Today we’d like to introduce you to Francesco Gangemi.
Francesco, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Pacific Creative Productions started out in 2017 as a small video production company. Our goal was to create a budget-friendly production company, that produced quality products. Coming from a TV/Film background in NY, I wanted to continue in the creative field, and relocating to San Diego, my entrepreneurial drive took hold and I went into business. At first, it was solely video production, but as our business evolved, we also added a live event department to our company. San Diego is a top 5 destination for the live event industry and many times the same people work in both live production and video production, so it seemed like a natural fit.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, our growth has been less than smooth. Many of the challenges we faced initially were the ones most companies faced, like building a good team or budgeting, but additionally, we had a very challenging time finding good clients. Being the new kid is always difficult, especially in this industry. San Diego already has many established players in town and LA is only a couple of hours away. However, once we did find clients, the challenges continued. We learned many had no focus, poor leadership, or lacked the funding they thought they had and as a result, many folded quickly.
After a lot of frustration and wasted time, we decided we had to find clients who fit certain criteria. First, they had to have real goals. This meant no more clients who threw around ideas to see what caught on. They had to know where they wanted to be in 5 years and who they were marketing too. Next, they had to have a clear identity. Sounds basic, but we had some early clients, who midway through the creative process decided they wanted to market themselves with an entirely new ideology. Finally, they had to have a strong team. One early client always had new people in charge of projects or departments and that brought meetings to a halt, as we have to bring the new people up to speed.
A recent challenge was Covid. The pandemic hit us very hard. Jobs were canceling weekly; nothing was happening and it seemed like we were doomed. Fortunately, our live event department kept the lights on. By pivoting to the virtual format many of our clients utilized this strategy to stay engaged with customers, when face-to-face wasn’t an option. However, a few of our clients did shut their doors, so we’ve had to start working the phones again to make up for that lost clientele.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a full-service creative agency. Concept to completion, we help every step of the way to create any type of video content, be it a commercial, web, marketing, or trade show video. With our live event department can create and manage any and all types of events, from a small meeting for 50 to a general session for a few thousand. We have a great team of dedicated, creative people, who love what they do.
What I feel sets us apart is we really listen. That may seem obvious, but surprisingly it isn’t. Many of our clients have told us how refreshing it is to have an actual conversation with an agency, not be told what they should do. Secondly, we are also very truthful with our clients. Again, something that seems obvious, but many times isn’t. This is especially true in live productions. Many times, clients don’t realize until they get to a venue that they are in over their head or are going to face fees the venues didn’t warn them about. We try to avoid that, by talking through every scenario possible, so there are no surprises.
A great example of this happened in December. We had a fitness client that wanted to do a hybrid live and streaming event, with short video clip interviews of the athletes and sponsors. The client initially thought they had a robust enough budget for the multi-day event, but when we asked the venue for a copy of their contract, we pointed out the many venues only exclusives the venue failed to tell them about. These were going to cost the client thousands. Our team contacted the venue and negotiated ways around these exclusives and gave the client other options. In the end, we did a great event and saved the client a lot of money.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
When people ask me for advice, I tell them when you first start out, get good at one thing and when you do, let everyone know how good you are at that one thing.
A mistake I see from many people in our industry is, no focus. What I mean by this is, let’s say you want to start a video production company, pick a specialty, like web videos and get good at creating web videos. Commercials, music videos, short films, etc. all have a different pacing, storyline, and structure. If you try to learn everything all at once, you will make mistakes, costly ones. Hone your craft or skill with one focus and get really good at it. Later, add another skill and another, and so on. It will not only make you better at what you do, but your clients will grow with you as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pcpfilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pacificcreativeprods/
Image Credits
Francesco Gangemi
