Surge Productions makes its mark

THREE broadcast industry experts with a combined 30 years of experience have brought their talents together in a company poised to deliver high-quality content.

Chris Law, Rick Lyon and Shane Antonio are leading the charge at Surge Productions.

Chris is using his background of directing and management in his managing director role, while Rick’s producing and on-screen talent skills come together as the content director, and Shane takes on the role of creative director fuelled by his experience in all things post-production.

Operating as Surge Productions, the Surf Coast-based business does live broadcasts, consultancy, production, post-production and brand integrations.

The idea for the three co-founders to come together was one that had been bubbling for a while, forming while they worked closely together on projects, including at the Tokyo Olympics.

Bouncing the idea around and informal conversations led to an opportunity where Rick and Shane were ready to take a leap and jump back into the freelance market.

 

“The timing was right to bring this experience together and do things how we think they should be done,” Chris said.

“We all felt like we had a fair apprenticeship and certainly what I’ve learned in a management space across the businesses I’ve worked in is very much around the good things and the good ways to run a business, but also what not to do.”

Over their careers, the co-founders have worked on Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, world championships, corporate videos and more.

“There’s probably not much we can’t do in that aspect,” Chris said.

“It’s kind of nice to know that we’re all rolling up the sleeves and getting involved in all projects, but we also have to ability to cover each other should that be needed.”

The broadcast veterans were also able to bring in their own long-standing partners and clients who they had previously worked with into the business, helping them hit the ground running.

 

Designed as a low overhead model, not pouring money into a large facility and relying on a crew on a project-based scenario, Surge Productions can work with creatives of all sizes and budgets.

“That model has really helped us out,” Chris said.

“We’re not having to hit the clients with large overheads just to recoup that stuff, additionally we’re able to be a bit more nimble.”

Surge Productions is also a space where local creatives and experts can come together and create opportunity.

“I think about our careers, we’ve all been very lucky to have some great mentors in the industry who have given us that grounding or opportunity to grow that skillset, we really want to position ourselves as that,” Chris said.

“The last thing we want to do is set up a business where we’re getting people delivering one area of production, we want to get a great team together that we can all know the whole aspect of production and have a lot of fun along the way.”

 

Chris said since their beginning almost a year ago, they feel like they have done really well in setting themselves up as a multi-genre business.

In only 12 months, the company has worked in key industry areas and significant projects, producing the Good Friday Appeal for Channel 7, lifestyle programs, a corporate piece for the Marcus Oldham College and working with Aus Cycling.

“If you bring that together we feel like we’re on the right path because we’re not being boxed into one area, we feel like we’ve set ourselves up well in the last 12 months and we’re ready to supercharge,” Chris said.

Along with providing clients with quality content, Chris also hopes people get a good experience out of Surge Productions.

“We are people first and I think we’ve really created an environment where the customer will hopefully enjoy the ride from the outset, from the first phone call right through to delivering the content.

“The difference between us and others and what we want to create is really somewhere where clients can pick up the phone, they can trust that we’re going to deliver at the highest possible quality, because that’s what we do.

 

“We can work to whatever budget they set because we know that there’s not always that big budget production and that we need to be a lot more nimble to help out with the younger, smaller folk as well.”

As Surge Productions approach the one-year mark and look ahead to what comes next, Chris hopes they will have their footprint in the Surf Coast area and are a destination where people can enjoy a content experience.

“I’m just really excited about the fact that we are not pigeonholing ourselves in one area, we’re not fighting some of the other production houses out there for the work in one area, there’s enough to go around,” he said.

“I just really hope in 12 months’ time we’ve got a business that’s employing a lot of locals and having a lot of fun.”

Chris encourages any local creatives to get in touch to hear how Surge Productions can help.

For more information, head to surgeproductions.com.au