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

Leanne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

There are two businesses I weigh into, my independent dba and my partnered business.

For my dba my first client was the director of a non-profit that I had volunteered with. I had left enough of an impact with them in conversation for them to reach out about hiring me for bookkeeping services. Sometimes we don’t realize how other people see us. Often we can diminish the value of our talents as we become proficient. But if you speak to what you enjoy doing and skills that you are good at, others will remember, especially if it is not there favorite skill. It just reminds me the importance of putting yourself out there and of course talking about what you do.

In my partnership, Hollywooot Film Group, John Keough is the front runner of clients and customer service, and much more. John dreams up ideas and pitches them out. It’s hard to say who our first client was, John was working before John was working. One of the first clients when we formed was Studio Theater Worcester. An amazing project that placed us in a performing arts center recording a private performance. It told me what I already knew and helped John to feel valued. Top it off with we got to work alongside encouraging and collaborative artists.

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

Lean Into Production
I got started being good at math, the education system made me feel pigeon holed. So I graduated from college with a mathematics degree because that’s the path I had felt placed on. I’ll argue that I have always loved math, numbers, the clarity of it. Math led me to accounting/bookkeeping. Numbers, data, organization. I value honest representation of data, thoughtful spending, proper valuation, competition.

I enjoy data differently. I like to verify and reconcile. Data in it’s cleanest form is a list, it’s excel, it’s google sheets. I label myself a data manager, because someone needs to manage it, someone that enjoys it. I’m proud that when I work on finances I leave the data better than I found it. That’s my job.

At Hollywooot we aim to create good work environments that leads way to good content. John and I go above and beyond to provide for our clients. Sometimes toward infinity, which my math brain says uh oh. We care about people. I’m proud of the growth we have had in just 1 year. Not simply in having clients and projects but in the ability to learn and work with each other and others more and more.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met John when I first entertained the film industry in July 2022. I was working for free on Liz Eng’s short film Plus Ones. I was recruited as a Property Master likely because of the way I spoke about data and excel. I was super green, meaning I had little knowledge. Little knowledge of the film industry or what it meant to be a props master. John was working at Westerman’s, a Massachusetts props warehouse. At first I just wanted to be dodgy and figure out what I might be sourcing for the project. I went there several times just trying to get a grip and exploring the massive inventory. In my time there I observed John, handling the different projects that came interacting with so many people. Friendly and encouraging. Similarly interested in the film industry and in good will we connected.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Kindness. We work hard. We consistently want to do better. Being friendly. Being out in the community. It’s noticeable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leanintoproduction.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanintoproduction/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leanintoproduction
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LEANINTOPRODUCTION