Democratising Video Production: Unlocking Business Success with a 'Content as a Service' Model with Christoffer Flemstrom

Dive into the future of video production with our groundbreaking podcast, where we sit down with industry visionary Christoffer Flemstrom, the founder of a game-changing video production company. Discover how they've reshaped the landscape with their 'Content as a Service' model, making high-quality video creation accessible and cost-effective for businesses of all sizes. Get insights into the technology, strategies, and success stories that are shaping the content creation world. If you're a purchasing, procurement, supply chain, or business professional looking to master video marketing while optimizing your budget, this podcast is your go-to source for innovation and inspiration.

ABOUT THE GUEST

My guest today Christoffer Flemstrom, is the founder and visionary behind Klara Färdiga Film, a video production company that believes in making film creation accessible to all. After gaining experience in traditional film production, Christoffer developed an innovative ‘Content as a Service’ model, allowing business owners to create content at a set monthly cost.

Discover more about Christoffer and his business here:

Website:       https://klarafardigafilm.com/
Facebook:     https://www.facebook.com/people/Klara-F%C3%A4rdiga-Film/100082647908972/
Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/klarafardigafilm/
TikTok:         https://www.tiktok.com/@klarafardigatiktok
LinkedIn:       https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoffer-flemstr%C3%B6m-6785a1b9/
LinkedIn:       https://www.linkedin.com/company/klara-f%C3%A4rdiga-film/

ABOUT THE HOST

My name is Dave Barr and am the Founder and Owner of RLB Purchasing Consultancy Limited.

I have been working in Procurement for over 25 years and have had the joy of working in a number of global manufacturing and service industries throughout this time.

I am passionate about self development, business improvement, saving money, buying quality goods and services, developing positive and effective working relationships with suppliers and colleagues, and driving improvement through out the supply chain.

Now I wish to share this knowledge and that of highly skilled and competent people with you, the listener, in order that you may hopefully benefit from this information.

CONTACT DETAILS

@The Real Life Buyer
Email: david@thereallifebuyer.co.uk
Website: https://linktr.ee/thereallifebuyer

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https://rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk/
Email: contact@rlbpurchasingconsultancy.co.uk

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Transcript

Intro  00:03
Welcome to The Real Life Buyer podcast. In this podcast, you will hear interviews with business owners, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors and technical specialists in their field. These professionals will hasten your development accelerate your career and broaden your business know how now introducing your host Dave Barr interviewing with a purchasing twist.

Dave Barr  00:25
Hello, and welcome to The Real Life Buyer. My guest today is Christopher Flemstrom strong. He's the founder and visionary behind Klara Färdiga film, a video production company that believes in making film creation, accessible to all. After gaining experience in traditional film production. Christoffer developed an innovative 'content as a service model', thus allowing business owners to create content at a set monthly cost. Today, I want to discover more about the model, how it is effectively and efficiently servicing its clients, with quality video at appealing budget levels. So without further ado, I welcome Christoffer onto the podcast. Hi, Christoffer.

Christoffer Flemstrom  01:10
Hi, Dave, thanks a lot for being are thanks a lot for inviting me along.

Dave Barr  01:14
You are welcome to be here. And I'm very pleased that you're here with me today as well. So it's great for us to have a chat. Obviously, you're calling in from Sweden today. A country, I know pretty well, lovely place to be. So I'm quite curious about video. It's something that is kind of exploding, it continues to explode, especially with demands from social media channels and new channels. We all know Tik Tok and everybody seems to wanting to have video and needing to create video to pull people in. So I'm curious. I'm not sure exactly when you started in the video world, but there must been some some motivations behind your choice of career. And then subsequently the disruption that you felt was necessary in this market. Can you talk us through the background of that, and why you are where you are now?

