Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Curtis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I have found that if I am passionate about something I can do very well at it. I had a year where I wasn’t doing so well at finding any work in video production and I took a job selling new cars. yep! big change for someone that had been working years creating brand videos and travel videos. Anyway, the one vehicle that I truly loved was the Chevrolet Tahoe and because I had such a passion for that vehicle I discovered that I sold a lot of them. My passion for that vehicle overflowed to the customer and this lead to my success in selling lots of Tahoes. Selling cars was absolutely one of the most painful jobs that I ever experienced but it taught me to be bold and take risks. I apply a lot of what I learned from selling cars to my current business. (50West Productions) You just learn to ride the rollercoaster.
My wife and I had a discussion while driving in the car the other day and she was talking about how difficult it was for her to step out of her comfort zone and do some things at work she never thought she could do. She said, ‘you step right in front of the hard things and fearlessly just do it”. Like Nike says. Well she was definitely wrong about that. I have lots of self doubt and fear. I repeatedly hear that voice in my mind say, “your not good enough” or “you are going to fail”. I definitely have fear, fear of competition, fear that I will not do good enough, fear that the job is too big, fear that I don’t know enough.
In 2020 I discovered like many people did that there is this thing called anxiety. I had never felt anything like it and even wondered if I was going crazy, I could have curled up and let it eat me alive, but I decided to learn as much as I could about it and with that knowledge I have learned to recognize it and tell myself, “Dave your just having an anxious brain moment” and do what I have to do in order to alleviate it. There is truth in the saying, “Knowledge is power”.
Anyway back to the obstacles. I have approached enough obstacles in life and business to know that they are just obstacles and you can get by them. In fact I believe you need them to be successful. I wouldn’t have the wisdom, knowledge, courage or strength to succeed if I didn’t have confidence and I wouldn’t have confidence if I didn’t make it past the constant obstacles that appear in life and business.
I don’t know if this is what it takes to be successful but here is what I have had to do to overcome the doubt and push forward to make my business successful: I approach it like climbing a 14er. (Fourteen thousand foot mountain). Learn the path, set small goals along the path, for example, If you see a long steep stretch ahead, look forward to something closer like a cool rock and instead of looking at that long steep path just tell yourself I can make it to that rock, take a break and find another rock ahead and say to yourself, I can make it to that rock and before you know it you are at the top of that long steep path. Take breaks to recharge, remember that there will be moments on the path that are easy and some that are very intimidating, just keep moving forward and you will get to the summit where you can take in that amazing accomplishment.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi my name is Dave Curtis and I am the owner of 50West Productions in Salida, Colorado. 50West Productions specializes in telling a story with the art of video. We specialize in Brand Videos, Promotional Videos, Stock Footage, Real Estate Videos and Travel/Toursim Videos, I have an amazing wife and 8 year old twins.

I am a veteran of the U.S. Army and if you had asked me in 1990 what I wanted to do I would have said, I will most likely be a police officer, but that all changed when I took some time to live a little bit wild while living on the beach in South Florida where I became friends with a guy that worked as a camera operator for the local news station. He gave me a tour one day and I said to myself, “I want to do this” eventually that turned into a desire to go to film school and learn the film industry. Soon after I ended up in Colorado where my brother and his family owned a back country ski lodge. It was here where I met a man in the entertainment industry from L.A. He suggested that I get into video and not film. He said the film industry is tough and I would do better going into video. He said there are more jobs in the video production.
He suggested that I go to a 2 year school and learn the basics and get out and get to work. He also said, “Technology will change so fast that most of what you learn will be replaced in a few years” That was in 1996 and he was right.
I went to a 2 year school and graduated in 1998. After graduation I went right to work as an assistant editor, sounds really important but it was really just swapping out tapes and patching decks to the editors stations for them and yes I said tapes. We have come a long way in this industry in the last 15 years. My teacher in college used to say, “the ice age in video production was 3 years ago” I think that still applies.
In 1999 I took a job with a small production company in Gunnison, CO called Rocky Mountain Television. They were a new start up and couldn’t pay me so I did a lot of bartending at night to pay the bills while I learned and worked to grow a production company along side the owners. Oh and yes I did eventually get a salary there and worked with them for 8 years.
I have had the privilege to be a part of some wonderful productions, crew and big name people over the years. I have worked as a director, technical director, and camera operator for: Charlie Daniels, Stevie Nicks, The Grateful Dead, The Beach Boys, and many other bands while working in the concert scene. I did two video shoots with former President Jimmy Carter. I spent a week filming down the Yampa River to help out with a documentary on protecting the river.

