How Andy Closed $116K In Video Retainers - Master Filmmaker Case Study

What's going on guys? I am here with one of our clients, Andy, from Lightship Studios, who closed $116K since working with us and most recently closed a $36K deal directly from the ad system. Andy, how are you? What's going on?

I'm doing good. Thank you.

Awesome. Do you, do you mind just giving us a little bit of background on kind of you, your production company, for anybody who maybe doesn't know you guys? Like, what is it that you guys do? How'd you kind of get started? And just give us a little bit of background if you don't mind.

I actually started the company in 1999. It's been around for a long time and we've gone through a lot of iterations, kind of, you know, there's been a changing landscape in TV and video production during that time. So it's always been trying to like figure out, well, what's the next iteration? What, what could we do next to, you know, stay in the game, stay profitable, stay up on what, what is relevant for companies? Because obviously there's been an explosion of through social media and content that's just everywhere. So we were really looking for a new way to stand out, a new way to attract clients. And that's when I stumbled upon Master Filmmaker.

Was it one of my annoying ads just hitting you in the feed somewhere?

Yeah. Yeah. I got a lot of ads in my feed. Yeah. Sorry about that. I gotcha. So I guess— Oh, it's all good. Cause yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's kind of like we learned you have to, you know, you gotta see an ad a few times. Yeah. And understand, okay, you, you, you know, you get, you get hit with it and then you think about it and you're like, okay, well maybe I should do this. Exploratory call and figure out what this is all about.

For sure. And obviously the landscape, like you said, was changing a bit. What do you feel like was kind of the biggest problem coming into the program that you were looking to get solved?

Definitely the biggest problem was we were doing, you know, all one-off productions. And so you have to go through the whole sales process, sell them, and you know, some of them just weren't that profitable and it wasn't worth a one-off video. It was just a lot of time. And when I really looked at Yeah, we weren't being very profitable.

Yeah. So it's just more— it would make more sense to work with them over a longer term, basically, versus just doing the one-off.

Okay. I think that's what really attracted me to your whole business plan. Yeah. Yeah.

The model definitely makes it a lot easier to become profitable, to stay profitable, to build better partnerships with your clients, to get them better results because you're working with them over a longer period of time. Obviously, it's like the one-off model is great, but it's kind of like going to the gym one time and expecting to get ripped after you go to the gym. It's like, it's— yeah, it's— you have to work at it. You got to work with people long term. And I always tell my clients that too. It's like, we have to be working with each other long-term to really make sure that we're growing and you're getting the results that you want out of this relationship as well, which I think is super important.

Yeah.

I guess like what, because obviously there's other people out there who teach and help and all that kind of stuff. What made you maybe choose Master Filmmaker over maybe some of the other programs you've seen, or like maybe hadn't seen other programs, or like, was there anything that kind of made us stand out versus maybe someone else you were looking at?

We tried a couple of those like lead generating programs, one was like an automatic cold email program. They didn't really didn't get any results for us at all. And I, so I think the difference, well, first of all, the difference was I liked the whole idea of the plan and I liked the way everything is laid out through, you know, the whole course is videos and it's like easy to go through them and I would take notes and I would like, you know, retain it. And then I could go back and be like, okay, well, what was that point again? Like for instance, the objections videos are really good because it lets you think about, well, when you're pitching a client, how do you break down those objections before they even happen? So it was, it was just really a different approach that intrigued me. And then I would say absolutely number 2 is your team. Very personable, very easy to work with. There's key people on your team that I definitely rely on. Really easy to connect, have conversations, whether they're the group conversations or get one-on-one help. Uh, you know, cause some of the things like setting up the whole ad thing, it's a little topic.

It'd be daunting.

But you guys, you're kind of always there. And in fact, you are, you're more there than I am sometimes. And I like that cause you're, you're like pushing me to like, you know, stay focused and stay engaged and keep moving forward.

Yeah. Well, and, and I appreciate that, number one. And number two, the reason I built the program is so you can start to understand how to do this yourself. Because I, I had hired agencies in the past. I had hired and outsourced like people to get me leads and it never worked out because you have to understand how to do that as the business owner. And like when you outsource it, no one's really going to care as much about your business as you will. And so it's very difficult to get results from that. And I've wasted a lot of money on those types of kind of agencies. Doesn't mean they did anything wrong. It's just that they, it wasn't necessarily a fit because you have to understand those principles. And then once you do, you control the business and it becomes a different game.

And I have to say, I've really, you know, like I said, it was, there's definitely a learning curve there, especially when it comes to kind of the technical side of ads and working through that. But I like that I know it now myself. I mean, I'm not perfect at it, I, you know, but I've been running ads for other things that I do in my business too. I've kind of figured out the model and I'm getting good results, not only on my ads for my own company, but I'm doing it for other things as well. And that's been kind of really good to now have that in my tool belt. Yeah.

Well, and you can also hire someone to be in charge of that and then have them own it and at least understand enough to be like, okay, are they doing it right? Are they doing it wrong? What does success look like? And have a little bit more of an understanding there, you know?

