In a year’s time, Hayden 5 has gone from being a dorm room dream to being a powerhouse media company responsible for producing a multitude of diverse, creative content. Milos and Todd both attended NYU film school and met, by chance, when they were placed on the same floor of a freshman dorm. As they progressed through school, they learned that the only chance of “making it” they had was through sheer, indomitable hustle. Only a year after starting their company, they have sold a TV show to MTV and have produced music videos for world-renowned artists such as Benny Bennasi and Juelz Santana. Along the way, they have learned invaluable business skills that one can only learn through experience. The secret to their success is an unwavering passion for making great videos and an unteachable business savvy.
What is Hayden 5?
Todd: We’re a media company that specializes in commercial, industrial, music videos, documentaries, and narrative. Within narrative, we’re trying to get to the point where we produce a couple feature films per year. We also want to have a few television series running. We sold a TV series already and now we’re hustling to do a lot more.
Where did you guys grow up?
Milos: I am originally from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. My family moved here when I was eight years old and I’m currently a dual citizen of the United States and Brazil. When I was in high school, I was fortunate enough to know what I wanted to do—make movies and go to NYU. I split my time between two countries, which I think is really cool because you develop a whole new perspective on people, music, culture and everything.
Todd: Not to mention that Milos is quad-lingual. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, a little Italian, Hebrew and English. It helps with some of our clients. I’m from Tampa, Florida, but I was born in Hollywood, Florida. I started making movies when I was eight, on a VHS camera. Then, I got to High School and continued to make videos. We had a morning show at school and I learned how to edit and was able to play around with a nicer camera. One day, I googled the top film schools—They were NYU, USC and couple other schools. I got into NYU, went to NYU, Milos was my neighbor and the rest is history.
Did film school prepare you for the real world?
Milos: I had a great time in film school. I think film school is what you make of it. Half of the class just shows up and the other half works on the weekends and becomes friends with everyone. I’ve been going to the same rental house since freshman year. I know the guys, and they give me great deals. In film school, I took more of the camera, cinematography and producing path. Todd took the directing and producing path. Together we’re power producers. On set, he’s directing and I’m shooting. We complement each other very well. However, film school didn’t prepare us in dealing with clients, getting an actual paid job, dealing with bills, and managing overhead costs. When you’re in film school, you’re able to raise money from your family and friends to make a movie, which is relatively easy. When you get out, it’s way harder.
Is what you guys are doing common? What do most people do after film school?
Todd: From our class, we know of two other small groups that are in the same position we’re in right now. They’re both doing pretty well.
Milos: If you were to ask me how many kids graduated from film school and went to work directly on feature films, I would say, “maybe one.” The majority of the class is interning, working as a PA, or working at a restaurant.
How did you turn your passion for film into a business?
Todd: For the record, we love making industrial videos, commercials and music videos. While we were in school, we knew that when we got out, we weren’t going to shoot a feature film. We were probably going to be doing commercials, and music videos. Also, neither of us have trust funds, so we had to find a way to make money. While we were in school, we were out shooting specs. We would find an artist and do a video for free. When we got out, we had a portfolio. It’s really hard to turn a big profit on a music video. Now, we’re making videos for bigger artists and bigger music labels. With commercials, it’s important to connect with advertising agencies. With industrial videos, we actually found a great client through craigslist. They’re a tourism company that takes people around the city in a bus and shows them where movies were filmed. We did their video, they brought it to a trade show and two other tourism companies saw it and called us. Now, we have a bunch of tourism clients. So, a lot of our business is generated through word of mouth. In the beginning we were kicking down doors and now it’s easier.
Milos: When you go to film school, you get exposed to amazing directors who shoot beautiful scenes with great cinematography. Ideally, that’s what we want to be doing but the reality is that it’s really hard. You have to put your dreams aside for a little bit and make kick ass industrial videos and commercials. So, when you’re ready to take the next step, you’re prepared. Ideally, we would be shooting three features and five BMW commercials a year. That’s what we’re working towards with our company. We’re constantly thinking about the bigger picture.
Todd: But, we never want to lose the commercial aspect. There are so many great hybrid companies out there. Why stop doing commercials and music videos if you don’t have to?
Where do you guys draw inspiration?
Todd: Inspiration comes from different places for different things. If I’m trying to make a movie, I draw inspiration from a filmmaker. In our more commercial endeavors, I draw inspiration from Donald Trump. I get inspired by Jay Z—“Double your money and make a stack.”
Milos: We’re always looking at media online. Whether it’s photographs or music videos, we love seeing what other people are doing because people do some really cool things. We’re always watching everything. We’re watching music videos constantly. We’re starting to do a lot more motion graphic and animation work. It really brings the product to a whole new level.
How do you differentiate yourselves from the competition?
