Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Roberta Sparta. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Roberta, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
It was a build up to allow myself to earn a full-time living from my creative work.
At the beginning as I was building connections and working on different projects and I always had a side-hustle (or more than one).
I poured my heart and soul in all the productions I was involved in and the people I was working with, saw it.
With time, this led to consistent work.
Word of mouth is what truly built my network!
I always try to keep up my energy and enthusiasm for what I do!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started my career in the entertainment business many years ago as on-camera talent; I was an actress.
I had a pretty good career but in 2020 with the pandemic, all auditions changed to self-tape and that was not working for me.
I love people.. and I loved going around LA, even getting stuck in traffic! I wanted to meet casting director and producer and fellow actors. I was no longer enjoying the process of being in front of the camera, so I decided to change.
I had always been extremely fascinated by what was happening behind the camera and I worked in production on few occasions so I made the jump.
I am a natural “scheduler” and “organizer” ; being a 1st AD and eventually a producer came very natural to me.
I love multitasking, solving problems and management.
I felt at home and complete as I felt I was finally using more of my full scale of talents. I wake up in the morning looking forward to create new projects, work with new people, new team and keep investigating how content is evolving.
Being a part of the creative process from the inception of the story is very electrifying and it give me the opportunity to provide the best tools to bring the story to life
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I work hard, I keep a positive mindset and I always find a way to make it work.
I am relentless; if I say yes to a job I will do anything to make it happen.
On set I keep a safe, positive and collaborative environment so everyone is enables and empowered to do their job at their best.
Problems and conflict will always arise but I try to find ways to diffuse and resolve.
For example, one time we were filming on a rooftop and we could hear a leaf blower at a fast food place, across the street.
The audio sounded terrible.
Our sound mixer, actors and director were getting frustrated so I took out my phone and called the fast food. I politely asked them to turn if off for few minutes and it worked.
Quick thinking, efficient acting and problem solved.
Any advice for managing a team?
Lead by example.
I am most of the time first in and last out.
I like to crack a joke every now and then to keep it fun.
This year the biggest lesson that I have learned as a team leader is to empower people by giving them responsibilities and specific duties.
I have a tendency for wanting to do it all but I learned to empower others by actually trusting them and just be present as a guide or support.
If they make a mistake, we correct course together.
It empowers them inspiring them to grow and it helped me to grow as a leader.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.spartaproductions.co
- Instagram: roberta_sparta
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberta-sparta-7460511b
Image Credits
Will need to send the rest of the photos via email as they keep appearing corrupted