 Eric. Eric from show real. Hey, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Hi, Eric Vellante. Good to meet you. Pleasure, man. Okay, Eric Jackson with show real international. You guys, NABs, you're like home here, right? That's it. How late were you out last night, schmoozing with all the clients and doing production deals? I was sleeping all night. We tell about rest. So tell us about show real real quick and then we're going to go into some of the dynamics around the marketplace. Obviously, you know, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting some production shop these days that claims they do this, that and the other thing. So let's go into what you guys are doing and then we'll talk about the industry landscape. Sure. So show real is a full service production company. We're located in the heart of Hollywood. We've been there a very long time. We started in commercials and today we're doing a lot of corporate work and more and more every day we're doing content creation. So having the tools to help us excel on the field is really wonderful. When I started everything was proprietary. You had to have big money to compete and today we're competing with the biggest production and post companies out there. So we were talking last night about the success of like things like Hunger Games and the big shop. Well, they needed that when Lionsgate did. But, you know, other shops, the big shops continue to get bigger but they don't necessarily become in-house and the middle guys are kind of dying away. So at the other end of the market, you have a lot of specialty. Can you talk about the dynamics and the landscape? And you guys, the big shops do still work with a lot of these other shops. So how does all that play out? What's the dynamics and is it working? Well, it's our marketplace is a little different. We're not doing Hunger Games although who knows someday but our specialty, like I said, is corporate video. And what we find in the corporate arena is there is a void that they want to produce great work for the most part. They don't always have the budget. So that's where we come in and being able to figure out, you know, you have, you know, the budget ranges are anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000. We used to shoot a 30-second commercial for $200,000. So we've buttoned up the shop. We work a lot harder, fewer people, but really what we do is we rely on technology along with our skills to be able to produce great products for our clients. We have basically two choices for our clients. The first is you have X amount of money, that's what you're going to get and that's not the way we operate. So leaning on our talents and the tools, we're able to deliver far superior products than the budget. So I think the days of really bad corporate video are, they're definitely diminishing because there's a lot of technology and a lot of talent out there. Gosh, so how about the tech? Talked a little bit more about the technology behind it. What are some of the cool things that might resonate with the audience? Cameras, cameras are key. You know, the technology, the DSLR revolution really kind of opened the door for stunning images and we shoot anything from DSLRs to, you know, I'm a lover of high-speed photography so we just shot some epic stuff and it's beautiful. The biggest, I think, game changer for us is the post-production workflow and the speed of processors these days, computers, the tools, the plug-ins and everything that we put into play, it's so valuable. For me, the biggest technology that we've been relying on lately is the mobile platform and it's really just a great advantage to be able to be in the field, see your project come to life and make necessary adjustments based on being able to see things instantly. So mobile is part of your normal workflow? It absolutely is now. And that's not just some kind of cool demo, you're actually using mobile as part of the flow? Absolutely. Talk about that a little bit. Well, when I first started using mobile technology, it was really so after the shoot, I can go home and get something done so I can sleep at night. Make sure we had it in the can so it was a little bit of an insurance factor but more and more today, there are tools that I use in the field. One of the examples is we just finished a project for Levi Strauss and Company and we were pinning graphics to work them into the scene and we put one in a frame and we shot in this beautiful house and there's this big picture window. We wanted the graphic right in there so we framed it up and we had a lot of room on the right so the editor put it in the frame. Well, we were able to on set, pin it and we looked at it and we decided we wanted the graphic to be bigger so we needed to adjust our framing and that took just a matter of minutes to reshoot it, spit it out of the computer like that and away we go on to the next shot. It's an insurance policy for me and it makes our producer happy because we can do it fast so she's happy. And it lowers your cost too. I mean, your cost dare plummet. Time to shoot, post-production, edit. You got it. You got it. I mean, you guys know production. It's all about getting it done, getting it done right but most importantly staying on schedule. Got it. What are the cool things you're working on? You mentioned Levi Strauss. What are the cool projects? Can you share the folks out there that have that, you know, the photography which is really about engaging the audiences. You know, the corporate guys don't necessarily have the skills in the house as well to do that but that's the key right now in this world is engaging, having something that's so compelling and elegant and beautiful but yet does the job and gets messages across. What are some cool things? Yeah, I can't talk about the specific projects but some of the types of projects we're doing are some pretty heavy-duty investor-relation videos. So a couple big Fortune 500 companies going to Wall Street and in doing so they really have to present this gold image this really solid image. So, you know, nothing schlocky. It's got to look like a 30-second commercial but it's got to be three minutes of beautiful photography, it's a sync message. Great sound. Yeah, great, great everything. So yeah, we'll go in and we'll look into the heart and soul of the employees and the corporation but more importantly we're delivering broadcast quality. Things they would see, you know, not Channel 800 but Prime Time Television and I think if you do anything less for the audience you've lost them. They're just used to seeing. Such great work out there. So when you're trying to deliver a message you have to engage them. You have to engage them. What's your advice of folks out there? Obviously, there's a lot of new... I wouldn't call them Indy but you can call them Indy. I'm going to call them Indy and individuals, consumers are out there shooting great stuff with iPhones. We saw some demos last night with, you know, the skateboarders. We're going to see some around from here in the set here. Not everyone's a guru of photography and, you know, was the shaky camera. Now I can have a 7D and I could go out and do some amazing photography. Now this video I can shoot pretty compelling stuff but it's not just shooting, right? Yeah. So take us some advice from the shooting piece and then some workflow kind of optimizations. Well, everything we do, there's a reason. We're