M-1 Studios opens in Royal Oak, to make local movies

metromode, 9/4/2008

The local sci-fi series "InZer0" proved to be a matchmaker of sorts for the three founders of Royal Oak's M-1 Studios.

"It's where we met each other and picked each other out as rational, level-headed people," says Rob Gulley, a co-founder of M-1 Studios.

That led them to create M-1 Studios, a video-production firm, in January. The 3-person company, which has about 18 years experience between them, creates corporate and industrial videos. Think: safety-instruction videos.

The firm employs a stable of freelance actors and stage hands during projects and has a couple of interns from the likes of Michigan State University and Specs Howard on staff.

"We don't want to play the Hollywood game," Gulley says. "We want to take our skill set and turn it into our day jobs."

They have high hopes for doing just that, especially now that Michigan has enacted aggressive filmmaking incentives. Within a few years M-1 Studios hopes to have its own building on Woodward Avenue and few more employees after it significantly grows its client list.

"We treat all of our projects like 1 million people would see them and our clients really like that," Gulley says.

Source: Rob Gulley, co-owner of M-1 Studios
Writer: Jon Zemke

Entrepreneurship , Film , Internships , Oakland County

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