Keith Padgett

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[0:00] Ian from Attractions Insight. I'm here

[0:01] with Keith of Art FX.

[0:05] Mr. Keith, returning vendor, always fan

[0:08] favorite. Me personally,

[0:11] how you been? How's 24? How's 25? How

[0:14] you looking for 26?

[0:15] Uh 26 is going good. One of the things

[0:17] that I want to if you get a chance when

[0:19] we talk about it, let's talk about the

[0:21] difference in how we approach the

[0:23] industry versus other people as well.

[0:25] Yeah. And that gives us kind of a heads

[0:27] up because we are a niche business. So

[0:30] if you notice everything here is is not

[0:33] in the norm, but we are able to do all

[0:35] of our buildouts ourselves. Okay.

[0:37] We're able to construct the mold. We

[0:39] have uh studios full of artists,

[0:41] craftsmen, which is a challenge in it.

[0:44] And tell me about the difficulties of

[0:47] maintaining just so many different

[0:49] studios because you've got tech, you've

[0:50] got art, I'm sure you've got a design as

[0:52] well. And then let's not forget the

[0:54] allimp important marketing and

[0:55] administrative work.

[0:56] Well, and I'll get to marketing in just

[0:58] a minute because that's a very important

[1:00] part that we were talking about earlier.

[1:02] When you talk about the difference of

[1:03] studios, one thing is they stay in your

[1:05] lane. And but the other thing is is that

[1:07] most art students that come here,

[1:09] they're they're focused on one field.

[1:11] Okay?

[1:11] You have to widen your field.

[1:13] Sure. Wide them out,

[1:14] right? Because what happens is you got

[1:16] to be able to control and know every

[1:18] part of that studio. So every artist

[1:20] that comes into my shop or craftsman, I

[1:22] make them work.

[1:24] Every part of from sanding to just

[1:27] painting to

[1:28] Nice. Yeah. Get them get them fully

[1:29] trained out.

[1:30] And the way reason that comes to me is

[1:31] because when I first started working

[1:33] with Bush Entertainment, it's my first

[1:35] job at Arts Screen. They made me park

[1:37] cars in the Zebra parking spot, you

[1:39] know, and I thought, well, I'm an

[1:40] artist. But they everybody starts there.

[1:42] Sure.

[1:43] Cuz that way they learn every part of

[1:45] the venue. And that's kind of what I do

[1:47] there is because

[1:48] you can't design something if you don't

[1:50] know the materials that go into it.

[1:51] Yeah. And so a lot of times we'll come

[1:53] and we'll have to work with different

[1:55] parts of the profession that we we're

[1:57] into whether it's an an existing vendor,

[2:00] architects, builders.

[2:01] Yeah. Cuz you guys you guys interweave

[2:03] with everybody and at like all points of

[2:06] the process. So I mean it is incredible

[2:08] that you kind of can just kind of slot

[2:10] in wherever you're needed.

[2:11] Yeah. No, and that's exactly what our

[2:13] advantage is. Is our advantage is is

[2:15] that we do acquire the process and 50

[2:18] years of being in the business, it

[2:19] reminds you of

[2:20] that'll add up.

[2:21] Oh yeah. [laughter] Yeah. And believe

[2:22] me, there's parts of my body that know

[2:24] that.

[2:24] Yeah.

[2:24] But earlier we were talking about

[2:27] that as you start moving on and as uh

[2:30] business evolve, so the business is

[2:33] continually evolving. You have people

[2:36] that come up with a product. Maybe it's

[2:38] a super sized ball that you can use as a

[2:40] to maneuver your your your arrow across

[2:43] your screen.

[2:43] Yeah.

[2:45] What we do is we don't worry about that.

[2:47] Okay.

[2:47] We say good luck.

[2:48] Yeah.

[2:49] Because do ours if you think you can't.

[2:51] Yeah.

[2:51] And if you can, great. But you're going

[2:53] to compete with us, too.

[2:55] And that's fair.

[2:56] Yeah. and that but the the other

[2:58] advantage is after 50 years in this

[3:00] business it becomes kind of a curse

[3:04] versus a blessing. Blessing is is that

[3:06] we don't rattle the cage the bushes as

[3:08] much as we used to. We doppa cuz we we

[3:10] meet a lot of our existing clients as

[3:12] well as like so

[3:13] and but the disadvantage is is that

[3:16] everybody still wants to talk to Keith

[3:19] whereas that's hard for me to we are now

[3:22] an employee owned company y

[3:24] where I've let the employees buy the

[3:25] company and they will they will

[3:28] eventually take over the sales the

[3:29] marketing the design for right now my

[3:31] thumb is on everything. Yeah, which by

[3:33] the way I am blessed to talk to the man

[3:35] himself. But yes, uh the team

[3:37] surrounding him is just incredible. Uh I

[3:41] mean really just super impressive. I

[3:44] mean am I am I blowing smoke? Like these

[3:46] guys these guys are good. Like you are

[3:48] surrounded by very competent um

[3:51] subordinates with with respect. We call

[3:53] it herding cats when you take when

[3:55] you've got

[3:56] artists and and designers, people that

[3:59] think on the computer side of the brain,

[4:02] people that are only creative

[4:03] and you know, we have people that come

[4:06] from all over the world that's in our

[4:07] studio. We have 20some in the studio

[4:09] now. But they drugged me out of the

[4:12] dark. I didn't want to use CNC machines

[4:14] for years and I didn't want to use

[4:15] computerized routers. I didn't want to

[4:17] use any of the 3D printers, you know,

[4:20] but I had to learn.

