“Know your worth and follow your path, and entrust yourself”
Caletta Harris is the founder and owner of Reel to Reel Productions, a video production company that has been transforming stories into powerful visual narratives for nearly 20 years. She is based in South Carolina and works nationally, blending creative passion with purpose-driven storytelling by using media to empower, educate, and amplify voices across South Carolina.
Interview
Transcript
Lexi Raines 00:01
So, what do you do for work, and where are you currently working from? Well, I
Caletta Harris 00:05
Currently I have my own business called Reel to Reel Productions, and we have been there for 19 years, almost 20 years. Next year will be 20 years, and I’m kind of out of everywhere. I’m remote, but I do work all over. So right now, I’ll say South Carolina, awesome.
Lexi Raines 00:26
And so, what is your official job title, being the creator of realtor. I am the owner. And what is one thing that you love about working as a creative in South Carolina?
Caletta Harris 00:37
Well, I love the rich history in South Carolina, and to have that creative freedom being a creative there’s a lot of stories to be told. A lot of rich history here, and just the people connecting with some great, like minded individuals, is always a plus.
Lexi Raines 00:55
I completely agree. So first, just tell us a little bit about reel to reel.
Caletta Harris 00:59
So, reel to reel is my baby. My production company is a full service video production company. So we basically do everything from commercial marketing all the way to documentaries. I am the videographer, the editor, all of the above, the marketer, all of that. So we basically do a lot of branding for companies. So we are going on our 20th year, next year.
Lexi Raines 01:25
Awesome. That’s so cool. So what does South Carolina bring to reel to reel, and what is its unique influences on you compared to anywhere else I can
Caletta Harris 01:33
Say, South Carolina has brought me a lot of diverse clients, like my projects totally different. And when I was starting the business, people always would say, you need to get, like, a portfolio that’s vast. You can’t just do one thing, and then expect people to say, Oh, well, you can do it, but they have to see it. I’m like, This has definitely given me an opportunity to have different type of clients, different type of genres. And I just love it. I love just creating people’s vision that
Lexi Raines 02:03
Awesome. I feel like South Carolina is definitely a very diverse community. And saying that, like, how would you describe your local professional community? Local
Caletta Harris 02:11
Professional community? They are wonderful. They’re very interesting. They’re very talented. And, you know, they bring opportunities with them. So it’s not like, this is just mine. They see where people can fit in. And then once I start talking, you know this, the wheels start spinning, and it’s like, oh, well, maybe we can fit you here. And then my wheels start turning. Say, oh, maybe I can connect you with so is a good connecting hub? I like, yes,
Lexi Raines 02:38
That’s actually something I’ve heard a lot throughout, like almost all of my interviews, is that South Carolina really is such a good community where people want to like be able to lean on each other, which I think it achieves pretty well. How do you define professional or personal success in your creative endeavors? Well,
Caletta Harris 02:57
I would define personal professional success is retention rate. I can say my longest client has been 15 years, and then the next one has been 11. So I can say that I have a great rent retention rate with a lot of my clients. And then from there it’s still, you know, multiple years, and then even the new client is like, we don’t want to just stop here. We want to keep that show’s success. To me, that I must be doing something right, and then just personally, it’s kind of the same thing. Sometimes I’d intertwines, but just building relationships personally, because it’s not always professionalism with my clients. So we build that relationship. Yes,
Lexi Raines 03:38
That’s awesome. And sometimes that’s the base you need to work on. So that’s really great. What was your biggest fear when you first decided to pursue the arts professionally? Can
Caletta Harris 03:47
I be self-sustainable? I think that’s a lot of people fear. Can you do this long term? So I was smart with it, because I held on to a job until I said I can do this long term. It kind of worked out. And then when I got my first office space, I just took off from there, because people want to see that to make it real for them, right? So that I just didn’t have to go back doing anything else for anybody else.
