Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Bodkin.
Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I got into sketch comedy at a young age from watching the golden years of SNL in the late 80s and early 90s. My friends and I started reenacting ‘Wayne’s World,’ ‘Pat’ and other classics, and we would film them non-stop on my Dad’s VHS. I wasn’t even ten years old and got the film bug. It became my first passion, and I couldn’t get enough! I would bring that camera everywhere, and we were always filming something that made us all laugh.
From then on, I told everyone I would become a Hollywood film director. At that early age, my career mission started, and it was Los Angeles or bust. Then, at 13, my family decided to take our spring break trip to the west coast, and one of the stops was a visit to Los Angeles to see my Dad’s cousin, an extremely successful Production Designer. We met him on the Sony lot, and he could only take one person onto the shooting stage – I got picked (of course!). I’ll never forget that first moment walking into an active set with people buzzing around and feeling the energy of shooting for the first time. I was so inspired! From there, everything just accelerated.
I started traveling to Los Angeles every summer following that trip. I lived in my “uncle’s” guest house and went to work with him every day. This was my summer life from ages 14 to 16, and I couldn’t have been luckier! In those days, I was in the art department as an intern, making copies, running blueprints to the construction teams, and doing the obligatory lunch runs. But I was living the dream, and it was incredible.
Following that, I went on to college at the University of Michigan where I studied film and video, with my eyes still set on becoming a director.
After graduating, I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles for good. My uncle had an art department production assistant job waiting for me, and I jumped right into my first paying Hollywood job on Looney Tunes: Back in Action (LTBIA). I was back in the art department and as I navigated the real world, I was suddenly interested in the editorial process. With that, the live-action filming wrapped, and I was introduced to the animation-editorial team, where I took a new job as a production assistant in this new department. Exploring this new interest was a deviation from my directing goals, but something drew me in, and I went for it. It ended up being long hours, learning new things daily, and adjusting to many moving parts, but this was where my career began to take form as I began to understand post-production workflows. In this world, my skills as a producer began to outshine my creative interests from childhood. I was quickly learning how to manage the many personalities and different needs of the innovative leaders, the artists, and the production staff. This gave me tremendous exposure to so many amazing people, and I truly felt myself thriving and gaining more and more responsibilities for the film outside of editorial. My dream of directing ended here, and the new journey of producing was born, and I started thriving!
After LTBIA, my career began to accelerate quickly in a way I did not see coming. I had no intention of staying in the animation world, but I was introduced to two young animation producers who immediately offered me a job. I saw a lot of potential in them, so I decided to keep the animation train rolling and jumped on to the animation team of The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie. That went extremely well, and then Paramount Pictures called on these two producers to move on to another animated feature called Barnyard. They asked me to stay with them, and I did, this time running the film’s two most significant and complicated departments.
After that wrapped, these two producers, myself, and three others were handpicked by Paramount Studios for a special operation technology project – the research and testing of stereoscopic filmmaking. As 3D technology was slowly resurfacing from the 1970s as a viable medium for theatrical release, the Studios wanted to understand its capabilities thoroughly before greenlighting the large budgets it would take to make its first film with this new technology. It was our job to report back and provide recommendations on the viability of this new medium. We spent almost a year testing vendors all over North America, dissecting technology, and meeting with the most prominent players in the film industry who were all trying to understand it. It was an exciting and incredible opportunity to be at the forefront of something so revolutionary to the industry I grew up aspiring to be a part of.
From all our research, Paramount finally greenlit a stereoscopic 3D movie, Jackass 3D. And I was asked to be a part of this film which was a dream come true – growing up watching those guys and then having the opportunity to work beside them while traveling the US was such an incredible opportunity. I worked in the editorial and camera departments, helping support the crazy filming of everything Jackass!
While this happened, stereoscopic films became red hot and must-haves for all the studios. While we wrapped principal photography for Jackass, a brand new company was formed, StereoD, specifically for stereoscopic conversion – turning a 2D film into stereo 3D. They called me and asked me to join as employee 30 to help them build the company. It was another exhilarating chance, so I jumped at the opportunity. Shortly after that, I was immediately promoted to their executive team as VP of Production and Executive Producer and helped them scale to 1,500 people in just four years. Here, I had the fantastic opportunities to work directly with Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, JJ Abrams, and many other idols I had as a kid wanting to be a director. They were all fascinated with the technology, and I happened to be at the forefront, leading a team of 500 US-based staff. This was an opportunity that I would never forget! I even helped land them on Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Companies of 2013 and was part of the acquisition of Deluxe Media which was also super exciting!
Then in 2015, I began searching for something new and decided to move on from the post-production world. I had my first child at this point, and I decided I wanted to be home and part of his life. The continued 14+ hour days, 6+ days a week of post-production, didn’t seem as cool, stimulating, or opportunistic once I had my family on the way. My priorities shifted.
So, in March 2015, I decided to get super risky and co-founded Giant Propeller, a creative and digital marketing agency, with my partner, Jordan Freda. I was eager to get back to the creative side of things, and I wanted to be in control of my destiny. Deciding to go from my former career to a bootstrapped startup was a big decision, but it was also easy. I was ready! That pressure and responsibility created such excitement. It was a proper startup in every sense of the word, and we were happier than ever to be on our journey, fighting for every bit of work and fostering new relationships.
