Meet Ross Stoner of Coastless in Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ross Stoner.

Ross, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My parents bought me a camcorder for Christmas when I was probably 13 or 14. I would make mountain bike videos with my friends. It wasn’t until I was 21 that I realized that creating videos was something that I wanted to do professionally. After checking out several film schools in Colorado, I enrolled in the Colorado Film School in Aurora. There I met a couple of teachers there would change my life. Learning the basics like understanding how aperture, iso and shutter speeds work together and knowing your role on set were critical to my success today. After three semesters, my mother had gotten sick so I took a semester off from school and focused on family and shooting videos. During that time, work had picked up so much that I was able to quit my part-time job and focus on creating videos full time. I rebranded my clothing company called Coastless Clothing to a production company simply called Coastless. I didn’t return to CFS but with the tools that I learned there and with a couple of close colleagues I met there, Coastless was off to the races.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Any new business is full of challenges and running a production company by yourself is no different. Day to day, I wear many hats and most of the time they have nothing to do with actually shooting videos. Feeling burnt out or creatively in a rut happens from time to time. I think the best way to overcome those feelings is to shoot a passion project or work on something that really fuels your soul and reminds you why you started the business in the first place. With COVID, everything has changed. Live music was my largest client-about 90% of my work. It hasn’t been easy this year but I’ve found myself back at where I started- shooting mountain bike videos. That in itself has been inspiring and challenging, but I’ve been keeping my head down and excited for the future.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Coastless – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Coastless is a one-man band operation. I specialize in documentary, music and action sports filmmaking. I’m most proud of simply being about to do what I love everyday.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Just trying to adapt and ride out COVID. I am in post-production on a documentary film about The Fox Theatre in Boulder but with the venue being shut down and in limbo financially, I feel like the story isn’t over yet so I’m waiting to see what happens there before finishing the film.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coastless.com
• Phone: 3038078259
• Email: ross@coastless.com
• Instagram: @coastless

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