Storytelling as the core currency of business and film

Executive overview

Storytelling ability transfers across every role in the film industry — from production accountant to director. Frank Patterson built Trilith Studios not as a facilities business but as a city designed around everything great storytellers need. The correction in content spend was predictable; the studios that survive it are those investing in the full creative ecosystem, not just soundstages.

The competitive advantage in film — and in any business — is the ability to tell a story.

From Texas kid to studio CEO

• An English teacher identified Patterson as a storyteller and pushed him to leave his small town — the first pivot.
• Early focus on story led naturally to recognising talent, then to producing, then to building companies.
• Co-founded a digital humans company; created the Michael Jackson hologram for the 2014 Billboard Awards.
• Faced a Thursday-night cash crisis with Friday payroll due — pulled payroll by leveraging his house, without telling his wife.
• Exited the digital humans company; was recruited by Dan Cathy (Chick-fil-A) to lead what would become Trilith.
• Cathy's pitch: "Think of this as a 700-acre campus you can paint as an entrepreneur."

Building Trilith as a city for storytellers

• Trilith started as a facilities business — essentially renting studio space; Patterson's mandate was to reimagine it.
• Located 20 minutes from the world's busiest airport, with a culture of innovation.
• Strategy: invest in emerging content companies and emerging tech companies on the same campus.
• Eventually bought out the Pinewood partners to pursue the broader vision without constraint.
• Today: 75 businesses on campus, from major lighting and grip companies to a donut shop.
• Includes a 65,000 sq ft wellness centre with free membership for all crew members on active productions.
• A K–12 forest school on-site — built because the industry's travel demands are brutal on families.
• Home to major Marvel productions and emerging filmmakers simultaneously.

Weathering the industry correction

• Hollywood's boom-and-bust cycle was predictable — "spending like drunken sailors, waking up hungover."
• Trilith anticipated a correction and widened the aperture of storytellers and business types it supports.
• The post-COVID, post-strike pullback in content spend accelerated the shift toward a more diversified base.

The entrepreneur's mindset on fear and failure

• Patterson threw up every morning of his first film shoot — convinced he was an imposter about to lose investors' money.
• Advice from producer Julie Corman reframed his fear: "It's funded. It's going to get made. It's just on you how good it gets made."
• Investor reminder: "I didn't invest in you so you could throw up. I invested in you because I believe in what you can do."
• Key insight: the project will survive; the only variable is quality of execution.
• On not knowing how you'll succeed: a 59-year-old serial entrepreneur in the room couldn't answer "do you know how you're going to be successful?" — and that's normal.
• Paraphrased from E.L. Doctorow: writing is like driving at night — you can only see as far as the headlights, but somehow you make your way home.

Christina Wren: building a production company from the creative side

• Co-founder of Two Kids with a Camera (est. ~2010), producing films, streaming series, and branded content.
• Grew slowly and deliberately — no Soho office, no rapid scale, no running into the ground.
• Started with LegalZoom; severely undercharged for years — which helped win early business.
• Google job in Mountain View opened their eyes: working with major clients requires thinking bigger.
• Pricing discovery through iteration: if everyone says yes without negotiating, the price is too low.
• Social media has radically transformed marketing for artists, filmmakers, and small production companies.

Advice for early-stage founders

• No one knows how they're going to succeed — keep pivoting until you find product-market fit.
• Find the most specific, distinct thing you are passionate about that your background uniquely enables.
• Fill a real need, keep iterating and honing, rather than copying someone else's success.
• Tough nights are part of the club — the path reveals itself only as far as the headlights reach.