A Member Profile
By Dennis Regan, Writer and Voiceactor 
MCA-I Member, San Diego   


Randal Schultz has produced broadcast and corporate video projects for such clients as Yamaha, ESPN, Disney, Nissan, 31 Flavors, UPN, PBS, Lifetime, Coors, Budweiser, AARP, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MagLite.  He has also operated regional news bureaus for various programs, including 10 years with a nationally syndicated financial news show.

 

He became an MCA-I Life Member 25 years ago, primarily to find more affordable insurance for his new production company.

 

RS - I'm really more involved in MCA-I recently than I was back then, with my work at the college - John Coleman (Member Orange County chapter) is one of our instructors.  I try to funnel students over there (MCA-I) and I've actually taken my classes to some meetings.  So, I see the benefit of networking and maintaining industry contacts, finding out who's doing what and learning about new technologies. It's valuable in many ways.

DR- Tell us about your work at the Santa Ana College.

RS- When we moved into the new state-of-the-art facility - a new digital media center - a little over 3 years ago, I was involved with the planning.  I teach a full load of production and post-production classes and manage the operation.  It's a constant battle.  This is my 14th year at the college.  Prior to that I was at USC for 18 years. I was manager of broadcast operations there.

DR - So you've spanned all those years as both an educator and a professional, operating your own production company.

RS - I didn't have a much of a life.  But it did provide me with the flexibility to do other things.  Those positions in education providing me with some sense of stability - medical insurance and so forth.

 

DR - At the same time it was nice to be able to work professionally.  You could bring that to the classroom.

RS- When I was going through school as a student, I had some instructors who only knew theory.  What they knew was out of a book.  I think having that experience in the real world has enriched my ability to teach in the classroom.

 

DR – But let’s go back to the days when you were a student, and the beginning of you business.

RS - I started doing freelance work when I was a student at USC. Then, I was at the right place at the right time - ESPN was starting up and getting set to cover a Superbowl here in Southern California.  They didn't have their people out here yet, so they asked me if I could shoot.  I said sure. We shot some pre-game stuff, shooting during the day, editing in the evening and satellite out that night.  Then they asked if I could edit. 

 

DR - You said sure. 

RS - I was pretty much a green horn, but there I was edited the Superbowl stuff for Sportscenter on ESPN

DR - Initiated into the business at the highest level.

RS - It was pretty cool, but they were just starting up too.

 

DR - So you built on that experience.

RS- I started doing other freelance gigs, and then started buying my own equipment. My business grew over the years to the point that I had multiple packages. When I wasn't shooting I had other crews going out. It was a real juggling act.

 

DR - Tell us about some of your clients.

RS - One of my longest running clients was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  I worked on a show they called Nation's Business. That was on ESPN, 5 days a week, 2 hours in the morning. We were generating business profiles from the West coast, doing 3 or 4 of those a week. And I did that for 10 years.  I still did corporate videos and infomercials -  did just about everything, training videos, marketing videos.

 

DR - Those are the kind of clients to have - the ones that go on for 10 years.

RS - Well, you know . . . you have a client for a couple of years, and you ride it as long as you can.  They don't last forever, but that was a good run.

 

DR - But there came a time when you had to choose between your business life and your job as an educator.

RS - Yes, when we moved into this new facility at the school and I took on greater responsibility, plus the technology was changing.  I had to decide whether I wanted to invest in new equipment.

 

DR - Is equipment a heavier overhead than in the past?

RS - In the early days when you bought equipment, it would last for awhile.  Today when you buy a piece of equipment it becomes obsolete a couple of months later. 

 

DR - That's a big issue today.

RS - Absolutely.  To invest in it and recoup your investment, and then make a profit on it. There's a certain amount of convenience in having your own gear - not having to research who you're going to get it from, taking the time to pick it up and drop it off, and knowing that it's going to

work.

 

DR - And then there are the varying formats.

RS - You don't know what somebody is going to come in and ask for.

DR - And there's another factor isn't there.  The equipment costs less, so there's a lower threshold for start ups.

RS - It used to be a camera was, at the bare minimum, $10,000.  And so not a lot of people were making that initial investment. So people had to come to you, for the most part.  But now the technology has enabled the quality to go up and the price go down, so it's affordable to most people. They don't have to go to outside production companies, they can do stuff in-house.  The profit margin is not as great.  The competition is much greater.  You have people with less experience who try to undercut you. They buy a piece of equipment and call themselves professionals.  My students do it all the time. And with the MTV model, even if it's rough, that's sort of the look now days.

 

DR - Is there a solution to that trend for the professional? 

RS -  I think that advancements in digital technology have resulted in significant changes in the video industry, which has not only altered the way we do business but has also created new opportunities. In order to capitalize on these opportunities, you need to keep up to date on new and emerging technologies and industry trends. That's not always easy to do, but MCA-I can be a tremendous resource for enhancing your knowledge and skills, so that you can maintain a competitive edge.  I think there's still a difference to somebody who has experience - pulling projects together, knowing the ins and outs. 

 

DR – So the professional has to learn how to sell quality and value of experience. 

RS- There's value that a seasoned professional can bring that an inexperienced new comer won't be able to.  They may know how to operate the equipment or the editing system, but there's a certain maturity level that can enhance the project.

 

DR - Let's visit your college life briefly.  How would you compare your program with other schools?  You've had experience at both USC and now Santa Ana College.

RS - Not to diminish the effectiveness of other programs, but we do have students who go to 4 year programs and come back to tell us that they really appreciate what they learned here because they got a lot of hands on practical information.  Also we have students who transfer to a 4-year school and come back to tell us that they can't get in any production classes, and when they do they say they're much more experienced than students who have started at those 4-year schools.

 

DR - It must be gratifying to hear those stories.

RS - We had a student that won a position at FOX Sports.  He said several of the candidates he beat out were UCLA and Cal State Fullerton grads. 

 

DR - And you've had some celebrities among your students.

RS - Will Farrell, believe it or not, was here for a semester trying to figure out whether he wanted to be a newscaster or not.

 

DR - Of course, he got to be one, at least for the length of a movie. 

 

Randall Schultz, we thank you for your time and your allegiance to MCA-I as a life member.  

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