We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan Parma a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ryan, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I have been working as a full time freelance director since 2014. The journey to this step in my career was filled with many ups and downs as well as unexpected opportunities that prepared me for the leap I took. I moved out to Los Angeles in the fall of 2009 with big dreams that Disney was going to sweep me up and hire me to direct their next big movie musical because I had made two award winning movie musical shorts that had premiered in film festivals. News flash… that did not happen.

After realizing that I still wanted to pursue my dreams of directing in the industry (and still direct a movie musical for Disney one day), I immediately searched for jobs and internships that could hopefully place me one step closer to achieving my dreams. Within the first year, I found an internship at Original Films and Offspring Entertainment as well as securing a part-time job working for a musical theater writer and director who licensed his musicals to regional theaters across the country. While focusing on these internships and part-time jobs, in the evenings I started to find my friendship circle in the dance and a cappella music community. I was close to these two communities because I’ve always been a fan of dance, and during college some of my best friends were in my university’s premiere a cappella group.

Throughout the first year, I worked hard, hoping to land a full time position at either one of those production companies while continuing to network in the dance and a acappella community, but unfortunately, those two production companies did not have any job opportunities once my internships were complete. As I contemplated what job I could find to keep myself out in LA so I wouldn’t have to return back home to Texas, a friend of mine reached out and let me know that Bunim Murray Productions had an opening for a logger position for one of their upcoming reality competition shows, “The Challenge”. Having no other options, I took the interview and ended up getting the job. Believe me, I never in a million years thought I would be working in reality TV as my dreams were centered in scripted film and television. But, taking that job showed me just how much we can never plan our exact route in the entertainment industry.

Through working in reality TV at Bunim Murray, I discovered how important story was even if what was being filmed was reality. I ended up working at Bunim Murray from 2010 – 2013 eventually landing in the story department for Keeping Up with the Kardashians. In these years, I really learned how the filming style of reality/docu television adds a engaging feel that helps audience feel like they are a part of the stories being told and feeling one step closer to the celebrities or regular people they see on screen. What I didn’t realize was, this style I was immersed in and learning about would help me on my first big job I would take in 2014 that would jump start my freelance career.

Before the big job in 2014, while I was working full time at Bunim Murray, I never forgot why I came out to LA – to be a director. I continued to expand my friendship circle in the dance and a cappella community every chance I could outside of my day job. When meeting some of now my closest friends in those communities, I was taking every chance I could to direct a video for them to put out on their YouTube channels. This was to further hone my skills as a director and filmmaker. As the years went by, my friends began to move up in their own industries and started recommending me as a director for more videos. At the same time, there was an a cappella group I became friends with and started working with when they got off NBC’s show “The Sing Off” – Pentatonix. By the end of 2013, my schedule was full during the days and evenings. I would be working on Keeping Up with the Kardashians at Bunim Murray during the day and then in the evening, I was either directing a dance video or music video/content for Pentatonix.

Then, at the beginning of 2014, Pentatonix asked me to go on the road with them to be their tour videographer. I feel incredibly thankful to have had a wonderful boss at Bunim Murray who encouraged me to take the job. For the next five months, I toured across the US, Canada, and Europe using the skills I had learned at Bunim Murray to create engaging behind the scene videos for Pentatonix and their fans. After this job with Pentatonix, I decided to take a leap of faith and diving fully into freelance director/videographer work. Thankfully, that decision worked itself out as I haven’t looked back since 2014 and continue to be a full time director.

Since 2014, there have been three major milestones that showed me my decision to take a chance on myself in freelance work paid off. The first was getting chosen to direct a children’s hybrid live action and animated series called “Q Wunder” back in 2018. I had worked with the talented Alyson Stoner before this job and she happened to be writing all the music for this children’s show. After she recommended me to direct the music videos to the creator of the series, the creator saw my drive and ambition and asked if I would be up to direct the actual series as well. That moment truly left a special place in my career for the hard work I had done to get to this opportunity.

