We were lucky to catch up with Mitchell Thayne recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mitchell, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I was like most other modern-day creatives. I took my first photo on my iPhone 4s and realized I loved creating art (despite how awful that first photo + Instagram filter I created was). From there, I learned by trial and error. When you love the process, you will automatically excel when many others give up. What has made the biggest difference? I have just outlasted everyone else. I didn’t stop; they did.

YouTube, practice, and hard knocks were the way I learned. It was a process and didn’t happen overnight. I picked up a camera a decade ago and have never stopped putting in the work and time. I took big risks whenever I found myself getting comfortable. When I got good at photography, I decided to try my hand at video. When I did all my passion projects and travel videos, I decided to try freelancing with video and client work. When I had done my time as a freelancer, I decided to bring on a partner and create a production company. Once we were booming, I took the opportunity to get acquired and go in-house full-time with a billion-dollar tech company. Once I learned what I had there, I left and started a new production company (FilmLaab). It has been this process of evolution and never getting comfortable where I have learned the most.

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

At a young age, I had friends and family involved and laughing as I directed and captured epic family videos. Ask me about my High School Musical and Star Wars spinoffs (although I most definitely will not show them to you).

While growing up, I never considered myself a creative person. That all changed after graduating high school.

In 2013, I was preparing to go serve an LDS service mission in Cape Town, South Africa. While waiting, my parents bought a Nikon D3200 as the new family camera. I picked it up and started taking photos and posting them on Instagram (which was all the rage at the time). After falling in love with the process of creation I took 2 years off and went to South Africa.

After returning home, I had a friend ask me to take some photos/videos at his wedding. This was the first time I realized someone would actually pay me for what I loved to do. This quickly turned into a couple of years of freelance shooting weddings, concerts and social content for local brands.

I quickly felt like I hit a ceiling with what I could create/accomplish on my own. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and knew I needed a partner. I met Jackson Averett after he broke his hand snowboarding and needed someone to help film some projects. We quickly grew excited thinking about what we could create and decided to start a production company.

In fall 2018 we started Avenue Film Co. We quickly grew our business and worked with clients all over Utah. Once COVID hit we were approached and eventually acquired by a tech company called Route. We were tasked with building out a content/media department within the company. After a year we decided to step out on our own and once again try our hand as creative entrepreneurs.

FilmLaab, my latest dream, was established in the fall of 2021. I’m so excited to show you all what we’ve been working on. I’ve brought on a new partner, Mike Every. Built an incredible team and worked with clients I could have only dreamed of. Some of the clients include Air Jordan, DJI, the Utah Jazz, Sephora, Lonely Ghost, and so many others.

What sets us apart? We aren’t a solo videographer trying to do it all. And we aren’t a traditional agency or production company that’ll charge $500k to do a video. We are a small and nimble team of specialists who are able to come in at a fraction of the cost and deliver top-tier quality. We were born in a social age and have tirelessly experimented over the past decade with different editing techniques, growing our socials, building brand recognition, and cultivating a community. We are good at this because we also do it for ourselves.

For me, this creative journey so far has been fulfilling, but what I find the most satisfaction in is the relationships I have been able to build along the way. That’s what life is all about. When you focus on that, you will win.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

In October of 2022 my business partner of 5 years decided to bow out. He took a few clients and some essential gear. This left me with a massive hole in our business while still trying to keep up with the overhead of employees, a studio, gear, and client needs. We were financially on the brink of closing our doors. Some clients weren’t submitting payments, while others were burying us in revisions and requests outside of scope. With our limited team, resources, and ever-diminishing bank account, I didn’t know how we’d bounce back.

We ended up getting multiple loans totaling over $60,000. This was to make payroll and get us through the dark time. During this time, the economy started to take a hit, and e-commerce and tech companies alike were being cautious with spending and undergoing layoffs internally.

We had a burnt-out team and no work or projects. I realized that our last chance was to lean into what I always knew we needed to do. We needed to tell our own story. We needed to do more self-initiated content. So rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, we went to work. We started a YouTube docu-series telling our story (LaabTakes), we launched our newsletter (LaabNotes), we unveiled our 2022 Showreel, and I personally started posting on my socials every single day. Essentially, we decided to bet on ourselves.

The bet paid off. Two days before we hit zero, we locked in 2 different contracts that launched us on a whole new trajectory. Since then, we’ve undergone incredible growth in our systems, our clientele, our work, and our mental health.

Things still aren’t easy, but we feel confidence and strength that, compared to how things were in Q4 of last year, bring a smile to my face.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Hands down, my favorite aspect of being creative is helping other people accomplish their dreams. Whether that is someone on my team who is proud of their work or that they can provide for their family or a client we work with who is blowing up because of a campaign or video we created, I find immense satisfaction in being part of their story.

I fell in love with this art form because I loved storytelling. And while yes, I get to tell many stories through film, I love the chance to be part of someone’s story even more. Seeing REAL impact is what matters most to me. And I love that I get to do that for the people I work and interact with while creating art.

The way I do this is by providing for my family. My wife Meagan has believed in me from the beginning. In our 2nd month of marriage, we had to skip paying ourselves. She has been home alone with the kids while I’ve been gone for a week straight on production or pulled 14-hour workdays. She never complains and always stands by me. I love that I get to provide for and support her and our two children. There is nothing more rewarding than being part of that story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://filmlaab.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchellthayne/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClCZiS_lZ7AHh5iKo_hy8Cg