Meet Travis Cleary | Serial Entrepreneur & Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Travis Cleary and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Travis, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
I graduated from film school with a mountain of debt and no idea how to pay it. I was very risk adverse at first. I bought a camera while in school which led me to be able to shoot a lot in the indie film scene. As I started working as an AC on movies I kind of got even more risk adverse, my loans where so high that I was terrified to do anything to upset my balance and not be able to pay my loan. Most of my friends just stopped paying but my parents wouldn’t allow that as cosigners. So it was either figure it out or leave the industry. So after a little more time I scraped together some funds to start buying some equipment, I started with a Cart that rented for 50-100/day, and eventually the extra income allowed me to get an equipment lease to buy my first FIZ (Focus Iris Zoom controller) from Arri… it was a huge risk for me at the time, I still had my student loans. I’m still not sure how I justified it exactly, 24,000 was way more money than I ever possessed, I still owed on my loans, and still being freelance there is no guarantee of it ever being rented. That really started to increase my income and it was like a light leading me down a path. My business started to grow, and I took on more and more risk. Now I operate as a single camera rental house, among other things, I am fully incorporated, and I lit an entrepreneurial fire that I didn’t know was inside me. I’m a serial entrepreneur, I own a Camera Rental Company, an 11,000 Sq Ft Studio Space, a real estate development company, and I am in the process of patenting and creating my own yard game. It’s wild to me that I was so afraid of risk taking for so long. Now I feel like I have an appetite for it, if I’m not taking enough risks my brain wanders until I find something else to dive into. That’s kind of how I ended up with the Artisan Studio Space, I never imagined I would be doing that, yet here I am. All I can say is, take risk- calculated risks.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I guess I’ll talk more in detail on the latest business, Artisan Studios, since I have several. We kind of took over Artisan Studios when another big company left the space, it all happened really quickly and I was a bit underprepared, but I got some great people together and pitched the idea and it just made a lot of sense. We were able to mitigate some risks and work out a great deal for ourselves. This was more of a hard lateral move, there was a lot of overlap with Cavalier Camera, but initially I didn’t have a strong cohesive plan. So having a great deal eased some of those concerns because it gave us time to figure them out. I don’t want to say we have it fully figured out yet, but its really starting to shape its way into what it’ll need to be. We specialize though in food and product photography, the studios is perfect sized for that and we have a large amount of props, sets, and dressings that make it a one stop shop for that. The biggest advantage is the onsite Commercial Food Stylist Kitchen, that’s a limitation of many studios in the area (and the state). Food stylist absolutely love working in our spacious kitchen, and that we have so many amenities on site! Same with producers, it really starts to become a one stop shop, which generally has a lot of cost savings because Producers don’t have to worry about sourcing/buying and the labor involved with that. We have hundred of “surfaces” Granite, Quartz, Wood, Steel and more, with thousands of props in every shape, color, and size. (Cups, Plates, silverware, chargers, runners, tablecloths, and the list goes on). We also have several standing sets, a kitchen and living room set, along with a bedroom set. So if you need a sense of “environment” and not just closeups we can do that onsite too! It saves thousands in location and transportation costs having everything in one place and also cuts down on overtime and travel costs.

Even though food and product is our specialty, We’ve also had many other shoots come through. We’re very open to utilizing the space in different ways. We have had many interview shoots on our sets and cyc wall and even in our conference room. We can fit vehicles and cars on our cyc wall, so we recently had a truck in for a shoot on green screen. Music Videos will love all the lighting effects we can do on the cyc. We even are lined up to do a cooking show, and a documentary that wants to build a couple of additional sets. We even have a few movies interested in shooting in the space! We also are short film and budget friendly, so don’t be afraid to talk to us. Part of our belief is giving back to film community in Ohio so we love to help out whenever we are able! We are even hosting a short film premier next month, we setup a projector to screen the movie on the cyc wall, it’ll be a theater sized projection!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh man, I love this question because I do this all the time with friends, and colleagues from work while they are in town. Day one would be an early breakfast at Juneberry Table or Luckys Cafe, and then head to the water! Take them out on the boat see the incredible skyline from Lake Erie, send them shooting across the water on a tube, dock up in the flats and grab lunch at Shooters, Collision Bend, or any of the other great spots down there on the water. Then head east and see all the huge lakefront houses in Bratenahl and speculate how much they cost and which one we would buy if we could. Make a stop at my secret beach that you can only get to by boat. We’d anchor up and swim in the warm fresh waters, play in the sand, have a few ice cold beers. Then head back for a late dinner at Jaja or Cordelia and finish the night with some of the best Tiki drinks in America at Porco Tiki Lounge! Prolly hit some of the amazing Metroparks for a hike to a waterfall, maybe some golf, and hit some of my other favorite spots like Il Rione, Cents, Rising Star, Six Shooter, Ready Set, Lekko, Alea, and many more. I think Cleveland is underrated and gets a bad rap sometimes, but in reality we have a very approachable city with a ton of incredible amenities and amazing restaurants.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh man, there are so many people, but I’ll try to keep it brief, My parents for pushing me to the limit, I don’t think I would be there without them, financially and emotionally. They definitely questioned a lot of my decisions and there were a lot of tears, but I think that is part of the process looking back. My brother John, was hugely successful salesman and entrepreneur, he was a huge mentor of mine early on, and instilled I think that mentality in me. He was a sounding board for so many of thoughts. Sadly he passed this month very unexpectedly, so he now mentors me in spirit. Kiely was the 1st AC to first take a chance on me on a movie, the start of it all. My wife Megan, for being supportive of all my crazy ideas, and being a rock to build from. To the many friends and partners along the way, who supported me and pushed me to follow through and build my confidence.

Website: https://artisanstudioscle.com

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Image Credits
Travis Cleary