Husband and wife duo behind We Are The Rhoads on working together, how they met and the first projects they worked on
Chris and Sarah Rhoads are the husband and wife team behind We Are The Rhoads. Soon after meeting in college, Chris and Sarah saw how their unique set of talents and vision worked to complement one another in their creative endeavors. Working as storytellers in the filmmaking & photographic realm for over a decade, the Rhoads use their visual medium to explore humanity, the world around them and the sense of wonder that ignites. The Rhoads have great respect and passion for what goes into creating the narrative-driven, honest and very human imagery they have come to be known for. The Rhoads currently resides in Los Angeles, California with their three sons.
Q> How did you two meet?
Chris> It was our Freshman year of college and I happened to see Sarah across the student union amongst probably 1000 people. I asked a buddy who she was as she was talking to a mutual friend. The rest is history.
Sarah> We met in college when we were both freshmen. The affinity was very real and we both fell very fast.
Q> How did you start working together? Were you ‘put’ together or did you proactively decide you wanted to do something together? How long have you known each other and how long have you been working together?
Chris> Midway through college once we started dating we began to work on various projects. It started at first as various homework assignments, but that then grew to creative projects and eventually a life together. We have now spent more time married and working together than we have apart.
Sarah> We started working together in a very organic capacity. At first, it started in college before we were married. I was a journalism major and I worked for my college newspaper. I was sent out to do stories on the local bands sometimes and I would always bring my camera and also grab images to go with my stories. Chris was making a living playing bass at the time and played with a lot of different bands and musicians. Turns out they need band photos and we’d concept things together, and those were the earliest stages of our collaborations. We always loved dreaming together and have always shared a vision for life that was very simpatico.
Fast forward a handful of years, after Chris got off the road of touring for a few years and we saw that Chris’s knack for creativity via the means of high level problem-solving and technical execution, coupled with my vision and love for the more human elements of storytelling, worked to tell compelling stories together, and we are weirdos that can spend copious amounts of time together and still love one another ;). He’s my best friend and I think he’s the smartest greatest person I know.
Q> What were your first impressions of each other – and have they changed?
Chris> I was immediately smitten by Sarah. She was the most interesting person I had met with these huge dreams that I was immediately drawn in. She was kind and cool but she did her own thing. If it was fashion or music, she always had her perspective, rarely apologizing for a challenging or unpopular point of view, and I think that was so incredibly refreshing and attractive. The fact that she is beautiful is a lovely bonus, but it was her clear-as-a-bell certainty in terms of what she liked and disliked and her view of the world that struck me and hooked me. I was immediately a fan and just knew that I wanted to be alongside her.
Sarah> That he was smart as a whip, highly talented, and he struck me as deep--a philosopher of sorts, creative, a little outside the box--and I knew from the jump he could challenge me, which I gravitated to. My first impressions are pretty accurate to this day; if anything they’ve just expanded and the life we have created together has surprised me in some ways. I knew we would do amazing things together, but sometimes I stop and look at the life we’ve built, how we’ve been able to travel the world doing something we love, the house we’ve created together in LA, the three amazing sons we have together, and I have to pinch myself. It’s a big full life and I don't know that I would have imagined THIS when we met at a state college in the middle of small-town Oklahoma.Q> What was the first project you worked on together? How was that process?
Chris> We have been working together since such a young age that I don’t even truly remember what our first project was. I do remember our first large advertising campaign, which was a job for Sony in the mid-2000s.
Sarah> In college some collaborations with musicians etc.
Q> Why do you think you complement each other?
Chris> We have always complemented each other well, Sarah being the heart and emotion behind our work, and me sorting out the technical details. It’s a head-and-heart that I have always loved and felt thankful for.
Sarah> Chris is the head and I am the heart of things. I’ve always loved the quote “The heart will tell you what. The mind will tell you how. The heart is the map, the mind is the compass.” That is very much our dynamic in business and in life a lot of times. I lead with intuition, he leads with calculation, but we have a shared creative vision and a way that we like things to look and feel that’s shared so that head-and-heart serve to breathe life into that vision.
Q> Is there anything that can frustrate you about each other? Or that you disagree on?
