We were lucky to catch up with Brent Eite recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brent, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
I know these two examples are kind of “cliche”, but if you find something you absolutely love to do and are somewhat good at doing it, that sets you up perfectly to putting the time in to master it. Secondly, working hard is a natural byproduct of that. I think the trouble with a majority of people, not just nowdays but throughout the previous generations, is that kids don’t know what they want to do so they end up in an unfulfilled work environment.
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 Brent Eite. I was born in Nottinghamshire England and I moved to the United States in 1996 when I was 21. My earlier interests were RC cars, RC airplanes, anything mechanical that I could build and play with. As a teenager that shifted to music. In 1995 our manager had 3 record labels with contracts on the table that he was considering. Unfortunately, one of my best friends and leader of the band (Richard), died suddenly from a terrible accident, a mutual friend of Richard’s was on a working vacation in NY and invited us out there to get away from the tragedy for a while, that’s then story of how I came to the US. From that point on I always had a camcorder in my hand, capturing new memories and our adventures in a foreign country, but it wasn’t until the development of drones about 10 years ago that I really considered getting into production as a profession. My RC passion kicked back in and I started building and flying drones, which led to my first company, Sky Capture Aerial Imaging. Back then people didn’t even know what drones were let alone hiring me so that led to my current business, Focal Point Videography, which is not only covers aerial photography but full coverage production.
I specialize in business promotional videos, TV commercials, and general photography.
I am also currently a freelance D.O.P (Director of photography) for WKMG/CH6 Orlando, doing segment work not so much the live stuff. I shoot a show every week called “The Best of Central Florida” with Makaila Nichols & Justin Clark and various TV commercials when they need me.
I worked with one of your previous guests and now close friend of mine, Shelley Lynch.
I directed, shot, co-produced and edited a short Documentary called “My Invisible Husband” with Shelley, it was chosen to Premiere at the “Reel Deal Film Festival” NSB, FL, where is picked up “Best Cinematography” and “People’s choice” awards. I have also picked up a few other awards over the years for different clients and companies such as The Humane Society, PBS Relevant Award for another animal rescue facility, Utilities Commision best use of video award and others, which is a huge honor for simply doing what I love. I also have some footage that Netflix purchased from me that appears in the current show ‘Florida Man”, which is kinda cool!
As well as my everyday work I also wrote an independent short film which I am currently trying to finance and hope to start filming before 2024.
It’s based on claimed true events regarding a UFO experience of a friend. And No, I am not jumping on the band wagon of this phenomenon that seems to be all over the news. I started writing it about 3 years ago. I just wished I had the budget then to film it sooner because the timing would have been perfect.
Lastly, my other best friend and former band member Simon Wan agreed to take the lead role in it. Since I’ve been in the states he has gone on to do quite well In the acting field, appearing in films and shows like “Netflix’s” Peeky Blinders, Fantastic Beasts and will be seen as the co-lead in an Oprah Winfrey produced show this fall called “Black Cake”. He frequents the U.S. to visit and help me with projects. As does my good friend and amazing photographer “Buck Lewis”, when he snow-birds in each winter. Other than that I do everything myself! (Which is why my website isn’t that up to date). I use my YouTube Ch to archive some projects, people ask why some video only have 75 views and my reply is always, the client the video was made for has All the views! Its a common misconception with kids these days, my ch isn’t for viral videos, merely a storage platform for me.
So yeah, a lot has happened since moving here to the US almost 30 yrs ago but stay tuned for much more to come!
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
I mentioned my friend Simon Wan in my last “essay” lol. He was part of a Documentary where they buried the 1st NFT in the “Permafrost Mine” in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Arctic Circle with his buddy Robin Schmitt of “The Defiant” and “Top Dog Studios”. He told me that NFT’s are a scam in one way & cool in another way. I tent to lean towards the scam side. I would rather have something tangible I can touch and feel. Like CD’s, I loved reading the inner sleeve and seeing extra art work, but I guess that’s where you guys can start to notice my age!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
This answer also falls under the “Favorite Marketing Story” in a way….. Fresh from New York in New Smyrna Beach armed with only a drone, a built from scratch “TBS Discovery” early FPV drone (quick sidenote, my business is called Focal Point Videography/FPV) anyway, because you can drive on the beach here in New Smyrna I parked right in front of “Chases on the beach”, a local hot-spot had a quick fly around making sure to capture “Chases” in a captivating fashion. I then went inside for lunch & a couple of drinks also making sure that when I wandered around I was shooting B-role with my iPhone.
😈🎥
When got back home to my RV at the time I threw together a quick 30’s edit, added some striking music and titles and that was a wrap.
The next day I went back to Chases on the beach, asked for the manager and showed her the cut. Remember, back, then no one had even heard of drones, so seeing the footage from the air for the first time was always an impressive foot in the door!
She hired me on the spot to do a feature video for the website & soicial media and so the formula began!
I would go around and lunch at local businesses, restaurants, mainly, and ask management if they were interested in doing any promo videos and they always were “Um err Naaa” so presenting them with a short video that I’d already done basically guaranteed a spot and that’s what I continued to do until I was known around town as the “Drone/video” guy.
Again, back then No one had video promoting their businesses, video was always on affordable TV spots so most places stick to still images only.
I think part of my success is due to the fact that I hit this market at the perfect genesis time of video promotion.
But the initial capital came from “Preview Hustling” and this still works to this very day, instead of shooting a sneaky video and showing owners I simply show them a video on my YouTube archive CH.
Contact Info:
- Website: FocalPointVideography.com
- Instagram: @Focalpointvideography
- Youtube: Focal Point
Image Credits
Seabring documentary for CH6 Orlando Shelley Lynch Photography “My invisible Husband” short film “Best of Central FL” BTS photo