Production company headquarters

G

Glkramer

Member
I`m planning to open a production company in 2011.

We`d first shoot corporate videos and video clips. In the beginning, the company would be just me (writer, director and editor) and my partner, the one responsible for the accounts. We`d rent everything, except for the camera and the editing hardware.

Is it necessary for us to have an office? I mean, is it necessary to have a physical structure, even if it`s just a table with two computers?
 
Hmmmmm? Who are your clients? My clients expect an office with all the bells and whistles. Not all lower level clients require this much attention.
 
If you are going to have meetings I would strongly suggest not to have them in your home. Unless someone else on here can suggest reasons otherwise.

It also depends on how fast you are looking to grow. Do you think you will ever hire and need someone to work in the office?

If you are starting out you probably won't need an office, but as your business starts to grow, you might need to be flexible to the option of getting an office.
 
I meet clients at coffee shops consistently, but if you're working on the corporate level you need to be professional and have all that setup. It depends on your clients, and you should know who you're targeting. It needs to be in one of the sections of your business plan.
 
No, you absolutely should not have an office, no clue what people here are talking about. You are a production company, there is no need for a stationary home unless you are HUGE. Otherwise your work is done on the road anyway, it could be done on the East Coast, the West Coast, the middle of the country, anywhere there is work, and it doesn't matter where you are located. If a client asked where my "offices" are I'd just tell them we don't rent office space in expensive LA, which means we don't have to pass those costs on to them. It's way too expensive to rent office space, I started my first business here that way, it was a total waste -- you never meet with clients in an office anyway almost. It's such a silly concept, I mean let's be honest. So you are going to ask them to come to your office? Is your office nicer than theirs then? I doubt it. Clients always ask for a meeting at THEIR place of business, and THEY are the client, so you cater to them and try to make it convenient for them, not the other way around. I've had a lot of potential-client and client meetings and every one took place at their place of business or a restaurant near them, not on my own turf, so to speak. My sales lady works from home and for her it was a huge perk not having to commute to a physical office, and frankly she gets more done this way with less aggravation.

Everyone here... is wrong, I'm sorry. Not to be mean but you guys have no clue what you're talking about. Stop watching TV and when you have ACTUAL real world experience running a production company, which I do -- twice, then you can comment. No, you should not and do not need to waste a bunch of money on an office that you will never use to meet anyone but your own employees. It's for YOUR convenience only, if you want to do editing at an office rather than at home or go to your editor's place, etc. That's for you, not for the client. The client won't care at all, because only a tiny little client is going to go to your office in the first place, the type of client who doesn't have his own office, and you don't have go care what he thinks about your business as he's too small to make any difference anyway. The big clients have corporate headquarters -- you go to them!
 
Jonathan, you're wrong. Some clients expect/demand that you have an office, so if you want those clients you'll get one.

Phudsontx is right - if your clients expect you to have an office, get one. Raise your rates accordingly. If they don't, don't spend the money until it makes financial sense.

Michael
 
We always go to our clients, or meet them somewhere convenient for them... that is partially because, as Jonathan said, they are the client so we should do the leg work, and it is also because we cant afford an office! haha

Tom.
 
Jonathan, I believe the setup you have works for you. I'm giving this guy my experience. I have an office in NYC and work out of a friends' office in Los Angeles when i'm there. I have clients both big and small. My INTERNATIONAL clients who don't have a base is NYC have meetings at my office. I don't have a ton of international clients, but enough. I hire people and do a lot of pre-production at my office. My LARGE clients in NYC and anywhere else I go, usually have meetings in their office.

Why don't you stop watching TV Jonathan and get a life, instead of attacking people who are trying to help someone start-up.

No he doesn't NEED an office, but he might want to consider one as he grows depending on the needs of his business. But, as butcher said, don't spend the money until it makes financial sense.
 
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Guys, thank you for your attention and insight.

I haven't decided yet, but due to economic issues, i guess we are going to start without any office space. Then we will see what happens.
 
Reminds me of years ago when I saw a window display at a high-end men's clothiers in San Francisco. Armani suit, Dior silk dress shirt, Bally shoes, Vuiton briefcase and a little engraved card next tot he briefcase that read "To get where you want to be, you must look like you're already there."
 
Steve House said:
Reminds me of years ago when I saw a window display at a high-end men's clothiers in San Francisco. Armani suit, Dior silk dress shirt, Bally shoes, Vuiton briefcase and a little engraved card next tot he briefcase that read "To get where you want to be, you must look like you're already there."
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Interesting quote! haha i don't disagree that an office would be great for our company, firstly it would offer us a space where all 3 of us could work together and it is not in someone's house... and i think just having a business address looks a whole lot better.

Also the fact that you have all these overheads with rent and bills etc might almost make you work harder because you want to be able to stay there and make it worth the cash right...? i think it would definitely make me more motivated to do 14hr days in front of the computer or on the phone!

We don't NEED an office right now but it is tempting when i see my friend just moving into one... Have you ever thought about sharing a space with friends who are also in a creative industry??


Tom.
 
thekeygun said:
Jonathan, I believe the setup you have works for you. I'm giving this guy my experience. I have an office in NYC and work out of a friends' office in Los Angeles when i'm there. I have clients both big and small. My INTERNATIONAL clients who don't have a base is NYC have meetings at my office. I don't have a ton of international clients, but enough. I hire people and do a lot of pre-production at my office. My LARGE clients in NYC and anywhere else I go, usually have meetings in their office.

