A promotional video production company with clients ranging from ballets to banks is expanding its operations into Ypsilanti to better serve clients throughout the Midwest.

Front Runner Films founder Tyler Nimmons says the company works with freelance talent plus 11 employees across three locations: Boise, Idaho (where the company was founded); Los Angeles; and now Ypsilanti. Currently, two employees are in Ypsilanti, but the company is looking to expand its team.

Front Runner had multiple connections to Michigan even before expanding to Ypsi. Front Runner was funded by Florida-based CapStone Holdings, whose founder and chairman, Keith J. Stone, is an Eastern Michigan University (EMU) alum. Front Runner has completed more than 20 projects in southeast Michigan for clients like EMU alumni group GameAbove, Auburn Hills-based cannabis staffing services company The United Green, and Utica-based fastener manufacturer MNP Corp.

Nimmons says there'll be a great advantage in deploying talent from Michigan to work with existing clients in Chicago, Detroit, and other Michigan locations. 

"It's easier on the pocketbook if we have great talent here and don't have to fly them in, and it's quicker to produce," he says. "We like to mobilize very quickly. It's one of our strong suits."

Nimmons says one of the reasons he was attracted to Ypsilanti was seeing how quickly Ypsilanti-based GameAbove has grown and how successful the projects it's supported have been.

"We had a front row seat to a great show of them growing eastern Washtenaw County and the city of Ypsilanti. That's part of the reason we planted our flag in Ypsilanti," Nimmons says. "We could have picked Detroit, but there was a great amount of time spent in Ypsilanti making several videos and seeing the town and the people. We saw that entrepreneurial spirit and growth happening here and wanted to be a part of it."

Nimmons says he feels a sense of "pure joy" in his work as well as building up a team and allowing them to let their talents and abilities shine. That attitude extends to the company's slogan, "Humor and Heart."

"We're creatively solving problems for clients so they can get their story, products, or services out to customers in an honest but humorous or heartfelt way. I'm either going to make you laugh or get you in the feels," he says.

More information about Front Runner Films and clips of its previous projects are available here.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.

Photo courtesy of Front Runner Films.