In a Candid Conversation with TBF, Gautam Chaturvedi the Founder & M.D. shares some insightful views and highlight the achievements of Pine Tree Pictures in the past years.
Q. Brief us about the CEO/Founder of the company?
Pine Tree Pictures Pvt Ltd is spearheaded by Gautam Chaturvedi- Founder & Managing Director of the company. Gautam is an award-winning producer, writer, director, voice artist, and bankable actor, and a famous television personality with experience of nearly three decades in Media. He has been seen in famous TV Shows like Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii, Kaash, Ghar Ek Mandir, KumKum to name a few.
Q. Please tell us about your company. What are the services that your company offers?
Pine Tree Pictures is a complete Media Solutions Company with over 14 yrs experience. With two verticals viz. Films (Corporate Films/ Ad Films/ Audio Visuals) and Event Management, we have built mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships with our clients.
Films are created and tailor-made to suit the clients’ objectives, which include conceptualization, scripting, shooting, casting, and post-production. We have had the distinction of making over 500 minutes of films during the last 12 months of the lockdown. We have recently produced an award-winning short film ‘ Work From Home’ (Streaming on MX Player) which has won awards at 3 International and 2 National Film Festivals and is an official selection in 2 more international festivals. In the past, we have produced TV Series for GEC channels like ZEE TV, Doordarshan, TataSky, Mi Marathi, etc.
We manage Lifestyle & Corporate events like Public Events, Launch events, Awards/ Annual Functions, Conferences, Off-Sites, M.I.C.E, Seminars, Brand launches, and Dealer/ Sales Meets among others across the globe (Offline and Virtual Events). We are an end-to-end service provider and take care of Logistics, Branding, Creative and Execution. We also design and fabricate stalls at national and international events for our esteemed clients.
Q. Tell us about the notable milestones in the company’s journey?
Pine Tree Pictures was set up in 2007 and since then it has been passionately pursuing our vision of creating memorable content be it through Events or Films. For us every event/ film is a milestone, to pick a few becomes a tough task. Still, we would rate managing The Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Steel Authority of India in Bokaro, Jharkhand ( attended by over 25,000 people) where famous Bollywood singer Shaan enthralled the audience with his melodious voice along with Guinness record holder Kathak danseuse Vidha Lal. Managing the Bullet Train launch attended by Hon’ble PM of India and the then Hon’ble PM of Japan for National High-Speed Rail Corporation and creating a 3D animated film to launch this mega project in India was definitely a memorable experience. Recently we created a TV series and Managed events across India for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ( FSSAI) as part of their Eat Right India Campaign followed by a mega street food meal in Delhi which was attended by over 35,000 food lovers.
Q. What is your take on the current scenario of ‘Event Management’? What steps are you taking to make it better?
The past 1 year has been tough for the entire world. Events have suffered and people have lost jobs. It has been really painful but then you can’t shy away from reality. We immediately altered our course, the sea was rough, but by god’s grace, we did sail through. We have developed capabilities of managing Virtual Events, Webinars, Virtual Concerts, we have created more than 200 films for our esteemed clients and are developing capabilities to create content for digital platforms.
Q. How do you motivate your team to be innovative and productive at work?
For us our teams are like our family, open, democratic, passionate, and responsible. Each one knows his/her role and tries to better themselves with each project. As a mentor, my job is to give them freedom and let them rise to their true potential. Yes keeping them charged and motivated, when the work funnel was drying up, was a challenge, but we decided to take the challenge head-on. We started a positivity campaign in April 2020, followed by a series of concerts and virtual shows. We also started a knowledge-sharing webinar series. This engaged, not just our clients, but also our teams and brought them back on track.
Q. How do you maintain a productive work culture at a company while motivating your employees?
We have an open-door policy, nothing happens behind closed doors, from our office assistants to the management we discuss and share concerns, successes, and failures. We eat, laugh, and learn together and that makes all the difference. Each member owns the company and is empowered. This has kept the team motivated, productive, and raring to go.
Q. What are your future plans for the company? Where do you see the company in the years to come?
The future plans, as mentioned earlier, are to create quality content for digital platforms, create unique virtual event properties and adapt to the changing environment. We see Pine Tree Pictures as a uniquely blended organization that can manage physical & virtual events, Ad Films, and corporate videos, and digital content with equal ease in times to come.
Q. What is your advice to budding and aspiring entrepreneurs?
My sincere advice to all budding entrepreneurs is that be patient, stay committed and please look at the overall picture whenever taking a decision. There is no better mantra than consistency, patience, and perseverance to make your dreams come true as a business owner. Also, there are no shortcuts to success, you must go through the grind to enjoy the fruits of success.
