Episode 29
Benefits of Co-Directing (ft. Light Factory)
Brett Connors is one half of the directing duo behind Light Factory, an award-winning Calgary video production house that makes corporate, commercial, and branded work for brands and agencies across Canada. On this episode of Creatives Grab Coffee he sits down with Dario and Kyrill to compare notes on how two small production companies actually run day to day: the systems that keep a shoot from falling apart, the team you build to support them, and the working style that has become Light Factory’s signature.
The heart of the conversation is co-directing, the idea that on a busy corporate or commercial set one director simply cannot own every creative and logistical decision at once. Brett, Dario, and Kyrill dig into why splitting the director’s chair works on bigger jobs, how to pitch that model to agencies that have never seen it, why cutting one shoot into a dozen social variations wrecks a production schedule, and why a branded documentary is really just a more structured testimonial. It is a practical look at the operational side of running a video company, from two teams that landed on many of the same answers.
Key Takeaways
- Co-direct the big ones. On a large corporate or commercial shoot, one director cannot own every creative and logistical call, so splitting the role across two people raises the ceiling on bigger sets.
- Audit your systems before they mutate. Client-relations instincts harden into review processes, follow ups, and file structures, but they drift into a tangle over time, so run periodic internal audits and consolidate.
- Hire on contract first. Bringing a producer or coordinator on through contract work lets both sides feel out the working relationship before anyone commits to a full-time seat.
- Turn one role into two hybrids. Framing co-direction as Producer and Director plus Director and Cinematographer reads cleaner to a client or agency than the word co-director, and the rate works out the same.
- Social variations blow up the schedule. Cutting the same shoot into multiple platform versions and aspect ratios multiplies the post-production work, it is not just another export.
- Let the platforms set the length. Video length is dictated by the platforms’ own multi-million-dollar research, so a push toward shorter formats usually reflects what viewers actually prefer.
- A branded doc is a structured testimonial. A corporate documentary is really just a more produced, more structured version of a testimonial video, built around a narrative spine.
Timestamps
Systems That Drift, and the Audit That Fixes Them
Light Factory’s earliest strength was client relations, and Brett describes how that instinct hardened into actual systems over time: a review process, structured follow ups, a way of categorizing files and documents so nothing gets lost. Dario admits Lapse hits the same wall, the Google Drive that quietly fills with subfolders inside subfolders until someone has to stop and clean it out. Kyrill’s point is the one worth stealing: run periodic audits of your internal systems, because the ones you set up in year one tend to mutate into a single tangled mess by year three, and the fix is consolidation. If you are formalizing this for the first time, it maps closely to the wider corporate video production process, and it is a theme the show returns to in How to Improve Business Processes with August Media.
Building the Team Through Contract Work
When the conversation turns to team structure, Brett explains how Light Factory grew from two people to three. They brought on a producer and production coordinator with a television producing background, first through contract work during a stretch of big projects, before moving her into a more permanent role. Dario flags why that order matters: contract work first lets both sides feel out the working relationship before anyone commits to a full-time seat. It is a low-risk way to answer the question every small shop eventually faces, which is how to add capacity without betting the business on a single hire. The show digs deeper into that in Importance of Teams.
The Case for Co-Directing
This is the heart of the episode. Brett and his partner co-direct their projects, and the reasoning is simple: on a big corporate or commercial shoot there is far too much for one director to hold at once, so they split it. Light Factory is literally built around this, run by an in-house directing duo. Dario says Lapse landed in almost the same place, blending co-directing and co-producing, because unlike a unionized film set with clearly separated roles, a corporate video shoot forces the main roles to spill over into one another.
Lapse’s tweak is to package the two chairs as Producer and Director, and Director and Cinematographer, which reads cleaner to a client or agency than the word co-director, and the rate works out the same either way. Pitching the model to agencies is its own challenge: Brett notes that when Light Factory provides production and the agency owns the creative, agencies do not much care who directs, but the moment co-directing is named it still lands as a foreign concept. It is the same partnership dynamic the show explores in Building a Strong Partnership with Old Saw Studio.
“There's so much for one director to do that we can just split it up.”
Brett Connors, Light FactorySocial Cuts, Platform Rules, and Attention Spans
The back half of the episode gets into social. Cutting one shoot into multiple platform versions throws a wrench into the schedule, because the team has to spend real time reworking the same content for different aspect ratios, which multiplies the post-production load rather than just adding an export. The trio also lands on a counterintuitive point about video length: the platforms decide it, and they decide it based on their own multi-million-dollar research groups. So when a platform pushes shorter formats, that is a signal that the average viewer actually prefers shorter content, not just a constraint to fight against. It connects directly to the shift the show unpacks in Social Media is Changing Video with BTV.UK.
Branded Documentaries as Structured Testimonials
One last reframe worth holding onto: a corporate documentary is really just a more structured form of a testimonial video. Same raw ingredient, a real person telling a real story, but built around a tighter narrative spine. It is a useful way to think about where branded content sits on the spectrum between a quick talking head and a full brand film, and it helps you scope and price the work accordingly.