And I'm definitely getting to that point where we're growing pretty quickly. So I need people to handle certainly parts of my marketing efforts now, but I feel like I can guide them and teach them. But also, you know, our production has really blown up. I have 3 editors working for me right now simultaneously.

That's awesome.

On multiple projects. And that was another big thing I learned was like, I got to step back and can't be so hands-on.

Yeah.

That was really like a helpful, important lesson because you, it's, you know, we all have heard the phrase, you can't If you're working in the business, you can't be working on the business. Yeah.

Yeah. And it's such a, it is so difficult to do both, like genuinely, because when you're in the business, you're like in the weeds thinking of all the things, trying to get everything done. And it literally leaves you no mental space to like think about where is the business actually going and what direction do I want to take it? And what's the high-level strategy, which like no one's going to do that for you. You can always find people to do the lower-level stuff for you where it's like, the editing, the filming, the account management, the client interfacing, whereas no one's going to be the visionary like you will, right, within the business, which I think is huge.

Yeah. Yeah.

I guess kind of a weird question, but where do you feel like you might have been, or maybe the business might have been, if you hadn't taken a leap, maybe invested in yourself, joined a program, right? Doesn't have to be us or someone else, but like, where do you feel like you might have been if you hadn't done that? Because it is uncomfortable to do that, right?

Yeah. So I think I'd be struggling, honest. I would. I really had to kind of reinvent, think about our marketing or lack of marketing, and understand it's a different world now and there's different approaches. And I will say one thing that's interesting is that I have friends that are in other lines of work who have done coaching programs, and a lot of things they've learned, tactics, are very similar. So it kind of reinforced the fact that, oh, what I'm learning from Master Filmmaker is kind of the way people are doing things these days, that it's a good approach to marketing your business. And even though those businesses are different, it was just interesting.

I think the fundamentals are really key because like everything I do with our agency clients as well is like the same thing that we teach you guys. And it's marketing is marketing. It just depends on who you're marketing it for and the specifics of the business. And that's where things change a little bit. But I think the fundamentals do stay the same to your point. So.

Yeah. And I, I, you know, I, I was always a producer and director. Yeah. I never took a marketing class in my life. Yeah. And I feel like now I've taken a marketing class. Yeah. I'm still working on it, but it just opened my eyes to so many opportunities and just a really a new way to think about the business and, you know, keeping moving forward. It's, you know, yeah. Yeah.

No, that makes sense. And I guess, you know, there's probably a lot of people in the same situation where you were flexible enough to be like, I need to make a change. What would you say to somebody who's maybe like, I kind of want to stay in my ways. I don't really want to make a change. Like, like someone who maybe is a little more stubborn to be like, I don't know if I want to make a change. I want to keep things the way they are. Like, what would you say to somebody like that who's maybe in the same position and doesn't want to be as flexible?

You just have to take a hard look at if you're happy where your business is. Yeah, I wasn't. I knew that the jobs weren't coming in as frequently. This whole idea of doing, you know, 6, 8, 12-month contracts was just such— it's been such a help because not to have to go out and resell a client.

Yeah.

Or a new client on a one-off project all the time.

So exhausting.

Yeah. I would just say that it's, it's definitely worth a shot and you know, it's definitely paid off for me.

And because you did that, but I want to preface, you did the work, you did the legwork, you came in and implemented it.

Right.

And I always say that in every one of these interviews, it's not a magic pill. You have to come in and actually do the work too, which you clearly do. You have to do the work.

You have to do the work. And sometimes that's hard because we all get bogged down in project things and, you know, you're trying to expand. And if you're not quite there yet, I mean, a big hump for me was editing. As I said, I have 3 editors working for me. They're in different parts of the country from me, but you know, these days it's really easy. I just upload the scripts, the footage, whatever they need. And it's really been very helpful because that, that part is kind of on autopilot now.

That's nice. And I forgot to ask, but how does it feel now to have like ads running, people coming in, getting that first deal from ads? Like, how was that experience? Because you hadn't closed anything from ads before this program, right?

I closed within a couple of weeks after starting to run ads. I mean, I got, I just, I got tons of responses immediately, you know, and, and like we, you talk about in the program, you have to qualify them and not all of them are qualified. I've definitely set, I have scripts for my next set of ads that are going to like refine and I think improve the quality of my leads coming in. And I'm excited about that, but it's, it's, I have to say it's pretty cool to have people coming to you.

Yeah. Yeah, it is fun. You're like, whoa, where's this coming from?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's nice. That's awesome.

Well, Andy, I appreciate your time. I'm excited to do another one of these when we're at multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars in deals closed. And I'm very happy about your success, very, very excited for you. And, you know, we're excited to do another one of these and appreciate your time.

Well, great. I, I want to thank you, thank the, the whole team of Master Filmmaker. You guys have been really great. I appreciate it. Changed my business.

I appreciate it, Andy. We love to hear it, and we'll see you in the next one. All right, awesome.

Andy, Andy