Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Luke Carmichael. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Luke, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

The first actual client I got was a random wedding couple that found me from a free video I filmed. And that is the key. I filmed 4 weddings for free to hone my craft, get experience and figure out how to even do it. I was on college at the time, so I would have my friends rent me a camera from the journalism dept. and I would go film weddings with the college gear. I was a poor college kid I had to do what I had to do haha. Once I made those videos and published them multiple people saw the films and it caught their attention which led to us booking our first real wedding in 2013! The first wedding I made money from I used a camera I borrow from my friend who had a photobooth. It is always fun to look back to see how far we have come.

Luke, 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?

how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc:

I got into the film industry by actually failing miserably at something else. Let me tell you the story. Also please don’t judge I was a 19 year old haha. In college I was a Journalism major. I always thought I wanted to be a writer or write for newspapers. I had a journalism class where the professor expected us to read the local newspaper every single morning before class. I don’t know about you but not many college students wanted to read the newspaper haha. I was one of them. The professor would do a pop quiz weekly with questions about the newspaper that day. Of course half the class never read it so everyone copied off each other. Including me and my buddy. One day my friend and I walked into class and there were 4 quizes sitting in front of us, and they were obviously ones we copied off each on. The professor said you are kicked out of the journalism major. Now you have two options we can expel you from this University for cheating or you can write a letter to the editor about how you are a cheater and it will be published in thew local paper and you can only get a C in this class PLUS you have to write 50 extra articles this semester. I took that option. Now here is where vide comes in. I had a Journalism Practicum class that I had to cut since I was kicked out and the only class free was Video Practicum. In this class they handed me a camera and it was game over. I filmed everything. From news pieces to tech videos. I fell in love with the art of storytelling.

I went to a private college for Communication, i was about to make like 30k a year haha. And I had 97k in student loans. SO I decided I needed to start a side business in college. That is where ALC Productions was born.

It started as a full on event company we offered video, photo, florals and planning. Two weddings of that made us realize we would just do video. we did 4 free videos. And then started taking on real clients.

Since 2013 we have filmed over 350 weddings. And also do Small Business content along with music videos.

what type of products/services/creative works you provide:

We offer mainly wedding video via ALC Productions.

I have a DBA company built off of ALC called Black Elm Creative. That is the company that does content for small businesses. We do training videos, music videos, events, conferences, short form content. Pretty much anything video related!

I also have a Tech/Camera/Setups brand called “BeardedLuke” I make content on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. It is all based around cameras, tech and valuable information for creatives on the web.

what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others:

We solve problems for Couples and Businesses. For couples we give them a memory that lasts in moving pictures for years and years. We are different because we care deeply about these people. We put 200 percent into every film no matter who cool or medium it was. Every story is important to us. For business We solve the problem of getting info and story out to a client’s audience via video, the best most viral thing people watch. We understand how the internet works and love to find out what each clients audience actually watch, that way we can cater each video the needs of our client’s future clients.

What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.:

I am most proud of what our clients say about us. I think video can make major impact in people’s lives. We have heard so many incredible things about what those video memories mean to people. I have also seen companies grow because of the content we make for them. It just feels so good to see a video we make actually make a difference in someone’s life/business!

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

I think a few things helped me grow our reputation in this market. I will speak for ALC on the wedding end. ONE our films speak for themself. When you put them out there onto the internet people consume them and watch them. TWO the main reason we have a good rep is because of relationships we have made in the industry. Every wedding we film we work with the vendors as a TEAM and genuinely get to know them. Over the years we have made so many relationships with the vendors they end up being your hype-man and we are theirs. And after years of great films and fun weddings people just see what we have done a respect us for it. It is pretty simple. Be good at what you do. And be good to people and success will come.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The bets source of new clients for us is word of mouth and us posting everything on social media. SO many people find us online, and then once they work with us they tell their friends who tell their aunt who tells their mom who has some random business who then hires us. That happens so often. We truthfully put no money into marketing. We just put what we make out there and try and make good relationships with all our clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: alcproductions.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alcproductions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alcproductionsinfo/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebeardedluke
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ALCProductions
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/@BeardedLuke https://www.instagram.com/beardedluke1/

Image Credits
Kimet Visuals Peak and Sparrow Whitney K Photo Rooted Content