Charlotte Sclapari, Founder of Sequoia Films, on Making a Meaningful Cultural Impact

Q&ASpotlight

Apr 15

☆ By Fatima Aamir ☆

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WITH A FEARLESS DISREGARD FOR FAILURE — Charlotte Sclapari founded the independent agency Sequoia Films in 2016. "I was almost naive not knowing how intense the road would be or how challenging it is to do what we're doing," Charlotte said. Today, that unrelenting spirit helps her deal with the pressures of the creative industry. "I have become more spiritual because I realize that you have to be really centered, and you have to not feed into fear and not look at your competition." Since everyone has such different life experiences, Charlotte quickly learned that people's career trajectories are going to be different, and comparison is futile. Instead, she focuses on connecting with others and simply going with the flow: "‘Be Like Water’ as Bruce Lee says."

Sequoia Films describes themselves as a "bicoastal cultural hub and digital-first creative studio." In addition to Charlotte, the team includes West Coast producer Mars Lees, East Coast Producer Jenhaye Johnson and Production Coordinator Whitney. The agency has served clients like Ralph Lauren and La Detresse, produced music videos for artists like LION BABE and Louis the Child, and even shot a short film with Kali Uchis for Spotify. "Really, what our strength is [is] we're right at the intersection between fashion, video production, and then music and culture,” Charlotte elaborated. The agency's ability to meet clients’ needs and build community has turned them into a formidable cultural force.

Before starting Sequoia Films, Charlotte was working as a freelance producer for various companies. After building her network, she soon turned her services into a professional company. "From there, everything flowed,” she said. “The more shoots I had, the more I refined my team, and now I'm really lucky to have an incredible team." Her prior experiences gave her invaluable insight into the workings of the media industry. While Charlotte is quick to assure those aspiring to enter the field that there's plenty of money available for new projects — especially in media hotspots like New York and LA — she also warns that resources can be wasted if production teams aren't careful enough. "With the right team and production, you can really streamline things and make the most out of a budget."

When conducting client outreach, Charlotte seeks those who are equally passionate about making a cultural impact. Together, they work to create projects that have "good sound design, great music that compliments it and elevates the visuals, and a message — something that's empowering in some way." Charlotte's interest in culture and the powerful role media can play in shifting narratives started when she was in college. "I first started out as an international relations major, and after two years I realized that politics is bullshit and politicians basically serve business interests for the most part and follow the money,” she explained. “It's very slow and incremental change, and I wanted to talk directly to the people and effect change directly. So I decided to make films; to create content that would empower people, that would change the narrative, and that would make people think differently about themselves. That's really what I feel my purpose is here."

Charlotte is especially passionate about seeing more diversity at all levels of the industry — including the directorial level — and not just when it's trendy for companies, like "reaching out when it's Black History Month." She points out that the industry often capitalizes on critical social issues in order to remain relevant but such efforts can fall flat, such as the Pepsi ad from in 2017 that trivialized the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests and was later taken down by the company. Charlotte emphasizes the importance of a team that understands the systemic nature of these deep-seated inequalities. "Sexism and racism are woven into the fabric of our society — ableism as well — [and] that kind of trickles down into the education system and what kind of opportunities people from an early age get, and the kind of support they get,” Charlotte said. “Certain people are afforded more opportunities, while others have to work a lot harder." One of the recent campaigns that Sequoia Films did with MMNYC — a Brooklyn-based jewelry brand — is one of Charlotte's favourites. "The founder is a woman of color, so it was amazing to amplify her work,” she described. “We shot photos for the brand’s socials, ecomm and lookbook, and then we also shot a fun moving lookbook/behind-the-scenes kind of video that showed our vibe, who our team is and how we work, which was really cool."

The success of these projects depends on a number of things, but one of the most important is communication. "What I really like about being an Executive Producer is being the liaison between the client, the creative team and my production team." Charlotte's role ensures that everyone's on the same page, allowing clients to give their input and then step back with enough confidence in the creatives to execute their vision. “It’s important to leave enough room for creatives to do their job,” Charlotte said. “It’s only when the team is happy, comfortable, and has what they need [that] they can do a good job.” Nevertheless, the process isn't always smooth and requires a great deal of quick thinking. "In production specifically, things can happen at the last minute and you have to be comfortable in a high-stress environment, and make the right decisions under pressure. You're never just working on your own — you're part of a larger ecosystem and you have to be really humble."

The intensely collaborative nature of the job threw some obstacles in Charlotte's direction when the pandemic began, but she saw it as an opportunity to get even more creative. "A lot of people think of creativity in a purely artistic sense, but it's also problem-solving." For the Kali Uchis Spotify film, Sequoia Films had to execute the entire project remotely, which included shooting on a mini DV camera to create an old-school camcorder vibe, as well as streaming directly to global clients. "Everything that the little camera was shooting had to stream directly to 20+ clients in New York, LA and Mexico City." Despite the challenge, the team's impeccable ability to adapt allowed them to shoot the project in just four days, and have their short film featured at the Latin Grammys.

While the agency's recent big-name clients have boosted its cultural capital, their client outreach has not slowed. "Unlike having a nine-to-five where you know that at the end of every two weeks you're getting a check, for us it's a constant hustle and grind," Charlotte said. No two days at Sequoia Films ever look the same: "Most of our clients are record labels and advertising agencies. In those instances, the budget is bigger, but we also have relationships with different magazines who will hit us up for editorials. Those are fun, too, because we can really experiment with creativity there as well." In addition to photo and video shoots, Charlotte has ongoing meetings with her core production team, helps prep for Sequoia Radio, the agency's podcast that seeks to provide helpful tools for creative entrepreneurs and leads Sequoia MGMT, the full service artist management arm of Sequoia.

Sequoia’s most recent project was a joint venture between Sequoia Film and Sequoia MGMT for recording artist DonMonique, and Charlotte is looking forward to seeing her make waves in the music industry. "We [just] shot her upcoming EP cover, and I’m really excited about her music and her growing impact,” she explained. “She’s incredibly talented, and her music is raw and unapologetic; it goes hard, to say the least." Charlotte's vision for Sequoia Films is to work with brands who include musical artists in their campaigns, as she believes it's a powerful way to broaden cultural impact and relevance. "I really like what pgLang has been doing a lot — they did some beautiful stuff for Calvin Klein."

Charlotte's dream brands include Gucci, Nike, Adidas, and Beats by Dre — "all those kinds of brands where it's apparel, but it's more than that." With a talented team, an acute awareness of what audiences care about, and lots of experience building community in the industry, perhaps Charlotte's dreams are not so far off.

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