The phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none” is a common refrain for a dabbler who hasn’t dedicated enough attention to one specific skill set to master it.
The flip side to this, of course, is that with someone who knows only one thing in super granular detail isn’t going to be a multi-purpose troubleshooter. Video production teams comprised of experts in very specific fields are going to be pretty large, and while bigger companies have their place in the industry, they do come with some drawbacks that a smaller company can mitigate.
At Paragon Pictures, we have a streamlined team comprised of what we call Generalists. Each of us with a specific set of training, but with enough experience of the broader industry to comfortably and confidently tackle a variety of responsibilities.
Ste, for instance, is an expert in multiple areas of post-production, and proficient in most others. Sam, meanwhile, is a trained cinematographer. But through necessity he has also become a company owner, producer and account manager as a result of starting Paragon. Jay is primarily our content director, however his background in production and performance means he understands the world of licensing, casting, dealing with talent agencies and general production coordination.
Generalists - and we wouldn’t have it any other way
We’re generalists out of necessity. It lets us keep a streamlined team who understand as many aspects of video production as possible.
But just because we’ve had to become generalists doesn’t mean we’d change it if we could. It means that we can provide our clients with a more bespoke, attentive service. A big company will have layers of bureaucracy, with teams of multiple editors, producers, client managers, etc. In this situation, efficiency of communication can be affected. Queries get misdirected, responses are delayed and things fall through the cracks.
At Paragon we all work in the same room. Call us up and we’ll answer your questions immediately. There’s more accountability. It also allows us to offer a cheaper service, since a smaller team of generalists means that overheads are reduced. We don’t have to pay fifty people with one specific job each, which means we don’t have to raise the cost of production accordingly.
Our team size just works
Ultimately, we’ve found a comfortable balance. Our team is big enough that we can tackle large scale productions, but small enough that we can be cost efficient and accessible for clients. Our company may grow in size and scale over time, but it will always be comprised of generalists.