Video Production Services That Set New Standards
Company Bio of Jack Pine Productions
It is the American dream. To own a company and watch it grow with you as you grow as a business owner and as a person. Making a living at what you love to do most, even if it does take you 70 hours a week. Making others smile at your job well done is why you continue to work the long hours. Watching your company evolve each year, adding more services to give more options to the customer is always your goal.
Owner Jason Brown is a Broadcast Journalism graduate from Central Michigan University’s class of 2000. At CMU, Jason’s extensive work with Television and Video has led him to where he is today. Immediately after graduation Jason started Jack Pine Productions.
Jack Pine Productions originally was very focused on outdoor video and television productions, but now offers everything from Digital Photography to Weddings, Promotional Videos, Outdoor Media, Interactive DVD & CD ROMs, Duplication, Graphic Design and DVD Conversions. The company now is growing quite rapidly thanks to a lot of local and national businesses and customers. To date, Jack Pine Productions is yet to advertise in the phone book and the only real source of advertisement is the website and networking groups. So how does business continue to grow with basically no advertisement? It continues to grow by the best way of advertisement; word of mouth from our satisfied customers.
The Young Producer
“As an “independent producer”, if that’s what you could have called me, I started like a lot of my fellow producers had, doing family weddings. At the time I think I was 17 or 18 years old, charging $50 or $100 for a finished wedding, unedited. In 1995 the video production industry was a lot different than it is now. Everything now is computer driven and very affordable, but in the early 90’s you had to invest $100,000 to even think about starting a video production company. So I just edited my weddings with two VCR’s and dubbed in music from my CD player. It was pretty raw but it got the job done, and my family members thought they got a great deal. My productions then crept into my other passion, the outdoors. I began making music videos of my friends and myself in the woods hunting and fishing. We had so much fun shooting those old videos and impressing our family.”
How The Passion Started
“I have to give a lot of credit to some people who “invested” in my talents a long time ago. The Shallamies, you know who you are, my lifetime hunting buddies from childhood. We all went in five ways to buy a Sony TRV 72 Hi-8 camcorder, and we were going to be the next big thing in the outdoor video industry. I remember seriously figuring out how much money we were going to make from video sales for a pan fishing video we shot one day on the ice. We all get a laugh when we talk about it now and how we thought we could sell 100,000 copies of this highly intense outdoor activity. We all thought that the small $300 investment we made, at the time it wasn’t so small, would be turned into thousands. The other guys were all pretty good behind the camera lens, I was just the one who decided to pursue it at the college level.
"I also have to give a lot of credit to my parents. They bought me my first piece of editing technology, a Casablanca editor. It was one of the first stand-alone editors and although it was somewhat limited as to what it could do, it was the perfect tool for me to learn on. Without these two circumstances, I don’t know if I would have ever taken video production to the next level.”
“I also need to thank my wife Darci for supporting me and believing in Jack Pine when I was starting out. It isn’t easy to start a business from the ground up, but Darci always gave me the confidence I needed to continue, even in the early stages of the company when business opportunities were harder to come by.”
On Being A Business Owner
“Business ownership is something I don’t take lightly. I feel that my name is personally tied to every production that wears the name Jack Pine Productions and will stand by my product until the customer is 100% satisfied. I feel somewhat unique in what I do and will do everything in my power to continue to own and operate Jack Pine Productions with integrity.”
Company Roots
“I think what sets us apart as a company is that building relationships with our customers remains the number one priority, along with producing high quality video productions. Everything good and bad stems from the type of communication and relationship you have built with somebody else. I came from a small, closely knit community where friendships were important for everyone, especially business owners. In a small town like Beaverton, you couldn’t afford to let a customer have any reason not to do business with you. Small town businesses, more so than larger city businesses, have to go above and beyond normal service because return customers and word of mouth are why they are successful. I have that same mentality as the owner of Jack Pine Productions. Coming from a blue-collar town like Beaverton gave me an appreciation for success."
"My Grandfather was a farmer, a business owner. I think some of my drive comes from my respect for the hard work he endured for decades and the sacrifices he made to raise seven children on a very tight income. He got up hours before sunrise to milk cows and worked hours after sunset in the crop fields. In my opinion, there needs to be more men like my Grandpa, and someday I hope to be spoken of in the same way as he is.”
Parting Shots
Now in the company’s seventh full year, Jack Pine Productions, like most growing companies, has evolved from where it was in the beginning, but one thing remains the same. It’s the importance of friendships, trust and the guarantee that you will get the same quality service every time.
“I’m not happy until our customers are 100% content with the product they receive, and whatever needs to be done to make our customers satisfied, it will be done, that is a guarantee."
--Jason Brown, Owner