Meet Aaron Pate | Producer, Local Takes

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aaron Pate and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aaron, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
People who set their own schedules talk about this a lot. There’s an endless stream of excellent advice, bad advice, and platitudes on the subject, and I consumed a lot of them especially after becoming self-employed. The problem was, it didn’t make sense in my context.

I think the idea itself is suspiciously binary. It probably begins with how we define “work,” how we define it personally and how our culture defines it. A lot of people seem to think work is, exclusively, unpleasant tasks done for compensation. I disagree. Making art is work. Raising children and teaching them is work. Caring for our elders, our community, and our planet are work. The more I tried to find “balance” the more I struggled to shove some lovely parts of my life into one box or the other, and avoid them when it was time to focus on the other box. That’s a recipe for resentment. If we are convinced that work is something to be avoided, to be kept in-check, we may prove ourselves correct by filling half our life with meaningless drudgery and wonder why the other half feels empty. If we are convinced that things without compensation aren’t work, we disrespect a great many people; we buy into a culture that ignores or devalues what it hasn’t commodified, what it can’t control for profit.

I make films, I produce commercials for businesses I love, I volunteer in my community, I grow food, I care for my family and my home. I recognize that I am very lucky and privileged to have the opportunity to do this work, and to decline work that doesn’t connect to my goals. To be clear: there is work I must do to keep things moving, there are obligations that take precedence over others, but I don’t think that’s the problem. On those days I can usually follow the generic advice: take breaks, go for a walk between meetings, have lunch outside in the sun, shut down the computer at 5pm, and eat dinner as a family (me, my wife, and our cat). I try to set clear expectations for colleagues and clients about what times of day I can be reached to discuss projects. I own a hammock.

But I think it’s worth taking back the definition of “work,” too. If you’re self-employed, or retired, if you have choices, I think the “work-life-balance” thing is a red herring. For me, a better challenge has been: discover what meaningful work looks like in my life, recognize that the value of my work cannot be quantified by someone else, and discard the idea that work is in opposition to life.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m producing a documentary film series called Local Takes, in collaboration with my friend and co-producer Trey Morrow. We’re both filmmakers, video producers, some blend of entrepreneur and artist. We are always looking for a new story to tell. Our local community is just brimming with amazing artists. I’ll see their work on display somewhere and I’m thinking “Oh man, everyone needs to see this! I want to meet the person who made this… I want to see their studio… I want to learn what excites them … what they struggle with.” Artists are often toiling away unseen, and we just really wanted to go meet them and discover their stories, to learn more about them, and to share those stories with our community. Our world could use a lot more art, and a lot more hope and humanity. So we’re creating these films to spotlight amazing individuals, and their stories connect to a kind of universal story in all of us.

Additionally, we’re really tired of seeing smaller towns, like our hometown of Spartanburg, overlooked. In a world of mass-produced homogeny, we wanted to see something intensely local, refreshing, and unique. Local art, local artists. Local films made by local filmmakers. It’s like craft beer, it’s endemic to this specific place. You can’t get this anywhere else.

Working in nonfiction combines the technical challenges of film production with the people skills needed to hold a meaningful conversation. We talk about story “telling” a lot, but it begins with listening, and giving people space to open up. I’ve been fortunate to work with other professionals and learned technical skills from them, but for a long time I was stuck conducting interviews that felt like a list of questions, a template. Luckily, my wife is a social worker, and a much better listener than me, so eventually I became a better interviewer by learning from her. It’s a good reminder to sometimes look outside of your industry for insight!

I hope these stories we tell and the feelings they create can stand on their own. Watching the Local Takes documentaries, I am always struck by the way these artists meet struggles and find strength in surprising places. They’re incredible people. I am inspired by their wild hearts, their courage, their humor, and their creativity. That is what I hope to share with as many people as I can. We need stories like these.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I do this all the time, actually! When a friend comes to visit Spartanburg, we’ll start Friday afternoon with a coffee downtown at Little River Roasting. I need to get a pound of coffee anyway. If the weather is good, I’ll insist we sit under the bald cypresses in the pocket park outside the café and catch up. There’s a pretty good chance we’re going to a local brewery after that, either across the street to RJ Rockers or over to Ciclops Cyderi.

Saturday morning we’ll head to the Hub City Farmers Market where we can get a coffee and some breakfast while we stock up on local produce. I have a big plant-based dish planned for dinner, so I need to stock up. Afterwards, if we’re feeling energetic, I love a hike on the Cottonwood Trail. On the way home, we might drop by the Artists Collective to see some local art, including from some of the artists we’ve interviewed for Local Takes!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I got into into film production and a creative career because of the support I received growing up, and the inspiration I got from people around me. As a kid, I was obsessed with magic tricks. Not illusions, magic tricks. I was obsessed with the method, the apparatus itself. I wanted to know how it worked. I had a dusty old book with all these diagrams of fancy stage contraptions. At the same time, I was born a storyteller (read: talks too much). When I found something interesting, something beautiful, I wanted to share it with everyone. Film and video production is like this perfect marriage between science and storytelling. Technology and art. I had an older sister and cousins making stop-motion and sci-fi home movies, and I thought it was the coolest thing. I had a lot of support and encouragement growing up. My Dad was a photojournalist and my Mom was an English and Literature teacher. Cameras and stories. They put those books in my hands, listened to my rambling stories, and gave me my first camera.

I got really lucky. I had a camera to play with at home for years, and my friends and my little sister were always making little movies with me. In school, on several occasions, my teachers stretched their rubrics and allowed me to submit a video when an assignment clearly called for something else. I learned hard skills and digital storytelling in a broadcast class from a great teacher with an industry background. Somehow, the school even paid us to make a video for incoming students. College was a similar story.

Before I realized it, I was a working professional. It all happened a bit organically.

Any success Local Takes has enjoyed is built on the trust of the artists featured in these short films. They set aside time for us, allowed us into their space, and trusted us to tell their stories. In close second is our audience. Without people watching and engaging, we’d have incredible personal memories to cherish, but not a shared community experience. When somebody spends a few minutes of their time watching these films, reaching out to the artists to see more of their work, reaching out to share their favorite quote with us, sending the film to someone they know will enjoy it, that’s basically the fuel that keeps projects like this going. I don’t know if people realize how important that is.

Website: www.localtakes.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/localtakes

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/localtakes

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ3rDELbl4l9cFi9_Tw6Y1Q

Image Credits
Jarod Phillips Brian Auburn