:: About
Ron Proulx by Ron Proulx ::
Foreword
Short bio’s are good for giving the most basic of
information on someone, but they don’t do a great job of
letting you get to know an individual in any meaningful
way. They certainly don’t do a good job of telling my own
story! If you’ve read this far then you are claiming some
interest in getting to know me better. This is the place to
find out why I’m doing what I’m doing and how I got here in
the first place.
Anne and
Eddie
I have to push the way back dials briefly to my parents -
we are where we come from aren’t we?! - and in my case it’s
too true. My mother was a painter who became an art agent -
if you ever visit my office or home you’ll see many of the
large abstract oils that she did. As a youngster I met and
appreciated all kinds of crazy artists who visited our
home. I understood art as something to behold as well as
something to buy and sell. As a music supervisor for the
last several years this has come in very handy!
Though my father rose through the ranks with one company
all his life - Kresges/K-mart - he was much more than
simply a company man. He played piano, had a great sense of
humour, and understood what made people tick. I learned so
much from him, including how important it is to be a man of
your word. Liars get found out. Fakes get uncovered. And
the way to make anything of yourself is through hard work.
Sure, it’s easy to talk the talk. The real trick is to
actually walk the walk. I found out from him that if you
could do the walking part you were already half-way there.
A Turning
Point
When I was 17, I thought I was going to Ryerson in Toronto
for my Radio and Television diploma/degree so that I could
work in the fascinating world of advertising and/or in
television in general. I’d read Wilson Bryan Key’s
“Subliminal Seduction”, and it changed my life. How could I
manipulate people like that! How fun would that be?!
So, off I went to Ryerson, promptly discovered the campus
radio station, became music director for my 3 years there,
and pretty much ignored my courses. Radio introduced me to
documentary style foreground programming, interviews,
magazine shows, music librarian needs… life was great.
What Do You
Want Out Of Life?
The death of my childhood friend Don Zalusky marked the
first time I really had to take stock of my life. I’d had
people die around me before this, but Don was one of the
great ones. We grew up playing hockey together. Then he
dove off a cliff and hit a rock. Over. If he could die,
then anyone could die, including me. I was faced with one
of life’s big questions; if I were to die tomorrow, what
would I want to make sure I did today? In a heartbeat, I
dropped all my plans to work in advertising, television,
radio, you name it… and I did what I wanted make sure I did
before I died… songwriting.
I’d played music from the very beginning, had a
sound-on-sound open reel tape recorder in my teen years
where my friends and I created these massive music and
sound collages, and I wrote tons of songs. All since I was
fourteen - not good ones, but songs nevertheless! By the
time I had my first eureka moment I owned a cool four-track
recorder, a mini-moog, and a wurlitzer electric piano. I’d
started by playing drums and piano - one of my brothers
played piano and so did my dad. My brothers always
rehearsed their Animals/Cream/Doors cover bands at our
house, so I got to bang away on everything that moved once
they’d finished rehearsing. Oh, what a time that was. I
learned all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll long before
I knew to put the three ideas together! Even though it was
a little before my adolescent life, I did get to witness
the 60’s. I can tell you there’s been nothing like it
since. Ha!
Anyway, I left Ryerson and played in many garden variety
cover bands, touring Canada, drinking beer and meeting my
share of girls. I learned a lesson in life then; when
you’re young you’ll put up with lots of things if there’s
beer and girls involved! Besides, at nite and on weeks off,
I was writing songs and doing performance art style pieces
with explosions, props, and tape backing.
Picture
Comes To Life
Then I started a band with my girlfriend of the time - Kat
- called Picture Comes To Life. Long story short is that we
produced an indie record in about ‘87, and got a
development deal with BMG who re-released it. We thought we
were on our way. We were offered a publishing deal for a
lot of money - at least to us - but we were so sure we
could do better that we turned it down. Big mistake. We
were never offered another pub deal, our record sold well
under a million copies, and we were dropped.
During this time we made several music videos, some of
which I produced, and were truly an “art band”. We handmade
and coloured our clothes, our stage sets… the whole thing
was an attempt to express some sort of artistic statement
that was decidedly less rock and more pop.
Plan
B
Cut to 1992, my father died, the band died, and I needed a
Plan B for my life. Plan A certainly was not going to work
out. And the original Plan A was so far in the past now, so
much re-invention had occurred over the years that I had
stopped even thinking about television or advertising as
either a direction or an option.
I started a music publicity company - and hated it - then
an artist management company - and hated it - and began
thinking about this new thing called the internet. Hmm,
that looked cool! Maybe people would like to have home
pages? Most people looked at me with a blank stare when I’d
mention it. The small hosting companies that had begun to
spring up - this was way back in 1994 - didn’t have any
pricing for such a thing. Some of them even debated me on
why someone would want a webpage of their own.
Plan
C
I started to look into opening a web authoring company. I
took office space - ok a room - and began to plot. But, no
sooner did I start plotting than I received a phone call
from an industry contact asking if I’d like to throw my
name into a hat to become a music supervisor. Hmm… well, a
bird in hand… and besides, if you’d asked me when I was 16
what I wanted to be doing when I was 40 I would have said
scoring films, so this made some sense to me! I ditched my
webguy plans right away and nailed the job interview. I was
now a music supervisor. Uh, what’’s a music supervisor
anyway??!!!
Actually, I sort of knew what my job would entail. But
there was no one else with this function in Toronto in
1994, so I worked on all sorts of things. Features, TV
films, series… lots and lots of stuff for 2 years until I
moved on to run the filmmusic division of a film production
company. Fast forward to 1997 and when I started what would
become my first company - a music supervision entity
originally called Ron Proulx International and now named
Arpix Media.
The Hanging
Garden
Everyone needs a ticket, and mine was a small film called
“The Hanging Garden”. It won a bunch of awards and gave me
the credibility one needs to go forward with a new
business. Truly, I’ve never looked back since that day. My
website lists the many shows that either I or my incredible
employees have worked on over the years. It’s been a gas,
lots of fun, and we'’ve put a lot of money into the hands
of many artists over the years.
The Rights
Company
In late 1999 I lucked into meeting my soon-to-be business
partner in my second venture. Amy Lennie now runs The
Rights Company. Truly, I’m blessed that I met her. A
bright, hard-working human who has helped build a great
company. Two for two… not bad!!
Takin Care
Of Business
The idea that I should be running not just one but two
successful and creative businesses has been both surprising
and obvious to me. Look, I’m smart enough, but I don’t have
an MBA. I use common sense and try to keep the bullshit to
a minimum. Incredibly and happily, it’’s worked for me all
along. I feel lucky to have done it - for the most part -
my way!
What Do You
Really Want Out Of Life?
Now, in spite of all the above, by 2001 I began to wonder
what my next challenge might be. And by September 11th I
knew that no matter what else, new challenges were for me.
I love what I do, but I wanted to open up a little. I began
to explore more seriously the idea of producing film and
television myself. So, might that happen? Stay tuned!!