As part of the influenSPHERE (iS) blog roll, I will be sharing Business Development, Networking and Relationship Tips from the perspectives of Respected Business Professionals.
Featured Influencer Profile ~ Al Gonzalez of QuadAir Communications PART 1
influenSPHERE: We’re here with Al Gonzalez
, Oso the Great today. Al, you are not originally from Sacramento, is that correct?
Al Gonzalez: That’s correct.
iS: Where are you from?
AG: Los Angeles
iS: What brought you to Sacramento?
AG: I moved up here in 1984. I was living in San Diego at the time, and I moved up to produce an independent movie along with a friend of mine that I had met at a workshop, and I stayed, because I liked it. I like Sacramento a lot and I’m familiar with Sacramento, and the rest is history, as they say.
iS: So you are a producer? Tell me a little about that.
AG: I’ve been producing for 25 years now. I produce independent features, music documentaries, commercials, public service announcements, a lot corporate business videos up here in Northern Cal. I’ve been fortunate to have some very well established corporate clients, both in private business and municipal. I’m also a director. I’ve directed single-camera and multi-camera productions. I’ve been a camera operator for over 20 years; both film and video. I’m an editor and I teach a workshop for producers in Los Angeles, which I’ll be introducing to Sacramento at the beginning of next year. A third of my income also comes from doing voice-overs in Spanish and in English.
iS: I heard you the other night. It was marvelous.
Al breaks into his deep announcer voice.
AG: “Here we go! Oso the Great!”
iS: What is different about business in Sacramento versus in Southern California?
AG: Well, in Southern California I was focused more on music videos and independent features. Up here I’m doing more small to medium size business, corporate videos, short 30 second, 1 minute videos for the web, for DVD, webisodes, email videos. I think what’s important is that people in this economy market their products and services, and video and audio. is a wonderful vehicle to showcase their product or service. It is a lot more affordable than before, thus people have a lot more access to producers and production companies that do this. Again, we’re all serving each other because if I need a service, I go to the people that I network with for that service. If they need a producer or videographer, they know who to call.
iS: Okay, I’ll get to the networking question in just a moment, but first I wanted to focus on a few questions that I have for you on North vs. South. The first question, is which do prefer, what you were doing down there (Los Angeles), or what you are doing up here (Sacramento)?
AG: I actually enjoy both. I have the luxury at the moment to be able to travel to Los Angeles and work on some independent films, documentaries and music videos, and up here I get to work with business executives, which I’ve always enjoyed. That’s the aspect of the business that teaches me a lot about business and about interviewing and meeting these players, these individuals. I get to learn and be educated.
iS: So you really do have the best of both worlds?
AG: I do, I do. I treasure that.
iS: Fabulous. The second question is in regards to the popularity of video marketing these days as companies are popping up left and right. What is your take on that?
AG: The economy has afforded a lot of people to be able to buy a camera and a laptop and call themselves an editor and a camera operator, and unfortunately what’s missing is the training, the long-term acumen that is needed developed over long years of experience. Shooting and editing is a creative process, but it also takes a lot of know-how and savvy and also a temperament that you get from doing and doing and doing and breaking down, falling down, making mistakes with your clients and be willing to shoot again at your cost. I think it’s a good market like I said but unfortunately, there;s a lot of people that just start up and don’t really know how to do well for the client and then they, unfortunately, some of them have given this industry a bad rap.
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About the Author: Michele Jennae, owner of influenSPHERE, a Networking & Business Relationship Consulting company, helps new and established business professionals discover and fully utilize their inherent networking strengths to have greater positive impact in their sphere of influence through a mix of old-school networking techniques with a healthy dose of online networking.
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Tags: Al Gonzalez, film producer, influenSPHERE, networking, QuadAir Communications