Lexi Raines 04:15
And that is awesome. I know a lot of the creatives that I’ve interviewed so far like they are kind of working on their projects, and then they have, like, a day job, and so that seems like difficult to juggle. So it’s awesome that, like, you aren’t having to do that. Okay, so can you describe, for me, like, a defining moment in your creative journey? Like, did you have a particular project that made a significant impact on you
Caletta Harris 04:40
Absolutely! back in 2013 I started a journey while in my office downtown, I read it in the newspaper that city council wanted to do something about their homeless issue, and I was called by what the options were. So I was like, I want to do something about. It. I already have a production company. Let me just start filming and talking to people and seeing what’s going on around me. And it became a full feature documentary. It’s called no address. It’s a documentary series featuring Columbia, South Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.
So it talks about, you know, the criminalization of homelessness, what’s going on as well as practical solutions, because we can’t keep talking about the problems without the solutions. And that has had the biggest impact on my life. I the first one came out. Columbia came out in 2020 and Atlanta came out in 2022 so we hit the whole film festival market, and now it’s on Tubi, Amazon. I’m about, I’m thinking, I’m on about 10 streaming platforms now, so it has made a huge impact. I’ve spoken to a lot of colleges, even middle school and high schoolers, and they’re excited about doing something in their own community. So this has been one of my biggest passion projects, and I continue to expand with it, because I want to be a part of the solution now, yes,
Lexi Raines 06:01
That is, like, actually so amazing and so meaningful that is, and being on so many streaming sites like, that’s so cool, that’s actually awesome. So what is the best and worst advice you’ve ever received on your career path? That
Caletta Harris 06:19
Was a struggle, because I can’t really think of the worst advice, because I really block out a lot of that negative energy, right? The best advice, I would say, is when you know someone told me just going through this is to trust yourself, follow your own path, because had a lot of challenges at the beginning, me being a woman owned business, so that was a challenge in itself, and people taking you seriously. So that I that was the best advice was to say, you know you know your worth and follow your path, and you know you know and trust yourself. So but the I could say something generalized, like the worst advice would be something like, it doesn’t matter, everybody’s doing it, so go ahead and do it. And I’m not that tight. If you say go right, I’m gonna go left. Open your mind and think creatively, yes, so that I don’t say that. Yeah,
Lexi Raines 07:16
I think that is, like, really good advice to, like, stay true to what you want to do, not what everybody else is doing. So that’s awesome. Can you walk me through like a typical work day for you, what does your process look like and what’s expected of you on a daily basis?
Caletta Harris 07:32
So normally, I wake up, I stretch, I meditate, then I go drink some coffee or tea, and then I either edit or film, depending on the day. So every day is different. I usually work until like seven, unless it’s a long shoot or something, but I kind of cut it off at seven, and then I have me time. I relax and do whatever, and then I try to go to bed by 10 o’clock, because rest is so important to me, because I use my brain so much, and sometimes I’m juggling two or three projects simultaneously. So it’s like shifting gears here and there all the time, somebody else talking about something totally different. So it’s like your mind is always going so I’m like, shut it down at 10 o’clock and then, and then I just start the day, just to rejuvenate and start the day. So that’s kind of my routine. And then I don’t I try not to talk business after seven.
Lexi Raines 08:28
I think that is super smart, like, and a good practice to have, because I think so many times people don’t know where the line, like, the line kind of blurs between, like, work life and personal life. So I think that’s really, really good advice. Actually,
Caletta Harris 08:44
Being entrepreneurs, we people don’t know how to cut it off. It emailed at 2am from people in that one time, and then I said, You know what? This isn’t healthy, because you’re going to burn out at some point. So it’s like, every day is a new day, and I’m ready to conquer it. You know, along
Lexi Raines 09:01
Kind of with that, I know you’ve explained some of them trying to get to bed early. What are some habits that you think would be beneficial for others wanting to do what you do? I
Caletta Harris 09:10
Would say, you know, just find your peace. Whatever it is at times, just take breaks and find your peace. I’m a nature person, so I go out in nature and, you know, just soak it in vitamin D, go out to the farm, you know, things like that, just to digress, and then you can kind of recharge yourself and get back into because you don’t realize, once you do that, how much information can come in and Creativity can come in when always thinking about everything else. So take that time, even if it’s five minutes, whatever it takes, just go out, walk, do something, stretch or just be silent, you know. And a lot of times that really can make a huge difference, subtle, but it can make a big difference.
Lexi Raines 09:57
Yes, I completely agree, just for. My personal experience, I feel like just those few moments that you take to like, ground yourself, super, super important.
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