Transforming the Media Industry: An Interview with Carolyn Pitt, Founder of Productions.com

In a recent interview, Carolyn Pitt, Esq., the founder of Productions.com, discussed how her company addresses the difficulties of crew recruitment in the media and entertainment sector. Productions.com facilitates connections between brands and local production professionals, streamlining the process and minimizing costs. The company distinguishes itself by offering services to diverse clients, including studios, production companies, and corporate brands. Productions.com places a high value on diversity and inclusion, as evidenced by their involvement in various projects that champion diversity in the industry. Furthermore, the company stays current by adopting technology and data analytics trends.

Can you tell us about the founding of Productions.com and the inspiration behind the company's mission?

I’m an Intellectual Property and entertainment attorney, and the genesis of Productions.com was my experience working with clients frustrated by the industry’s prevalent and expensive practice of importing up to 70% of crew into vibrant production hubs with established ecosystems. The talented crew in these hubs often struggle to find work, while studios spend exorbitantly to import “distant hire crew,” and pay per diem, travel, and housing expenses on top of wages. The impact is more than just financial, as every successful gig within the industry has the potential to meaningfully expand a crew member’s network and advance her career. We aim to connect brands to vetted local production talent, saving them time and money.

Our team realized we had found a product market fit when brands started leveraging Productions.com to hire experienced crew within remote production hubs and the major hubs of Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York. In addition to driving local workforce and economic development within production hubs across the U.S. and Canada, we are also proud to increase parity and equity in one of the most bankable industries in the world.

What have been the biggest challenges you have faced in building and scaling Productions.com, and how have you overcome them?

Raising capital is challenging for almost every founder. That challenge is compounded for African-American woman-helmed enterprises like ours due to intersectionality, historical inequities, and pattern matching within venture capital.

We have been intentional about creating outsized value for our clients and are proud to partner with investors like Morgan Stanley and Google that are mission-aligned and that want to see our company thrive and drive much-needed efficiency and change.

How does Productions.com differentiate itself from other companies in the media and entertainment industry?

The breadth and scope of our services distinguishes us from other companies. We have expanded our clientele to provide freelance and full-time production talent to studios, production companies, corporate brands, music labels, and promoters of live events, each of which needs experienced local talent and a desire to reduce production costs. We provide talent for project-based work as well as for full time production roles and have a global reach: our community includes crew across the US and Canada and in 30 additional countries.

Can you speak to the importance of diversity and inclusion in the media and entertainment industry, and how does Productions.com address this issue?

In 2023, the industry still lacks diversity on virtually every front. Men hold twice as many industry jobs as women. Twice as many white professionals hold industry jobs than professionals of color. This dearth of diversity is seldom quantified or meaningfully addressed. Now, more than ever, there’s a pronounced need for an innovative catalyst built specifically for production to quickly connect experienced talent with brands.

While Productions.com advocates for production talent of all backgrounds, we are mission driven to increase access within the industry. To that end, we provide diverse candidate slates that include women, professionals of color, veterans and members of the disabled and LGBTQIA+ community, each of whom are underrepresented. Our community is already twice as diverse as industry averages.

What are some notable projects that Productions.com has worked on, and what impact have they had on the industry?

Notable projects include: partnering with a global brand on an engagement that assessed and ensured greater diversity among and within its domestic and international production partners. Providing crew within 48 hours to an F100 that created content in a very remote city; this enabled the brand to complete the project under budget and within tight time constraints. And we regularly empower clients to significantly reduce their spend by hiring stellar local talent, including a recent engagement in which we quickly placed 30 local crew members.

How does Productions.com approach identifying and investing in innovative projects in the media and entertainment industry?

We are intentional about partnering with brands that create impactful content, embrace innovation, and genuinely want to expand access to production work. Our team collaborates with these brands to simplify sourcing top-notch talent so that they can fully focus on creating powerful content.

Can you share some examples of successful partnerships that Productions.com has established, and how have these collaborations benefited the company and its partners?

We partner with the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena to provide vetted local crew for games, concerts, conferences and events. We provide full tome production talent to broadcast partners like Capitol Broadcasting Company, studios including NEP Studios, and production freelancers to an F500 client that we will soon be able to name. Via our partnership with Boxed Up, a company that provides high-end production equipment, we enable brands to quickly hire vetted local production talent for their projects nationwide.

What trends do you see emerging in the media and entertainment industry in the next few years, and how is Productions.com positioned to adapt to these changes?

Emerging trends include decentralization of the industry, increased diversity, and greater adoption of technology to gather data and analytics to predict audience behavior and expectations and anticipate needs and preferences. In addition, Ai will undoubtedly leave an imprint on the industry and it represents both opportunities and challenges.

Productions.com is very well positioned for each of these trends, as we leverage technology to provide cost savings via local and diverse talent wherever productions shoot content. Our team utilizes data and analytics to understand our clients and job seekers and anticipate their needs, and we provide Ai-powered resume review and writing services and are integrating additional Ai technology into the platform.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build a successful startup in the media and entertainment industry?

Have faith in yourself and lean into your network to expand your reach and influence. There has never been a better time to build a solid enterprise. Never underestimate yourself and the impact that you can create with your ideas and execution.

What are your future plans for Productions.com, and how do you envision the company evolving in the coming years?

Our initial focus has been connecting brands to vetted local production talent across the United States and Canada. In the coming years, we will continue to expand globally and potentially begin providing additional expertise and services to the production industry beyond hiring.