Meet Brian Mitchell and Ian Start of Mitchell & Start in West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Mitchell and Ian Start.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Brian and Ian. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
Long story short, Ian and I both knew we wanted to be filmmakers since we were young.

We ended up leading our broadcast class in high school and left Sacramento to go to film school at CSU Northridge in LA. Once we graduated, it didn’t take us long to cement ourselves into content creation. We started producing content for Tyler, The Creator’s GOLF MEDIA, transitioned to Skybound Entertainment & GammaRay, and have jumpstarted our personal business on the side.

We do it all – creative development, production from start to finish, and have been dipping our toes into marketing. We’re our own shoot’s professional photographers and cinematographers. We host and can be talent depending on the project. We’ve been directing content for years now, and are solidifying our place among the digital community in this role. More than anything though, our drive to be storytellers is leading our main goal – becoming a film and television directors.

At the end of the day, all of these skillsets are in an effort to understand every single person’s role in the process. Without that, we truly believe we can’t become great directors. But more so, it’s the time, effort and passion we put into our work that we are most proud of. Neither of us were grandfathered into the industry. We had no ties and simply left home to chase a career that could go a number of different ways. There have already been multiple points where either of us could have called it quits.

However, like most collaborators we’ve worked with that have found success, they never stop working at their craft. We are ambitious with all of our time, and although we’ve been working together for over ten years now, we’ve only just begun. There is always so much more to learn, and we are excited to continue doing so.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our main obstacle after college was finding companies and individuals to give us a chance. Getting that initial foot in the door wasn’t easy. Starting from scratch, with no real weight to our names, made it difficult to convince others that we were capable of not only making content but making great content. Our first opportunities were at a couple of internships that we somehow convinced to bring both of us on. We worked a ton, and incredibly hard.

This eventually payed off with the chance to make a few digital marketing spots for Flame Ventures & NBC’s Dracula when it was airing. This was huge for us. We remained patient and earned their trust. Leading up to all of this was a ton of volunteer work and going above & beyond, which we cannot understate how difficult this was at times. However, hard work literally paid off, and it paved the way for other doors to be opened for us.

Right out of college, it’s hard to solidify yourself with professionals already in the industry. The amount of free work that went into our early careers just to be a part of the conversation was definitely a struggle, especially in conjunction with working multiple part-time jobs just to pay the bills. However, the hard work we put in force those around us to take notice.

Please tell us about Mitchell & Start.
Our business is more or less a creative production agency. We are in the early stages of putting together the structure of what we want to do, but we are capable of handling entire digital campaigns with clear KPI’s for success. This involves creative development, production, and post-production from conception to delivery.

We can even offer possible marketing solutions through partner’s distribution channels & platforms if they don’t have these capabilities in house. We also develop and produce narrative content. We even host programs, with a long list of hosting experience on digital content.

However, what sets us apart is being able to handle all of these aspects of a campaign or project under one roof, which not many small production companies can do. We’re deeply involved in every step along the way – we direct all of our shoots, and we’re our own cinematographers.

Moreso, we make sure that what we pitch and develop with partners from conception is executed correctly in every way.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Shoot. Shoot. And then shoot more. At a younger age, we were so obsessed with shooting and creating projects with professional level equipment. We became complacent with only shooting projects with money behind it so we could make it look professional, not amateurish.

To this day, we are still obsessed with quality. However, especially in storytelling, you can tell a great story without an Alexa Mini or anamorphic lenses. You don’t have to have the most perfect lighting to make a great scene. When you are trying to tell a story, that is what you should focus on first and foremost – the story.

Nowadays, people have most of the tools they need at a basic level to go out and make something. So do just that – go make something with your friends, and stop letting excuses like ‘needing a little more money, shooting on better glass, etc.’ get in your way.

Contact Info:

• Website: mitchellandstart.com
• Phone: 9167534190
• Email: [email protected], [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/babybyson/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/amillionians/

Image Credit:
Burke Doeren, Kortney Luby

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