We were lucky to catch up with Chayne Gregg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chayne, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I’d suggest that everybody has to answer this question for themselves, because being successful is subjective to what that actually means for yourself. For me, success is time spent focusing on my spiritual beliefs, quality relationships with family, and within work, it means challenging myself with each project Maybe that means taking a creative risk, working with new people that bring new ideas and approaches, trying something outside our comfort zone; it doesn’t have to be something huge on each project, but just something that makes it special and unique.

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’m one of the producers and owners of FreshFly, a production company that’s been around for about 15 years now. I kind of laugh as I write that, I can’t believe it’s been 15 years! I got into the business by first volunteering on projects that didn’t have a budget, or were very low budget, and you learn a lot real quick on those gigs. I was able to pick up some paid work shortly after, some of my earliest jobs as a production assistant were on The West Wing and then National Treasure. I love TV shows and movies, and still do, but working on them requires a lot of sacrifice with your family in terms of your time, and I was a new (and very young) father that was still trying to figure out what to do with my own life. I really needed to make a change or this career wasn’t going to work out. Fortunately, I was able to transition into picking up work on commercial projects. It was still hard and time consuming work, but much more manageable as commercials come and go without months and months of commitment. I was a freelance production assistant for a good five years before my now partners and I figured we could do this sort of thing on our own. And FreshFly was formed. No business plan, no ideas on how to get clients, no clue on how to actually run a business, but it didn’t really matter, we just went for it. I wish I could say we experienced overnight success, but we didn’t. Growing FreshFly and learning about the entertainment and commercial business was a slow grind. It took at least five years before I was able to start turning down freelance gigs, and just work under the FreshFly umbrella. It was about 8 to 10 years in I’d say before agencies and clients would consider us for larger budget projects. It wasn’t an easy climb, kind of like pushing a boulder up a hill, but we stayed with it, worked extremely hard, and I would say we’re stronger for it. What I didn’t realize at the time is when you work hard to earn something, building a company, there’s a personal reward that comes with that — experiences and education that can’t necessarily be taught — you just have to go through it to learn it.

Something that we maybe do differently, or perhaps sets us apart a bit, is we like our producers and directors to be involved early in the project, and see it all the way through the editorial and finishing. Having these creative individuals involved all the way through the process often makes for a stronger story in the end. At least in our experience.

Fast forward to 2023, FreshFly has been fortunate enough to work on some really exciting documentary films, and we continue to hone our craft in the commercial business. I think many agencies & clients think of us as the production company that “tells really good personal & patient stories.” I’ll take it. It’s a great thing to be known for! I’d suggest we do a lot of other things really well of course as well ;)

Going forward, we hope to be more involved in unscripted original content. We’re finishing another documentary film now, and have almost wrapped shooting on an exciting docu-series. These projects are great, and I’m so grateful for the opportunities. But we’ll also never lose focus on the importance and excitement of commercial work. It’s a sustaining business model, and it also offers many creative opportunities.

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

Some of our core values at FreshFly are honesty and investing in the success of peers and projects.

Honesty goes for both our clients, and the freelancer contractors we hire to help us bring these projects to life. Our clients know they can trust us, and our colleagues know that we value them and the creative services they bring to the table.
When I need to go back to either a client or a freelance contractor to ask for something, they know it’s because I have to, not because I’m trying to be sneaky or cut corners.

We also strive to make each project special. Yes, everybody says that, but we actually try and find ways to actually do this.
That can sometimes mean using money that would otherwise be part of our profit-margin, and putting back into the project. Perhaps not a great business model in terms of profitability, but we see it as investing in the success of everybody involved.

Over time, and I mean this takes years to build a reputation, this type of business model starts to pay dividends.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Having a job that I truly enjoy is very rewarding. Seeing a vision that was first a piece of paper or a PDF become a film, a commercial, a short story — that’s pretty awesome too. What I had to learn along the way was to enjoy the process as it unfolds. It’s easy to get caught up in the challenging parts, holding onto the excitement and joy will make it all worth while in the end though.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.FreshFly.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freshfly.films
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freshfly.films
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chayne-gregg-2b03516