Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Hummel.

Hi Jack, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Jack Hummel, and I started Pillo Productions back when I was in highschool. The Pillo we have today wouldn’t be possible without my business partner and co-owner Carlos Avitiuh (Avitiuh on IG), as well as our gaffer and drone operator Colton Smith (coltonnssmith on IG), our photographer and production manager Marah Ranger (marahshootsfilm on IG), and our Graphic Designer AJ owner of Bad Apples Market (apples_market on IG). Together we started from humble beginnings to all now working as a unit to produce the highest quality film projects around!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There has been trials and tribulations for all of us here at Pillo. I can only speak for myself but coming from a skating back ground I had a love for making films and editing clips of friends. That moved me into photographing my friends as they graduated which snowballed into weddings. Around that time of grinding through weddings weekend after weekend I finally got my first AC gig on a commercial gig. After years of doing more weddings and filling in on sets every time I could I decided to make the step into full time set work, making music videos, and producing commercials of my own. Right around that time Covid hit, everyone got laid off from the wedding firm I was working as a day job, so my opportunity had come to finally dig into a new path. My last wedding for the firm ended in all of my camera gear getting stolen the night of the shoot. After months of shooting photos again and taking anything that came at me, and blessings from my family and friends in donations to a go fund me to get a new camera system. After 6 months I was back on my feet and making strides in making more music videos and decided to really set off and make Pillo a name in Oklahoma. The formative years included working with Kristo Blanc, a multifaceted artist from Oklahoma City. We created our first several videos under the Pillo tag and the races were off. Later on I had been blessed with an opportunity to direct a video for Fire In Little Africa (FILA) and MoTown for a song my close friend St. Dominick made with M.C. and Hakeem Elijuwon called “Reparations”. A few weeks prior Los (Avitiuh) had been directing his video from the FILA project called “Shining”. I was filming bts that day and just hanging around and not too long after seeing what he created I asked him to edit my project. After the first session I think we both knew we had something special in this duo. The year after that video Los and I created several projects for himself and his music as well as passion projects here and there. Soon after we began what is now Pillo production. We’ve been blessed to work with not only MoTown records, but also Atlantic record (Gang51June 2023), 88Rec (Hugh Glass 2022-current), among a multitude of amazing independent artists pushing the boundary in Oklahoma, Chicago, Tennessee, and more.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Pillo Productions specializes in producing unique timeless pieces for our clients. We are most known for our Music video work. We are most proud of the artists and peers we’ve been able to cultivate a community with in our state. As we’ve grown it’s been very reassuring to see that our drive to create the best thing possible has spread and become infectious among those we surround ourselves with. I would say that thing that sets us apart from anyone else in our state is our desire to go above and beyond to accomplish our visions. From spending weeks on creative planning, filming for 12 hours, and at times for multiple days for one project, Pillo will go 110% to make sure we complete the mission.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Skip (just would rather not have this in the article)

Pricing:

• Music videos : 1,500 starting
• Commercial work: 1,000 starting
• Short films: catered by project
• Features: catered by project

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pillo.io?igsh=MTFsMnY0c21tdXY2bg==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@pilloproductions?si=6v8RCbET8_LMRhc_
• Other: linktr.ee/pillooo

Image Credits
@its.thesweetlife @datadenial @marahshootsfilm