The second milestone was in 2019 when a choreographer I had always wanted to work with, Kiel Tutin, recommended me to direct a dance music video for a huge Taiwanese pop artist, Jolin Tsai. Next thing I know, I was flying to Taipei to direct a large scale music video because of all the experience I had gained working in LA with choreographers and dancers. This music video pushed me as a director as I had to communicate with a large crew with a language barrier. In the end, this music video is one of my favorites that I’ve directed and is one of Jolin’s top viewed music videos.

The final milestone was in 2022 when I went back to my original dream – directing scripted film and television and in this case, a movie musical I and five of my friends came up with a movie musical idea about a guy and his smartphone, and we were able to secure financing in order to make a spec video to hopefully one day sell the idea to a studio or network. While directing this spec short film, I was able to see a culmination of the hard work and experience I have put in out in LA in this project. From casting all the dancers I had formed friendships over the years, getting an Emmy award winning choreographer to choreograph, and filming and editing the project myself, I knew this is exactly where I need to be in the industry.

To wrap up this rathy lengthy explanation of my journey out here in LA as a freelance director, I don’t know if there is anything in my story that could have helped speed up the process. Every job I took and continue to take feels like it’s another step forward in the direction I want to go in this industry, whether I understand it in the moment or afterwards. If there is one thing I could go back to tell my younger self, it would have been to take more chances on myself and to never be afraid to ask for what I want. I have spent a lot of my life worried about how other people perceive that asks that I have, and I never understood the power of believing in yourself and not letting people’s perceptions of you stop you from achieving your goals.

Ryan, 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 am a freelance director here in Los Angeles. I moved out to LA in the fall of 2009 to pursue my dreams of directing film and television. As I explained earlier, my path was an interesting one to get into full-time freelance work, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. After networking hard for the first five years in LA while working a full-time job in reality television, I was able to make the transition into the freelance directing world.

As a director, I direct music videos, commercials, brand campaigns, and narrative films. It’s incredible to see how every job I take opens up a new experience and skill to me as a director that I can continue to build upon. Whenever I’m working with music artists, actors, or dancers, I’m always working to find their inner truth and vision that will show off their talent in the best light. I love the collaboration part of my job because in finding these artists’ truths, I’m getting to use my creative talent to come up with unique visuals and experiences that connect them to their audiences.

One of the biggest problems I solve for my clients is the ability to help them verbalize what their message is visually. It’s a fun part of my job as a director to suggest ideas, incorporate their feedback, and find a vision we are both excited to make and put out into the world. I truly feel this is where my strength lies as a director through how I communicate with whoever I’m working with.

If I were to describe my style to anyone, it would be bright, color forward, musical, and symmetrical. You could say I fit into a commercial brand aesthetic that feels like something on Disney or ABC. Visually, I want the audience to focus on the artist’s performance while using the camera to enhance the connection between the two of them. Finally, my unique perspective thematically as a director is highlighting joy, finding positivity in difficult situations, and using humor to connect audiences to characters from underrepresented groups.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe my kindness, professionalism and attention to detail helped me build a reputation as a director in the industry and encouraged clients to repeat business with me. I was born in Texas, so southern hospitality was ingrained into my personality. That being said, I’ve always been a believer in treating others how you would like to be treated. The entertainment industry is a hard one to be in, and I would rather focus on making sure everyone on set is having a good time and being treated respectfully while we work hard to complete the vision.

Also, being able to deliver what I promise from the get go is a huge part of my reputation. It sounds crazy to say this, but delivering a video when you tell a client you are going to will set you apart. I’ve had many experiences of my clients thanking me for following through with what I promised I would deliver them because they’ve had bad experiences in the past.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This is an easy question to answer. It is seeing a vision that started off in my head as words or images, and how through collaboration, hard work, and fortitude, a video is created that hopefully makes people feel what I originally imagined. It’s a strange business to be in where you are making art that people watch and form their own opinions of its worth, but thankfully, knowing that I’ve put my all into creating something meaningful for people to experience is one of the greatest joys of being a creative. Getting to share your unique perspective and connecting to people is one of best parts of being human beings on this planet.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ryanparma.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanparma/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanParmaDirector
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanparma/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RyanParma
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanparma

Image Credits
Personal Photo – Maxwell Poth 1st Photo – Maxwell Poth 3rd Photo – Bryan Daggett 4th Photo – Ryne Belanger 8th Photo – Payson Lewis