How (And Why) to Treat Your Production Company Like a Small Business

Last week we talked about the 4 major types of Media Entrepreneurship, so this week I thought I’d expand on the most common production company that my readers seem to run.  That’s the small production company that they hope to scale into something bigger.  Here’s why your production company is a small business, and how to  treat it like one so you can see it grow.

1. ACCEPT YOU HAVE A SMALL BUSINESS

Film is both a business and an Art.  The two don’t have to be enemies, and work much better together.  For more on what I mean, click the related link below.  I have a different point to make here.
​

Related on ProductionNext: Why Business is NOT the enemy of the art. 
​
Related on ProductionNext: Why Filmmakers NEED to understand Business

While this may seem like the goal is to become a more scalable startup, in reality it’s probably more like a small business that may grow to a medium business in time.  You’re unlikely to be able to use high growth strategies like Silicon Valley Tech Startups to grow your business from a prototype to a highly used platform.  The requirements are different, and film is less suited to iterations than software and apps are.

As such, if you’re a filmmaker, you probably have a small business.  Small businesses grow slowly over time by growing their audience and scaling up their offerings as revenue and investments allow.  If you want to grow your production company as you would a small business, start by making one great film and then make a bigger and better one once you’ve found your audience.
​

2. BUILD & ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If you want to build a business, among the most important things to have are customers.  For filmmakers, this means having a deeply engaged audience, and creating content for them on a regular basis.  Part of that is creating a genuine presence on social media, but the more important part is continually creating product for that audience to give them a reason to keep coming back and engaging with your business. 
​

Donald Evans

Clever Username ​

Ashley P​​​

3. INCORPORATE AUDIENCE FEEDBACK INTO YOUR WORK

If you really want your audience to keep coming back, it’s important that they feel valued.  Incorporating their feedback into your films can be a great way to greatly deepen your relationship with your audience.  This is something that Marvel has used to great effect.  Half of Endgame was callbacks to fan favorite moments from the other 73 1/3 movies in phases 1 to 3.

Some higher level creators have an antagonistic relationship with their fans.  The only way you can really afford to do this is if you have the backing of a large network to make sure that people can’t forget to come back to your work.  TV Tropes calls this Phenominon Creator Backlash. ​
​

4. GROW YOUR SUPPLIERS AND WHO SELLS YOUR PRODUCTS
​

If you’re a small business in the manufacturing sector (which you’re not far from) you need to make sure your product is available as far and wide as possible in order to continue to expose your work to a new audience and grow your potential customer base.  This means you need to partner with distributors.  Distributors have higher prestige and higher paying outlets than you can get to on your own.  Also, since they have access to those higher level outlets, you’re more likely to be discovered through them than on other platforms that are inundated with so much content it’s unlikely anyone will discover your work that you didn’t drive there yourself. 

Yes, this will mean that you'll need to make a lower percentage of the overall sale than you would by yourself.  So long as you're dealing with reputable distributors, this is just the cost of doing business.  Publishers sell their books at 55% discount over retail to bookstores, and most any distribution warehouse for a given good or service will also sell the product at wholesale price and take a cut before paying the manufacturer.  Again, for this to be valid, you need to have honest and accurate reporting throughout the supply chain. 
​

5. DON’T FORGET WHERE YOU GOT STARTED

Never forget your early adopters.  The people who were with you from the beginning.  They can be your biggest supporters and greatest brand advocates if you continue to show you value them.  However, they can sometimes be hard to please, as I’m sure I’ll see in the comments.  Both Starbucks and the City of Seattle will never forget that's where the chain was born.  You shouldn't forget the people who knew you when.  

Thanks so much for reading this!   If you liked it, please share it.  It’s extremely helpful. 

Also, Join my email list and connect on social media.