We were lucky to catch up with Alex Hoelscher recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alex, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The name Wallaby kind of happened by accident. Before Wallaby had ever started, or I had any idea to start my own production company I was contracted by the company I worked for to do some additional videos for them. Since I was on payroll, they couldn’t pay me as an individual, they had to pay a seperate entity. So I was asked on the spot what that entity would be. I responded with the name of my favorite animal, a Wallaby. That was it, and I didn’t think anymore about it. I had no idea ten years later that Wallaby Film Production would be my full time job and employing multiple people. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been making videos ever since I found my dad’s old video camera when I was seven. I went on to UCLA Film Camps as a kid from Tennessee, and studied film production in college at the University of Montana. My first paid gigs started as a high school student, and I continued to work on various side projects while in college. Once I graduated I went to work for a company full time as their video producer. This was in Wilmington NC and I saw an opportunity in the market to rent a mid-tier cinema camera, this was when I started Wallaby Film Production. After the camera rentals proved successful, I branched out on my own, making Wallaby Film Production my full time job. Over the years we grew and now I have a couple full time employees and a network of various subcontractors I use for crew. What makes Wallaby different from other production companies is that we focus first and foremost on client relationships. While filmmakers love to make something cinematic, sometimes that doesn’t fit your clients’ needs. Our goal is to make the video our clients need, not the video we want to make. This approach has earned us long relationships with various retainer clients that have become my friends. We’ve now produced national tv campaigns, won various industry awards, and have produced music videos with over 20 million views.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I had been working full time on building Wallaby Film Production since 2016. 2020 was set to be our busiest year yet. Then, COVID hit, and in a matter of 48 hours we lost every single job we had on the books for that year. It was incredibly difficult to see what I had worked so hard for slip away due to something entirely beyond my control. But we hunkered down. After the panic dissipated, we had more and more clients reach our needing re-edits of existing material as well as internal messaging videos, sowe pivoted into more of a promo video post house for a bit and this stabilized the business. Then as we were able to return to set, we were able to get back to pre-COVID levels of work.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Wallaby’s reputation in our market is that of a film company who is making efficient, safe, and fun sets a priority. The film industry can be grueling for crew members with long days, rigid and sometimes unsafe sets. We rely on a large group of subcontractors to make our shoots possible and we understand to achieve the best final product, the team behind it matters most. We want our crew to feel safe and like their time is valued by us. In turn, we get better work from our team and a better environment to create for our clients. Some of the ways we help foster this is by having a strict time limit for shoot days, upbeat attitudes from the top down, well thought out and planned days for efficiency, and fair and equitable pay across the board.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wallabyfilm.com
• Instagram: @wallabyfilm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wallabyfilmproduction/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhoelscher/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/wallabyfilm