As an independent producer, director, writer, or skilled member of a crew, you are truly gifted at telling a compelling story. We've seen your work. We understand why clients want to hire you. 

But based on our experience, creative people who excel at their craft are often not as strong on the "business side of things." 

We're not the first to observe that finding the right location for a production is like shopping for real estate. And being a good location scout/manager is a lot like being a good real estate agent. 

Feature film location manager Payton Dunham gives a great example of this comparison when he describes hunting for a principal house location with a director. Of course, the first property they looked at was perfect, but the director just couldn't commit to it. Weeks later, as the search became more frantic, Dunham took him past that first house again. 

"This is it!" said the director. 

"By this time," says Dunham, "he'd looked at so many that he'd forgotten it." 

Many real estate agents can probably relate.

The Microsoft Surface Studio is a sleek, all-in-one computer with some pretty cool functionality.

To get the shots required to show off just how revolutionary this computer is, Amber Geiger Productions booked our soundstage and brought in Sean Brown of Motorized Precision and his 4,000 lb. camera operator named KIRA.

According to legend, an ancient Persian king tasked one of his wise men with coming up with a phrase that would make a sad man happy and a happy man sad.

A couple of days later he came back with this: "This too shall pass."

It's the kind of phrase that will get you through that dreaded dental appointment. But also bum you out on day three of your perfect vacation. And it's the sentiment that the 300+ cast and crew have felt in the final season of NBC's Grimm.

Back in 1923 motion picture film pioneer George Eastman made a famous prediction about movies with sound--then known as "the talkies." 

He said, "I wouldn't give a dime for all the possibilities of that invention. The public will never accept it." 

We would throw back our heads and laugh at silly old George, except for the fact that of Facebook's 8 billion daily video views, 85% have the sound off. 

It's 18 frames per second and title cards all over again.

Somebody famous once wrote, "Those who refuse to learn from history are destined to flunk it." (Brynden insists this is not correct, but was voted down.)

The point is, at the New Year we should all be looking back as much as looking forward. Otherwise, twelve months from now we'll find ourselves with that depressing version of deja vu. 

So here we go.

In 1951, author J.D. Salinger published his novel "The Catcher In The Rye." It was an immediate commercial success and then as it received critical acclaim it became an even bigger commercial success. 

But Salinger soon grew weary of fame. 

Faced with increasing public attention, he retreated to Cornish, NH where he remained in virtual seclusion for the rest of his life. 

People like to point out that over the last six decades "Catcher" has continued to sell hundreds of thousands of copies per year. But what's almost never mentioned is Salinger's total failure in the film and video industry.

In the early 1970s Woody Allen claimed that what disturbed him most about porn films was the lighting. 

Well, (insert your favorite joke about Woody Allen's personal life here). 

But he makes a good point. 

Historically, low-budget adult films, like low-budget instructional videos, have not been concerned with setting the scene for the story and cueing the audience to the changes in the character arc.

Can we talk frankly for a minute about humor? 

We know that coming from us, this subject is going to raise few questions in your mind. 

The first is "Why are you talking about being funny? A soundstage company has no business commenting on creative." 

The second is "Why are you wearing a plastic arrow-through-the-head? That gag hasn't been funny since--well, it's never been funny." 

Tough questions. 

Swish once with Listerine Cool Mint and things start to get interesting.

Swish twice and they start to get crazy.

Swish three or more times and you better have your phone out, because something is about to go viral.

We cannot promise that your Kickstarter pitch video, shot at Cine Rent West, will earn more than $405,000 in pledges.

We can strongly imply that this will be the case, with lots of knowing winks, nods, and stories like the one you're about to read.

But you will NOT get us to put a $405,000 guarantee in writing.