My goal to go freelance in 2007 started off well with the chance to work on the Yampa film but as soon as that was over I wasn’t quite sure how to make a living on my own. So, I left the country the rest of that summer to spend some time in France where I had a chance to lead a film making workshop with youth at a camp in the Alps called, Camp des Cimes. I had worked here the previous year and really enjoyed leading the film workshop. The campers had 2 weeks to take a script that I wrote and produce it, but by the end of 2007 I found that freelance was harder than it started and I had to walk away from video to do other jobs in order to continue to live in the mountains of Colorado.
In 2014 we moved to Denver and I had hoped to hop back into the video world there but I had been out of the business just long enough that my knowledge and experience was now, as my college teacher said, “in the ice age”.
So I had to start from scratch and rebuild my career. In 2016 I was asked by a friend and colleague to help out with some tourism videos in Salida and Buena Vista Colorado and before long I was building 156 videos a year to promote tourism. This lead to meeting companies and people that also needed some promotional videos for their brands, events and non-profits.
Over the years I feel in love with Salida, the business here and the people. We decided to move there in 2019 and in 2020 opened 50West Productions. Yeah you heard right! I started a business in a pandemic. It just felt right so I did it. 50West is growing. Not too fast but not too slow. My wife does all the book keeping, I have 2 freelance videographers working with me and an intern.
I am constantly learning and growing. I have learned so much from our local Central Mountain Small Business Development Center, our local EDC and other small business entrepreneurs. You also have to be willing to help out your community. Last year we donated over $15,000 worth of video work to non profits around the state.. Being a part of a healthy community and important and you just have to give back to your community.
In 2021 50West Productions was honored to be a part of a team who produced a series of videos that was nominated for 2 Governor’s Tourism Awards:
The Governor’s Award for Outstanding Community Tourism Initiative and Governor’s Award for Outstanding Sustainable Tourism Initiative, Project, or Program. We received the award for Governor’s Award for Outstanding Sustainable Tourism Initiative, Project, or Program. Honors an activity, event, project, or program that reduces the impact of travelers on special places and natural resources in Colorado

Keep moving forward and set those small goals. Believe in yourself and don’t let the fear hold you back.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Our funding comes with growth of the business as we pick up larger contracts we reinvest that money back into the business to upgrade, camera gear, software and marketing and more. We have never taken out a loan or had investors or partners. I have asked some experts if that is a health approach and they all tell me I am growing it right.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I mentioned this in a previous question.

My goal to go freelance in 2007 started off well with the chance to work on a film to protect the Yampa River, but as soon as that was over I wasn’t quite sure how to make a living on my own. So, I left the country the rest of that summer to spend some time in France where I had a chance to lead a film making workshop with youth at a camp in the Alps called, Camp des Cimes. I had worked here the previous year and really enjoyed leading the film workshop. The campers had 2 weeks to take a script that I wrote and produce it, but by the end of 2007 I found that freelance was harder than it started and I had to walk away from video to do other jobs in order to continue to live in the mountains of Colorado.
In 2014 we moved to Denver and I had hoped to hop back into the video world there but I had been out of the business just long enough that my knowledge and experience was now, as my college teacher said, “in the ice age”.
So I had to start from scratch and rebuild my career. In 2016 I was asked by a friend and colleague to help out with some tourism videos in Salida and Buena Vista Colorado and before long I was building 156 videos a year to promote tourism. This lead to meeting companies and people that also needed some promotional videos for their brands, events and non-profits.
Over the years I feel in love with Salida, the business here and the people. We decided to move there in 2019 and in 2020 opened 50West Productions. Yeah you heard right! I started a business in a pandemic. It just felt right so I did it. 50West is growing. Not too fast but not too slow. My wife does all the book keeping, I have 2 freelance videographers working with me and an intern.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.50westproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/50west_productions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/50WestProductions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-curtis-853781173/

Image Credits
images are all mine