We recently connected with Andrew Toth and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk.” All of us have big dreams, the most difficult part is to be brave and dare to live new situations, while accepting whatever is the outcome. Being a risk, means there are no guarantees that you are going to achieve your dream. Starting this agency was a huge risk, not only was it the first of its kind, but I’m also in competition with larger and more influential agencies that have been thriving in the industry for quite some time.

My own experiences of working in the camera and production departments gave me a personal approach to relate to my clients. After talking with production people and crew members directly, I came to the realization that there was not really any agency out there that represents only below the line crew members in film and tv, along with commercials. With all of my contacts over the years and experiences, it became obvious to me that creating an agency like this was necessary, and I was up for it.

Although there are so many challenges every day, because I believe in this agency and ideas, no matter the outcome, it will all be worth it. I give 100% to my clients and the agency, so there are no regrets.

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?

I was born in Budapest, Hungary, and moved to the US at a very young age. Throughout my life, I have moved around a lot and this gave me the skills to adapt in any situation, in a very quick way. After graduating from Arizona State University with a film production degree, I moved to LA to pursue my career. I’ve worked in the film industry for over 13 years now and have had the opportunity to work in a variety of different crew and production positions. From the camera department to all different levels of production department, this has given me a clear understanding of the industry and life on set.

I am the founder/agent of Above Below The Line agency. Across TV, Film, digital media, we represent a vetted network of crew members that are ready to work. We pride ourselves as not just being another agency, the goal is to keep things very personal unlike the big agencies or job posting websites out there.

So many crew members struggle to find work on a regular basis, and when they work for a long period of time, maintaining those connections are nearly impossible with the hours on set. In addition to that, being able to change positions once established can be super difficult.

COVID made all of this even harder and made us all rethink how we should balance our work and life. The pandemic gave a lot of us time to think and reconsider what they wanted out of their work situations. That’s where the agency comes in, with the promise to facilitate all of the above.

Our agency is dedicated to help our clientele in different ways:

Help them find work on a regular basis in Features, TV, Commercials, Music videos and Documentaries.
Help them grow in their career (project wise or crew position wise)
Help them relocate to another State film industry if they move.
Facilitate a work and life balance by advising and guiding them.
Create a trustworthy community that could be life long lasting.
Help film productions to crew up by recommending crew (especially for a non-local production).

What really drove me to start this agency quickly, was the idea of creating a way to represent a vetted network of crew members and productions that can help build a trustworthy community who will connect for life and build their careers together.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Technology has increased social connectivity making it easier than ever for consumers to do all of their marketing needs. A post that takes just a few minutes for a person to write will be seen by hundreds of friends who trust them, and it can rapidly travel out to thousands more.

Although Above Below The Line doesn’t have too many followers yet, from my experiences, social media is only really influential with a few key features.

-Dedicate time to learn and post on a daily, weekly or monthly routine. Engaging your audiences on a routine basis will keep your followers coming back. Keep up with current events that relate to your company and audiences.

-Brand recognition. Having a name or branding that is easily searchable, works well on a simple search will help create more and more people finding the company. I was lucky enough to create an agency name that has helped my social media presence and google search all by itself.

-Use social media for recruiting and hiring. Using Linkedin and Instagram has not only helped me find some of the clients we rep, but also has helped me get my clients on jobs and projects. Engaging with people on social media helps get a conversation and trust going. But still the main way of building on that and getting a relationship going is verbal or physical conversations. There is nothing that beats a phone call or a meeting in person when building a business.

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

As a business, expanding your reach and market potential is huge. Along with keeping a high standard reputation to all that hear about you.

Living in a social media age, you can reach many people easily and in a short time period. However, word of mouth, I truly believe is still one of the biggest way of building a reputation for a brand. Not only will it feel much more credible, it may be more effective as people tend to trust personal recommendations more.

Look at this that way, once you see some random ad or post on Facebook/instagram, you are not convinced to buy the product right then. But when you talk to someone personally and they recommend this exact same product and they say how happy they are about using it, you automatically consider getting it too. It usually sticks with the customers longer and generates a buzz around.

The film & tv industry is a small world, once people get talking, it spreads around very quickly. Most importantly is to keep up a good reputation. Everyone seems to know someone, and this can be an amazing marketing tool, but can also be damaging to a company if high standards are not kept.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.abovebelowtheline.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abovebelowtheline/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABLAgency
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theatoth/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AboveBelowLine