We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ron Hanks. Check out our conversation below.
Ron, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I think that most people believe there is a path you can follow to success. That there is a solid career ladder you can follow up up up. But over the years I have seen so many people I know just climbing ladders to nowhere. Or maybe better put, climbing ladders that lead right to the middle. And that was always a dark fear of mine: that I would be stuck climbing and climbing a long, tall ladder…to mediocrity.
You have to stay aware of what ladder you are climbing. You have to know: Who put it there? Who showed you this ladder? Is this just busy work? Where is this thing leading? Can I get off? Am I happy here?
And the beautiful thing is that the more you listen to yourself, the more you ARE yourself…you may find other people climbing ladders just to meet you. Just to work with you and learn from you.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Ron Hanks, and I have spent the last 12 years building a production company with my wife, Elizabeth. It’s called 1157 Productions, and we are based just east of DTLA. It has been a wild ride, and just like many others in our industry the two of us have held on for dear life through all these low lows and all high highs. We have made a practice of saying “yes” every chance we can get, and that has been our survival secret. We owe COVID for teaching us that.
We burned through every penny of our savings during that 2020 shutdown. We were just weeks away from giving up our house and taking our 7-month old to Palm Springs to live with family. The phone rang, and it was an offer to film some online courses for a graduate program. I was shaking when I said “yes”. I will never forget that look I gave Elizabeth when I hung up. All I could think to say is…we’re saved…for now. We were both overwhelmed with gratefulness. With joy.
That September of 2020 I stepped back onto set and just did not stop saying “yes”. Want to go to Saudi Arabia and shoot a luxe perfume commercial? Yes. Want to produce the live broadcast of Billboard’s Women in Music featuring Olivia Rodrigo at Sofi? Yes! Want to direct Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in a long-form spot about Dos Hombres? Hell Yes!
I said Yes to producing two Lifetime Movies, two Tubi movies, one indie shot on overnights in Joshua Tree, a number of short films, and somewhere in there I said Yes to my own directorial debut feature film getting distribution (it just so happened to have been about a pandemic which helped tremendously!)
And I kept saying it.
Yep to producing a series with Guy Fieri for the Food Network. You betcha to showrunning three seasons of a food competition show on the Cooking Channel. Sure thing let’s have another baby! And oh my gosh yes to producing two seasons of an international travel show on PBS called Joseph Rosendo’s Steppin’ Out. That last one had me shooting in Malaysia, Taiwan, Bolivia, Tanzania, Cuba, Iceland, the Galápagos Islands, and more, leading to the huge highlight of earning a Daytime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Travel Program.
Yes was the secret. And it still is.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Without a doubt it was the moment my first son, Riley, was born. My vision of this whole universe turned inside out. Holding that little sweet newborn against my chest (with my hoodie zipped up over us both) was the most joy I’ve ever, ever felt. The most authentic I’ve ever felt. The most responsibility I’d ever felt. Here was this creature that had nothing else in the world but me and his mom to raise him, love him, feed him, and care for him. I felt my purpose shift in that moment. I understood so much more about love and about deep human connection than I had ever before. I cried that I had waited so late in my life to experience this, and I cried even more of how perfect the universe is to give me this moment so late in my life.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
*Trigger Warning* I had a big movie fail in 2019, and I was on the verge of suicide. It was the second time in my life I almost gave up. (With the other being about 20 years earlier when I had the gun in my hand but could not find any bullets.) I look back now at both of those times with complete tenderness and care and compassion. But my soon-to-be son is what actually saved my life. My wife Elizabeth was about five months pregnant at the time, and I remember clearly resting my hand on her belly as I planned out how I was going to end my life and how that time was tonight. But I could feel my son moving and churning physically. Kicking and growing in there. And it hit me how my life wasn’t just about me. Whether Success or Failure my purpose to continue on…my reason I needed to stay alive was right there beneath my hand. I had to stay alive for my son’s sake. He carried me through that moment, and for that I owe my son, Riley, my life.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Kindness. And bringing up everyone you can around you. Other folks aren’t your competition. They are there to hold the ladder for you as you climb, and then you are there to help them up the ladder once you reach the top.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
To be alive on this plane, this dimension if you will, we have had to separate ourselves from our true souls in one way or the other. Ego is a good way to put it. We have had to grow an ego that can live here, obey the rules, get jobs, pay the bills, create, love, and survive. I believe we were all born to love and be kind and experience and grow, and that’s what I’m trying to stay close to, no matter what career path I’m following or what circumstances I’m undergoing. It’s not easy, and I fully recognize that it is a privilege to get to be here and try.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ronhanks.com
- Instagram: @ronhanks
- Other: https://1157productions.com
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