About
Video producer. I act as the production company behind studios and agencies that already won the work.
- Company
- Valley Films, LLC. Contracts crew, carries production insurance, holds and reconciles budgets.
- Markets
- San Francisco and New York mostly. Boston and Los Angeles recently. Anywhere else in the US on request.
- Typical job
- One to three shoot days. Crews from three people to a 20-person set.
You've got the client. You need somebody who can take a date, a city, and a budget and hand you back the footage you need to give to your edit team.
That's the job. Most of the time I'm the production company behind a studio or agency that already won the work. You keep the creative and the client. I contract the crew, carry the insurance, hold the budget, and run the day. Your client never has to know I exist, and honestly that's the fun part.
Some jobs I direct. Some I host on camera. But the reason people call back is simpler than that. The shoot day is calm, it's a good time, and nobody has to worry about it.
How the business works
On most jobs my company is the production company of record. It contracts the crew, binds the insurance, holds and reconciles the budget, and carries the risk. One contact, one invoice, and you stay out of vendor management completely.
If you're already the production company and you just need a producer on the ground, I come in as your line producer on day rates and stay out of your paperwork.
Most of it happens remotely. I'm not on your set unless the day needs it. A local lead runs the floor, I run the production from prep through wrap. It keeps the cost down.
The crew network
The reason I can work outside my home city is a crew and vendor list I've been building for years across San Francisco, New York, and LA and other major markets. Camera, grip, electric, sound, hair and makeup, rental houses, studios, locations, and an insurance broker who picks up at 11pm.
When a job lands I'm calling people I've already worked with. That's the whole trick.
It matters more than it sounds like it does. Whoever shows up that morning is the face of your company for the day. Your client is putting their founder in front of a camera, and that's a big moment for them. I don't hand it to a stranger.
Track record
Circle
I directed the Times Square campaign across three permitted locations, ran a 20-person set, and delivered two social films plus 30 to 40 edited photo selects inside a 24 hour turnaround.
I also built the in-house video department from nothing: a three-person core team, more than 25 contractors nationwide, and the customer documentary series that produced ten films in its first year. That is where the contractor network came from.
I host on camera for feature launches and product explainers.
White-label production
Most of my recent work runs under someone else's brand. A two-day NYC shoot for a launch studio client, 31 crew sourced in six days in a city I don't live in, delivered under budget. Multi-city founder and launch work across San Francisco and New York. Repeat production partner to an agency running two to three shoots a month.
SamCart
Creative Director. Produced and hosted the long-form YouTube show that took the channel from 12,000 to 30,000 subscribers in 15 months, and directed keynote and brand work tied to a $750K launch in 10 days.
Before that
I built and sold my own products, including an online course business that hit six figures in 11 months. I learned paid acquisition by spending real money on it. That is why I care whether a film works, not just whether it looks good.
Selected proof
What I don't do
I'm not a general-purpose video vendor. No weddings, no events for the sake of having an event, no high-volume social content at low margin. Nothing against any of it. It's just not what I'm good at, and you'd rather hear that now than three weeks in.
Same goes inside a production. There are way better animators than me, so I don't pretend to be one. I hire the person who is. My job is keeping the train on the tracks.