While it’s easier than ever to capture life’s golden moments on a smartphone, West L.A. startup Path Content Group is betting that individuals who can afford it would prefer to record their memories for posterity in a documentary-style video that looks and feels like a Hollywood production.
A big selling point for Path is that customers have the opportunity to be interviewed by Ben Mankiewicz, host of “Turner Classic Movies,” on a professional set. Recent clients include Andy Cohen, co-chief executive of downtown architecture firm Gensler; restaurateur Craig Susser, owner of Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood; John Nickoll, former chief executive of Santa Monica’s Foothill Capital Corp., and Los Gatos philanthropist Myra Reinhard.
Mankiewicz said that while Hollywood celebrities have their stories recorded more often than they might want, business leaders with perhaps more significant impact on society rarely get the same opportunity.
“We’re talking about lives you can’t go on YouTube for,” he said. “For celebrity culture, enough of their stories have been told. … These are people who have led impressive lives and their stories are not out there.”
While the company has produced videos for people from all walks of life, the works come with a hefty price tag: an average of $75,000 to $100,000 for a 90-minute video. Path, which launched about a year ago, unites Mankiewicz with TV producers Andrew Jameson and Bryan Stratte as managing partners. The company is spearheaded by Lewis N. Wolff, a billionaire real estate developer and chairman emeritus of pro baseball’s Oakland Athletics.
Although his family was encouraging him to record his memories, Wolff was frustrated by the long commitment of engaging a ghostwriter for a book. So, he asked Jameson, a friend, to produce a legacy video for him. Jameson brought on Mankiewicz to do the interview. Wolff and his family were so impressed that he suggested turning the process into a business.
Wolff, 81, has invested $2 million into the company. Other investors include Wolff’s longtime hotel investment partner Philip Maritz. The pair co-founded St. Louis-based investment group Maritz Wolff & Co., which also has an office in West Los Angeles. One recent Path client, David Alden, founder of Long Beach home textile company Foreston Trends, is also a backer.
Each video requires a production staff of 15 people, including a union stage crew and a team to conduct extensive pre-interviews before the subject goes on camera for a conversation with Mankiewicz that typically lasts between four and seven hours.
Lasting legacy?
Cohen, 62, who has allowed Path to use a clip from his video on its website, said his interview is mostly personal but ended up containing material about his 36 years at Gensler that can be shared with his clients.
“It creates the emotional side of who you are,” he said.
Cohen said the main reason he hired Path was to create a legacy for his children and their children. He called the interview experience draining, but also life and game changing.
“I felt like I was on a Hollywood studio production, not some back office somewhere,” Cohen said. “We did many takes and they had patience in drawing me out.”
Although legacy projects are usually thought to be for people near the end of life, Susser, 52, said he hopes the video will help his 4-year-old twins understand the challenges he faced in launching his restaurant in 2010, despite being told by colleagues that Craig’s was doomed to fail in a then-bleak economy. He added that the video afforded him an opportunity for honesty he would not have found by sharing his story on social media.
“I have to remind myself that this is private – forget about what’s appropriate,” he said.
One local competitor is Playa Vista’s Ezra Productions, which produces branded content for corporate clients as well as family and legacy videos. Its chief executive, Jillian Ezra, said she doesn’t think the market for luxury legacy videos exists.
“It’s not a sustainable business model,” she said. “It doesn’t have to cost that much.”
Ezra said her company started out offering legacy video production services for about $25,000, but she found there weren’t enough clients who could pay the price. The company pared down productions to a couple of lights, two cameras, and an audio recorder, at a cost of about $5,000 for a day of shooting, usually in the person’s home.
Ezra said clients usually opt for editing services, too, which also run around $5,000. She called the $10,000 total price not exactly budget friendly but more accessible than a $100,000 production.
