We were lucky to catch up with Kate McFerren & Christopher Commons recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kate McFerren &, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Within KatDog studio, creativity is a constant conversation. We follow companies or people on social media that inspire us. We consume art, media, literature; we love watching great movies to analyze and learn from them. Messages or emails are sent back and forth on work that we love. Or new social media or business ideas. We even have a folder on Google Drive as well as in Gmail that collects all of our inspirations. Both of our significant others are also inspirations. Chris’s wife is an artist. Not only does she work on set as a 1st Assistant Camera, but she paints and crafts and is always working on a new project. She also creates a lot of KatDog branded swag or gifts for our clients.
It also helps to have more than one person creating concepts. In our partnership, the brainstorming allows two different people with their own muses and inspirations to come together and riff off of each other. Personal goals can also fuel creativity; they push us to try something new, or unique. We continue to set the bar higher and higher for ourselves. Creativity isn’t just in the visual side; it’s in problem solving as well. We are all working within some kind of limitations, no matter how big your budget. Those limitations can be a catalyst for new creatives ways to accomplish a goal, whether in running our business, on set, or in the edit. Learning from mistakes is another way creative problem solving can be pushed in new directions.
Overall, we feel creativity is a journey, not a destination. Each person has their own journey in figuring out what brings creates that feeling of enlightened joy of being hit with a new idea.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Christopher Commons is a freelance Director of Photography (DP) working in Kansas City while Kate McFerren is a video editor working for a marketing agency. We worked together on a project in 2018 called “Love Color” for Chris Conley, previously a Kansas City Chief, wide receiver, and realized our workflow meshed well while managing the post production. From there, we pitched our joint talents to a local artist and TikTok celeb whom Kate had previously attended high school with and had recently risen in fame, even performing on Ellen, Anson Seabra. Anson became our first client launching the KatDog Studio partnership in 2019. The work with Anson attracted other artists as the brand continued to create music videos in Kansas City.
“KatDog” was coined as an effort to show the yin and yang of the partnership; we even have opposite personalities as well as responsibilities in the overall creation of our work. It also combines Kate’s first name with Chris’s first production brand, Bourbon Dog.
Since then, we’ve worked with a number of different artists including, multiple music videos for The Devil Wears Prada Band. We love partnering with the client to create something together. Recently, we are working on more content for a new pop client and are very excited – keep an eye out!
We will continue to create – elevating the work to a polished commercial level, but always pushing to do it in a more unique and creative way. We say that we bring “commercial polish to indie hustle.” And as Kansas City and Missouri now have more tax incentives for film, we hope to bring more film work to KC and branch out into new genres and styles.
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?
We believe the three most important aspects to our journey are: work ethic, valuing people, and experience.
Starting a business, reaching out to attract new clients, and securing clients isn’t easy. We also have other responsibilities and jobs to accomplish at the same time. We work evenings, weekends, and invest our free time into our business. Not only from the business side, but it takes time to concept and execute creative ideas. This is an essential part to any creative endeavor.
Another aspect that could be overlooked is the importance of valuing people. It is only through this that we can build out our production team with talented members. It’s even how KatDog formed in the first place; two people noticed skill in another. Valuing people, creating a fun, trusting environment of mutual respect is essential to holding long term relationships with contractors and clients. And having a consistent team to relay on is important. This is as important as any project. We always value people’s time and energy. We want to make sure the team feels cared for. For example, we provide lunch, water, and snacks on set. We make sure food is available despite dietary restrictions. We want the work environment to be relaxed, not a hustle where we aren’t enjoying the creation process. This helps the longevity of our work and also aligns with our personal values of understanding and prioritizing mental health.
Lastly, especially for those just entering the industry: Just do it. Fail fast and learn what doesn’t work quickly. If you’re building a portfolio. don’t wait for a client. Shoot your own “spec”. Create examples of what you want to do for clients before you have client to hire you for it. Take a chance. If you want to get into a certain kind of work, just start creating it. Work with what you have. Pull in some friends. Make your own path.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Katdog is a partnership built on strengths. We believe teams function on strengths are are built to cover weakness. In the creative space, you can find a lot of “jack-of-all-trades,” but we believe it is best to find your niche. You’ll go further investing in strengths because that is what sets you apart from others. With that being said, sometimes investing in weaknesses can feed into strengths or can open more opportunities. We definitely aren’t saying to invest only in strengths. For example, understanding lighting and some aspects of production can help an editor while cutting a piece, but isn’t required to be a great editor. It can give you more tools in your toolbox, per say. This can make you valuable to some companies or open up more opportunities, but if your strength is strong enough, you won’t need to be as well rounded. Regardless, you always want to brand yourself, or be know for, your one or two strengths. We like the “one slash rule” – your job title should only contain one slash. For example: “Director/DP” or “Director/Editor.” It’s good to have more knowledge in other areas, not as essential.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.katdogstudio.com
- Instagram: @katdogstudio
Image Credits
@abinoelphotography FOR PHOTOS: I Hate It BTS-7688 (1).jpeg I Hate It BTS-7509 (1)edit02.png
