We recently connected with Jason Knapp and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, thanks for joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

My life is a vacation. I get to pretend the real world doesn’t exist and live inside the world of whatever we’re shooting. It takes a lot of logistical work to get everything in the same room at the same time but after a while, that part becomes second nature. For example, all I may have to care about on a given day is making a cocktail look irresistibly cold and delicious. Some days, all I care about is making our production studio look and feel like we’re in the woods at sunset. Or a vineyard in the South of France. …But no, unfortunately I don’t have time to take vacations.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I fell into the wonderful industry of Film and TV when a friend rented his house to a show as a shooting location – he asked if I wanted to come by and see all the trucks and equipment, so I did. Watching a 50-person crew move like a well oiled machine was amazing. Without stepping on each other’s toes, everyone did a specialized job in service of one vision. I ended up hanging over the fence for 3 hours, watching them shoot exterior scenes in the backyard. My friend was so angry at them for leaning their equipment against his house. He got it re-painted after it was all over. He was so pissed, he vowed to “never bring these animals in here again.” I loved every second of it.

I remember that day in awe of the crew’s refinement and the respect each had for the other. I wanted to be on a crew like that, where greatness is expected from every moving part. When I moved to Los Angeles, I landed a job as a Production Assistant on a Home Renovation show in Orange County. The fact that I’d be getting up at 4am and driving an hour and a half every morning didn’t discourage me at all. It was the fact that most of my job was to pick spider webs off of patio rocks so the DP could get his precious beauty shots (the patio was not even in sharp focus for these shots) and to dump trash twice-a-day (I still can’t understand how people can rationalize throwing FULL, un-capped coffees into a trash bag…). But really, I just hated it because the crew was inexperienced and each day felt like being the garbage man at a zoo full of pirates. After that job, I vowed to do things like that crew that messed up my friend’s house.

Now that I’m responsible for the output of our production company, I realize how valuable those contrasting experiences were. I always try to make sure everyone in the house knows exactly what we’re going for and has everything they need to make it happen. The goal is always two-fold – we want to make videos that we’re proud of artistically AND for the people who worked on them to want to come back and do it again.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

It’s not a bad idea to get some branded swag that’s not garbage and send a nice gift to your key people at the brand once in a while. But at the end of the day, you need to understand the message they want to send and incorporate it into work that’s compelling and professional. Make sure it’s consistent quality and on time. That’s how you keep their loyalty.

Any advice for managing a team?

ALWAYS get everyone Starbucks to start the day. Whatever coffee and food they want. Ask each person what their order is and bring them exactly that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://knapptimeproductions.com
• Instagram: @knapptime.productions