Supporting Entertainment Industry Proves Profitable

FILMTOOLS, Burbank TRADITIONAL BUSINESS No. 13 Fastest Growing Company $5 Million to $9.9 Million (59%) Look around the shelves at Filmtools in Burbank. There is roll after roll after roll of gaffer tape. There are Sharpie markers, railroad chalk, dry markers and powder puffs. What is this place, a stationery store? Look around some more at the equipment carts, the glass displays with expensive knives and flashlights, at the gloves and lighting equipment and rigging equipment. No, it’s a hardware store. Well, actually Filmtools in Burbank is a combination of both, said its founder and president Stan McClain. The store on Burbank Boulevard has the largest selection of gaffer tape found in the San Fernando Valley. The same goes for camera filters. Standing near a display of cell phone pouches, McClain pointed out that he probably offers more variety than a retail store of one of the big phone companies. “We are after the crew members,” McClain said. “All the crew members need a cell phone pouch.” Box office numbers not withstanding, it’s been a tough 12-month period for the Hollywood studios and production companies that Filmtools calls its clients. The Writers Guild of America strike shut down television and most feature film production for three months before settling in February. A spurt of summer filming to get shows completed in the event of a Screen Actors Guild work stoppage has now slowed to a trickle. Vendors to the entertainment industry are hurting but that hasn’t been in evidence at Filmtools. While the revenue totals that landed the company on the fastest growing lists of both the Business Journal and Inc. magazine were for years prior to the current labor situation and overall sluggish economy, McClain said each month of 2008 has brought higher sales. In 2007, the business brought in $7.4 million in sales and the forecast for this year is about $10 million. About 75 percent of sales take place through the store with the remaining 25 percent done through the website. Practically all the products listed in the online catalogue are in stock. Non-studio clientele The strike and work slowdown hasn’t hurt Filmtools because while studio sales are important there are other buyers for the expendable items stocked in the 18,000-square foot store. “The independent film maker is where our growth is,” McClain said. “I’d venture to say there is an equal amount of growth in the teenage market.” With digital camera and editing equipment prices dropping and online sites such as YouTube opening up new distribution channels, just about anyone can get their production in front of the public. For those new people entering the media production sphere, a store like Filmtools is valuable because it offers the equipment necessary to make a home-made video look and sound good, said Jerry Day, owner of a Burbank production studio. McClain was smart in that he set up his store to cater to a wide spectrum of customers and not just for the high-end market, Day said. “It caters to all production people,” Day said. “You can go in there even if you are making a funny YouTube video.” When McClain opened Filmtools in 2000 there was no similar store in the Valley. The closest competitor had been bought out by a larger company and then closed. McClain’s background is as an aerial photographer and a second unit director of photography with credits that include “Man in the Moon,” “Se7en,” and multiple Oliver Stone features. His retail experience came from a camera store he co-owned in Pasadena until selling his share to his business partner and using the proceeds to open Filmtools. The name, however, has not been McClain’s first choice. He wanted to call the store Expendables Online and be the Los Angeles distributor for another expendables supplier called Filmtools based in Nashville. Instead, McClain bought the other company and received a service mark for the Filmtools name. With the store becoming a respected supplier to the entertainment industry, McClain wants to make sure the Filmtools does not become diluted, which is why he is mounting legal challenges to companies in the U.S. using the word in their name or their website URL. “It is costing us a lot of money but it’s protecting our name,” McClain said.