Heather Mansfield Jernigan is the executive producer of Castleview, a video agency in Austin that creates video content for brands to elevate their products and services.

We discuss the benefits of using internal video as a holistic approach for current employees and customers to elaborate your company’s values; the importance of time blocking and scheduling your tasks by the hour to optimize productivity, and how to stand out from the crowd by finding a niche and focusing on the clients in your company. 

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-mansfield-jernigan-7070a917/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/castleview/ 

Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Koji Steven Sakai is a writer, producer, screenwriter instructor, podcast host, and founder of the production company, Little Nalu Pictures. Koji has written seven feature films and produced five films such as Last Girl, The People I’ve Slept With, and the television series, Comedy InvAsian.

In this episode, we discuss how his desire to become a “student of life” by experiencing new things helps him develop ideas for writing, the importance of writing diverse roles and storylines in his scripts because representation matters and it helps tell the stories from unheard communities and cultures, and how you should say yes to every opportunity, keep creating, and put in your best effort in any project you do to get started in the writing and film business.

Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Nick and Josh Holden are award-winning directors, writers, actors, and co-owners of the film and video production company Mishnoon. They have written and directed hundreds of commercials, feature screenplays, and have won numerous awards for their films and projects. 

In this episode, we talk about how they separate creating videos for clients and writing movies for themselves to continue to pursue their passion while growing their business, how finding their own voice and collaborating with clients created videos that match their clients' personality, and why artists should create a sound personal budget and set realistic goals to stay on track and stay motivated in their creative careers. Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Mark Haynes is a cinematographer, director, and owner of Manifest Imageworks, a production company based in Dallas, Texas. He has been working in the film industry since 2007 and shoots for clients in the advertisement, corporate, and entertainment industries. 

In this episode, we discuss how his love of movies and desire to recreate them led him on the path of filmmaking, cinematography, and lighting, how the methods of storytelling have evolved, and the most efficient way to run a shoot.

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Ricky Holm is the founder of the virtual reality and 360 video production studio, Chocolate Milk & Donuts. His company specializes in creating unique and riveting experiences for their clients; including a number of noteworthy brands such as Pepsi, Hasbro, and Make-A-Wish Foundation.

We talk about how his love for films led him to create Chocolate Milk & Donuts, how he shifted his approach towards writing a creative proposal that is focused on solution-based selling not product-based selling, the advantages and disadvantages of using virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360 video to create a unique experience for your audience, and how VR helped him satisfy his need for social interaction during the lockdown.

Links: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chocolatemilkdonuts https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgholm https://chocolatemilkdonuts.com

Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Allie Yaldezian is the account director at Public Haus Agency, a PR, marketing, and creative content agency. Allie has worked with a wide range of companies like Verizon, PAWPatrol, and Chevron.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of asking clients many questions to learn more about how the company is performing to develop an effective marketing campaign, how to be immersed in culture to stay on top of the trends, the benefits of being in nature to provide peace of mind from the work-life and boost creativity, and why trying something new is always a good thing to change your perspective.

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Frank Bocchino is a writer, marketing director, and graphic designer for businesses by day and scriptwriter and script doctor for producers by night.

In this episode, we discuss why it's important to really love what you do as a writer and creative so you can change between mediums and genres without feeling uninspired; why writers groups are important for writers because you can get help from people who also feel your pain and it helps you get into your writing flow by being in a creative place with other creative people; the balance between being a writer and editor and some great advice on keeping your scripts concise by pretending you're being charged a dollar per word; and why you should talk to other creatives in other mediums to give you notes on your work so you can get a 2nd opinion from people who have a different perspective from you so you can write scripts that will entertain a wider audience.

Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Tom Dever is the Head of Writer Success at Coverfly, which is an online platform that connects emerging writers with the Film and TV industry, guiding writers to improve their craft and career through partnerships with top competitions, fellowships, and coverage providers. 

In this episode, we discuss how Coverfly is using data to categorize and organize scripts so that producers can discover writers based on specific tags, keywords, reviews, and past experience, and how it helps bring more authenticity to scripts by revealing the writer's background behind the story; why they prefer not to produce projects to keep the platform purely for writer discovery and education, and how their background in writing and creativity rather than tech gives the platform more of a human feel that's focused on building connections and community; and his advice to writers to not be afraid to write something commercial rather than the auteur film, because there is a shortage of commercial content and an increasing need for it, so if you have that Hallmark, movie of the week idea, let it shine. Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Matthew Rogers is the Chief Operating Officer at MontaVega Media - one of the top video production companies in Austin, Texas.

In this episode, we talk about how developing a relationship and trust with a client is important when you're creating ideas to achieve their goals, using past creative work to guide clients towards a decision when choosing what type of content they want to invest in, the importance of building a team that strengthens your weaknesses and are smarter than you in different areas of your business so that you can grow and deal with clients in different verticals, and the advantages of using Tik Tok for businesses and why it's the best social media platform right now to get content in front of people because of the favorable algorithm which increases traffic across all platforms.

Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com

Evette Vargas is an award-winning writer, director, producer, and immersive storyteller that was named by the New York Times as an “Artist to Watch."  She has worked with Amazon, MTV, Bravo, DirectTV;  produced interactive content for Fast And Furious, the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and Madonna, plus executive produced, wrote, and directed her digital series Dark Prophet which was in contention for two Emmys and premiered at Sundance. She's also a staunch activist for inclusion and equality which lead her to create The Writers Room 5050 to mentor storytellers and create opportunities for their next-level success.

In this episode we discuss the evolution of digital media and how storytelling can be done on several platforms though it's still important to focus on the story first and then the platform second; how her life as an activist motivated her to create Writers Room 5050 to open doors and access to the entertainment industry for POC's so new voices will be heard to educate the world about underrepresented cultures; the power media has in informing and educating the world while being entertaining; and how new technology has given us the ability to make and distribute content easily so creators should just make content with the tools they have available to them.

Learn more at TheCreativeHaven.com