not just, you know, today I feel like being shaky and tomorrow I'm going to be on a techno crane. Everything plays into the message. So it's really important to understand what that message is and the feel you're trying to convey and play into that. The Levi Strauss project was particularly challenging in that regard because it represented three brands. Levi's, Dockers and Denizen. So with each one of those we shot it different. So a lot of Levi's stuff was shaky. The Dockers was very smooth and fluid. So I think know the tools, understand how to use them. Don't get stuck in one kind of vision and pigeonhole that way and apply the appropriate creative to the project. For the corporations out there that haven't worked with a level of firm like you guys, what would you tell them to look for as kind of table stakes of minimums that they have to see when they talk to potential suppliers in this area of the studios? Oh, that's a good question. You don't have to just use it. No, no, I mean, because you know, it's confusing. They send RFP and then, you know, projects got to get done but there are minimum table stakes that have to be addressed now that consumers expect. I've seen RFPs written so many different ways from we need a lighting package and that's it. How do you bid we need a lighting package? So I think it's really important that corporations don't look at it like they're buying pencils. It's not a pencil. Really understand what you're looking to do, how somebody creatively is going to bring that to life. And most importantly, look at their history. Look at their work. What you see is what you're going to get and make sure they're not five-second clips of montage put together. You know, let's see full projects. Let's talk to clients. Really do your due diligence in hiring a production company and you know, it'll work out for you. The classic ask for references and look at some work. My other question for you is more of a personal note. Obviously you're here with your creative and also experience in doing the business on the side of the studio. What is your view of NAB here? The show, I mean, what's your vibe? You see a theme popping out. I've seen a lot of content, production, content type stuff. What's your take on NAB this year so far? Well, for me, it's always the big toys. I'm just fascinated by the big toys. So I haven't had a chance to walk the floor. I'm going to do that right after this. But yeah, I'm definitely going over to some of the red. I want to see the Lexa. I'm a camera guy. The post tools I'm pretty knowledgeable about already. So play with those on a daily basis. So where do you see that technology going over the next four or five years? Wow, that's a good question. I think it's just going to open up more creative possibilities. And I think as more technology, affordable technology is available and tools for more of the independent guy, which is a little more in line where we are, not being a huge studio, I think the talent that's going to surface in the next few years in the projects, we're going to see out there with the channels that are available to see it on. The cream is going to rise to the top and the work is going to be amazing. And I really look forward to seeing that. It's all about taking that high-end technology, bringing it down to a price point that makes sense for you and then bringing that to a much, much larger audience. And then eventually it sounds like it goes to the masses. It does. And it's a little bit of a field of dreams. You have to understand what the technology can do and then you can figure out creatively how to apply it. If you don't know what it does, how are you going to dream about it at night? So definitely be informed and that's what I'm doing here. But it sounds like a lot of what you guys do is that creative piece, like you say, you want your clients to talk about full projects, get in there, you kind of embed yourselves, right? Is that what you need from your clients? You want them to give you some access to their best customers and the stories and come in, you interview them, you tease that apart. What's that process like? Well, it's more than just pulling out a camera and lighting it pretty. It's really understanding who they are. Everything we do has to work within their brand. We're working with Fortune 500 companies. So it's not a mom-paw shop. We're not inventing this color or that look. Everything has to work within it. On the same time, we're always trying to keep it engaging. So, you know, corporations sometimes very traditional. So we're pushing them as far as we can. And usually what happens is creatively we'll push them out of the box. And this is from a concept point of view and they'll bring us back a little bit. But what we find is there's a happy meeting point there. And in the end, they're just, it kind of changes the way they look at visual communications. Well, a lot of times you must be hurting cats. There's different agendas. And so when you push them out of the box, they sort of get their attention. Yeah. And then maybe neutralize some of the politics. You know, we haven't shot too many elephants jumping out of helicopters. But we've shot lots of CEOs and figuring out how to integrate a story. And a lot of it is the focus of their employees and their customers. So you kind of take that what is typically not very exciting and figure out how to, you know, really bring that to life. Eric, we were talking prior to the kickoff of the show this morning that, you know, the web created web pages and allowed people to source information in your browse and create Google and search engines and all that good stuff. And, you know, one of the things we shot the arrow forward and said was that media is the new web page worth mobile, social and cloud and enables media and the idea of broadcasting content as that next set of content. But content that's interactive, contents that's measurable, content on multiple devices. So with that being said, I'm sure you agree with that, right? Absolutely. In case you agree with that. So cool. So question is, what do you see for the corporations you deal with? Because Levi Strauss, they're a big brand. We've interviewed Tom Peck. They're CTO on this cube here. Great company, Innovative in San Francisco. But in general, corporations, if the web page became their website as their core vehicle to do business, you can stretch and say, hey, media is their broadcast studio is their new web presence. So if that being said, are you seeing that kind of forward thinking in the client base? Are they building their own studios? Are they really looking at this from a design usability and broadcasting standpoint? Clients, they absolutely are building their own studios because there's nothing proprietary. Everybody can get their hands on it. So if they have enough of a workflow, they certainly will. But I think the type of work that they focus on in-house and their talents is a little different than what we do because our specialty is this very narrow place. And that's where we come in. I think as far as web applications, yeah, video all the way. Who wants to read anymore? A couple bullet points and hit play. You know, it's a YouTube world. So, and a lot of our clients are definitely, definitely taking notice of that. Couple bullet points, hit play. Videos, way to go. Show real Eric Jackson. Thanks for coming on and enjoy your walk around the floor. Thank you.