Lucky 13

A Spotlight on DUO Media Productions

by Jim Pennington

Photo by Drew Larsen

Who says 13 has to be an unlucky number? At DUO, we are pushing through our thirteenth year, and things have never been better. We’ve come a long way from our modest beginnings in 2007 when we had no project experience to share and half our leadership was transitioning from IT careers. As we first joined TIVA at the GVExpo, they were just coming out of reorganization from ITVA.

Fast forward to November 2018 as we began our thirteenth year, and acquired our first office space. Our home studios were bursting at the seams, so we gambled on a historic space at Everedy Square in downtown Frederick. DUO’s business dynamic greatly improved as we have room to spread out in a creative environment, a conference area to hold brainstorming sessions and meet with clients, and even enough space to stage in-house video shoots.

We continue strong relationships with our clients. It’s not just about a one-off project, but rather, we get to know them and their families, and consider many of them friends. It’s all about the “Do Unto Others,” of DUO’s name.

Those who run their own businesses know the importance of cash flow, and keeping the hopper full is never easy. This has been DUO’s best year, with no downtimes as we’ve had in past years. We also work internationally on a regular basis, alongside clients based in France and Australia. Scheduling conference calls can be a little crazy, but the engaging work and relationships are worth it. We’ve enjoyed business trips in our 13th year for video shoots in interesting cities such as Toronto, Seattle and San Francisco, and have worked with wonderful local crew at each site.

Photo by Darren Durlach

Not all has been just corporate work, however. Through Star Wipe Films, our indie film side, we were recently honored with numerous awards at the Frederick 72 Film Fest including Best Professional Video and Best of the Fest for our film “Capsule” (https://vimeo.com/372881766), for which we constructed an entire capsule set in our new offices!

So, as we push through our thirteenth year and into fourteen, we look forward to many wonderful, new opportunities, and continuing to build those all important relationships. We love our work and look forward to loving it even further in the days to come.