Christoffer Flemstrom  02:04
So I've always been self taught in video and films. Basically, I come from a background of arts and painting drawing, but I got into photography and filmmaking. And I actually studied in London as well before Corona. So basically, I come from a self taught background, but I started in UK and in the US. And I saw that as long when you when you started doing bigger films and bigger with bigger crews, they became the whole film production process became almost focused on the logistics of things instead of the creative things, which is the thing that I love the most. So it became like a timeline of like, you had your idea here, and then you have the finished product here. And everything in between is almost luggage logistics. So it's impossible to get that idea really right or that story that you want to tell. So I was just frustrated with that. And because I came from a self taught background, I thought why not just do it yourself, you know? So, I mean, yeah, that's where it all started. I guess the idea of it not, it doesn't have to be a big crew to go on a film set to make a social media video. You just need one person that is good at audio, video and directing and boom.

Dave Barr  03:30
Brilliant. So I want to get some idea of the scale we're talking here. So obviously you're based in London, you in one of the big studios, you know, I mean, you say about logistics that screams to me, multiple people, multiple bits of kit lorries moving stuff around and all sorts. Is that the kind of size of operation you were involved in at that time? Can you give us some scale to it?

Christoffer Flemstrom  03:52
Yeah, I mean, we were 15 people I would say on a film set so it was three people on camera, two people on audio and then you had producers actors on set and first AD director so basically, uh, and of course then you had to help us like gaffers and and extra hands on set to basically move equipment. So just to get an extra shots. It could take half an hour yes to move the tripod and the camera. And that to me was just, no, I can't be doing this.

Dave Barr  04:25
I watch the credits, the end of movies and you see a description like gaffer and key grip, I'm thinking, What the hell do these people do? I've got no idea. Exactly. Sure. It's quite a fascinating place to be when you learn about this kind of stuff. So obviously, what you're talking about that scale is cost. There's a lot of wages there a lot of equipment and as you say, time that is taken to do this kind of stuff. So you wanted to create this, as you say, a 'content as a service model'. Can you explain exactly what the definition from you that that is and what the benefits and advance Each phase there are two, somebody wants to utilise that service. You know, why do they want to do this?

Christoffer Flemstrom  05:06
Yeah, so basically, an easier expression would say I would say is subscription. So you subscribe to video content. And every month we produce a video or we create an animation for you as a client. So we book, a book a date for shoots, we create an idea, or we create the idea with the clients, we pitch it planets, edit filaments, and deliver it. And we do that every month. So in fact, most of our clients are on longer subscriptions, like 12 months or three months. And that means the flexibility to try different routes is so much easier. Like if you want to, let's say try to do some HR video ads for you to well find new employees, you can try that that mouth, and then you can see, did that give anything the next month? Okay? Do we need to change change something with them, okay, we need to change the message needs to be earlier, we need to cut straight to the message, because nobody's clicking this because it takes 510 seconds until people know what companies from even so we added that, then we posted again, oh, now we see it's actually has, we're getting some attention, are we getting some attention. And then the next month, you're like, Okay, let's create some more of those, or let's create some sales video, since that pitches our company. So it's a real flexibility of trying different videos, especially for ads. But also in general, when when you need to communicate things, maybe with your to your company as a whole, maybe you need a Christmas, I don't know, Christmas message, or you just want to make a tutorial of some sort, like it's really flexible, instead of making one production, you can afford a whole year of subscription with us. So you can even skip a few months, and you're still getting a lot more than you would from another company.

Dave Barr  07:02
Okay, so with a subscription model, that means you've got kind of guaranteed income, month after month, which obviously helps cash flow should we say so that's good for you. For them, they have a guaranteed time. Now, I don't know how the time is packaged, they have a certain slot they have to perform within which we say and they've got certainty with this, though, they know it's going to be the same cost. They're not expecting any, suddenly a big bill this month because of something coming through. So I guess there's a little bit of risk on your side if things go over the time that you've allowed, but then the next month, it could be a shorter shoot, I guess.

07:40
That's why we have different you know, we have so many more clients than a regular video agency has. So for us, if one month it cost a bit more, maybe a few more drafts that will even out on a another client. So for us, it's more about making the client happy, and seeing it as long relationship because it's so much more valuable to us.

