Private Equity Video Production
Private equity video production works best when the firm says very little and the people it backs say the rest. Every private equity firm tells management teams it brings more than capital, so a film of the partners saying so proves almost nothing. The chief executive of a portfolio company saying it, on their own factory floor, proves a great deal. First Last Film makes who we are films and portfolio testimonials for private equity firms that are built that way.
What a private equity film has to do
A private equity firm has two audiences who matter more than anyone else. The first is the management teams of the businesses it wants to back, who are choosing an investor as much as being chosen. The second is the investors in its funds. Both want the same thing from a film: evidence, from people with nothing to gain, of what working with the firm is actually like.
So the brief is usually a who we are film for the website and deal conversations, and a set of shorter portfolio films that let a prospective management team hear from someone in their position. One shoot can produce both.
Our work for Rubicon Partners
For Rubicon Partners we filmed the people who run the businesses it backs, on their own ground: Centriforce in Liverpool, Bamboo in Essex, Ring Automotive Supplies in Leeds and Avove at its site in Nottingham. Chief executives and finance directors talked about what the partnership had meant for them.
The who we are film runs just over two minutes, cut from their voices. One says the firm will "help us run the business without telling us how to run our business." Another says that "the level of trust in Rubicon was total." Each company also has its own testimonial film, so the firm has one story to lead with and fuller accounts behind it.
Filming portfolio management teams
The people in these films run industrial and commercial businesses. They're used to board meetings, not cameras, and most have never been filmed. We work the way we always do with people who haven't been on camera before: no script, no autocue, a conversation with a director rather than a list of questions, and a small crew that fits into a working site without stopping it.
That's also why the films travel well. A management team watching a peer talk plainly about a hard year and how the firm helped will believe it in a way they'd never believe a brochure.
The films private equity firms ask for
- Who we are films, built from the voices of portfolio companies rather than the partners.
- Portfolio company testimonials, one per business, for deal teams to send to management teams they're courting.
- Investor and fundraising films that explain a strategy and show the team behind it.
- Value creation and exit stories, told by the people who did the work.
- Recruitment films for the firm itself and for portfolio businesses hiring senior people.
Sign-off and confidentiality
Private equity work involves people's businesses and sometimes deals that aren't public yet. Everyone in a film sees how they'll appear before it's released, portfolio companies approve their own segments, and anything that needs to go past compliance or legal is built into the schedule from the start. We're used to that pace from financial services work for lenders and banks.
Filmed across the UK
Portfolio companies are rarely in one place. We plan multi-site shoots so that a week can cover several businesses in different regions, with travel costed openly on the quote. The video production cost page shows what films cost at each budget.
FAQ
What video should a private equity firm make?
A who we are film told by the chief executives and finance directors of portfolio companies, plus a short testimonial film for each business. Management teams choosing an investor trust their peers far more than the firm's own partners.
Who should appear in a private equity firm's video?
The people who run the businesses it backs. Partners can appear briefly, but the evidence comes from management teams talking about what the partnership meant in practice.
Can you film several portfolio companies in one shoot?
Yes. For Rubicon Partners we filmed management teams in Liverpool, Essex, Leeds and Nottingham, and produced a who we are film and a testimonial for each company from the same shoot.
How do you handle confidentiality?
Everyone sees their contribution before release, portfolio companies approve their own segments, and legal or compliance review is scheduled from the start.
Bring us the problem. We'll make the film.
A thirty minute conversation with the team. No obligation.