Choosing the Right Indianapolis Media Production Companies

The Hoosier state is full of professionals in the digital media and video production industry that claim to be “the best.” If you’re a business owner considering the addition of video content to your marketing strategy, there’s no shortage of professional Indianapolis media production companies vying for your work. But how can you be sure that you’ve chosen the best production crew for the project? At Beverly Boy Productions, we frequently discuss the process of choosing the right Indianapolis media production companies with clients that are wondering how they can be sure that the crew they’re considering is the ideal choice for their business or brand.

Check out these tips to help them decide on the most appropriate media crew for your needs:

1. Ask for Personal References

If you’re a business owner in Indianapolis, you probably know other business owners in the area that are already incorporating video into their daily marketing initiatives.

This is your opportunity to get information about the best production companies in the city — ask around! Especially if you happen to see a video on a social network or friend’s website.

You shouldn’t be afraid to ask who produced the video, and even to find out whether the production company is local.

You’d be surprised at how easy it is to get local referrals to some of the top Indianapolis media production companies just by asking other business owners in the area who they’re having the most video production success with. (You might even get a list of who NOT to use!)

2. Check Online 

If personal references don’t provide the list of options that you were hoping for, consider a Google search. You’ll find many of the top Indianapolis media production companies listed in popular search engines.

In fact, if Google isn’t able to provide exactly what you’re looking for, consider a search of the local area Film Commission.

The Indianapolis Film Commission, in conjunction with Film Indiana, will certainly have a list of media production companies in the city that are ready and available to tackle new projects. Perhaps you’ll find what you’re looking for there?

3. Compare Demo Reels & Portfolios

Once you’ve got your list of production companies in the city, you’ve got to start analyzing their skills against your individual project needs.

Start with the demo reel, but try to also check out portfolios and recently past projects.

The demo reels are great, they show a lot of detail and exciting skills that a production crew may bring to the table, but they’ll also typically more relevant for the post-production editing and may not truly show the level or style of skill that’s most important to your project.

That’s why we recommend you ask for recent project details to help you get a better feel for the style and quality of production the company can offer. 

4. Check References

Once you’ve found a couple of potential Indianapolis media production companies that could be viable for your project needs, it’s time to start doing your homework.

You should actively check references that are provided to you to make sure that there are no hidden red flags to potentially working on a project with a particular production crew.

Calling the reference sources and asking them about their work experience with the crew is important – a negative review by a reference, although not a total red flag, does warrant some additional explanation.

You don’t want to find yourself working with a crew that has a bad reputation for leaving projects unfinished, poor communication, or various other situations that may arise, and you’ll be able to find out a lot about a production company by talking to their recent clients.

5. Set up an In-Person or Face-to-Face Interview

With social distancing becoming a more common than not scenario, you may struggle to set up in-person interviews with various Indianapolis media production companies. If that’s the case, you can always schedule a face-to-face (via Zoom) interview for good measure.

The purpose of the interview is two-fold:

1. You want to determine whether or not you can feel comfortable communicating with the crew.
2. You want to have an unscripted, unrehearsed, and spur of the moment conversation — just to see if they really do know what they say they know!

When you meet with each production company, make sure you ask them questions directly relative to your project as well as some that are relative to their own work.

Consider things like:

• What type of equipment do you use and do you own your equipment?
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• What is the post-production team like and do they work in-house?
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• Will they provide a script writer?
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• Will they brainstorm ideas with you during the interview?
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• What kind of budget are you looking at for your project and what kind of expectations are there?

These are the types of questions that are going to help you to decide whether or not this is the best production crew for your project needs and if you’re feeling comfortable (or not) in working with the crew.

Choosing the right Indianapolis media production companies can take some time and effort on your part, but in the end, you’ll be happy that you took your time and did your research!