North Texas Daily

In third grade, media arts freshman Grant Goodrich picked up a camera for the first time and started filming, not realizing his journey with photography and videography had just begun.

“I fell in love with cameras,” Grant said. “My parents bought this Sony camcorder, and I always used to film everything. That kind of [evolved] into me and one of my best friends doing small, fun YouTube stuff together and that developed a love for media production for me.”

Grant was inspired by his great-grandfather and grandfather, who were both photographers.

“My great papa Tom was a landscape photographer, and he shot on a Canon,” Grant said. “His work was very good, especially at the time. [He] gave my grandfather that camera, and he gave me that same camera, so it’s like a legacy in the family to do photography.”

Grant continued to make skits until eighth grade, when he was hired to make promotional videos for a real estate agency. In high school, he joined the broadcast program and became the technical director for the news broadcast station, The Lead, and later implemented an entertainment segment with Jacob Vu, a creative media production freshman at the University of Oklahoma.

Grant started doing marketing work and earned internships with the Lewisville Education Foundation and the City of Carrollton. In fall 2018, he created Goodrich Productions, a production company that serves not only as a place to house his media but also where people can request photography and videos, ranging from senior photos to promotional videos for businesses. He also created a Vimeo account and Instagram page (@goodrich_productions) for his work.

“I wanted to prove to people that I could create premium quality content, even though I was in high school,” Grant said. “The goal was to showcase what I can do, and hopefully draw more customers. It was also to show my parents that I could make money off this and they could be like, ‘Okay, he’s actually really passionate about this. He can actually go somewhere with this.’”

Mary Beth Goodrich, Grant’s mother and a Carrollton resident, supported his decision to take that initiative.

“He’s always liked to document what’s going on with his friends,” Mary Beth said. “When he decided to start a company, I [wasn’t] surprised. A lot of people in film and videography do a lot of work on the side, and I felt that was a good way for him to get into the field.”

Lauren Shirley, communications director at First Methodist Carrollton church and Wesleyan theology masters student, hired Grant on several occasions to film videos and take photos for the website and youth group.

“Grant has a great eye for details and he’s good at getting creative shots that really capture what’s going on in the moment,” Shirley said. “He’s good at putting it all together to tell a story that’s compelling about whatever event he’s working on.”

Madison Stewart, the marketing and PR coordinator for Southwest Displays & Events, hired Grant to film a series of videos of employees explaining the business’ core values. His work will be featured along with a rebranding of SWDE on April 1.

“I love how patient he is,” Stewart said. “A lot of our employees were nervous to film, and he made them feel comfortable. His footage has given our website and company an image to outsiders that we would never have expected. I’m excited to use these videos on our new website to showcase a modern and newer vision than what our old website shows.”

In addition to those projects, Grant worked with Vu and his production company to produce a film titled “Origin,” a “storytelling culmination of several short films and videos made by Vuboy Productions in past years,” according to Vu’s website. Production took place from December 2018 to early January 2019, and it was released to YouTube on Jan. 4, 2019.

Vu and Grant submitted “Origin” to a platform called FilmFreeway and the film was selected to be shown at the Dallas International Film Festival on April 14.

“’Origin’ was arguably Vuboy Productions’ biggest endeavor, and it paved the way for many new connections and passionate crew members,” Vu said. “’Origin’ was the first project in collaboration with Goodrich Productions, and the film wouldn’t have been the same without Grant’s help. Seeing the film at DIFF was absolutely surreal. The crew and I didn’t expect to receive such a great, energetic reaction from the audience. It was incredible to walk the red carpet and meet so many fellow filmmakers.”

Using that success as inspiration, Grant and Vu decided to produce “Origin: Part II,” with the whole process taking place from around March to December 2019. The team had a “soft premiere” for the second film on Jan. 4, 2020, and will be released to YouTube on Feb. 28. “Origin: Part I” will be presented on Amazon Prime Video in the near future.

Throughout Grant and Vu’s partnerships, Vu said he has noticed Grant’s passion for film.

“Grant is a person who wouldn’t sleep if he didn’t have to,” Vu said. “He’s a supportive friend and a talented videographer. He is constantly pursuing better skills and better connections while staying very humble about his progress.”

With all his experience, Grant has noticed his growth and has learned a lot.

“You think you know everything and you don’t,” Grant said. “It was very humbling getting to go through these experiences and realizing that there’s so much to learn. I would tell [a beginning photographer or videographer] that you can’t be discouraged. It’s easy to look around and compare yourself to other people, even I do that. You’re your own person, you have your own style and your own voice, and you need to pursue that and not worry about anything else. If you have the motivation, the passion and you put in the time, you will succeed.”

Grant is working toward a bachelor’s degree in media arts and is currently in the Media Arts LLC in Kerr Hall, and his dream is to work in filmmaking.

“I know the money’s in marketing, so I’m totally down to go into marketing,” Grant said. “I absolutely love filmmaking and if I can score a job with Netflix or Amazon Prime or any sort of show that I can be a part of and add to, that’s my end goal. [I love] really anything media, but specifically filmmaking. That’s my soft spot.”

Featured Image: Media arts freshman and creator of Goodrich Productions, Grant Goodrich, poses with his camera in the Union on Feb. 10, 2020. Image by Oscar Lopez