We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ronnel Parham. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ronnel below.
Ronnel, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
It may sound cliché, but I believe my purpose found me. I’ve told this story a few times but I honestly stumbled into acting. I had never given it more than 2 thoughts until I was 20 years. I was in-between colleges, had the semester off as I was waiting to transfer to another school and I wasn’t really doing much. I went down to a local talent agency in Philadelphia, looking to become a model, and the agent told me I should think about doing commercials. She told about a commercial class that her friend was teaching and that I should think about going. After giving it some thought, I went down there. Nervous and not knowing what to expect at all—I was instantly amazed at the dynamic of the class. I was amazed and what acting really was and the process to learning and getting more comfortable with it. From then and up until now, acting (and now creating) continues to fascinate and challenge me. I have that same burning desire now to be great at it as I had back then in 2010.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’ve spent most of my acting career just like majority of other actors. Auditioning a bunch, booking very little and constantly staying in acting class. Having a few wins here and there, but spending most of the year frustrated, sometimes sad, and even confused at where my career was going. Constantly questioning when this was going to happen for me. I’ve never once questioned IF it was going to happen. It’s always been a matter of when for me. But in 2017, my life and career changed. I helped out a producing partner er of mine on a short film he wrote and was producing. Acting in that and becoming the one of the main producers changed everything from me. From that experience, I knew it was possible to create my own content. Up until that point, it was almost considered taboo to make your own stuff because you’d be so worried about shooting something that wasn’t good or you talked yourself out of it because of lack of funds. But that short film I was apart of back then changed everything for me for sure.
I now own and run my production company, 5R Productions, as we create and produce stories that represent the underrepresented. We’ve produced a number of projects but most notably, a show that’s based on my life entitled “Odd Man Out.” Odd Man Out started as a web series entitled “Odd Man Out: The Series” that we put on youtube on video. The show has now evolved into a half hour drama that has worldwide distribution with Peacock and Tubi and US distribution on Amazon Prime. We are currently shooting new episodes of the show and plan to have a full season on Peacock, Tubi and Prime very soon!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three most important qualities that were impactful in my journey are discipline, confidence and learning not to second guess yourself. As an artist, and really for anything in life that you do—you have to do it for the right reasons. You have to do it because you can’t live without it and you simply cannot imagine yourself doing anything else. That is esepcailly important for artists in whatever field of profession you’re doing or looking to do. Life is short, so you have make a decision on how you’re going to spend your time. One of the main things I started telling myself when I got in this business is that I didn’t want any regrets. I didn’t want to look back and say “I wish did this, I wish I did that.” “I wish at that moment, at that time in my life, I would’ve just went for it.” I never want to feel that way looking back on anything in my life. So I’ve trained my mind to be disciplined. I’ve trained myself to have unwavering confidence in my abilities. And I most definitely have trained my mind to stop second guessing myself. I would advise any actor or creator to live by these qualities. Have as many qualities that you need to motivate yourself, but I hope these 3 are apart of them. Without developing these 3 qualities, I likely would’ve started to relegate my time to other talents that I have. But I haven’t—and never will. I hope this helps!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
The main mission of my production company is to tell stories that include everyone. To tell stories that highlight marginalized communities. The entire mindset behind creating my production company is to collaborate with others. I am always, always interested in hearing ideas for scripts and/or hearing other people’s stories. I am always open to collaborate with serious, focused actors, producers, directors and writers. I am also open to collaborating with sponsors. The next phase of my producing career will involve getting businesses and individuals to help sponsor my productions. So, I am definitely looking for sponsors here in Atlanta! I would love to sponsor your business in an episode or a film. I’d love to feature or use a product of yours in one of my scenes. I’d love to use some of your clothing during one of our shoots! I’m a very open collaborator and love working with all types of people. I would love to really make my mark here in the Atlanta community and I believe partnering with businesses and companies and welcoming sponsors will definitely allow me to do so. If you’re reading this and want to collaborate, please reach our via email or social media. And businesses and financiers, I’ll be finding you, trust me!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ronnelrparham.com , www.5R-productions.com
- Instagram: @ronnels_gram5 , @5rproductions , @oddmanoutw_s
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ronnelrparham
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronnelricardoparham7/
- Twitter: @ronnel_parham5R, @5rproductions, @oddmanoutw_s
