How a WPPI Award-Winning Production Company Expanded Video Beyond Weddings to Land Commercial Clients

Hustle and entrepreneurship—more so than technical know-how and fancy equipment—have helped build business the most, say Alex and Whitney Douglas, the filmmakers behind the Houston-based video company Sculpting With Time Productions. The husband and wife duo took home the First Place award in the Commercial/Illustrative Short Films category at WPPI last March for their University of Houston Football Team intro video—a 90-second sizzle reel of their full seven-minute production UH Football Experience, which earned three Lone Star Emmy‘s in 2015.

The couple started their video venture together in 2010 by producing wedding videos in the Houston area. Alex has a background in filmmaking and earned a degree in the field from the San Francisco Art Institute, and Whitney got her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. After four years of producing wedding videos and other commissioned projects together under Sculpting With Time, they made a decision to transition into other genres.

“We began shooting weddings not as a way to hit a home run, but to make an honest living doing what we love in our local market,” Alex says. And in doing so, he notes that “having shot weddings, we know what it’s like to be on your feet, shooting stuff on the fly and finding cinematic angles” in a hurry. “That type of stuff trains you well for varying your business and growing as a cinematographer.”

The challenge was finding new clients. According to Alex, the marketing for filmmaking services in the Houston area can be tough, and sometimes you have to get creative. “We felt like we could take on larger projects, which is why we reached out to the University of Houston.”

To an average viewer, the 90-second WPPI-winning video may look and sound like a professionally commissioned teaser for the university’s football team—the promo video that’s displayed on the Jumbotron before a game—but in reality, the video wasn’t commissioned or planned. It was a personal project, albeit a paid one. (The 7-minute version of the video earned them three Lone Star Emmy’s for outstanding achievement as director, cinematographer and editor.)

“If you want to get the projects you’re passionate about, it’s a hustle,” Alex says. “You have to pitch the ideas and do so in a way that is attractive and makes sense financially.”

Video Still © Sculpting With Time Productions.

In the case of the University of Houston, the school had just built a brand new football stadium and was “trying to get the team on the map,” he says. “The school didn’t have the staff or resources to do the production on their end,” so they were enthusiastic about the pitch.

Shot primarily with a Sony a7s and some drone footage, the film took roughly four months to make. According to Alex, one of the more memorable parts of the process was the audio. “We couldn’t get the coach to not curse at all,” he says. In the end, he wound up mixing the coach’s “fiery soundbite” with clips from radio announcers calling the games. “It’s just like you would edit weddings: combining clips from a letter reading, one or two interviews and the toast.”

A longtime fan of WPPI, Alex says this was his first time submitting an entry. “I just needed the right piece,” he says. Looking back on the experience, Alex is most proud of the hustle. “No one will come knocking on your door,” he says. “You have to knock on doors if you want them to open.”

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