After an initial focus strictly on creative work, I pivoted the company to expand our offering into a holistic marketing services team. I saw the need to make exciting videos and photos, leveraging them on the channels they were created for. From there, Giant Propeller evolved from a creative agency into a full-service holistic eCommerce marketing team, and we never looked back. We established our mission statement: to grow the emerging brands of tomorrow. And we started doing just that; clients quickly responded exceptionally well to our unique fractional marketing department model, and the value proposition took off. The rest is history. The team worked hard day and night, and soon, we turned it from a bootstrapped two-person operation to an entire team of over twenty-five employees doing multi-millions in annual revenue. It was a swift rise to success. Over the years, we got incredible opportunities to work with brands like Sprayground, L’AGENCE, Democracy, Goorin Bros., MeUndies, Energy Muse, Warner Bros., Timex, Dermalogica, etc. We continue to crush client goals and generate tens of millions of dollars for the customers we have had the pleasure to work with.
Most recently, after eight years and a bunch of incredible twists and turns, on March 17, 2023, I chose to sell Giant Propeller in a strategic acquisition to American Exchange Group (AXNY), where we will help support their consumer brands. Giant Propeller will now function as the in-house creative and digital marketing agency for AXNY and continue working with our current and future clients as we keep pushing our growth. It is an exciting time for Giant Propeller, and I am inspired by what this new relationship will bring to everyone involved!
Alright, 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?
I do not believe anything in life is a smooth road; there are always bumps and unpredictable turns. Perseverance has to be a guiding attribute for all entrepreneurs.
There are three main highlights of my journey that stick out the most:
1. Choosing to alter my path from director to VFX producer
2. Jumping into starting a business without a salary or clients
3. Selling my company
A lesson from my early twenties: My Uncle told me from day one that shows business is “like a wave; you need to jump on and see where it takes you.” And that was what I did. At many points, I was unclear about the ride I was on, and many times I struggled with the dilemma of my path. Should I stay true to my childhood dream of directing? Or should I stay on the ride and keep moving my career forward with what is in front of my face? Either way, I knew that as long as I worked harder than everyone else, I would find success. So that is the mentality I owned, and I found it! I still often think about the what if…
The next struggle is commonplace for anyone who has ever dreamed, tried, or successfully started their own business. It is hard, hard work, and it does not get easier as time moves on; you just learn how to deal with hard better. From leaving an established career for no paycheck to the relentless pressure of running a team that entirely relies on you for their livelihoods. From the highs of delivering outstanding client results to the lows of floundering in new business development. From imposter syndrome to incredible 1:1s with teammates and customers who appreciate you. It is all about risk vs. reward, and none comes easy. They say that being an entrepreneur is difficult, and I can validate that.
Finally, the recent acquisition of Giant Propeller was a challenging milestone. You build something for eight years, grow it, create value, and then comes the ultimate decision…to sell or not to sell. For anyone that has been through this specific decision, you know that feeling. It does not matter if you sell it for $100K or $100M; it is part of you. I created a lifestyle for myself and my family, and my young kids have grown up their whole lives knowing Giant Propeller as my company. The struggle to change what you have spent tens of thousands of hours growing, what identifies you, and then letting it go is far from easy at any level. But it is also really satisfying to be in the company of few that can say they successfully built, grew, and sold a company to someone else because of the value you infused into it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Giant Propeller?
Giant Propeller is a full-service marketing agency with a holistic and agile approach. We deploy a custom team of performance-driven digital marketing specialists to work as a seamless extension of each business, propelling brands to new heights.
When many agencies became focused on building niche solutions, we went in the other direction and created an agency to function as an entire marketing department for our clients. Because of that, our team has 20 unique marketing specialists, all working under one roof, providing everything from brand strategy to creative content creation to website development and growth marketing. We can manage all channels (email, social, SEO, paid, web, etc.) or allow our clients to customize a more specific bench where a more economical approach is needed.
It is a very white-glove solution, and it has been a pleasure providing so much success to so many brands over the years. Giant Propeller has a proven track record of creating successful marketing campaigns and creative projects for a variety of brands, including L’AGENCE, Warner Bros. Studios, Democracy (Kellwood), Eternal Water, MeUndies, Sprayground, 8th Wonder Tea and Timex. And on top of Giant Propeller, we also have Giant Productions (www.giantproductions.com), our content division, where we have made endless eye-catching high-end content for our brands. Our backgrounds and knowledge base is limitless, and we love that we are the one-stop shop for creative and marketing solutions.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
There are lots of important things to success. I have always pushed and promoted work ethic and its direct correlation with winning at anything. I heard a great speech the other day about 15 minutes being the difference between good and great, and it was spot on to me – in summary, anyone that takes those extra 15 minutes to do anything will be great. However, a quote that rings true is this one by Calvin Coolidge:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
There is intelligence, there is luck, and there is networking. But I say, work hard and truly understand they depth of what that means.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.giantpropeller.com
- Instagram: @giantpropeller
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bodkinmike/
- Other: www.giantproductions.com
