About

COMPANY Background

I have been working as a freelance director since 2005, and I have had the opportunity to work with a number of local nonprofits. Chris Weatherly, LLC has been awarded five regional Emmy Awards as well as numerous American Advertising Federation ADDY awards. Three of the Emmy’s were for non-profit clients. Although awards are great to receive, my greatest joy is to tell stories. A well told story has the power to change hearts, influence culture, and inspire generosity.

Because story telling is such a powerful tool, I often encourage clients to approach projects from this angle as opposed to just communicating information. Informational videos are important, but getting to the heart of why a non-profit, or any other client, does what they do is going to pull at the hearts of people and leave a lasting impression.

Here’s a story I did for the Ronald McDonald House of Atlanta. Our approach was not to talk about all the values the nonprofit holds, but to show how the Ronald McDonald House benefited Brandon and his family while dealing with a difficult recovery process.

process

Most of my non-profit projects are testimonial in nature. However, I have done scripted work as well. I’m often working with a copywriter to make sure the content matches with what the clients wants. Testimonials tend to be more cost effective, but scripted stories can be very precise.

Below is an example of a scripted commercial I directed and shot for the COVID Crisis Response Fund.

My goal is to provide my clients with what they need to communicate. I’m not locked into just one approach. I serve my clients best as a collaborator. I may not write the script, but I can help make it better. I may not have the initial idea, but I want to help make that creative idea better and execute on it in a way that others may not have thought of.

I try my best to make the creative process as simple and streamlined as possible. I meet with the client several times and finalize the creative. Once the story is locked, I start preproduction (the planning phase of filmmaking). I then determine the number of production days (the actual shooting of the story) and execute on making the video. After this, I roll into postproduction. Once I have a good edit, I share my work with the client and go through two rounds of revision to make final changes to the edit.

pricing

The best I can do as far as pricing is give a ballpark estimate. In the end the creative drives the overall cost of any project. Shoot days, editing, and subcontractors (if needed) all have an effect on budget. On average a three day shoot is in the $5,000 range. That includes shoot days as well as editing. I hope that helps give you an idea of what this project may cost.

let’s do this!

I appreciate the values of the United Way of Southern Indiana and would be honored to work with your organization. Please consider me for any story telling projects you have. I look forward to hearing back from your team.