Dave Barr  08:04
Yeah, yeah, it's quite interesting. Now just trying to put some context around the kind of videos you're recording, are these I'm thinking out loud. Now could it be product based videos, could it be people wearing certain types of clothing, like a catwalk type of shoots, you know, but what sort of things are your regular kind of customers.

Christoffer Flemstrom  08:26
So we have we've looked into a lot of E commerce recently, we thought that was a really interesting market so we started pushing towards that one so we did recently we did a shoot with a purse company or by a woman's bag company. So we did a really nice shoot with a model in Old Town in Stockholm that almost looks like Italy, but it's really not it was the only sunny day in Stockholm but we also do regular product shoots in our office and in our studio and but the most common video is you know the testimonial video where somebody is talking to the camera and that could be a sales pitch that could be a CEO talking about this company.

Dave Barr  09:10
Okay, now quite interested now in the respect that some of these people are used to doing a video shoot and clearly some this would be pretty alien to some people is part of the service what you do helping to the kind of school them in some way educate them on how to be come across most effectively, you know how to get the best bang for their buck, so to speak.

Christoffer Flemstrom  09:33
100% 100% I hire people that are therapists, you know, almost but most of them have actually been working in Medicare here somehow, but but they're really sympathetic people and they know how to handle people that are nervous. That's key otherwise we wouldn't be able to deliver to clients because even actors won't perform if the director can't create a mode on set. But it's relaxed and you're comfortable you feel confident and trust worthy in the in the director. And that's key in our camera personnel as well.

Dave Barr  10:10
Okay, yes, that's an aspect I hadn't thought of. So you have to create the mood, that kind of vision, the atmosphere that relates to what you're trying to record. You see, sometimes on the TV, we've got a green screen behind people. And for all I know, it's just a white box they're performing. It's much more than that, though, to get the best effects. I take it,

Christoffer Flemstrom  10:32
Definitely, definitely, I think, to me, it's, some people get hung up on details like, Oh, this looks overexposed, or we have a branch hanging in here or something like that. But to me, it's the message. And if you deliver the message in a confident way, if the person looks relaxed, you're going to trust them, you're going to look, you're going to continue watching the video, because it's all about delivering that message in a clear way, and feel comfortable doing it as well. Yeah. Because otherwise you won't believe that person. So if it's an ad, then there's no use of...

Dave Barr  11:06
Yeah, so I guess it's got to come across as natural as well, that the people are actually believe in what they're trying to say. Yeah. If it's too wooden, or I guess stand out in a quite a prominent way that it's all sort of architrived I think that the right word for this, it's you know, it's a it's a set, some of these things you see even on the movies look so obviously, like a set and fabricated rather than be the natural kind of experience. Exactly. Okay. Now, I guess when you started to do this, there must have been some challenges. You're developing and implementing, I guess, something quite new. So what were the kind of challenges you faced? And how did you overcome them?

Christoffer Flemstrom  11:47
A lot of challenges, I would say is to convince clients that this is actually a good thing to do. And you should trust that we can deliver on our promises. Because usually, when we come out to clients, they're the first impression is, oh, it's only you. And that bag. And then, and when I'm on set where two people because it's the camera person to me, and I usually say jokingly the next time will be even less people. And as soon as they see the finished product, it's not a question about it anymore. But it's that first, you know, uncertainty, always. But also, of course, like how, how do we package our product? That was a big struggle in the beginning as well, to make it? Yeah, work basically.

Dave Barr  12:35
Okay. Yes, that's quite interesting, because I guess you've got to now help people to understand what they're going to get. It sounds like they expected a whole camera crew and goodness knows what sets of gear in some ways, it might have been quite nice to see it's less intimidating. With just a few people and a little bit more low key, then great, big entourage. But they, as you say, they appears that they are concerned that they're going to get value out of your offering, you had to demonstrate that, obviously, that all the quality is still there. Yeah, let's move on slightly. Because what's key in this is that you need to have a fairly slick production, you've got to have efficiencies, you got to have productivity, you've got to make sure you're doing things in an economic way, both for yourself and the client, you need to make a decent profit out of this. So what things are different the way you do things other than the people and the I guess the capital investment, we're talking here somewhat different in the production of the videos, are there certain things that you've had to do, which is unconventional to the video market, but gives you some great savings in your processes that you don't get in other productions?

