We love making films, and we love our community. We’re not here to flood your inbox – just to say hey every few months, celebrate the people doing great work in our industry, and connect on what we’re up to. So have a tiny bag of pixelated popcorn on us, and hit the scroll! 🍿 

Offbeat Films is a full service video production company in Seattle, WA.

Events

Coming Up

May 2 — Happy Hour Egg Hunt — TOMORROW in the park! Join us for some egg hunting, industry chat, and awesome prizes, including SIFF tickets. RSVP! 🐣

May 16 — SIFF x Offbeat: 40 Acres — We’re partnering with SIFF for a screening of the thriller 40 Acres at SIFF Cinema Downtown. Get tickets! 🎟️

May 24 & 25 — SIFF x Offbeat: Twinless — We’re partnering with SIFF for screenings of the dark comedy Twinless at SIFF Cinema Uptown. Get tickets! 🎟️

June — Filmspirations — If you missed the last one, don’t fret – we have another one coming up, so dust off your favorite short films. Stay tuned! 🎞

TBD — Freelancer Olympics — What is this, you ask? We’re not sure yet, but we have some big ideas. Stay tuned! 🥇

In Our Community

May 1 — Truth to Fiction #4: News from Home at Northwest Film Forum TONIGHT, presented by our friends at Seattle Film Society and SeaDoc. More info!

May 2-14 — The Encampments at The Beacon, about the historic stand being taken on campuses, executive produced by fellow local millennial, Macklemore. More info!

May 11 — SIFF ‘n’ Stitch: Mama Mia! at SIFF Cinema Uptown. We love a good sing-along, and this one includes crafting. More info!

May 15-25 — Seattle International Film Festival — It’s that time again! A lot of exciting films in this year’s lineup. We’ll see you at the theater(s)! More info!

Recent Events

Freelancer Speed Dating 💞

In February, we got together beneath strings of paper hearts for a night of platonic speed dating. Creatives from every corner came out, and we networked our way around a circle to a schmaltzy Valentine’s Day soundtrack. Needless to say, we found love!

Have you collaborated with anyone you met at Freelancer Speed Dating? Let us know – we’d love to highlight it in our next newsletter!

Filmspirations 🎞

Every few months, we gather to share space and screen a series of short films admired by those in attendance. This event is all about films that have been – you guessed it – inspirational to us, rather than films we’ve made ourselves. As always, it was a night of great conversation and even better company.

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Offbeat Recs

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Industry Spotlight: Koerner Camera

Koerner Camera has long provided high-end camera equipment to the PNW – and MEG VALLIANT has long provided exemplary service at Koerner Camera.

In addition to decades as a Camera Tech, Meg has worked as a PA, Loader, AC, Camera Operator, DP, and Director. We asked a few questions about her 25 years in the industry.

How did you get into the industry? After getting my associate’s [degree] and working in photography, I went to film school. I was able to get on jobs during school, and eventually landed as an intern in a rental house, where I was hired on as a tech. I couldn’t have done it without building my network and skills, and I had a great mentor. He helped me get my first jobs and introduced me to the folks at the local rental house.

Favorite part of the job? That is a hard one to answer. There is so much I love about what I do. Meeting and connecting with people from around the globe. Figuring out puzzles: how to make it all work and fill in the gaps as needed. I am always learning, and it keeps me from being stagnant in my job. I want to build the gear, use the gear, and take it apart to fix it. And troubleshooting! There’s a sense of pride and confidence, knowing how much I have learned over the years, but nothing beats not knowing the answer and having to find a solution in the moment. There is a thrill to it, in a way.

Dream job? I have always wanted to work on a long running TV show, and I would love to do more features, too. For me personally, I have a few projects I am working on. I want to make a short narrative film. I also want to start sharing my photography with the world, so I’ve been working on building my portfolio and hope to show it someday soon.

Wildest camera build? I don’t know if I can pinpoint a wildest build. I’ve seen a lot. I do remember weird scenarios like middle of the night preps and troubleshooting calls alongside mountain biking trails. I‘ve also seen cameras go down in a variety of ways.

What’s unique about Koerner? Koerner is unique in its customer service and ability to connect globally. It's a good atmosphere, and we extend that to our clients and to the vendors we work with. The global connections we have built through events such as our Lens Summit and the combined networking from experienced employees has led to a lot of learning with other industry professionals to help grow the knowledge base as a whole. It has made Koerner a go-to resource for crews, vendors, and rental houses. 

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Call Sheet: What We’re Up To

We won an ADDY! 🏆

In March, we sponsored Seattle’s American Advertising Awards, and got dressed to the nines with director Justin Jeffers and our collaborators at DH to accept the Bronze ADDY for our DUI prevention PSA, “Plan Ahead.”

Congrats to everyone who had a hand in its production!

Narrative 📚

Collaborating with a top-notch team, we recently wrapped production on a short film that explores the tensions between traditional Tibetan culture and modern Western society through the strained relationship between a mother and son.

WAITING, written & directed by Rabyoung Gyalkhang, is on its way to the edit bay!

Commercial 🎬

One highlight of our recent commercial work is an intro video for Tin Can, a retro “new-school” landline for kids. We collaborated with the team at Foul Mouth Creative to create a wacky, nostalgic spot that has us all convinced we need to bring back tin cans.

Offbeat Originals 🎭

Offbeat Originals is a gathering of aspiring and experienced filmmakers creating short films with the intention of learning. They’re quick and quirky, and we all improve our craft through the collaboration.

Check out our most recent Offbeat Original, Di-Gee-Tahl, above, and stay tuned for our upcoming film, A Grate Guy, directed by Lael Rogers & Peter Edlund.

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Join our community! If you’re reading this and aren’t already on the Offbeat Community list, sign up HERE to get updates. Or email us at [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you!