Today we’d like to introduce you to Caleb McKnight.
Hi Caleb, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Sawyer and I met in junior high when we were just two burgeoning, brace-faced, khaki-clad, creative geniuses. It’s tempting to say that’s where it all began, in the distinguished halls of that great academic establishment, but our partnership could wait.
I came to video production late, pinballing through career interests in college, until discovering film production in the inevitable way that says, “Was there ever anything else?” Intuition doesn’t always know the direction to take, but it knows the right direction when it’s found.
Sawyer came to video production early, charting a path through Baylor’s film production program until discovering the gift of flight. Machine flight, that is, via drones (though he’s still working on the right cape to come along). Sawyer is a licensed pilot with a gifted eye – on the ground or in the sky.
We had much in common upon graduating college but didn’t know it. Thankfully, one of the things we did have in common was a veteran marketing director named David Vinyard. Dave knew us since we were boys in junior high and kept up with us over the years. Not long before he passed away after a bare-knuckled battle with cancer, he decided to give us a call. A few weeks later, we found ourselves in a coffee shop talking about our friend Dave, movies, and junior high.
MR. PRODUCTIONS was yet to form. We hired each other out for two years, trading places being boss, and somehow it worked. Month after month, shoot after shoot, we delivered excellent creative content for our respective clients and through it all, we discussed forming a partnership, but nothing ever materialized.
And then, in the way these things go, I had a humbling moment of clarity.
Anyone who works freelance, or owns their own business, quickly discovers how your shortcomings hold back your business. It’s a difficult and often disheartening dose of reality. However, my moment of clarity was not just a realization of my weaknesses but, more importantly, discovering how my strengths were best realized.
It boiled down to a simple fact I had ignored; I was better with Sawyer than without him.
You see, anytime we discussed forming a partnership, I viewed it as a sort of career trampoline that could bounce me to the next best opportunity. Our conversations devolved into talking about exit strategies should a better opportunity present itself.
I realized in those conversations that I was too focused on the little picture instead of the big picture. The partnership was not about getting me to the next best thing; the partnership itself was the best thing. And as my mind opened up to this possibility, I became more convinced that the partnership would be equally as good for Sawyer.
In the words of Stephen King, we decided “that it was time to stop goofing around with a pick and shovel… and dig something big out of the sand….” And sitting once again over coffee, we started MR. PRODUCTIONS.
Within a few months of that meeting, we were given a chance to compete for our first job. It was a 50th-anniversary documentary video for a well-known commercial construction company in Austin. It was bigger than anything either of us had ever handled on our own by orders of magnitude. We put all of our efforts into developing a realistic creative vision for the client, and we were awarded the project.
Over a year later, that project was awarded Best Marketing Video in Austin by the Society for Marketing Professional Services. We were invited to attend the annual SMPS Black + White Bash with our client to be presented with the award. We stayed late and laughed over cocktails and snacks about our adventures and how the first project we got somehow won a city-wide award.
Now, I’d like to say everything has taken off since then and that our business has blown up. It is growing, and we’re pursuing projects that, as freelancers, we never pursued. But one thing is clear. We feel it, our clients notice it, and the work itself reflects it; we’re better together than apart.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The smooth road is not worth traveling. However, Sawyer and I would love the road to be smoother!
Every hardship and bump in the road produces resilience, and in a strange way, I’m thankful for the struggles we’ve worked through.
One recent example relates to our creative development process. Our goal with each project is for both of us to have ownership over the result. This means that in pre-production, the two of us need to contribute equally to our project vision.
In the past, we took time separately to create ideas for the video and then present these ideas to each other to see if there was an opportunity to blend concepts. Sometimes, we simply had to pick an idea and move on.
We discovered this was an inefficient process as it often led to long discussions over minutia. Both of us usually ended up frustrated. We’re strong-willed and passionate guys, and though we are willing to change our minds if a better option is presented, it can take a while to do the convincing.
On a return drive from a shoot in Houston, I had an idea to help us operate in our strength areas and maintain respective ownership. I asked Sawyer how he would feel if he initiated the creative process by coming up with the overall concept. “You don’t have to develop scenes or write anything out. Give me a box to work within, and I’ll fill it.”
Sawyer liked how the idea sounded. It relieved him of the script writing process and made him a creative producer. It sounded great because my ideas cost too much for our clients and made creative development too unwieldy. By having Sawyer create the parameters, I was given the freedom to write to the best of my ability and not worry about exceeding the scope.
We tested the process out on our next project, a TV commercial for a regional car dealership. Sawyer created the concept, and I wrote the script for our 60-second ad. The creative development went off without issue. Most importantly, the end result was a snappy and entertaining commercial belonging to both of us.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are a creative video production company specializing in docu-style storytelling. We’re too new to be known (though we’re working on that), but when clients describe us, they say we’re easy and fun to work with, we push them artistically, and we produce entertaining videos.
We are different in that we combine the sensibilities of art and business. Our aim on every project is to deliver to our clients a video that more than accomplishes their objectives. That’s our responsibility. On the other hand, we are storytelling artists at heart who think in cinematic terms.
In Sawyer, our clients have a creative producer and visual director who will always make the client’s goals front and center. He develops clean, beautiful aesthetics made to be an expression of our client’s brands.
In me, our clients have a writer and director who will passionately push the boundaries and help clients say what’s in their hearts for the screen.
In both of us, you have a balanced duo.
One of our clients said it very well. At the end of a shoot day, she told us, “Y’all don’t take yourselves too seriously. But you are very serious about your work.”
That’s the truth. We have a lot of fun. We’re genuine, sarcastic, and ready to bust the other one at a moment’s notice. But when it comes to our videos, we’re seriously focused.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Humility. It’s never easy. But realizing when we’re wrong, when we need help, or when we need to step back in an area for the team’s benefit has led to the most significant steps of success.
Contact Info:
- Website: mrproductions.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mr.productionsatx/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/mrproductionsfilm
