Crews aren't a line item. They're people. And they're the reason stories exist.
Who Kyndred is For: Part 3
It’s time to talk about the people who come together to make the work. It’s a conversation that’s long overdue.
The DP. The gaffer. The grip. The editor. The PAs (that’s where I started!). The people who build the sets, hang the lights, run the cables, drive the trucks and solve the problems nobody ever sees.
Film and television are collaborative art forms. No single person makes them. A story might start with a writer or a director’s vision, but the moment production begins it becomes something larger. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of craftspeople working together to bring an idea into the world. That collaboration is the reason the work endures.
And nowhere on earth has built that collaborative skill set better than Los Angeles.
For over a century, the crews here have developed a level of experience and craftsmanship that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else. Generations of filmmakers train the next generation. Departments pass knowledge down. Techniques evolve. Standards rise. It’s one of the greatest creative workforces ever assembled.
But right now, that ecosystem is under real pressure. Production has been leaving Los Angeles for years. Incentive programs elsewhere have pulled projects away. Industry consolidation has reduced the number of greenlights. Fewer shows mean fewer days of work for the people whose livelihoods depend on it. And that doesn’t just affect individuals. It affects the entire creative infrastructure that made this city the center of filmed storytelling in the first place.
I care deeply about this city. I live here. My kids were born here. My friends live here. Most of the people I’ve worked with for nearly 25 years live here. From the moment I arrived as a know-nothing 20-something from Massachusetts, this city welcomed me and became Home with a capital H.
There’s a movement here to keep production in LA, and I’ve recently started attending city council meetings to show support for those efforts. Their hard work has started to pay off as new initiatives have passed to help make production in LA a little easier and a little more affordable. There’s still a long way to go, and Kyndred wants to support those efforts. It’s not that we don’t want to see this industry grow in other places, we absolutely do. But we also want to support an environment that allows the work here to continue and to flourish.
What Kyndred Believes
The traditional studio system tends to treat crew as labor attached to a project. Hired for the run, thanked in the credits if they’re lucky, and rarely thought about once the deliverables are in.
But that framing has never matched reality. Every person on a set shapes the final story in ways audiences will never fully see but would immediately feel if they were missing. A scene doesn’t work because of a single person. It lands because dozens of crafts come together at the same moment, each department solving problems, making adjustments and refining the work until the story finally clicks. That collaboration is what makes filmmaking different from almost every other art form.
I know from almost thirty years in production that people who are treated well do their best work. I know that when crews feel respected, supported and trusted with their craft, the work gets better. The environment gets better. The culture on set becomes something people actually want to be part of, and that energy shows up on screen whether you realize it or not. That’s not idealism. That’s just experience talking.
Kyndred is built around the understanding that all the people behind the work are the reason a story is successful and the reason audiences connect with it. They’re collaborators in the truest sense, and the model we’re building is designed to treat them that way.
How Kyndred Supports Crew
When Kyndred backs a project, we stay involved through the entire production process. That means experienced production support, realistic scheduling and professional working environments designed to respect the time and skill of the people doing the work. It means advocating for fair conditions on set, reasonable hours and clear communication between creators, producers and departments. Everyone who has spent time on a well-run set knows the difference it makes. Everyone who has spent time on a badly-run one knows the cost.
Kyndred also believes that when a project succeeds, the people who helped build it should share in that success. A portion of Kyndred’s participation is reserved for the crews who make the work possible, and creators working with Kyndred are encouraged to match that participation so the people behind the camera can benefit when the project they helped build finds its audience. Not as a bonus or a gesture of goodwill, but as recognition that the finished work exists because of the people who brought it to life.
And Kyndred’s commitment to Los Angeles is structural, not just philosophical. When a project aligns creatively with LA-based production and studio space is available, that’s where we make it. Local crews, rental houses, stages and post houses. Building a studio means building jobs in the community where the talent already lives.
Why This Matters
The entertainment industry is changing quickly. Fewer studios are making more of the decisions. Production is shifting geographically. And the people who actually make the work often have the least say in how those changes affect their careers and their families. It means traveling too far and too often. It means not sleeping in your own bed at night. It means having to choose between financially providing for your family and actually being there for your family. It means that too large of a burden is put on the people helping create the value.
It means you make all the sacrifices so C-Suites and Wall Street can get bigger payouts.
But storytelling has never belonged to corporations as much as they try to silo it. It belongs to the people who believe in it, the people who imagine it and the people who bring it to life. Kyndred exists to bring those forces together around work that’s made by people who care about the story and the craft behind it. Work that’s made together, with intention, and built to last.
Because the best stories aren’t built by studios. They’re built by people.
That’s Kyndred. The Studio for Everyone.