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In honor of the back-to-school season, ReKon Productions has decided to take the classic “What I did on my Summer Vacation” assignment and give it a little twist. Everyone knows we spent our summer working on productions, what they might not know is who we spent the summer with. “Who Spent Their Summer Vacation with ReKon Productions” is a five part interview series highlighting some of the cool kids we’ve gotten to work with these past few months.
Who Spent Their Summer Vacation with ReKon Productions Part Five:
Suren Seron, Stray Angel Films
Introduction by Jon Michael Kondrath
Interview by Katie Barreira
One of ReKon’s longest running relationships in the entertainment industry has been with Stray Angel Films. We have been sharing office space with the company for over 3 years and working with them for over 5 years.
We first met the Stray Angel crew back in 2009 when we were working on the web series “Pirate Ninja Adventure Go“. We needed a last minute cable for our camera and the other producer on the series said to call up the guys over at Stray Angel and they would help us out. I went over to their Santa Monica office on Bundy and met with the entire team of Stray Angel at the time (which was Suren and Josh) to pick up some cables.
Over the next couple of years, we frequented their Bundy office picking up gear and bringing in our cameras for them to rent out for us. They steadily grew and added Billy to their staff, beginning to outgrow their current space. At this point, ReKon was visiting their office at least once a week and were looking to expand into an actual office space, rather than working out of a home. The two companies moved into the Stanford St. office space in August of 2011.
Both companies have grown tremendously since the first year working together in 2009 and continue to benefit from the diversity of our companies. Production companies need rentals for their productions, and rental companies need productions to rent gear. Business has been created for both Stray Angel and ReKon because of our long symbiotic relationship, and now we are in a much larger space together and have a cadre of people keeping the offices flourishing.
Photo Credit To Jon Michael Kondrath
It only takes a singular inspired moment for someone to decide to make their dream a reality. What was the spark that inspired you to create SAF?
I had met a producer while I was working on a project and learned the ropes from him. I discovered I needed a production company to be a legitimate producer myself, cause you’ve gotta have some kind of jingle to hang your hat on in the industry. So I just created the company for that sole purpose: to exist so I could exist as a producer with my production company.
What is Stray Angel Films?
Stray Angel Films is a digital motion picture rental, production, and production services company. I founded the company in 2003 to serve as a completely integrated facility with the ability to provide professional studio services to a wide range of clients and production needs. We cater to a large client base ranging from independent filmmakers working on their first short to large studios producing multinational television.
Just last year, we celebrated our ten year anniversary.
How would you describe your role at Stray Angel?
I try to think of myself as the head of business development in terms of new ideas or things to bring into the company for different revenue opportunities. Sometimes, I even think of myself as a producer.
If you had to choose a super hero to live with in college, who would it be and why?
I think I would live with Rocket from Guardians Of The Galaxy; I associate him with Star Fox, even though I don’t think he’s a fox. I would live with him because he would remind me of Star Fox which I liked playing as a kid, which I think would be cool because animals are cool and I’d like playing with a roommate, but also a talking animal.
What was your favorite game as a child?
I really enjoyed the Nintendo Entertainment System and all of the titles on it. Like Jon Michael Kondrath, I’m a big Final Fantasy fan, but I also really enjoyed the Legend of Zelda, and Metroid, you know, the classics.
I’ll also play Super Nintendo games, turbo graphics genesis; I like emulating stuff a lot. I’ll play the new games occasionally but I much rather prefer the classics.
Why did you choose to partner with ReKon Productions? What has your collaborative experience been like?
I met Jon through a coworker of mine, he was a sub renter we’d been working with and he seemed like a nice guy. When we were going to move to our new facility on Sanford Street, we thought of Jon. We thought he would be an interesting person to continuing working with.
We shared several connections, from having worked together on a couple of projects to being Critical Studies alum from USC. I made the leap and invited him to come work with us and share our space. Now we do even more with ReKon, and I’ve really enjoyed the experience.
What is the most interesting/ bizarre story you can remember from working with ReKon over the past few years?
My favorite story is when Russian productions come in with thousands of dollars in cash and Jon has to go and buy a counting machine so he can count the money. So you watch Jon, late at night, counting stacks and stacks of hundreds that you know is from Russian people… and that, well, it is what it is.
I love it, I’m glad Jon had the business and its good business but it’s just funny. And well it is just my favorite ReKon moment. Jon is a real upstanding guy, the most straight-shooter guy you’ll ever meet, and to see him go to staples to buy a cash-counting machine and count 50 grand in hundreds from Russians-it’s like something straight out of a movie.
[Jon-The counting machine came in handy when Stray Angel had to count $450 in 1 dollar bills from one of their clients. Just shows that our two companies help each other out. And we both like cash.]
More About Suren and Stray Angel Films
Suren M. Seron is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s internationally acclaimed School of Cinematic Arts. After graduating from USC, Suren founded Stray Angel Films, a production services and equipment rental company, actively developing and producing a slate of vastly different feature film and television projects. Over the last 10 years, the company has grown substantially with annual gross revenue of $2.1 million dollars. Suren and Stray Angel have worked with over 5000 clients, many of which are Fortune 1000 companies.