When we decided to start our production company we were buzzing with ideas, full of plans and straining at the leash to get them all off the ground. One of the first things we did was appoint an accountant who talked us through everything we needed to make our business ‘official’. Then he asked what turned out to be the biggest question we’d been asked to date and it had nothing to do with business plans, marketing strategy or financial investment! In order to start the registration, set up a bank account and a long list of other must-haves we needed a name – so, what were we going to call ourselves? Silence. We looked at each other and after a long pause concluded we would have to get back to him.
We spent the next 10 days trying out all sorts of ideas. We started with the usual industry-related terms or a twist on them. But a quick search proved that most of those were already being used in some form or other by other video and film production companies and we weren’t that keen on any that weren’t. Then we had the crazy phase where we came up with a huge list of quirky and off-the-wall. We liked a few but, when thinking about answering the phone to some of our clients by having to say “Good morning, Sock It To Them Productions” wasn’t exactly the brand we wanted to convey! Nothing seemed to fit and time was ticking.
It finally came to a head on a trip to Wales. We were getting quite desperate and after still trying a few things related to our journey – Punch Your Ticket Productions, Paper Cup Films, Toilet Engaged TV to name a few – we finally looked at each other and sighed. We wanted a name reflecting our brand of a no-nonsense approach that was honest and straightforward. ‘Just like us’ we said - and then it clicked. Why not just use our names? We agreed it wasn’t particularly creative but then the creativity comes through our ideas and our work... not our name.
Great, it was decided. Oh! We did have one more decision to make - would it be Hall Lewin or Lewin Hall? Too many of the letter ‘L’ in our surnames made that an easy choice! This whole process made us realise that a name is important and without it upfront you can’t do much on the administration front... but it also made realise that it’s the work we do that’s more important to us and our clients.
There’s only one thing in our name – and it’s not film-related, clever, or quirky... it’s just us.