Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Massie.
Hi Kyle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
A Christian military brat that started in California and ended up in South Carolina. Marine Science Degree from Coastal Carolina University. 8 years of sales jobs allowed me to learn about marketing through podcasts and youtube.
I started a marine science nonprofit right out of graduating from college in 2016. It failed because I cared about what people thought about a new and young up-and-coming (imposter syndrome). My wife and I went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon and I picked up a GoPro… after the honeymoon, she said “make something with the footage”.
I went down the rabbit hole for 4 months straight of video editing. A few hundred youtube videos later I had something that blew everyone away when watching it…now it’s nothing to be proud of. However, it sparked my interest in video marketing. I thought marketing was so intriguing and saw how video could be the most immersive and kingpin of the different types of marketing mediums. In 2019, I started KJM Studios, a freelance video production company that brought a slew of new possibilities to my lap.
From gimbal work to flying in the sky with an FAA license I knew this was it. It brought so much excitement to my everyday life, I decided to go full-time in early 2020. As time went on I started to learn that the location I was in was behind the times as far as the modernization of marketing tactics as compared to neighboring cities. With that I had to teach my clients how important video was to their marketing sales funnel, However freelancing wasn’t enough… one cannot wear all of the hats nor is it common to see freelance as an extremely well thought out and serious company.
Once I realized that I needed help I decided to build a new company called 963 Film Group. A few freelancers and I stepped into the ring with the thought of building something bigger than ourselves. A company that specialized in all sorts of filmmaking from athletics, to weddings to corporate events… we decided to specialize and niche down within the company while still keeping to a professional operation. Even within the editing portion of the process, we saw that we had different strengths and weaknesses so we even niched down the post-edit portions of things.
Within 6 months we turned a few freelancers into video production moguls for the Myrtle Beach Area. Consistently we have helped companies like Visit Myrtle Beach, Meals on Wheels, The WES Foundation, and Golf Tourism Solutions bring a new edge to their marketing capabilities.
Through partnering with digital marketers and focusing on marketing sales funnel and professionalism we understand that for us it’s not about how pretty the film is, that should be second nature… it’s about how the film changed the viewer’s emotions and solved their problem with a solution. 963 Film Group currently has 5 Filmmakers and 1 editor with a board of directors on the way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Understanding how to balance emotion, business, and creativity with cinematographers is definitely difficult at times. We are still learning how to give feedback and allow each-other grace when someone has a creative lens they look through constantly. We have to be extremely open-minded to each other’s ideas 100% of the time. Yes, there are positions and a leader within the company, however, no idea goes unnoticed or is not entertained. What works and what most clients gravitate towards is what we strive to accomplish.
Everyone within the group has an overwhelming desire to tell a story and that is the beautiful part about the company, so we tend to lean toward a documentary style when we create for our small business and ourselves. Understanding the complexity of creating a business with no business degree is extremely difficult, however with an extremely successful businessman as a father-in-law and a shark of a wife there by my side they have helped me understand the importance of the no-so-sexy type of administrative #’s work that makes a business go round.
Every nook and cranny of business creation with 963 will be built out in a way that allows for our clients to feel that they are so valued… like Zappos CEO said we are trying to be a customer service company that happens to make (shoes) marketing videos. We are not trying to corporatize filmmaking, we are just trying to make it more professional and problem-solving for our clients.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What set’s me apart from others is the ability to find out the difference I can make through relationships and connections. I will go to the ends of the earth to try to make things as organic and as seamless as possible. Once a person or a scene looks forced it makes it feel fake.
The more realistic and emotional the better for us. Everyone can say that they take the aspects of cinematography but there’s not a lot that can mix cinematography, marketing, and organic aspects of human life in their filmmaking.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Since I have a Marine Science degree I dissected dolphins in College and swam with orcas in elementary school. I was a butterflier as a swimmer in college & high school. I am from California. No film or business degree.
Contact Info:
- Website: 963FilmGroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/963filmgroup/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/963FG
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6XfDRE7gsTu0dNplyVfCJQ
Image Credits
963 Film Group