Christoffer Flemstrom  13:55
I think the way we we plan the process is quite slimmed. We try to, we try to plan it very simply by letting the client prepare the script since he is or she is the person that knows they're competent at best. And of course, we can help them out with it and give feedback on it. But I think they know how to say their message. And if they need help, we can of course help them with that. But that's a waste of our time saving. And we basically bounce it back and forth between us. And then we finalize it just a week or two before before shooting. And also I think it's it's that it's usually two hours to four hours are shoots. So we really have slimmed down the shooting schedule as well. So I think everything is slim, basically to the maximum even our gear. I want it to be lightweight. I want it to be easy. I want it to be good. The equipment should never be they are always just tools, tools to meet or to deliver on the product. And people are just too hung up on gear, I feel they're always talking about cameras, especially clients love to talk about them. But I'm all about okay, but I can make it look good with a 12 year old camera. If I just laid it well, you're not going to be able to tell the difference. So I think that's it's yeah.

Dave Barr  15:25
It's interesting talking about technology and tools, I think the craze of wanting the latest iPhone, for example, or latest Android device, people have been kind of programmed to expect you must have the latest in technology to deliver the best results. But at the end of the day, as you say, it's how you use it. Yeah, think of Formula One cars, you know, you can put a terrible driver behind the best car and it won't perform. So I guess it's the same in the camera world, where you have a standard that you've got to achieve. And you've got to use the right tools. And it's how you use those things and how you implement and work them. And you know what tricks there are to get in great video production, I guess. And no matter how the latest tech somebody else is using, if they haven't got the experience, the knowledge, the tips and tricks that really bring the best out in both people and the set, then, you know, it doesn't matter if, as you say you could have a 12 year old camera and still produce much better quality than somebody with the latest device.

Christoffer Flemstrom  16:29
As long as you know it. It should be like, yeah, it should be just an extension of your hand. Because if I know my 12 year old camera better than he knows his new camera, then I'm done. He's done. Because he's not going to be able to make as good of a video as me if it's a competition. I mean, yeah,

Dave Barr  16:50
Yeah, of course. So the tech is important to a point. But it's more about experience and competence and know how it gets the best results. Okay. And if we say about other technology, I guess it's software and how we use that? Is it critical that you've got the latest in that with the latest bells and whistles? Or would you say not so much?

Christoffer Flemstrom  17:14
I wouldn't say again, I don't want the technology to come in the way. So if if I have a computer that is decent, and it doesn't have any hiccups, when I'm editing, that's perfect for me, in terms of software for planning and everything like that, we always try to strive to better our process of of handling the amount of projects that we're handling, how can we efficient this? How can we improve upon our process? So we're always trying to work on those. And I think that structure inside the company has a much more effect than we just I mean, get a new computer, for example, like the hardware is not the problem. I think it's usually about communication inside the company, and how can we make that better? Or communication as a whole client company, that that relationship is so important, and when it works? Well, you can perform magic?

Dave Barr  18:12
Yeah. Fantastic. I'm thinking about people now, because you touched on a clear point here. It's people who make things work properly. So I'm thinking of the models that you may use? Do you use consistently, people who are experienced with your process? More so than getting just new models? I guess, you know, actors and so forth. You know, do you have a pool of people that you know, you can draw upon that really understand what you're about how you work? And that I assume makes things a lot easier? Is that fair to say? Yeah, Yeah. It's interesting point you mentioned there is that for them doing a two hour of shoot is quite short. Now, does that cause a problem in effect, if these people are paid hourly, they now look upon working with yourself as they'll kind of fit that in because if they can get a five hour shoot with another company that doesn't perhaps work in the way you do, is that more attractive to them than doing a two hour shoot with you. Do you have to battle for models and actions because of that or is not? Is that not an issue?

