Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Medlin.
Hi Josh, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My name is Josh Medlin and I own a boutique video production company that offers turn-key video solutions to small business owners, couples, and creatives in Savannah + worldwide. I currently live in Philadelphia, PA but due to a growing demand for my services and consistent bookings in the area, I will be moving to Pooler, GA in the next 6 months.
My journey with filmmaking started off when I was only 8 years old and I would take my parent’s Sony Handycam Hi-8 track video camcorder and create home movies with my brothers and sister. I got obsessed with learning different camera techniques and trying to make my videos look like “the real movies”.
I pursued my passion all throughout middle school and created various skit comedy videos and short films with my friends and brothers. When I was a junior in high school, I started creating music videos and accepted my first work as a paid filmmaker creating real estate videos in my hometown in Virginia.
When I was 18 my then-girlfriend/high school sweetheart (Erika Medlin)and I started our businesses together. Hers was a portrait and wedding photography brand, and mine was a video production company serving primarily wedding clients. I slowly started working with more commercial clients as I helped produce video promos for various vendors in the industry.
This led to more work creating promos/ads for non-wedding-related businesses and the business grew and diversified from there. We now produce everything from perfume fragrance ads, educational online video courses for creatives, to Miami influencer trips with celebrities like Brittany Aldean (country music star Jason Aldean’s wife), and even ADs for mega-brands like Realtor.com and Honey.com.
In 2020, I was connected with DROCK who is Gary Vaynerchuk’s (NYC business mogul/CEO of VaynerMedia) videographer. I created an edit for them that they were really impressed by and they went on to recommend me to create videos for legendary sports executive and entrepreneur David Meltzer who used to run the Leigh Steinberg sports agency. I was accepted at the job and moved to live in Orange Country, California for a year.
At the end of the contract, I decided to continue working for myself and running my production company, but this business relationship lead me to my first two TV shows that I directed and edited for David in 2021.
Through the last, nearly 9 years of running our business we have worked with hundreds of clients from business owners, to couples, and last year, I filmed, directed, and edited two TV shows with national distribution on Amazon Prime Video and Bloomberg TV. Season 2 of David Meltzer’s 2 Minute Drill (a business pitch show), and Season 1 of Office Hours with David Meltzer (a late-night business talk show) which features celebrity guests such as Cameron Diaz, Rob Dyrdek, Ray J, Ja Rule, and more.
This is a full-circle moment as I move my business and career down to the low country. My wife and I were both committed to going to SCAD in 2015 and even had roommates. I was accepted into the Film Production program, and my wife Erika was accepted into the Photography program.
We both decided not to go at the last minute as our businesses were taking off and we needed to devote all of our energy back to the business. A full 8 years later, we will return with open arms and a newfound love for the city we almost called home all those years ago.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Most certainly not. I always joke that you need to be just the right amount of crazy to run a business and pursue a creative career, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In high school, I was often made fun of for telling people I wanted to be a filmmaker. With people in my small town in Virginia telling me that it “wasn’t a realistic career”. In fact, my 10th grade English teacher told me I would be foolish to pursue such a career and that I would never make any money in it. For a long time, that very interaction motivated me to succeed just so I could prove her and the other people doubting me wrong.
Choosing not to go to college was extremely controversial. Every one of our friends went, and we were basically told in no uncertain terms we would crash and burn and end up on the streets if we decided to not go. Clearly, that wasn’t what happened, but at the time it was very scary to have everyone you know and love and trust telling you these things.
Also, In freelance creative careers, the name of the game is “hoard and glide” especially in the beginning. Some months you might make $15,000-$30,000 in gross business receipts, but then not get a single booking for 3-4 months. That leaves some months being very slow and you skate in by the skin of your teeth.
It certainly has not been easy, and it’s taken a lot of hard work, determination, and help from family and friends to make this all come true.
We’ve been impressed with Josh Medlin Video Works, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We run a small boutique, high-end, video production company that offers turnkey solutions for small business owners, brands, creatives, and couples. We specialize in Video Ads, Video Course Production, YouTube production, and fine art wedding films.
What sets us apart from other firms is our size. We are a boutique, which means we only take on a small number of specialized clientele which allows us to give hands-on and 1:1 attention to the video production needs of the client. Some firms are about scale and mass output, we believe a more attentive and hands-on careful approach to video production will yield higher returns for our business clients and more emotional and engaging films for our couples.
Our proudest accomplishments have been working with celebrities such as Brittany Aldean, Gibi ASMR, David Meltzer, and brands such as HERA goddess perfume, Realtor.com, and Honey.com to create high quality, engaging video content for their brands.
Want readers to know the main areas we specialize in which I listed above, but that since we are hands-on and small, we can turn-key just about any video idea that our clients have. We are a one-stop-shop for those who need a larger video presence online and in paid TV media/Ads.
Lastly, we are in the middle of a rebrand. We have been at Joshua Bryan Cinema for the last 9 years but will be re-branding it later this year to Josh Medlin (video works).
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Savannah has always felt like home to me because of how frequently I visit it for client work. There’s something about the cheerful beauty of the streets, the southern hospitality and comfort food, and the vibrant creative energy that emanates from this charming city.
These are some of the many reasons we are calling Savannah home later this year. One thing we learned from living in Southern California is that having great beaches, nice weather, and lots of stuff to do is high on our list of priorities. We can’t wait to visit Tybee on the weekends, film amazing client work during the week, and eat the amazing cuisine this city has.
As a filmmaker, the emphasis on film production in both Charleston and Savannah/GA is very important to me. It provides a large pool of people to collaborate on projects and allows me to be more creative as an artist.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.joshuabryancinema.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josh_medlin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoshuaBryanCinema
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JoshMedlin/
