September 5, 2017

Meet Evan Cantrell and Gregory McKarus of New Kingdom Productions in Sherman Oaks

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Cantrell and Gregory McKarus.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Evan and Gregory. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Greg and myself started the company almost 8 years ago just a year out of high school.

Out of HS we never attended college to learn production, although myself (Evan) attended film school for 2 days. After 2 days of sitting in a classroom and reading a book I realized if I wanted a real hands on education that I’d just have to go out and start working.

For almost a year I worked PA and small camera jobs around LA. Every week trying to find the next job to move onto and gain as much onset time as I could. Greg was working at a radio station during this time editing & filming in studio performances of bands/artists that would be daily guests on the show. Fast forward 9 months (end of 2010) Greg and I linked back up to film some corporate videos for a large marketing company in Westlake Village, CA. During this time, the owner of that company who was a very successful businessman took us under his wing for next the 3 1/2 years. This man helped start New Kingdom Productions and taught us everything we know about business today. Everyday Monday through Friday and many long weekends he mentored us, you can say this was a hands on experience in the world of business. Over the course of those years he would work along the side of us taking us to trade shows, business meetings, and more.

The backbone of our company NKP was built on those 3 years of learning, listening, and most important failing at just about everything to just get up the next day and work even harder to succeed. Our mentor was never there to just hand us everything and make life easier. He wanted to see that when times get tough that we were capable of standing on our own. The real lessons and experiences in business come from going through all the failed attempts and bumps in the road and we went through more than we can count.

We tell people today that it’s easy to do what you love but to treat it like a business and make it grow is a whole other animal. After working in Westlake Village and having that business mentor we felt that it was time to leave after 3 years. We learned so much, built a client portfolio, started to make connections in the industry, and saw a clear vision where we wanted to be. It was a big step to be out on our own and to continue to grow our business.

We moved our location to Hollywood (30 minutes away) and started to work. Over 2 years we worked even harder to get our name out there and expand our services into other verticals. We would start producing TV Commercials, Product Videos, Infomercials, Fitness Videos, Resort Videos, and pick up clientele in Mexico, Canada, India, Europe, and around US. With our production knowledge and business experience we would help create an Aerial Video company, this was at the beginning of the big hype of all the new drones coming to market. This venture would take us around the country to film projects in Florida, Las Vegas, and Barbados. Traveling every year to work with clients on new and exciting projects.

Today, Greg and I have turned our business into a full-service production agency. NKP offers all aspects of production from pre-production, principle photography, and post-production.

We’ve produced well over 400 projects and have been fortunate to work with clients such as WELLA Hair Products, VISA, Stella Rosa Wine, Divi Resorts, Celebrity Trainer Jillian Michaels, PETA, and many more great companies. We started with nothing except an idea and a camera in hand, today our vision for our company couldn’t be any clearer. With many more long years ahead of us we look forward to what the future has to offer.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The beginning was very difficult. Not only because of finances and not having any business but also, we wanted to prove to everyone that we could do this and that we were serious about starting a company.

One thing about starting your own business and trying to make it in the production industry is that your working from paycheck to paycheck. It can take a long time to make a foot print in the industry to where you have constant work each month. Over time your portfolio grows as well as your client base, it’s all about hard work, patience, and dedication.

Like any business though you have to stand out. This will always be an obstacle for any business. We had to learn how to sell ourselves which we found was more important than just being able to produce a great commercial or any other project. It’s an awesome feeling to close a new deal based on how someone met you, looked at your work, and then decided that you were the right choice for their project. You have to be confident in yourself and show your client that your capable of doing what they want

New Kingdom Productions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our business specializes in everything production. If our clients have an idea or need help conceptualizing an idea we are there to help them. We used to think that we should specialize in one area of production but over the years we’ve learned that it’s beneficial to have our hands in all areas of business. We produce everything from local & national commercial spots, product videos, infomercials, fitness videos, company branding videos, and our newest field of work has been producing & marketing crowdfunding videos. The whole Kickstarter craze has been booming and we seem to be producing several crowdfunding videos at a time.

What Greg and I take pride in, is that we take the time to really know our clients (big or small) and build a relationship with them. Our clients can reach us outside of the usual business hours and if they need to talk to us we can be reached directly 7 days a week.

Production can become very costly and a big investment and we want to make our clients production process as smooth as possible. Today, more than 60% of our business is from repeat clients because they not only enjoyed their experience working with us but they trust that we’ll deliver the quality they are looking for every time.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
A proud moment that we will always remember is the day that we decided to do this full time and nothing else. At that moment, it was exciting but we didn’t really know what to expect over the next several years. Both of us walked away from other possible opportunities to do something that we believed in. To have almost 8 years go by and see how far we’ve come since day one is a really great feeling. That decision we made a long time ago was the best decision.

Pricing:

TV Commercials: $15,000-$40,000+
Crowdfunding Videos: $6,000-$12,000+
Corporate Branding & Promo Videos: $8,000-$17,000+
Event Coverage: $5,000-$15,000+
Product Videos & Tutorials: $5,000-$10,000+
Resort Commercials: $25,000+

Contact Info:

Website: www.newkingdomproductions.com
Phone: 323-963-4939
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: newkingdomprods
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/newkingdomproductions
Twitter: https://twitter.com/newkingdomprods
Other: https://vimeo.com/newkingdomproductions

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