We were lucky to catch up with Ron Mcpherson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ron, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

Artists always have big challenges, and for me it was no different. Fear was the main roadblock. The pressures of making a certain amount of money by a certain amount of time was a constant weight. It would certainly test my talents and ability to let the world know I was there to be of service doing what I love. Fear also held me back. It kept me second guessing about, “what everyone else will think”. Like many others, I had been programmed to believe that vulnerability was a sign of weakness.

There were more problems that I faced on my creative journey. When I reached some of the goals I set I realized they weren’t at all what I thought they were before I had them. I learned that my perspective was a little off. I also learned that sometimes in fact, many times when you get what you want or you get to a place you want to be it’s different than you assumed. Not in a bad way, just as an observation.

Even though I wanted to just make movies and tell stories, I learned that there was many other jobs I was going to need to become proficient in before I was of great value to a film production. Learning about my value was the big turning point. Learning the real value of time. And ultimately realizing that it doesn’t matter how talented you are, it matters what you do with the talent in the time that you have. That’s what inspired me to write my Book, Ego Fear & Filmmaking: A Survival Guide for Creatives.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi! I didn’t use AI to write this article. This is really me. This is a true story.
I was that kid that drew cartoons on napkins. I saw an article in a magazine about a school that taught special effects makeup artistry. That’s what inspired me to move to Los Angeles from the San Francisco Bay Area when I was 19. I wanted to make creatures and build spaceships and monsters. But before I could learn how to do that I had to first learn how to do high fashion makeup, no makeup looks for men, theatrical makeup, and then I could do special effects and prosthetic makeup.
Later, I realized how it was all tied together. at the time, no one was as careful as they are today with the many chemicals, paints, foams, and other materials that special effects artists commonly use. So it was usually a hot or freezing cold, messy environment around a lot of toxic materials, but we were achieving fantastic results. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to spend as much time on set as I thought I would. But then an opportunity presented itself.
High fashion makeup was in demand. So I took some of those jobs and here’s what happened. It was like living in another dimension. There was no nasty smelling chemicals, just sweet, smelling, perfume, hairspray and body lotions. The pay was higher and so was the demand. I got to hang out with a lot of really beautiful and interesting people. But it was a job, I was there to create and maintain their beauty, all day and sometimes for several weeks. It taught me to compare the different types of services that I had to offer. And what I found was that there was more money and more fun involved in high fashion makeup. Even though I had no interest in learning that in the beginning. I found this to be true of many things on an artists journey.

Since high school I’ve always had a camera on me. So the natural progression of my journey was doing these stunning makeups turning regular people into beautiful models and photographing them… and then came Photoshop. So a client was able to come to my studio and I was able to do most of the work, sometimes I would have an assistant sometimes I wouldn’t. It would depend how many people I was catering to. It was the first time that I noticed a big clue about business. Many of my customers love a one stop shop. They love one place or one person that can handle everything. There’s massive time saving benefits to the client. I would incorporate this feature into all of the businesses that I would run from this point forward in my life. It’s also great way for me to diversify my business and not limit myself or my income. And since the Movie business is a high-risk business, I want to diversify as much of that risk as possible into other things that may or may not be related. What that means is, if there’s an area of my business that is down or slow- if I’m diversified, the other areas of that business or my other businesses may be busy. Sometimes they’re all busy which is a great situation and I can hire additional help as needed.

Looking back, I’m able to see how the universe had a master plan in mind for me. That’s what led me to creating a film, mentorship program for future directors, cinematographers and storytellers. I wanted to be that person that I didn’t have when I was trying to figure out my place in the Movie business, My place as an artist. There’s a lot of schools that will teach you all of the technical tools. My film mentorships have blended that technical side with the life skills that creatives really need to know to stay healthier, happier and working for as long as possible. That’s what Creative HQ is all about. I’ve created a safe space to learn, to make mistakes and grow.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to empower creatives with the skills and wisdom to be able to tell their own stories their own way. To be able to offer their talents and skills and earn a profit. The film mentorships at creativehq.com are designed for each student to get hands-on training with Cameras, Lighting and Sound. I have film students that fly in from all over the world to train with me in Los Angeles.
We begin our preproduction on zoom and we meet twice a week for several weeks planning the film that we’re going to shoot together. Then we spend a couple of days shooting a short film. We spend the next three weeks of the program on zoom editing the project.
What I love about this film program is that the students get to keep all of the footage for their website, they get all of the behind-the-scenes of them working on set. They get to network and learn in an affordable way. The best part is students get to skip all of the frustration and delay involved in figuring it out by yourself. Getting the right film mentor is essential to accelerating your filmmaking journey.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In the creative business, you will find that you frequently will need to pivot. Pivoting is not a bad thing. Pivoting can actually be really good thing. When you embrace it, and you’re good at it, then it can be really good for your business.

All businesses are tied to the effects of what’s happening in the world, the economy, not to mention any horrible events like a pandemic, fire, earthquake, tornado, you get the idea. there’s a lot fewer businesses that are considered bulletproof to all of these things and I’m not trying to create one that is. I’m sticking to my plan and my goals because those things are out of my control. It’s a bonus when a business is bulletproof against those things.
But this gets back to being diversified, diversity especially in the creative business is the key to long-term sustainability. I have stock photos that I filmed over 10 years ago that still pay me today. These are unique images usually have futuristic weapons or cool, gadgets, and costume pieces. I took the upfront time and went to several prop houses and paid them a fee to photograph their unique props. I sold those pictures and videos to stock agencies and they’re used in all kinds of ad campaigns, video games, and editorials still to this day. What’s interesting is I have not uploaded a new photo in at least 10 years, but I still get paid.
Being able to pivot with technology is crucial. Being able to embrace and incorporate technology when necessary is a huge advantage to your business.
There’s a lot of fear around new technology. Why, because it’s change and people usually fear change. AI has been a big source of this even though it’s been around for a long time it’s just recently come out into the forefront in a way like never before. AI was brought to everybody’s attention with a big push behind it. I choose to focus on the good that will come from it. And there will be a lot of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.creativehq.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativeheadquarters/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myCreativeHQ
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/creativehq/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@creativehqyoutube
• Other: Amazon Link for the Book, Ego Fear & Filmmaking A Survival Guide for Creatives.
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