Meet Jordan Martin of Starting Line Studios in Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Martin.

Jordan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Starting Line Studios (SLS) originally started out as a music production company under the name “Merge Left Productions” back in 2006. We primarily served local bands and artists with audio recording, mixing, and mastering back in 2006. The company died down for a little bit around 2008 while I pursued a career in sales and marketing.

It wasn’t until 2012 that my passion for music flared up again and I wanted to resurrect the business; However, this time, it would be under the name Starting Line Studios and the primary service would be teaching children the fundamentals of music. This is where the name came from: Providing our students with a musical foundation upon which they could build a career (whether or not that was their end goal) in the future.

Although the idea was there, several twists and turns happened in my life from 2012 to 2015 and the company never really took off. So for several years, SLS just remained a “good idea.”

It wasn’t until I met my wife in 2016 that I found a passion in photography. Very quickly, I dedicated much of my time to learning the craft of photography. Then it evolved to a passion for cinematography within the year. While many start out with a story similar to, “I’ve always loved film. Ever since I was eight years old, I was running around with my camera shooting everything…” I feel like I had a late start. But I’m one of the most competitive people you’ll ever meet. I’d see content from my peers and think, “I can make that,” and take steps to learn the skills required almost immediately. I see myself as a student of my craft and I don’t believe this will ever change. In fact, I believe that the late start was what was necessary for me to find my passion because I learned about so many things that I don’t want to do and the people I don’t want to be around.

In 2017, I didn’t really know where to start and I wasn’t sure how to approach friends and family, so I took to Craigslist and found ads seeking a photographer and/or videographer. It wasn’t long before I had clients coming back asking to work with me again. From 2017 to this year, I’ve been working exclusively as a freelancer working primarily off referrals and Craigslist. My passion for photography and cinematography leads to creating content for companies such as DoorDash, Studio 71, Sprint, ABS-CBN, Zillow, Simon malls and many more.

Since quarantine started, gigs have died down which made it difficult to continue working as a freelancer. We had a studio in Downtown Los Angeles for the last year, however, we decided to shut it down since a lot of gigs and rentals canceled. Although I’ve recently taken a day job as a video content coordinator/producer, this hasn’t stopped us from working with the companies mentioned before.

We primarily specialize in creative content (e.g., Narrative films, music videos, social media content, commercials) working with companies and individuals in LA and the surrounding area. We also offer photography, pre/post production, and video marketing consulting services. We look forward to the quarantine lifting and continuing to work on some fun projects!

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?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. As a student of photography and cinematography (especially playing catch up with so much of my competition) there’s this never ending list of skills, programs, and hardware to learn and familiarize myself with. I’ve had to find this balance between staying up to date with the direction of the industry, learning new skills, and constantly refining the basics.

As a creative in this field, the main struggle tends to be paying the bills and managing cash flow. Being a freelancer in itself can be challenging, however, this industry is especially saturated in a city like Los Angeles. You’re always going to encounter someone who’s either better or charges less. Luckily, my experience in sales and marketing allowed me to understand the challenges in a business early on, so I had an idea of the roadblocks I’d encounter along the way.

When I started out, I learned very quickly that you don’t have to be the best at what you do. You just need two things: 1) Take the time to understand your client. If you can deliver what they’re specifically looking for, you’re a candidate. Most clients don’t care how many stops of dynamic range your camera has, how much your lenses cost, how long you’ve been in the business, what degrees you have… etc. The important thing is to have a reel that showcases exactly what they’re looking for; and 2) Be the kind of person they want to work with. This is something that takes time to learn as not all clients are the same. The point here is that when you’re in a room (mostly figuratively speaking) with other professionals who can all do the EXACT same thing you can do… sometimes it all just comes down “I like you more.”

Today, I’ve been blessed with enough inquiries that my main struggle is turning down projects that aren’t the best use of my time. Naturally, I get a lot of requests for pro bono work. Simply put, I think everyone should work for free and it’s important to be the best version of yourself as a creative; However, it’s important to think about what gigs keep leading you down the path to that best version of yourself as quickly as possible.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Starting Line Studios – what should we know?
Starting Line Studios offers full-service photography and cinematography production. We specialize in creative content, such as narrative films, music videos, commercials, and social media content; However, we’re also experienced in capturing events (e.g., Weddings, quinceaneras, corporate events, concerts), interviews, behind-the-scenes, and much more. SLS generally consists of my wife and me, working as a duo for most events and projects, however, we have a team of amazing professionals we consistently work with for various projects that require more personnel.

As a company, we’re most proud of our work with large brands like ABS-CBN and Sprint. We’ve managed to create a lasting relationship with these companies and continue to look forward to projects in the future. We’re also proud of our work in the narrative film space. While we’re still attempting to make a name for ourselves, we won an award for a short film we shot back in 2018 at a 48-hour film festival hosted by AT&T. This fueled our desire to continue to create more narrative film content in the future.

I believe that the thing that sets us apart from other production companies is our experience in other industries. While other companies are able to say things like, “we’ve been in the business for 20+ years” or “we have seasoned professionals on our team since the 90s,” we take pride in saying that we’re new to the industry because we can offer an eye that isn’t jaded by years of “this is how it’s done.” We’re not saying this is approach works for everyone. In fact, we’re very comfortable saying that we’re not the right fit for some clients in this industry. However, it’s something that we can proudly claim for our company because our experience and track record as a production company speaks for itself. We wouldn’t have clients that keep coming back to work with us time and time again if we lacked significant skills and qualities that create results.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I believe that the quality that is most important to the success of SLS is the ability to understand people. In a business like this, working directly with clients, you’ll find that people aren’t always able to clearly state what they want. If you can’t read between the lines, you’re going to seem incompetent no matter how good you are. This could happen as early as the proposal stage or as late as submitting a draft for revisions.

This is especially helpful when submitting a proposal to classified ads like Craigslist. This is how we started off as a company. You’ll see an ad that could be lengthy or as simple as one sentence. Most times, they’ll be a paragraph at most stating the basics of what they’re looking for. If you’re lucky, they’ll have examples. The bottom line is, you’ve got a pretty damn good shot if you can show them a reel and have them saying, “THAT’S what I want. THAT’S what I’m looking for!” As opposed to being the cheapest but all you can show is a montage from a moving car.

I believe that this approach has allowed us to have the opportunity to work with large national brands and develop lasting relationships. We’re not claiming to be the best at what we do. We’re focused on delivering what our clients want… And they don’t want “the best,” they simply want x, y, and z by this date. So we give it to them and make it clear that’s what we do.

Pricing:

• DP Day Rate: $800-1000 (Includes gear rental + 1st Ac; Rate may vary)
• Event Photography day rate: $600-1500 (Includes gear; single shooter; does not include editing; Depends on event type)
• Post-Production Video/Audio Editing rate: $25-50/hr
• Director Day Rate: $800-1000 (Includes 1st AD; Rate may vary)
• On-Location Videographer Rate: $75/hr (shooter only)
• On-Location Photographer Rate: $75/hr (shooter only)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.slsfilms.com
• Phone: 8187957375
• Email: [email protected]

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