Christoffer Flemstrom  18:47
Definitely. I think most of our actors that we're using, we have a pool in, in different cities, or for every city that we're working basically, and they are experienced with us, because we have a different process a two hours shoot is a very short shoot for them. And usually they haven't had the time to I mean, they looked at the script, they've gotten to know the script. But usually that means a lot of improvisation, for example. So I like to work with actors that are I mean, that accept that because a lot of actors that don't feel comfortable with that as well. So and that's fine. It's just in order for us to perform something. I like to keep it a bit fluid on set.  It's the same As with clients, you always have to think, because this is a new model of making video or doing shoots that people are not used to. It's, it's a learning curve. And some people like it, some people feel it's flexible. We, the actress that we do find work for and are comfortable with us are usually the actors that get the most jobs from us. Yeah, so it might be a shorter shoot, but it might be a lot more shoots with us.

Dave Barr  20:27
Yep. So the frequency increases. And yeah, obviously, the more experienced, the more comfortable you both are with each other, that just develops and develops, of course, more clients, more sheets, etc. Okay, I guess the other people element, which you touched on a bit earlier, is I guess you get slicker and more organized in helping the clients get ready, quicker, delivering their message in a more succinct and competent way. So it's critical. I guess, the people you mentioned earlier on that, I think you mentioned psychologists wherever the case they are, the better they are in making people relaxed and fit your model as well, is also a benefit because they don't need so many reshoots, I guess.

Christoffer Flemstrom  21:10
Yeah, because the thing is that we like to use the same camera personnel for the same clients. So they start developing a relationship, and they start to get to know each other really well. So of course, they get more comfortable with them, they even go on after works with each other and, and that's the, I think, is the benefit of us having the subscription service, because we don't come in to IKEA and do just a one time big production, send them an invoice and like have fun. See you in the next five years. We try to put a lot of effort into our relationships, and I feel it shows in all, in all our departments, people really care for the clients. That's really nice to see.

Dave Barr  21:58
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the frequency of being together, the how comfortable you both are, you're used to how things work, and see you next month, you know, it's more of a family type of arrangement, then should we say a transactional type of arrangement? Okay. Now, we mentioned at the beginning, that social media digital platforms are driving more and more demand for video content. Now that must mean that this is a landscape and industry that is developing very, very quickly, new things are coming to the fore. So how do you make sure that your clients content and the what you deliver remains just as impactful? Now, as it was six months ago, when people did things slightly differently? How do you stay ahead of the curve? And really make sure your content stands stands out more than the competitors who are using other people? Let's say,

Christoffer Flemstrom  22:50
Yeah, well, I tried to be as informed as possible as I can. And of course, I'm a person, so I have my failures. But the good thing is that were a lot more people than me, just me. So we have coordinators that coordinate the client's jobs. And they are called Creative coordinators for a reason, because they come up with a lot of brilliant ideas. So it's usually in discussions and brainstorms that we come up with, with new plans and new ideas. And it usually comes from something that somebody saw on social media, because that's where I feel you should have your eyes on what works for other people, usually works for you. But it's not a it's not a recipe, but it can inspire you. And we also have a social media manager that helps us and helps the clients. And she always has some good ideas.

Dave Barr  23:41
Brilliant, brilliant. We all love to hear success stories we want to, I want to know, give me some examples of some clients that you've worked with. You don't have to name names, but where you've taken them from maybe a standing start or working with other video companies and what you've done as transformed the way that they market their products has exploded their sales, have you got some examples that you can share that has really made a difference to those companies?

Christoffer Flemstrom  24:08
Yeah, we have a really nice story actually with a company that is called Iris that it's actually one of our first clients and they work with well, basically support aids or support equipment for people that has sensory defects or maybe loss of eyesight or loss of hearing. And they started out as a company that is quite small and and didn't have well, real proper website and they were really close with Swedish, well government and got funds from there as well. So I mean, they didn't have a lot of budget for films as well and they basically couldn't afford it before. They got to know us. And now they're sitting in office in the middle of town, in Stockholm. And we've had, yeah, we've been working together for three years doing basically ads for them.