The Story Behind the Name
Before signing off, Kyrill asks the origin question. The name comes from the simplest idea in the craft: film is created with light. Add the influence of the Factory naming trend the partners were seeing at the time, and Light Factory wrote itself. It is the painting-with-light philosophy, turned into a shingle.
“It's the whole painting with light thing.”
Brett Connors, Light FactoryFrequently Asked Questions
Who is Brett Connors?
A producer and director at Light Factory, an award-winning video production company in Calgary that he runs as part of the in-house directing duo known as ‘The Bretts.’
What is Light Factory?
An award-winning Calgary video production house founded in 2014, making corporate, commercial, branded, and storytelling video for brands and agencies. Site: lightfactorynow.com.
What is co-directing in video production?
Splitting the director’s responsibilities across two people on a shoot so no single director is stretched across every creative and logistical decision. It is most useful on larger corporate and commercial sets.
Why do corporate shoots merge production roles?
Unlike a unionized film set with clearly separated roles, corporate and commercial shoots are not unionized, so the main roles spill over into one another, which is part of why two people sharing directing and producing often works better.
How is a corporate documentary different from a testimonial?
It is essentially a more structured, more produced version of a testimonial video, built around a narrative rather than a single talking-head endorsement.
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.
Light Factory is an award-winning video production house in Calgary, Alberta, founded in 2014 and run by the in-house directing duo known as ‘The Bretts,’ Brett Connors and Brett Ferster. The team produces corporate, commercial, branded, and storytelling video for brands and agencies across Canada. Learn more at Light Factory.
Full Transcript
Read the full episode transcript
Auto-generated and lightly edited for readability. It may contain small errors. For chapter deep-links into the video, use the Timestamps section above.
Kyrill Lazarov0:00Welcome, everybody, to Creatives Grab Coffee. Today we're joined by Brett Connors from Light Factory, a video production company based out of Calgary that focuses on creating video for brands and arts. Welcome, Brett.
Brett Connors0:00Thank you for having me.
Dario Nouri7:46What would you say are some of the most important systems you have developed for your business?
Brett Connors7:46We were good at client relations at the beginning, so that was our system for that time. We built on it and developed our review process, our follow ups, a way of categorizing files and documents, and so on.
Dario Nouri7:46We're running into an issue lately where we just have to get on top of our organizational skills. Our Google Drive gets so messy at times, with subfolders within subfolders. So it's important to take a moment every now and then and clean it up.
Kyrill Lazarov10:45You have to run audits every now and then on your internal systems, checking how efficient they still are after a while, because we had a few systems that mutated into one big mess. We had to consolidate them to make everything more manageable.
Dario Nouri15:10Let's talk about your team structure.
Brett Connors15:10We hired someone in January who is awesome. She's kind of our project manager and production coordinator. We had her doing contract work through October when a couple of big projects came up. She had experience producing for TV and was fresh out of school, so she was super eager to do everything. So it's three of us now.
Dario Nouri15:10It's good that you brought her on through contract work at first, so you could see how well you worked together before moving her into a more permanent role. In terms of what you and your partner do, is everything split down the middle, or does one person focus more on the business side and the other more on the creative?
Brett Connors17:32It's split down the middle. We all have our strengths. I probably do a bit more editing, while my partner does a lot of the design and motion graphics work. The biggest thing, and maybe you guys do the same, is that we co-direct projects. We found that especially on big corporate or commercial jobs there is so much for one director to do that we can just split it up.
Dario Nouri17:32That's very similar to us. We've developed a fusion of co-directing and co-producing at the same time, because like you said, it's hard for one person to focus on so many tasks on a corporate shoot. It's not like a film set where you have many clearly separated roles. On corporate projects the main roles spill over into other roles, since it isn't unionized.
Brett Connors17:32Yeah. I hope it gets more accepted and better understood, especially by creative agencies. Hopefully they get more open to the idea that bringing in two people, when it works, is going to be a stronger vision.
Dario Nouri17:32With ad agencies, how do you pitch co-directing?
Brett Connors17:32We don't do too much work with agencies, and when we do it's usually smaller projects that one director can easily handle. On a bigger agency project we are usually just providing the production while the agency owns all the creative, so they don't seem to care who is actually directing. When it does come up, it still lands as a pretty foreign thing.
Dario Nouri17:32For us, we split it into two hybrid roles: Producer and Director, and Director and Cinematographer. That way the role is two-way and less confusing for the client or agency, and the amounts work out the same anyway.
Kyrill Lazarov47:25Before we head off, why don't you tell us how you came up with the name?
Brett Connors47:25From what I remember, we always liked the idea that video or film is creating with light. So we had that in our minds, and then factory, we were seeing influences like the Beer Factory and so on, and we both kind of wrote down light and factory, Light Factory. So it's the whole painting with light thing.
Dario Nouri47:25Thank you so much for taking the time to come on our podcast.
Brett Connors47:25Definitely. Thanks for having me. This was super fun.
