was ready to move into making movies. My first short film was a western. It turned out ok but really sparked the fire for things to come.

Now, after being in entertainment for 30+ years, I find myself graduated to making feature films. My current project, a high profile political documentary, will be my fourth feature film followed by a psychological horror film set to start filming in fall of 2024.

Sure there have been some cool awards along the journey but I don’t really get caught up in the hype. Nothing is more fulfilling than creating a story and knowing how to turn it into something that can be watched on a big screen and enjoyed by others.

So here I am. Still a kid enamored with movies.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Releasing quality work with consistency. Being transparent with all I work with. Regular meetings to question how we can improve as a team. Not being too stubborn to collaborate. And, understanding the value in encouraging others to follow their dreams.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Collaborating with other creatives and acquiring new skills to apply to my own creative work. Being able to watch other people’s reactions and/or enjoying what I’ve created. And, mostly the drive of always trying to get better with each project.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rsvp-films.com
• Instagram: rsvp_films
• Facebook: rsvpfilms
• Linkedin: rsvp-films-llc
• Twitter: RSVP-Films

Image Credits
All images property of RSVP FILMS LLC.