Business Review Story Features Creo: Small Businesses, Big Screens

Lynn Stevens of Business Review wrote a story on how the film and video industry is impacting West Michigan, including those taking advantage of the new film incentives. She also talked about Creo Productions, and how we're approaching the industry differently.

The section about Creo Productions is below; the full story is available here:

Creo Productions in Grand Rapids is at another point on the spectrum. The company's founders, Aaron Carriere and Andrew Tingley, aren't interested in making movies for theaters. The two-year-old company is a member of the alliance, but its distribution plans involve other formats. They make documentaries, podcasts, online videos and related Web materials.

"What we sense is that the whole communications model is changing, how people are getting information is changing, how people are telling stories is changing," co-founder Carriere said. "People are starting to do a lot of experimentation with video -- I think that's going to continue. Stories have a place to be heard now online."

Creo is finalizing a contract with Lifestraw, a microbiological water purification system made by Danish company Vestergaard Frandsen, headquartered in Switzerland.

"What is the global water situation? We're going to make a video about that," Carriere said. "A lot of people know, but a lot of people don't know. Here these inventors in Europe are working with a small company in Grand Rapids because we can tell stories. The way communications is, there's no limit to the size of stories you can get a hold of or the impact you can make. You don't have to be an enormous company to make a big impact."