CGC Guides
Guides to the Business of Video Production
Deep, practical guides for the people who run video production companies, not the clients who hire them.
New guides added regularly. Last updated July 14, 2026.
Every episode of Creatives Grab Coffee is one conversation. These guides are the synthesis: each one takes a single question that video production owners actually search and ask, and answers it with every episode that touched the topic, over 117 conversations with studio owners across North America and beyond.
They are written from the owner’s chair. Where a topic overlaps with what a client would search, we point you to the buyer-side data on Lapse Productions and keep the guide focused on the business decision in front of you.
Why these guides are different
- Named practitioners. Real owners, real companies, quoted and attributed, not anonymous “experts.”
- Real numbers. Actual day rates, retention percentages, ROI figures, and lead-source results from people running the businesses.
- Genuine disagreement. When guests contradict each other, we say so. You get both sides and the hosts’ verdict, not a flattened consensus.
The Guides
Ten production company owners on the record, including a genuine case against it. Tyler Hendricks' 10x nonprofit ROI on one side, Julian Tillotson's anti-niching argument on the other, and the hosts' verdict in between.
Read the guide Lead Generation How Video Production Companies Actually Get ClientsThe channels that actually book work, ranked by what owners report, including the ones that never pay off. SEO, Google Ads, cold email, referrals, and LinkedIn, with the negative findings most articles leave out.
Read the guide Pricing How to Price Video Production WorkDay rates, value-based pricing, quoting on the spot, and knowing which revenue to turn down. Priced from the owner's chair, with the failure modes generic pricing guides skip.
Read the guideMore guides publish regularly. Coming soon: retainers and recurring revenue, how to scale (and when not to), AI and the business of video, client retention, business partnerships, contracts, and how to start a video production company.
The Hosts
Dario Nouri and Kyrill Lazarov are the co-founders of Lapse Productions, a Toronto video production company, and the hosts of Creatives Grab Coffee, a weekly show about the business of video production.
About
Creatives Grab Coffee is a podcast about the business behind video production: sales, strategy, pricing, team building, and everything that happens off camera. New episodes every week on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Lapse Productions is a Toronto-based video production company serving tech, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing clients with corporate, promotional, event, and testimonial video. New to commissioning video? Start with our guide to the types of corporate video.