Hometown Hillsdale: Chandler Ryd, ’18: Local Storyteller
Written by Doug Goodnough
Chandler Ryd, ’18.
Chandler Ryd, ’18, is not a writer, but he is a storyteller. He learned the difference between the two in eighth grade when his teacher gave the class a writing assignment.
“I started writing a short story that eventually turned into a really bad novel that I wrote and rewrote maybe four times throughout my high school career,” Ryd said. “I finished it, put copies in black binders, and then distributed them to friends and family and said, ‘Read this and let me know what you think.’”
Years later, the Colorado native finally got an answer. He was back at a family function, and his great-grandmother pulled him aside and said, “I read your book. I hated it.”
At that time, Ryd was a student at Hillsdale College and knew his future wasn’t in the written word, but in video. Working as a production assistant in the College’s Marketing Department, the English major honed his craft, but he also had other lessons to learn.
“I came to Hillsdale because I had a couple of teachers and a track coach in high school who were good men who I looked up to, and I saw something in them that I wanted to become,” he said. “I loved the way they talked about their wives, and I loved the way they talked about Hillsdale. I wanted to be like them.”
Upon graduation, he worked as a videographer for the College for three years. Last year, he ventured out with his own business, Ryd Films, which is located in nearby Jonesville, Michigan. Now an accomplished storyteller, Ryd said he is attempting to prove that he can be a prolific filmmaker in a small, rural community.
“That question brought me a lot of anxiety the past few years,” he said. “Conventional wisdom of filmmaking is that you have to be in a big city—New York or LA or Atlanta. Or, if you are in Michigan, you should be in Grand Rapids or Detroit.”
To defy the odds as a rural filmmaker, Ryd said he tries to inject three things into every project: strangeness, particularity, and resonance. He said he looks for what is unique about a person, project or product.
“I like to find something that may be different. Resonance is pointing to truth. When you resonate, you are hitting on something real,” he said.
He added that the technical and organizational aspects of the job are also very important, and, at times, grueling. Ryd said shooting a 15-second commercial can take up to a week to complete. Proper and thorough planning and getting to know the subjects before the shoot are also crucial to the creative process. And, of course, having the right equipment.
Ryd said his biggest challenge is “having good ideas.” He said he enjoys having the flexibility and freedom to work on his ultimate goal: creating feature films.
“It’s helpful to have the flexibility to take time out of the work week to write a script, or take time to fly out to a film festival, or to be able to work with a variety of different people,” he said. “My ambition is not to create a large media company. I would like to write and direct feature films. I don’t know exactly what that looks like or where exactly that would be, but it would be awesome if I could do that kind of work while still being based in a place like this. We like it here.”
Ryd is working on several significant projects, including educational public policy videos for Kite and Key Media. He continues to freelance for the College, creating videos for the annual Athletic Hall of Fame inductees and Alumni Award winners, as well as other various commercial projects.
He said working and living in Hillsdale County comes down to three things: his family, his church (Countryside Bible), and making art.
“I realized that living in Hillsdale County was really good for the first two things,” said Ryd, who lives in Jonesville with his wife, Lara, ’18, and their nearly two-year-old son, Walter. “For a couple of years I wasn’t sure if it would be good for the third one. But so far, I think so.”
Editor’s note: This is a new series featuring alumni who live and work in Hillsdale County.
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s new director of Alumni Marketing. He’s looking forward to connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in June 2022