Grand Rapids film production companies look to push creative, economic opportunities
As Grand Rapids has met with economic growth, our local film and video community has also seen creative growth, building the expertise and experience—and drive to constantly take on new challenges—needed to provide a high caliber talent pool for local projects.
The film and video production field in Grand Rapids is in the middle of a unique and exciting time. Economically, Grand Rapids has experienced a rapid growth over the past eight years. In 2015 and 2016, business magazine “Area Development” ranked Grand Rapids in the top five of their “Economic Strength and Five-Year Growth” category. Construction is seemingly everywhere, and businesses both large and small are looking to invest more in video production.
During this period of economic growth, the technical experience of filmmakers and videographers has also grown. Around 2008, DSLRs (small, affordable digital cameras with HD video capabilities) exploded onto the videography and photography scene. Many people who started production companies in Grand Rapids learned production with these cameras, since they were small and affordable.
Now, almost 10 years later, these production companies and the people working with them have learned and gained the experience—and grown their equipment expertise to a high level as they keep pushing with more challenging creative and financial opportunities.
The outlook for these companies is tenuously positive. As long as the economy keeps growing, production companies will be able to fund more creative projects. The technical experience is available locally to pull off high-budget creative commercial projects. If these creative projects keep coming in, that provides an incentive for the talent pool to remain in Grand Rapids.
One production company in this nexus of economic and creative growth is Carbon Stories, founded by Erik Lauchié. Carbon Stories is a unique example of a production company investing experience as all of its members of are under 23 years old. They make up a perceived lack of experience (Lauchié has been working with video since he was twelve) with an enthusiasm to learn and improve their craft—and that approach to their work has earned them clients like Herman Miller, Spectrum Health, and Brothers Leather.
“I think the challenges and the strengths are the same thing,” Lauchié says. “Because we’re so young, everybody’s attitude is ‘I want to learn and get better.’”
That desire to learn and get better also summarizes the story of Gorilla, a production company founded by Eric Machiela and Eric Johnson. With clients such as Grand Rapids Art Museum, Haworth, and Wolverine, the two constantly work to invest the experience they have to use on a more challenging opportunity. This process has made them grateful for the commercial opportunities they’ve experienced.
“When you start out, you’re so altruistic [sic]: ‘I just want to make movies!’” Johnson says, playacting as some idealistic filmmaker, “but what you end up realizing is…”
Machiela jumps in: “Just make stuff to make stuff.” Johnson picks his point back up. “That’s why I don’t see commercial work as a burden at all, I see it as an opportunity.”
Another production company investing in its production experience is Sidecar Studios, founded in 2014 by Josh Tyron, after starting as Josh Tyron Photography before that. Tyron, initially a photographer, was interested in becoming a director of photography (DP), but discovered he wanted more control over what kind of projects he worked on—so he started Sidecar. Sidecar has since gone on to have clients like Long Road Distillery, Colliers International, and ArtPrize.
“Our clientele is changing a little bit. When I was a DP we would be brought onto projects and we would just shoot a project and then we would walk away—someone else would edit it,” Tyron says. “We’re doing a lot more projects that are from start to finish, from conception all the way down to delivery.”
Taproot Pictures, founded over a decade ago in 2006 by Karl Koelling, started with just one person with a few DSLRs and some photography experience. Since then, they’ve worked with clients like Calvin College, Potter’s House, and Little Caesar’s, and expanded to include two additional employees.
“It’s a stage of growth,” Koelling says. “We have some people on board now that I think are more in line with the sensibilities that I want to pursue. It’s a chance to take the business to the next level.”
To get that next level, production companies in Grand Rapids still face a few significant obstacles. One such obstacle can be the budgets of the clients themselves, who may not be willing to invest in more creative video production projects.
“It is a relatively small market, and it can be a conservative market from a marketing standpoint,” explains Koelling.
Stephen Panaggio of Voyage Pictures, founded in 2016 as a branch of B. Creative, also sees this barrier to growth.
“We don’t want them to just sign on the dotted line—we want to actually help people and feed our families,” he says. “We need companies to really dream with us, you know, ‘Is there something new we could do?’”
Another challenge facing production companies is talent drain. After Michigan decided to end the film tax incentive in 2015, many talented individuals have left Michigan for bigger markets like Los Angeles or Atlanta.
“That’s been the challenge, because if you’re in LA or New York, if you need another editor on a project, you just go get another talented editor: they’re all around. But if you’re here, if you’re not cultivating that, it doesn’t happen,” Eric Machiela of Gorilla says.
Two talented individuals who have left Grand Rapids for a bigger market both cited the lack of film productions as a motivation for leaving Grand Rapids. Lajanae Smith, a director and writer, expressed how difficult it can be not only to find film production work in Grand Rapids, but to find work with women of color like herself. She still calls Grand Rapids home, but frequently travels to Atlanta to work.
“[Atlanta] was where I first worked with directors who were black women and that was really important for my personal development after being here [in Grand Rapids] and getting my start,” Smith says, “but we don’t shoot movies here because our tax incentives aren’t as competitive as Atlanta’s or New Orleans, so unfortunately for me if I want to work I have to go to the south.”
Sabrina Petkus, an assistant director who also moved to Atlanta, says there aren’t many film and television opportunities are in Grand Rapids.
“Grand Rapids, while it does have a film scene, [has] primarily commercial and corporate video work,” Petkus explains. “Nothing narrative comes to Grand Rapids and it rarely comes to Detroit.” Petkus specializes in film production, which means that, like Smith, if she wants work, she has to look south.
Still, production companies in the area are figuring out ways to invest in Grand Rapids that will pay off for them later. For Gorilla, this has meant cultivating their own talent through internships.
“We have directors in our community that have come up from interns to be directors. They’re their own entity, but they’ve also learned the way they do things through the lens of how Gorilla does things as an incubator,” Johnson says.
Lauchié of Carbon Stories has been working to invest in the neighborhood Carbon Stories is located and in Grand Rapids as a whole. It’s important to Lauchié to support local businesses, which he tries to do through video production. Even though these businesses may have smaller budgets, he believes in telling their entrepreneurial stories. He’s also interested in supporting and encouraging Grand Rapids youth.
“I’ve spoken at a few elementary schools this year,” says Lauchié, “just being able to say ‘Hey guys, I’m not too much older than you are—you can do whatever it is you want to do.’”
