 Lightwave Media is a professional Tampa Bay video production company. They provide video marketing services in Florida They have a great rental program in Florida And they just completed a 1.4 million dollar deal for a new studio and beautiful st. Pete Christian welcome to TFNN Hey, how are you today? I'm doing great man yourself Doing great doing good here. Thanks. So tell us a little bit about Lightwave Media Sure. Well, yeah, I started the company About 15 years ago here in st. Pete and we do film and video production We've produced a few different feature films in the area some TV shows and We just upgraded our studio to a larger space. We're in about 11,000 square feet now That we just moved into yeah, so we're pretty excited Now I am when I'm on your site and the site folks is light wave media light wave media calm And it's pretty cool that you have this big rental program. Talk to me about this rental program So what kind of what kind of action is on the rental program? Sure, so what we do both equipment rentals like cameras Lenses lighting and then we also rent our studio out So if you're looking for say a green screen to produce a commercial in a white cyclorama Infinity wall that type of thing. We also have custom sets So sometimes people come in and say hey, I want to I want to have a spaceship or I want to have a office or a living room set Yeah, so we can kind of create whatever the person's or company's vision is right here in the studio What is it? What is a white cyclone? Whatever you did because I was on there. I was looking at that. What is that man? Yeah, sure So a white site. I don't remember those Mac versus PC commercials. They had back in yes They're only two thousand. Yes, they've got those on like a white cyclorama. So basically looks like Infinity it just looks like a big white space Pretty popular with corporate commercials and corporate videos No, I was looking at it looks pretty cool and your studio is big enough I saw that they can bring trucks in cars in you can do that whole bit, right? Yeah, yeah bring bring your bring your Mercedes down here and we'll get you taken care of Tell me what the markets like like when you go out. I'm sure you know when you're We're in the advertising business you got to go out and sell right? That's so tell us what the markets like Tell us how you get business Sure Well, we do get a lot of our business through referrals as well as through our website on Google Yeah, basically people that also are flying into the area say there's a producer coming from LA and he's looking for a local Video guy or camera guy or maybe cool. I get it, right? Yeah, they'll call us up and say hey Can can we shoot in your studio? We've got a you know a client looking at film there down in Tampa That's kind of how we'll get a lot of our business and then we have local clients as well that we work in that's nice Man, and I'm sure you know you've been business long enough that you've seen the growth and the whole safe Pete tamper area I mean everybody when I was first starting out wanted to go to LA and I said, yeah Let me try Florida out first and we just we came here and there wasn't a lot of people doing what we're doing here back Then yeah now there's some more competition But it was a great place to kind of grow and now we're seeing a lot of people come here like the tech companies are coming Here from California now So there's a good amount of business in this area I think it's a great place to be for a business like ours. There's no doubt. You know, it's pretty cool, man is that People are getting more used to I mean you can do quite a bit with your phone And you know in one way you can understand you say that oh you wouldn't get as much business But you really get probably more business because now people realize there's a huge difference between what you can do in A phone and then something like calling lightweight media up like okay, man Yeah, you know, I know I understand the phones are great, but guess what you really want something going man Well here here's some cameras and here's some lighting. We can help you out with yeah We love it when clients kind of dip their toes in maybe they shoot some of them their iPhone Hey, this is my idea, but I want to want to take it to the next level or how can I make this look more cinematic or How can we bring Hollywood here to St. Pete or Tampa Bay? Yeah, that's what we try to help our clients do is you know create cinematic and you know high-end videos right here without having to go to New York or LA and you know our new studio will have similar technology to what they're using in Hollywood like in Disney's Mandalorian's like a Star Wars show and if you've seen that okay big baby Yoda and all that they should not big LED screen so when you're looking at that footage instead of it being a green screen Like it used to be in the old days now They're they'll just project that footage right up on the screen behind the actor so they can see oh I'm on You know this distant planet now, or I'm in the desert You know you can kind of project anything behind you in real time now I will be having that new technology in our new studio. We're really excited about that. Oh, you gotta be man That's that's really cool, man. I didn't know that they did that. Is it it's really amazing, you know what? Technology has done to this business, you know, I remember the first time that when we bought One of the boxes to just you know go out to the studios whether we're running two or three You know programs at the same time it was a fortune and then now they're down to like ten thousand dollars I mean, I know that's not you know, it's it's it's a lot less trust me folks Okay, these machines are a lot more expensive when we started. Oh, yeah I mean what you used to have to spend back in the day to get into the business was just crazy now And I can do like you said on your phone. You can create pretty darn good videos So it's it's a pretty exciting time to be in this business But you kind of gotta evolve and make sure you don't get you know left behind with the technology sometimes and that's where you know You know running a business, right the bottom line is that you you get ahead then all of a sudden like you just said I'm sure that new technology about like okay You have to bite the bullet, but you got to do it for the future, right? Exactly you got it you got to get in there And that's what and we're trying to stay stay above the curve a little bit and and have one of those new LED walls It's called LED volume here Okay, so that people come in and shoot anywhere that you can basically make it look like you're anywhere in the world But you can be right here in our studio But yeah, definitely staying ahead of that is a big part of Trying to be successful and not you know get left behind so where did you come from when you came down here? I'm actually from New Jersey originally and Boston. So yeah, I'm from South Boston Oh street Boston, that's where I love it. That's hey, that's a beautiful thing. Yeah, I'll tell you folks Okay, you know that I'm prejudiced this place But guess what you have a bad day down here with these blue blue skies. It's something else That's the real bottom line. You know, I was just reading that you got Brady and his wife Garzell They're doing a big ad a 20 million dollar ad now for a new crypto Well, it's not a new crypto exchange, but we we got to get you to pick up a few of those accounts That would be that's the that's the account. I'd like to have for sure. Yeah, that sounds great We've had some pretty cool projects this past year, but that sounds like a winner. Yeah, no, there's no doubt Well, listen, this has been a pleasure You know, I wish you the best and I I love the idea in folks the bottom line whether you want some production done Okay, it's lightweight media calm You know, if you want to do it yourself, I'm looking I mean he has an amazing amount of cameras lighting, you know cinema lens packages You know electric audio the photo lenses the whole ball of wax and of course he has the studio Give him a buzz man. Give him a buzz. You can come on into the studio You can get you can get you're basically a brand going because the bottom line is that you know between Oddly social media is now. I mean branding is so important. It's incredible. Oh Absolutely couldn't agree with you more. Yeah, we've had some really cool clients like AC DC in here this year, which was a big Surprise for us, but also really just like a kind of one of those surreal experiences So that's perfect. We like work with big clients like that all the way down to the locals. So absolutely Well, this is a Christian. This has been awesome. Appreciate the education. We look forward to having you on again. Thank you Thanks so much man. Have a great one. Have a safe one Stay right there folks who come right back