Brandon Zambonelli
Owner
Forest City Films at the core is a full service production company that focuses on telling the stories of businesses and brands in Canada. We strive to produce content that truly stands out and has a purpose behind it. We take the skill and knowledge from the TV and Film industry and combine that with our work to create amazing storytelling projects to better emphasize our clients needs.
What inspired you to start your own business?
At the end of our college careers (Mauricio and Brandon) we always talked about running a business together. We ended up going into separate paths in the industry but always stayed in touch. Fast forward to November 2020. We started chatting over a drone clip Mauricio uploaded to Instagram and we ended up brainstorming over the phone for 2-3 hours. This is basically how the idea of Forest City Films came to play. It was a meaning/statement that boils down to our two different lifestyles, combined we created Forest City Films. Not only a company name but a reminder that as much as we work in the big city, its important to escape and unwind outside of the city.
What value did you received from BACD?
We received an invaluable experience. From learning the basics of running your own business, to the logistics, and so on. Going with BACD was hands down the best thing we did as professionals to better ourselves and our business. We’ve learned so much in so little time and it’s nice to know whenever we have questions or concerns we can reach out at any time and BACD is there.
Tell us about your business growth?
Since we started, we’ve hired on three contractors. One video editor, one videographer, and one social media manager. We hope to grow more in the new year and add some more faces to Forest City Films. We also aim to open up a studio space by this time next year. A place where we can all work together and have clients come in for projects/meetings etc.
What marketing strategies do you use?
We’ve really just been pushing out a lot of our content through social media. Instagram is basically our portfolio and we use this to really market out projects. Although, we would love to start a marketing campaign in the coming months.
What advice would you give someone who is starting a business?
I would definitely recommend looking into BACD as a starter company. Learning top to bottom on how to run a business is crucial and BACD makes it so easy to learn the process. Without this you’re not really helping yourself or your business!
