Red Sanders’ fascination with filming started at the age of 12.
He was 14 years old when he started his first company and later paralleled that into video productions for weddings and different social events.
By the time he graduated from Grapevine High School in 2001, he realized he would have the ability to fund his college education through the income he generated from his business.
“I did that all throughout my time at TCU to pay for school,” Sanders said.
Majoring in Radio, Television and Film, Sanders, 42, seemed poised to make a move to Southern California or the East Coast upon graduation.
A friendly conversation with a trusted friend would not only change his life journey but consequentially alter the course of the filming industry in North Texas.
“I watched all of my friends move to LA and New York, but I stayed here,” Sanders said. “I talked with my mentor at the time, David Minor, who was in the entrepreneurship program at TCU. I was wrestling with the decision to go to California or stay here, and over a simple breakfast conversation one day he said, ‘Yeah, if you go out there, you’re going to have to work your way up from the bottom. But what if you stay here and plant a flag and see what you can build?’
“Then you can go out there on your own terms later. We did that, and eight years into business here in Fort Worth we launched offices in New York and later in LA. And now we are in our 20th year of business.”
Sanders said that decision was critical to Red Productions’ success and allowed him to contribute to the burgeoning film industry in and around Fort Worth.
“I don’t think I would be doing what I’m doing now if I had moved,” Sanders said. “I love that we stayed here. We planted a flag here and then 10 years into the business got to work with Mayor (Betsy) Price to start our film commission with a goal of ultimately attracting more competition here.
“Luckily, here we stand on what will be the 10th anniversary of that film commission and we’ve got a new boom town in Fort Worth with film, TV and production. Taylor Sheridan keeps shooting here along with many others.”
Taking a chance on his beloved city was not without its risks, and with such filming and production hubs as Los Angeles, New York City and even Atlanta, Sanders jokingly attributes his willingness to attempt to add the Fort Worth region to that list to one factor.
“Naivety?” Sanders laughed. “Seriously, what I did see at the time, and this was the same year that YouTube launched when I graduated college. YouTube launched and digital cameras were already out, but they weren’t able to make it look like film yet. With the advent of YouTube, that really brought about what I felt would bring a new wave of video online. At the time, sharing video online was still really clunky. I mean people were still watching things on DVDs and some even on VHS, so the advent of online streaming and particularly YouTube launching that year really gave me hope.”
Red Productions bills itself as a “full-service, award-winning, creative video production company” and “a bunch of film geeks with the tools and talent to accomplish your goals to a level beyond what you’ve envisioned.”
Among the many films Red Productions has completed is a feature-length documentary on the Van Cliburn competition called Crescendo, and the company is currently working on another film based on a multi-year scandal that started in the mid 2000s at the world famous Collin Street Bakery.
“It’s based on a true story of the world’s largest fruit cake factory, which happens to be in Corsicana, Texas, and an embezzlement that took place there by their controller,” Sanders said. “Over the course of eight years, he embezzled $17 million dollars from this small, family bakery. I mean, it’s not like your neighborhood baker, they are the world’s largest fruit cake maker and they ship them all over the world, but it’s a family business still.”
Sanders, who grew up in Grapevine, routinely works with groups like the Texas Legislature, Texas Media Production Alliance and local politicians to raise funding for the filming industry in Texas.
His mother was an art teacher at Grapevine High School and his father was a flight attendant for
American Airlines, and Sanders credits his parents with fostering his imagination and allowing him to find his passion in life.
“I grew up getting to travel the world on American and learn ways to express my creativity,” Sanders said. “I’m not gifted like my mom. She’s an incredible artist, painter and sculptor, but I loved it when I picked up the camera for the first time. I was like, ‘This is my paintbrush.’”