Chris> I can tend to be very data-driven and fact-focused, which can drive Sarah crazy when dealing with subjective opinions on creative matters that can’t be boiled down to facts and figures and sometimes are matters of feel and tone. It’s that balance though that I believe pushes our work.
Sarah> Chris likes to move slowly and methodically, thinking through things and exploring them to their fullest extent. I respect it. However, being a decisive person, sometimes it takes longer than I want. I process from intuition, I am quite decisive, and I move rather fast, so sometimes our pacing can be “off”. But we’ve learned such shorthand in communication and how to better respect each of our processes over the 16+ years of being and working together.
Q> How do you approach creative disagreement? ( e.g. Do you like to keep emotion out of it, or is that emotion important? Do you have ‘rules of engagement?’ Or do you find you agree on everything?)
Chris> We rarely have major creative disagreements, and that’s primarily because we do have different strengths. Because of that, when something falls into that area of expertise we tend to defer to one another’s perspective. This doesn’t mean we don’t challenge those ideas constantly, but after over 15 years of working on large campaigns, we know what works for us.
Sarah> We respect one another’s thoughts, opinions and approaches. I think trust is ultimately at the heart of it. I trust Chris (bar none!) and he trusts me, which means we take the time to listen and value each other’s perspectives and usually come to the best conclusion because of that.
Q> What is the collaboration that you’re most proud of? If you pick different ones, why do you think that is?
Chris> Probably not the answer this interview intended, but our life together. From moving from Oklahoma to Seattle to Los Angeles to now having three children. I believe it’s been our greatest and the collaboration I am most proud of.
Sarah> Our family! Our three beautiful sons!
Q> What are the benefits of having a creative partner or regular collaboration in the industry?
Chris> Sharing perspective, as we know this industry is ever-changing and unique. To have someone that truly knows the nuance of different projects, goals, work relationships, etc. allows one to not feel like an island. We can truly discuss, plan, and achieve more efficiently.
Sarah> A truly DEEP level of UNDERSTANDING on multiple levels, what a day looks like, the demands of a project, the toll creative output can take, and also the joys that come from that same well.
Q> Tell us about a recent project that involved some interesting creative challenges that you overcame together.
Chris> At the end of 2021 we had an international job that was shooting in Mexico City. With COVID there were unique quarantine requirements with traveling internationally. We had back-to-back jobs that made the logistics somewhat of a nightmare. Thankfully, since there were two of us, we were able to split up. I went and was on set in Mexico City, while Sarah connected via Zoom and remote directed while I operated the camera and oversaw things on site.
Sarah> We did a multi-day job in New York that had both directing and stills components, a very large cast and a lot of heavy lifting, we had an A crew and a B crew and were in constant communication with one another even though one of us was directing in Manhattan and the other was getting the scenes in Brooklyn. Since we typically work in tandem it required some unique problem solving, but we worked it all out! We always do!
Q> What or who inspires you and your work - another creative duo perhaps?
Chris> At this point, I would say our friends, family, kids, and life. I believe our work is known for its human element and showing an interesting but honest version of reality. The best version of our world but not in an overly aspirational glossy way. I think studying and being present with those we love is what continues to inspire our work and refine it.
Q> Do you enjoy socializing together outside of work? If so, what do you get up to?
Chris> We have been married for close to 15 years now, and so it’s an understatement to say we enjoy socializing together outside of work. When we aren’t working or creating together we love to spend time with our 3 boys, most likely in nature whether skiing or at the beach.
Sarah> I love travel and seeing new places together and with our family. We’re pretty outdoorsy and active.
Q> What have you learned from each other?
Chris> One thing I truly love and admire about Sarah is her genuine and deep love for people. She has increased my empathy for others and an ability to be less focused on being technically correct, and instead to zoom out and see how something feels.
Sarah> I have learned so much from Chris. He is a deep well of knowledge and depth of insight. I’ve learned how to be more diplomatic, patient and empathetic to the needs of others.
Link to original article: https://www.lbbonline.com/news/meet-the-directing-duo-dream-team-of-chris-and-sarah-rhoads