Todd: We are a creative agency. We’re not just a production company. If we’re doing an industrial video, we are going to bring something creative to the table. Sometimes you’re handed a stack of papers and a storyboard, and our job is to make something of it. We’re both young guys, but we’ve made videos that reach all demographics. We’re doing a series for the Economist, where the average age of the viewer is 38. We believe we can adapt to any job that we’re given and deliver a great product.
Milos: Our network is filled with a diverse group of people that we get along with really well. We connect with a variety of different people from gangster rappers to techno DJs to corporate clients that come here to shoot videos about real estate. We really like to keep it down to earth and connect with our clients. If they allow us to give our input, we’ll take it to a whole new level. We’re power producers, so we’ll make anything happen. We’ve done some crazy things from a helicopter flying over New York to a war scene with army rangers and guns.
How do you collaborate with your clients?
Todd: The collaboration could be anything from sitting in blunt-smoke filled room talking about a rap video to sitting in a boardroom talking to executives about how they want their video to look. You have to be able to adapt to any sort of situation. I think if you’re a good people person, you can deal with the clients. Everyone’s got their own way of thinking and everyone thinks they know exactly what they want. If you can convince them to listen to your ideas, then it’s going to become a better product.
Milos: A lot of what we do is talking to our clients on the phone about the creative and technical process. We’ll do a commercial and the client will say, “The color isn’t right.” We have to explain that we aren’t finished yet and that there are steps of production. It’s really about educating people. Some people are really open to input and some people are not. In the last year that we’ve had our business, we’ve learned so much about dealing with people, which is something you can’t teach in school.
How has starting a business affected your personal life?
Milos: Being a filmmaker affects your personal life. It’s really non-stop. When we go on sets, it’s usually 14-16 hour days. You come home exhausted and then you have to wake up and do it again the next day. If it’s a night shoot, it’s even worse. We’re both workaholics. We were used to it and we knew we had to go all in. This isn’t a nine to five type job. When you’re your own boss, you can take a vacation and come into to work when you want. But, Todd and I are motivated by this freedom to come in early and stay late. It’s only going to work if we make it work.
How has your initial vision for the company changed over time?
Todd: We had to realize that there is more than one way to make money. We weren’t going to be doing just commercials and music videos. We could do industrial videos and man with a cam. We also hold a film school twice a month in our studio. This isn’t the focus of our business but we want to take advantage of all the possible ways to make money.
Milos: When we started thinking about making this company, we set short-term goals and long-term goals and we’ve reached 95% of them. Some of the goals were having an office in Manhattan, having two local clients, having a website, connect with ad agencies and expand to other cities.
Describe your best day and your worst day at Hayden 5.
Todd: Our best day was when we got a phone call from MTV saying they were going to buy our TV show. It was awesome. We were ecstatic. A year later our show is still in development. It was a great day though.
Milos: As far as our worst day goes, at one point, last week, we were going to have to sue three different clients. This month was the first month where we had to officially engage our lawyer. Luckily, the issues worked themselves out. That’s when the business aspect really kicks in and we’re not just filmmakers anymore.
What advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs?
Todd: If you’re young and you don’t have a family and kids, I would say risk everything and go for it. Just try it and see if it works.
Milos: We love what we do. We love making movies and media. If you love what you do, work isn’t work. If you’re doing what you love, that’s the best thing.
How has the internet affected your business?
Todd: It has rapidly expanded our business. Video is available on so many platforms: smart phones, ipads. Everyone needs a video on their website now. It’s just more business for us.
Milos: We’re not afraid to embrace this. Internet video is here to stay. As a cinematographer, sometimes it sucks to see a video you shot in beautiful HD presented on a tiny, pixilated screen on the web, but I’m ok with this. As long as the content and creativity are there, the video is going to come across well. We also, encourage our clients to use the internet to distribute their videos because it’s much cheaper than buying a TV ad spot.
What is the future of Hayden5?
Todd: We like the idea of being boutique in some sense. If we can run a big business, make movies and produce television shows, we would definitely love to do that. I think in the future we’ll have a bigger office, more employees and more clients. Hopefully, we’ll have more time to be creative and not have to do as much of the day-to-day work of dealing with clients.
What is your dream project?
Todd: An epic war movie with a big budget, cool cast, and backed by a Hollywood studio.
Milos: It’s really hard for me to pinpoint something. I want to do so many different things. I want to shoot really kick-ass creative videos, like Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video. I can’t wait till the day we have five cameras and helicopters, but we also like taking a small amount of money and stretching it as far as we can. Also, I want to shoot Todd’s war movie.
Special thanks to Milos, Todd and the whole Hayden 5 crew. You can check out their work on www.hayden5media.com. Also, follow them on twitter and friend them on facebook.
