What we aim to capture
The story this film tells.
This film has a clear job: to give a more institutional audience — endowments, foundations, and like-minded long-term partners — a genuine understanding of Red Iron Group and a reason to lean in. Five things sit at the center of that story.
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01
The Rig Builders
The team and the capabilities that make the platform real — the operating muscle behind the firm.
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02
The strategy, evolved
How Red Iron builds value in the lower middle market today, including the role technology and AI now play.
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03
Traction
Real outcomes, told through the voices of portfolio-company founders who chose Red Iron.
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04
The founders
Ben and Jason — their judgment, their dynamic, and the partnership at the heart of the firm.
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05
The market opportunity
Articulated clearly enough that a sophisticated LP sees what you see.
The audience is the throughline. This raise leans toward institutional partners, and the film is made to earn their confidence — substantive, precise, and never overstated.
"The goal is to find groups with whom we resonate and who care to participate in the strategy we are executing."
The creative direction
A conversation at the center.
At the heart of the film is a real conversation: Ben and Jason, drawn out by a skilled facilitator asking the questions an institutional LP actually wants answered. Think the depth and ease of a Capital Allocators–style dialogue.
The format does something a straight-to-camera pitch can't. It lets the two of you think out loud, and that's where an audience begins to feel they know you — the strategy, the market opportunity, and the chemistry between you surface naturally, the way they do in the room. By the end, an LP should feel they've already met you.
Around that spine, we layer the proof
- The Rig Builders — three or four voices from the team that makes the platform real.
- Portfolio founders — three or four founders speaking to what the partnership delivered.
- Bespoke motion graphics — modern, custom-built visualizations carrying the market opportunity and the strategy.
The look we're after: real conversation, beautifully shot — substance over staging.
Conversation references
Public examples of the format we're drawing from — shown as inspiration, not our own work.
Shoot locations
Where we'll shoot.
The environments under consideration for the conversation and b-roll.
Motion graphics
Visualizing the strategy.
We design completely bespoke, modern motion graphics that illustrate the market opportunity and strategy — custom-built for Red Iron. Below are a few examples of previous work and rough mock-ups of a few infographic styles.
Examples of previous work and rough infographic mock-ups — click any to view full size. Final visualizations are built specifically for Red Iron's story.
Deliverables
What you'll receive.
The hero film
The complete fundraising story, built for LP meetings and your raise.
Web cutdowns
Short, self-contained pieces from the same production — for your website and fundraising use, to agreed specs.
Motion graphics assets
The bespoke motion-graphics assets we build, delivered for you to reuse in future projects.
Delivered files
Full-resolution masters of the hero film and the cutdowns. Ownership is covered in Terms.
Process & timeline
A twelve-week schedule, anchored to your AGM.
A graphics-forward film at this caliber runs on a twelve-week schedule.
- Weeks 1–2
Discovery & creative
Kickoff, brand immersion, treatment, references aligned.
- Weeks 3–4
Script & storyboard
Script locked, style frames, animatic — see the film before we shoot.
- Week 5
Logistics
Locations, scheduling, founder-testimonial coordination.
- Week 6
Production
Shoot days, including b-roll at your Menlo Park office.
- Weeks 7–8
Editorial
Rough cut to picture lock.
- Weeks 8–11
Motion graphics
Design pass, animation pass, integration into the edit.
- Week 12
Finishing
Color, sound, mix, final QC, delivery.
Investment
$150,000
How the budget is built:
The contingency reserve is untouchable until a real, written change order — discipline, not slack.
Location options
The $150,000 includes a base location allowance of $15,000 (a base rate of $5,000/day across 3 shoot days). A traditional sound stage or video studio — where we build or rent the background — falls within this base allowance. Choosing a premium venue for the conversation adds only the difference shown below.
| Venue | Rate × days | Venue total | Added to project |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base allowance | $5,000 × 3 | $15,000 | Included |
| Sound stage / studio | within base allowance | — | Included |
| The Battery | $8,000 × 2 | $16,000 | +$1,000 |
| The Pearl | $8,000 × 2 | $16,000 | +$1,000 |
| SF Mint — Ballroom | $9,000 × 2 | $18,000 | +$3,000 |
| Shack15 | $10,000 × 2 | $20,000 | +$5,000 |
Alignment
So we're aligned from day one.
Clarity here protects both sides — what the engagement covers, what sits outside it, what we'll need from you, and what we're assuming.
Included in the $150,000
- Creative development, scripting, and storyboards
- A professional facilitator to guide the conversation — their fee, travel, and lodging are all carried by production
- One primary conversation location (base allowance) plus b-roll at your Menlo Park office
- Production crew, equipment, and production insurance
- Editorial, color, sound, and mix
- Bespoke motion graphics as described
- The hero film, eight web cutdowns, delivered master files, and the bespoke motion-graphics assets to reuse
Not included — Red Iron, or by change order
- Travel & lodging for Red Iron's people — getting your founders, the Rig Builders team, and portfolio founders to and from the shoot. (The facilitator is the one exception — they're talent we bring.)
- Additional shoot days, locations, or premium-venue costs beyond the base allowance
- Raw camera footage and editable project files — final masters are delivered; raw/source files available separately
- Licensed third-party/stock footage, or paid on-camera talent beyond the facilitator
- New scope beyond this proposal — for example, a reshoot or a new motion-graphics concept introduced late — by written change order (see Terms)
Your collaboration
The script is built with you: a few recorded conversations with me about what you want to convey, then several rounds on the written scripts — which serve as a guide for a natural, unscripted conversation on camera. Beyond that, the main ask is timely feedback through the script, edit, and graphics-revision stages. The schedule holds when feedback is prompt; lagging response times in review and editing are the most common cause of extended timelines.
Assumptions
- Production takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area; out-of-area travel scoped separately
- Red Iron secures the availability of its founders, team, and portfolio founders, and any legal/comms clearances their companies require, on the schedule
- A single point of approval on your side (see Terms)
- This proposal and its pricing are valid for 30 days
Terms
The terms.
Payment — four milestones tied to real deliverables
- 25%
On contract signing — begins pre-production
- 25%
At script lock
- 30%
At picture lock — shot, edit finalized
- 20%
On delivery
Revisions & iteration
Iteration is part of the process — it's how a film gets to the version you're proud of. Timely revision rounds on the script and the edit, additional cutdowns from footage we've already captured, captions, and polish all live inside the engagement. The trade-off isn't cost — it's time. Every added round is real time against your fundraising deadline, so the call in front of you is whether a refinement is worth the schedule impact, never whether it's worth a line-item charge.
Change orders
A change order applies only to genuinely new work outside this scope — a reshoot, or a new motion-graphics concept introduced late. When that comes up, we set out the scope, the hours, and the cost, and agree it in writing before any work begins. The number is settled up front, never after.
Ownership
The finished film, all cutdowns, and the delivered master files are Red Iron's, in full. CRG retains the right to use the footage in its own portfolio and marketing — with all of Red Iron's confidential and proprietary information excluded and protected.
Approvals
We ask for a single point of approval on your side — one person who gathers everyone's input and gives us the final yes or no. It keeps the process clean and protects everyone's time.