We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kemp Lyons a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kemp, thanks for joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

When I was first going independent as a video director/producer, I was coming straight from an agency. An agency I left on good terms with. So much of my early (and current!) business was through them. I’ll be forever grateful.

From there, my business grew from referrals. Which was great!

Until it wasn’t enough.

If I were to start over, I’d spend more capital and time setting up lead gen and nurture. Maybe some of that would be through typical marketing channels like ads, lead magnets, etc.

But in THIS moment of my business, I’d go back in time and hire a performance-driven sales person.

Someone who can do the research, make the initial contact, and do some qualifying before I step in with the creative song and dance.

As a creative person who doesn’t like selling himself, I hoped the work would speak for itself. Or my clients would be such rabid fans, they’d go through their Contacts app and tell everyone they knew.

But now that I’m more plugged into the business side of things, it’s easy to see how investments in lead gen and nurture can pay off in the long run.

Kemp, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Kemp Lyons. I wanted to be a video game designer, but through a couple flukes along the way, I’ve turned into a filmmaker with hundreds of client projects and a couple feature films under my belt.

Right now, I’m executive producer, creative director, and founder of a video production studio called Emberscout. It’s easy to say that we sell videos.

But what we really do is use the tools of video production and storytelling to create business results. (Which vary wildly.)

In this new age of AI, we’re putting a special emphasis on impact stories: doc-style films that show how a brand, idea, service, or product actually makes a difference in the real world.

We like to think of ourselves as back country guides helping our clients through the wilderness of video production. We don’t always choose the destination, but we make sure the journey is thoughtful, efficient, and just as much a story as the films we make.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first left my agency job in mid-2019, I thought I was right on the bottom edge of being able to start a career as a commercial director. I had a decent body of work, a recent indie feature film I made with friends, and, importantly, a spouse with a great paying job. Got a couple gigs. Did some side projects.

And then the pandemic hit. And then we welcomed our first child. And then my wife’s job got cut. By August of 2020, I had to change everything.

I had to stop asking “Will this project help me make the next step?” to “Can I do this and get paid for it?”

Luckily, I had a lot of experience across almost every aspect of filmmaking. So the answer to the question was more often “yes” than “no.”

All those yeses eventually turned into Emberscout.

I think life’s funny in that you often still get to keep a core truth of a passion, no matter what. So even though directing projects is not 100% of my job any more, it’s still 20%. And that’s (usually) enough for me. (For now.)

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Like most folks, I became a filmmaker out of love of story. To see immortal values and ideals drawn into conflict, embodied as characters that take us out of ourselves and broaden our view of the universe. “Story is King” was the mantra at my film school (and, I suspect, most film schools).

I wholeheartedly believed that for years.

There was no specific moment when I changed my mind about that. But over years of working with clients, my view had to shift.

Not every client goal is best served by a story. In fact, sometimes, the story was getting in the way.

Some clients just need a simple explanation of their service.

Or to capture product details for technical sales.

Maybe they actually need us to get out of the way so the CEO we’re shooting a direct address for can do the storytelling better.

In commercial/corporate filmmaking, we have to first listen to our clients’ needs.

Then help them tell a story.

Or not.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emberscout.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kemplions/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kemplyons/