Why don't you stop watching TV Jonathan and get a life, instead of attacking people who are trying to help someone start-up.

No he doesn't NEED an office, but he might want to consider one as he grows depending on the needs of his business. But, as butcher said, don't spend the money until it makes financial sense.
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Yeah, great advice, tell a guy to waste money on office space before he's even established and in a business where we really don't need office space. Sorry bud, I don't think so, there is a lot of great advice on this forum then there are a lot of clueless negative nancies who like to throw total crap out there that is based on no real world experience but their own twisted view of reality.

The idea that you NEED an office to be successful is totally ridiculous. You don't even need equipment, you can rent equipment, your client won't even know whether you rent or own. I own out of personal convenience and because it made financial sense for me. For someone else, they may prefer to have an office because they find they get work done better somewhere away from home, they may like to meet with their editor there, or interview DPs, or whatever else. But client meetings at your office? Pretty rare, honestly. International clients, sure, I guess, I don't know how often someone like that is going to fly in to meet with you but maybe. If that's the case, you don't need to worry about the financial specifics of an office as I'm sure you have plenty of cashflow to justify it.

But don't listen to me, I just did this all before and learned from my mistakes, haha, go ahead and listen to some amateur here who thinks having an office makes them a pro. The only thing that matters is the quality of your work and the service you give your customers, don't kid yourselves. Having an office and all of the professional trappings means nothing if you can't market yourself and can't deliver.

When you get to the point where you can afford an office, I believe it's a nice thing to have, I wouldn't mind having one myself but I'd have to be able to make plenty of money to justify that. Right now I'd rather pocket the extra cash or use it for advertising! I've never had a client or potential client ask to meet at my office, they always want us to go to them or setup a meeting at a Starbucks or a restaurant, it seems more relaxed and most people in our business prefer that. I think maybe someone has been watching too much Entourage and looking at an agent's office thinking oh boy that makes me professional, I need that!

Save the money for what you must have it for! I wouldn't even recommend buying gear if you're just starting out, perhaps a basic lighting kit, a camera, and a basic editing computer, at most, but then rent the rest project-to-project until you see how things are going. I made the mistake of buying it all and while that has worked out ok for me, it could have been disastrous if I didn't have enough work to justify owning this equipment.
 
Jonathan, I am glad we found business expert like yourself. Where would we be without someone so willing to show us the light!

Seriously Jonathan, what works for you does not work for everyone, so give up that notion. If you notice in my first post I kindly asked the original poster what type clients he had before I related my own experiences. This is really up to the OP to decide, not for someone to decide for him.

Granted, it is probably very wise for this poster to operate with limited overhead while starting his business. This is exactly what I did 25 years ago. However, at some point it became required for me to move to an acceptable, public working environment. Big clients almost always insist on sitting in on the post process and they rarely fell comfortable in ones private space. IMHO
 
To the OP, look in the phone book or google small business incubators. Most cities have them and they can set you up in an office with a dedicated phone line, internet service, and often a receptionist who directs all the calls in the building to the different businesses and takes messages. They're dirt cheap and designed to give startups a small, professional environment to have client meetings and work. If you're pitching to clients who expect or would appreciate having an office to come to the small business incubators may be an affordable option.

JonathanLB - we had about 5 client meetings in our office this last week. Several of them were political candidates we'll be working with. They don't have offices yet and don't want to meet in a restaurant to discuss their campaigns. Others were small business owners who don't even have a proper office space for meetings in their shops. They don't want to discuss their business in the middle of their showrooms, so they come to us. We do work for companies out of New York and most of it's via the phone, but if they want to come to a shoot they expect to meet us at an office, not a coffee shop.

Every client is different, but most of ours love being able to get out of the office for a few hours and come to our place for meetings or edits. It's a welcome break for their day to day work. We'll always go to them if they want, but many would prefer to come to us. So different strokes for different folks. There's no one size fits all, especially in business.

Michael
 
IMHO, an office would be a waste of money unless it is spacious, in a good location and attractive. A dump of an office could be a negative rather than a positive.
 
JOHNATHAN- I believe you misunderstood me, I didn't tell him to get an office. I believe my last post said this:
"No he doesn't NEED an office, but he might want to consider one as he grows depending on the needs of his business. But, as butcher said, don't spend the money until it makes financial sense."

I also told him not to have meetings at his home.



I'll go more in depth with you about this Glkramer if you would like to PM me. I've been where you are to start and didn't have an office, but I can discuss with you the point where I realized I didn't want to work from home anymore.
 
thekeygun said:
JOHNATHAN- I believe you misunderstood me, I didn't tell him to get an office. I believe my last post said this:
"No he doesn't NEED an office, but he might want to consider one as he grows depending on the needs of his business. But, as butcher said, don't spend the money until it makes financial sense."

I also told him not to have meetings at his home.



I'll go more in depth with you about this Glkramer if you would like to PM me. I've been where you are to start and didn't have an office, but I can discuss with you the point where I realized I didn't want to work from home anymore.
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You both make valid points. I want a Hamilton watch, but can I afford it? Maybe, but maybe not.

Commercial real estate had some exposure to the bubble, and there were/are some foreclosures, and risks still associated with office space. The economy being what it is, and you not really needing an office, but wanting one, it sounds like you're a candidate for a virtual office. It's kind of like a real office only it isn't really yours, you just use it.

It worked for me. And my exposure is capped at $99 a month. I use CES virtual offices but I don't know where you are, so you may have some googling to do.

So if my business tanks (which it still might), I won't have a contract or have to sell some space. Think about it.
 
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