Speakeasy Productions
Last updated | 25/04/2007
"To our London clients, Scotland is the back of beyond," says Geoff Holder of Speakeasy Productions. "On initial contact, many customers think our rural location makes us country bumpkins; they are surprised when they learn we have five state of the art edit suites, and work all over the world."
Nevertheless, the company has secured an impressive client roster that most London-based companies would be proud of, including BAE Systems, NCR, The Metropolitan Police, The Army, LloydsTSB, GlaxoSmithKline, The Royal Navy, The Department for Education and Skills, ScottishPower, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Highland Distillers, Intelligent Finance and Celtic Football Club. Other clients come from the biotechnology, software, leisure and transport industries.
Speakeasy Productions has grown rapidly since it was established in 1993 by Jim Adamson, and now employs 13 full time staff, as well as a host of freelance writers, camera crews, and actors.
Established as a video / multimedia production company, Speakeasy bridges the divide between corporate production - which can mean anything from making training videos and promotional films - and producing programmes for the likes of Channel 4. In addition, they specialise in the management of live events, including conferences and roadshows, and work with visitor centres, including the production of audio-visual displays and multimedia touchscreens. One recent project, carried out for the Discovery Point visitor centre in Dundee, picked up a major national award.
In 2000, the company recorded a turnover well in excess of £1.1 million - an increase of more than 38% on the previous year, and an indicator of the growing respect that the company commands, both north and south of the border. The distance from London has not proved any barrier to company growth, although clients in the south of England are often surprised that they can make the trip to London and back in a day.
"Working in Perthshire, we have easy access to the central belt - combined with a great quality of life. We can live and work in the countryside, and there is the added advantage of low overheads!" says Geoff. "Customers up from London are very taken with our gardens and grounds, the spaciousness of our offices, and the relative traffic-free state of the roads, all of which compare favourably with their hellish London conditions."
The only drawback has been overcoming the lack of local knowledge about the work that Speakeasy carries out. "Few people in the local area know what a video/multimedia production company does - many of them are convinced we make wedding videos," explains Geoff.
