What started as a way for three local teens to have fun has
turned into a lucrative business opportunity since they have grown
up.
What started as a way for three local teens to have fun has turned into a lucrative business opportunity since they have grown up.
Danny Koenig and Austin Roman, both former residents of Holiday Lakes Estates in Morgan Hill, decided to create their own video production company after graduating college in 2004. Earlier this year, they added Justin Gaich, another Holiday Lakes Estates resident and a senior at San Jose State University, to work as their sales manager. Calling their brainchild Committed Video, the San Jose-based company specializes in personal events, promotions and sports videos. For athletes, the company offers video resumes, which are designed to help high school students receive sports scholarships or to play for a college team.
Much of Committed Video’s work features local athletes and Morgan Hill students. Koenig is a Live Oak graduate and Roman graduated from Bellarmine High School.
The company recently filmed the Live Oak Grad Night event and pre-sold the DVDs to graduating seniors. The company plans to keep their focus on Live Oak while expanding the business to include other high schools throughout the region.
“I kinda have piece of me there,” Koenig said. “We definitely want to do Live Oak. I know there are good athletes and artists that come out of Live Oak and we want to give them a chance to play college sports or get their art noticed. We do know a lot of people there and it is a good way to get exposure for us. We want to continue to help Morgan Hill in any way we can.”
Aside from the exciting sports resumes and mementos for graduates, Committed Video also tapes weddings, creates business promotions, slide shows and even video cards.
The video card is like a technological upgrade to the mundane greeting cards people often send. Set to personalized music with pictures and video clips collected on a three to five minute DVD, the video cards give a more personal touch with a technological edge, Koenig said.
And although taping weddings isn’t their favorite thing to do, the crew still has fun doing it. In fact, they recently enjoyed an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii to shoot a wedding being held there.
Though the idea for the fledgling video company first arose when Roman was in college at the University of California in Santa Cruz, it wasn’t until after they both graduated that the idea became a reality, Koenig said.
“How the idea came about was (Roman) called me up (while still in college) and was like ‘Hey man let’s start a business,’” Koenig said. “I said ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.’”
When the business first started, Koenig and Roman worked at it part time while holding down other jobs. They began working full time at their business earlier this year.
Ultimately, Koenig said he hopes to nurture Committed Video into a major video production presence in San Jose. He said they hope to one day open a school that teaches people how to make professional videos.
“We have gone down and done work in L.A. in commercials,” Koenig said. “I hope to bring a great film and video production here so we can start a production school or facility where students can come and edit their work. We want to be part of the process of educating good film makers in Northern California.”
Right now, they are working on a video of extreme sports, including skateboarding, wakeboarding and snowboarding, using Morgan Hill residents. The video will be out next year.
While Committed Video is a young company with young owners, Gaich said the talent of its owners more than makes up for it.
“They have a fresh look at things,” Gaich said. “They are younger and don’t have as much experience, but they have the skills. The old timers are just not up to date (with the new technology).”
Details: www.committedvideo.com
Cheeto Barrera is an intern at the Morgan Hill Times. He can be reached at [email protected].
