MEDIA: Influence Studios caters to ‘influencers’

SMALL BUSINESS: Influence Studios Caters to ‘Influencers'

Kirk Hensler has turned a former Mira Mesa fitness center into a do-it-yourself video and photography production center which he named Influence Studios.

Influence Studios is “for anyone with a camera,” Hensler said.

“I just wanted to see what would happen if we did this. I just wanted to see if we could get this variety of people all using the same space,” Hensler said.

Influence Studios is place for everyone from individuals – so called influencers using cell phones to make videos for social media – to advertising agencies, he said. “People come in there that normally would have to shoot out of their house or outside. They now have the opportunity to create high quality imagery,” Hensler said. “We have people who otherwise wouldn't have shot indoors now using our space because we're doing the hard work for them.”

Multiple Sets

Hensler is the founder and producer of Hale Productions

based in East Village, a more conventional video and photo production company that works with a variety of commercial clients.

“We shoot a lot of digital ads,” Hensler said.

For Influence Studios, Hensler signed a 10-year lease on a 3,800-square-foot Miramar building at 7630 Miramar Road that had been Crossfit 858.

Spending about $400,000 on renovations, he took the former fitness studio down to the bare bones and filled it with a series of sets including a bathroom, bedroom, dining room, living room, bedroom, bathroom, coffee shop, a white brick wall and a Zen space.

“The kitchen is a big hit,” Hensler said. “People also shoot in the bathroom a lot because it's hard to fit all the gear you need in a typical bathroom.”

Each set has special lighting for video. The lights can be controlled with a smart phone or traditional remote. Additional lighting features such as sun flares and slashes can be added to each set for an additional cost.

Rental rates for the studio are $200 for the first four hours and $150 an hour for each additional hour.

Planning More

Hensler said he had a “soft opening” for Influence Studios in May 2022 and is formally opening the studio this year.

“We've already started getting a bunch of repeat bookings,” Hensler said.

Bookings so far have been “a good mix between independent photographers shooting for their clients for two to three hours and bigger agencies renting the studio to shoot bigger campaigns,” Hensler said. “We've done a fair amount of collaboration with influencers as well.”

Clients have included Colgate, Manscaped, Dockatot, and The Good Patch.

Hensler said that Influence Studios is “the first turnkey production rental space that comes with pre-styled and pre-lit sets.”

“While many people are rushing to catch up to the future of content creation, we built something really high quality that is significantly far beyond what else is out there,” Hensler said. “It reduces production costs, increases quality and adds variety.”

Hensler said his goal is to open three studios in San Diego County in the immediate future, then expand.

“We're looking at other cities in California and we're also looking at other cities throughout the country,” Hensler said. ■