With a story much like that of Bill Gates who capitalized on any possible opportunity to learn and practice computer programming, Torrey Loomis of Silverado Systems says that his love of media and computers began in first grade. He was so bold as to ask his elementary school principle if he could take one of the Apple II computers home for Christmas break. Surprisingly, his principle said yes.
Following military service and a career start in law enforcement, Torrey decided that he would rather be his own boss. He moved to Folsom from the Monterey Bay area and became a computer consultant specializing in the Macintosh. Many of his clients just happened to be graphic designers and film makers. It was not long before Apple asked him to specialize in Pro Video. Silverado soon became a full demo facility where the cameras could be assembled, demonstrated and sold.
Serendipity could describe Torrey’s career path, but he also describes it as falling dominoes. One falls over and leads to the next, from general Apple work to professional video work with Apple to a recent full time transition into content creation. Loomis explains that the whole Apple video business is dynamically changing by taking their product lines away from independent resellers and back online and into Apple stores. While Silverado Systems was great for a person or company that needed to buy a $30,000 camera and have an offline resource for service, Apple is simplifying things so much even for higher end equipment. For that reason, Silverado has needed to adapt to the changing business climate.
Torrey’s dominoes seem to be lined up to fall in a favorable direction for his business as he undertakes a huge project with a local security company. Through another fortuitous event, Torrey was contacted by way of another business associate for this most unlikely of assignments: build an interactive theater experience simulating a terrorist attack. Now Silverado will be the contractor to integrate Apple professional video and audio products into a Disney-like experience tailored to the high touch sales presentation needs of their client. Torrey compared this project to Star Tours at Disneyland.
So art meets business. Torrey says that what they can do goes beyond interactive. It is immersive. Maybe Star Tours meets Avatar and The Matrix.
Torrey says that one of the secrets to his success has been branding. "Programs become bigger than themselves when you give them an image." The name Silverado lends Torrey’s business a mystique by bringing to mind days of gold mining and cowboy legend. Very clever for a company that prides itself on being the gold mine of Pro Video.
“We do more than just a catalog store. The reason we got into studio work is that I always felt it important that we use what we sell.” Torrey considers the Silverado Studio to be the racing team of the products they sell, much like Toyota has a racing team for their best product. “We are not the Walmart of Pro Video. We try to be the best.”
Torrey feels very strongly about art meeting business on a local level. Speaking specifically of Folsom being just one city in the Sacramento area with huge potential, he says, “Folsom is a place that is like the land of a thousand sets. You can have a Victorian set, a prison set, old town. The crews are here. There is good talent here. There are good post production facilities here. Everything you want to get done can be done here.” Loomis cited local writer, actor and director Matt Thompson’s Bloodline movie. With the exception of a few actors that were brought in from outside of the Sacramento area, everything was done here. Distribution remains the biggest challenge, but digital distribution is making that easier all the time, Loomis says.
Offering advice for students graduating with a focus on the Arts Industry, Torrey says that they should treat themselves as a business, brand themselves, have a website and business cards and network. Torrey emphasizes that Art meets business when the business skills are developed to function like a business. “You can animate your way into skid row, but you have to put a roof over your head and pay your bills so there is a business aspect to everything we do.” Torrey also offers kudos for a local school dedicated to the Arts Industry, “The Art Institute in Sacramento does a great job of making sure that their students are prepared for the business of the arts.”
Learning not to be afraid of change has been essential to Torrey Loomis’s success so far and will be useful over the coming months. Change is inevitable but he seems to know how to line up his dominoes so they fall where they may in line with Silverado’s business plan. One of those dominoes is the new app called Rent Me he had developed by Honey Badger Software to unlock the algorithm used to determine a fair price when renting high end film equipment. For more information on all the services that Silverado Systems provides visit their website or their Facebook pages: Silverado Systems and Silverado Studios.
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