Not the flattering ones. These are the questions that come up in most first conversations, usually about halfway through, once someone decides to say what they are really thinking.
It is the first thing most people say, and it stops plenty of good businesses before they begin. Rather than write you a paragraph about it, here are two answers, neither of which is “get better at it”.
Being good on camera isn't a thing. Being yourself is.
A mechanic doesn't need to be a TV presenter. He needs to know cars, and talk about cars. The expertise is already there. Pablo's job is making the space where it comes out.
And if it's the nerves stopping you, those are learned away.
Confidence in front of a lens is a skill, not a talent you either have or you don't. Mel was not born comfortable doing this either.
You don't have to be good at it. You just have to do it.
You might not, and that's what the first conversation is for. It's free, and if video isn't the right spend for you right now, we'll say so. We would rather lose the job than sell you the wrong thing, and we've done it before.
The businesses that think this are almost always wrong, and it's usually the technical ones. Nobody wants a brand film about a bracket. But plenty of people want to know how to fit one properly, why it fails when it fails, which one they need for the job, and what the rules say. Somebody is typing that into a search bar right now, at the exact moment they're deciding what to buy. Useful beats interesting, every time.
Not at all, and we're not trying to replace them. They run your marketing. We work out what video is worth making and then make it, and the plan is yours to hand straight to them if that's easiest. Plenty of what we produce makes their job simpler.
Then say so early and we'll work to it. Production runs from about $3,500, and it's less if you already have footage we can use, if we're filling gaps rather than starting from scratch, or if someone on your team can shoot once we've set them up. It can also be phased across the year rather than done in one hit.
Nobody wants to, at first. But as Pablo puts it above: being good on camera isn't a thing. A mechanic doesn't need to present, he needs to know cars and talk about cars. The expertise is already there. We build the day to feel like a conversation about the work rather than a performance, and most people walk out surprised by how much they enjoyed it. Part of the Starting Line is working out who is actually right on camera, so nobody gets pushed into it. If someone genuinely refuses, we won't force them.
No, and please don't. Scripts are why most corporate video is unwatchable. We ask you about work you already know inside out, and Pablo's whole job on the day is making you forget the camera is there. What lands on screen is you thinking, not you reciting.
Usually not the person you'd expect, and usually not just the boss. The people who land best are the ones who do the work and can explain it plainly: the technician, the specifier, the person who's been there twenty years. Working out who those people are is part of the Starting Line.
The plan, the approach and the skills belong to the business, not to one person. If someone goes, you still have the plan and the setup, and we help you work out who picks it up. It's one of the reasons we build a plan rather than a personality.
The Starting Line is $4,500 + GST, and it's the same for everyone. Production runs from $3,500 to $20,000 + GST, quoted once the plan tells us what we are making, and based on what you need rather than what we think you can afford. The full breakdown is here.
Less than you're imagining. The Starting Line is two or three conversations, an hour or two each, over a fortnight. After that, a filming day is the single biggest ask: one day on site, and the people on camera are usually needed for an hour or two each, not the whole day. We handle everything around it. Your team turns up and talks about work they already know.
Often, yes, and it's the cheapest thing you can do. Plenty of businesses have hours of usable footage sitting on a drive from an old shoot. If we can cut something useful out of it, that's production budget you don't spend. We look for it during the Starting Line.
Eventually, that's the idea. If someone on your team can shoot, we'll build the plan around them and set them up with the kit and the skills. Some clients film everything themselves after the first wave. Others would rather we kept doing it. Both are fine.
Wherever your buyers are, which is rarely just one place. That might be search and YouTube, your own site, your sales team's emails, a distributor's counter, a trade show screen, or LinkedIn. Working out which of those matter for you is part of the plan, and it's the bit most people skip. Video made without a destination is just an expensive file.
No. We give you support hours to get the plan live: where each video belongs, how your sales team should use it, what to keep an eye on. You do the publishing. If you want someone to run all your marketing for you, that's a different conversation and probably a different business.
The first content lands within a few weeks of filming. The real change, buyers referencing you, conversations starting warm, people knowing who you are before you've met, usually takes a few months of showing up consistently. The 12-month plan exists precisely so it doesn't fizzle out after the first shoot.
Not by view counts. The signals worth watching are the ones our clients report: people getting in touch out of the blue, prospects mentioning a video on a first call, someone at a trade show saying they've already seen you. We'll be honest with you: video is influence, and influence rarely attributes cleanly. What we can do is tell you what to watch for, and be straight about what it does and doesn't prove.
You do. All of it. Take the plan to another producer and have it costed, hand it to your agency, or run it in-house. We'd rather you chose us with your eyes open than felt locked in.
Ask us. If it's a good question we'll probably film the answer.