Dave Barr  25:09
Yeah. So you really help to establish that company, make their business grow. I know that Stockholm is not the cheapest of places to reside and have a commercial property. So the fact now they are in a much more profitable situation, their products are better known and it happened to drive sales because of your input into in into their products. So that's, that's a great thing to hear about. So I'm sure people are curious. If people want to find out more about what you do as a company, where's where should they go? What's the website, the social media channels? Where should they look,

Christoffer Flemstrom  25:44
So they can go to the website and it's KLARA FARDIGA FILM.com/uk. I'm sure you will put it in the show notes when it's klarafardingfilm.com. And we're on TikTok, we're on Instagram, it's the same name. You just look, it's up there. We try to keep keep it civil on Instagram. And we're a bit more naughty on TikTok, of course. But yeah, feel free to hit me up on LinkedIn if you want to, and we can chat more brilliant.

Dave Barr  26:19
Okay. Now, before we finish, we're all seeing the revolution with AI, particularly in video content, you know, I keep seeing when I scrolling through social media, these artificially generated videos. Now, I guess, in some ways, they could be perhaps a little bit of a threat, perhaps they give you an opportunity to use that technology in some way. So I'd love to know how you see the future of video developing, what exciting things are going to happen? How is it going to reshape the future? You know, what's your thoughts? And how do you see you can impact this area going forwards?

Christoffer Flemstrom  26:55
Yeah, I think it's going to be like the DSLR revolution of the early 2000s People are gonna get get access to equipment that was not accessible to them before. So I think a lot more people are going to be able to make videos, which is really interesting. But I think for us as a company, I think, yeah, we just got to implement AI. I mean, it's, as soon as we have a new plugin, or we have a new AI software, I'm going to look into it and see if we can implement it, our working process is just going to make our work easier, I think. And we're going to be able to again, focus on the creative focus on the story, because that's has always been the center for me anyway. So if we can cut down on our editing time, well, that's brilliant, because then I can focus on the creative instead. 

Dave Barr  27:46
You see, is there a large proportion of what you do? Should we say autominus in such a way that AI can have a big impact? Are we talking about 20% potential reduction in time in processing and doing things? Or are we took an enormous 50%? Can you give us some parameters about that?

Christoffer Flemstrom  28:04
Yeah, I'm not. I'm not gonna. I'm too scared to to guess on that, because I think we're at the point where people thought the internet would only be Googling a dog, and then seeing dog images. I think we have no idea what the impact AI is gonna do to us yet. We have just this tiny slither right now. And yeah, I think it's gonna, yes, it's going to change the way we consume and produce. And how I don't know.

Dave Barr  28:42
Yeah. And for your business. Do you have any great plans? Is there anything exciting that people you can give teasers about what's coming up in the next year or two or more?

Christoffer Flemstrom  28:51
Yeah, I think we were right now we're expanding, of course, to the UK and to the Scandinavian countries. And we have some exciting clients coming in. And so we're gonna start doing a lot more video shoots abroad. I think that's the biggest plan right now. And, yeah, we're celebrating our third year. Otherwise, we're just going to keep on working on on making cool productions. If that's the plan, we launched a new website.

Dave Barr  29:24
Yeah, fantastic. Well, it's great to hear what's happening and how you've managed to change the opportunity for people to have fantastic video production at a much more economic cost. You mentioned, companies can now have your services that were never dreamed of having a video shoots in the past, so you're really reshaping the video production world. So thanks very much for sharing everything you have today. Fascinating discussion. Obviously, as you say, there's lots of mileage, there's lots of things to happen, but obviously I wish you all the best for your future.

Christoffer Flemstrom  29:59
Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me. Bye. Bye.

Dave Barr  30:03
So there's another Real Life Buyer podcast. I do hope you enjoyed it, and it's given you some ideas and inspiration for greater action and achievement. If you are a purchasing or a supply chain professional business owner or director, you can join my Facebook group, the purchasing and supply chain community hub, a safe place to engage with like minded friendly people. See you soon. Bye.