[4:21] Yeah. you know, I had to converse with

[4:23] architects. So, I had to learn how to do

[4:24] my own CAD drawings and you know,

[4:27] there's something to be said for that

[4:28] because it keeps you you're able to

[4:31] create the very, like you said, from the

[4:33] very ground up or come in and help them

[4:36] suggest to

[4:37] Well, we got a little bit of old dog new

[4:38] trick situation just because, you know,

[4:40] after 50 years, I mean, yeah, the rise

[4:42] of 3D printing, CNC machines becoming

[4:45] efficient and effective. Um, so all of

[4:47] these very very powerful methods which

[4:51] you know you guys had the ability to do

[4:54] the old method until it was uh efficient

[4:57] for you to switch over to this new

[4:58] method and I'm sure that's just kind of

[5:00] carried you forward and forward and

[5:02] forward and and really kept you on the

[5:03] up and up. I mean you guys are still

[5:04] still doing it to this day. Obviously

[5:06] what it did is it opened my shop. We

[5:08] have two different shops now. We have

[5:10] one where we produce Yeah. manufacture

[5:13] where we do repetitious game. We have

[5:15] clients that quite frankly are in this

[5:18] or some of our competitor.

[5:20] Yeah.

[5:20] But at the same time, it gives us the

[5:23] ability to do repetitive business

[5:24] through the CNC. But then if we wanted

[5:26] to do something like the clown or

[5:28] something that we wanted to have

[5:30] handcarved or special that I need or

[5:32] that a client asks for. Sure. We have a

[5:34] complete art studio just for that. Yeah.

[5:36] You know, where you know, they they

[5:38] compete for time and they compete for my

[5:41] time. you know, obviously being that I

[5:43] have to design, but it also gives us the

[5:46] ability to be more um fluid. You know,

[5:49] we're not so so relative. We're not into

[5:52] a box. We we never fit a box and we

[5:55] won't. It's just kind of advice as to

[5:58] you know,

[6:00] if I'm a, you know, a lowly prop maker

[6:03] and I want to start really just

[6:05] designing, you know, stuff for people,

[6:07] how do you think you jump into that?

[6:09] Well, what you do first, you know, we

[6:11] have a lot of students that come in here

[6:12] from different art schools.

[6:13] Sure.

[6:14] And they're they know one specific

[6:16] thing, whether it's graphic design,

[6:18] whether it's some sort of computerized

[6:20] routing, whatever they've learned over

[6:21] the years.

[6:22] Now, find your niche.

[6:24] No, not necessarily.

[6:25] Okay.

[6:26] Find the thing that makes you gives you

[6:27] the passion because the money will come.

[6:29] Yeah. Fair.

[6:30] You know, and uh that's the thing is as

[6:33] you get better at what you do, but you

[6:35] need to learn your tools.

[6:36] Okay. You know, your tools are your

[6:38] hands, your brushes, your your mind. Use

[6:41] the tools that God's given you and use

[6:43] those to to your advantage. Then you can

[6:46] start uh specifying as to what your best

[6:50] abilities are.

[6:51] Okay.

[6:51] You know, and then you can share that.

[6:53] Yeah. Yeah.

[6:54] Does that make sense?

[6:54] No, that's awesome. That's I mean, I

[6:56] think that's that's so true. And I mean,

[6:57] if we're talking about people who are,

[7:00] you know, trying to find their way Yeah.

[7:02] I mean, it's an exploration process, but

[7:04] uh I know where to send them if I'm uh

[7:06] Yeah. you know, if we're looking to

[7:08] develop some talent. So,

[7:09] and and I don't want to get away from

[7:12] the fact that it really really depends.

[7:15] I believe in learning every part of the

[7:18] shop.

[7:18] Sure. Because that way each artist that

[7:21] comes along, whether they're young or

[7:22] old,

[7:24] they are capable of knowing every part

[7:26] of our shop. There go and they can and

[7:29] it opens up their possibilities

[7:31] and getting more mind. And so as they as

[7:33] they get more creative,

[7:35] they they their minds are opening up to

[7:38] more problems. Whereas you shy away from

[7:40] things you don't know. That's how you

[7:42] change the tire, you know, and if you

[7:43] change clothes on your carpet, you just

[7:45] don't But that's really all the only way

[7:47] gross growth happens. So

[7:49] Keith, it's a pleasure to talk to you as

[7:51] usual. Awesome. Thanks.

[7:53] Thank you very much.