Home » $65K/Month – Digital Blockbuster Visual Effects Products E-commerce Business – Steven Liszka of BigFilms

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$65K/Month – Digital Blockbuster Visual Effects Products E-commerce Business – Steven Liszka of BigFilms

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  • Financials
  • Sales and Marketing
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Founder

Steven Liszka

hello@bigfilms.com

Full-time

Open to opportunities: Yes

Business

BigFilms

https://bigfilms.shop/

Business Type: Product

Category: Creative and Media

Subcategory: Film and Media Production

Niche:

Segments: B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

Structure: Private

Business Socials

$500K - $1M

Annual Revenue (USD)

Sales
Marketing

Business Book

  1. “I don’t read business books. I’m not passionate about entrepreneurship in itself — I love running my business, but mainly because it allows me to work on my artistic product. That said, I haven’t read any business books in my life. So I don’t really have a recommendation in that area.”

Productivity Tool or Tip

  1. Notion

Inspirational Peers or Entrepreneurs

  1. Andrew Kramer
  2. Jakob Owens

Innovative Product or Idea

  1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Startup or Business

  1. OpenAI
  2. Runway

Best business advice

“Do something you’re passionate about. Building a business is hard — if you’re not passionate, it’s going to be difficult to stick with it for the long term. Passion helps you develop your own unique vision, and that’s what makes your business stand out.”

INTERVIEW VIDEO (Length – 1:01:14)

PODCAST AUDIO

Intro

Steven Liszka of Big Films. shares the story of creating a digital visual effects products business to fund his passion of Film Making.

Digital FX Revolution

Right now, we’re selling a digital product—specifically, high-quality video files with transparent backgrounds. These files are designed to be easily imported into any video editing software, allowing creators to add them directly to their timelines. This makes it much easier for users to enhance their projects with professional-looking visual effects.

What we offer are digitally created special effects—things like explosions, smoke, fire, or other cinematic visuals generated entirely through CGI. These aren’t filmed elements; they’re computer-generated assets designed for creative flexibility and quality.

Before we developed our product, people had to either create these visual effects themselves, which required a lot of technical skill and time, or they had to hire professionals. That made the process expensive and complicated for most creators, especially independent ones.

Our goal is to simplify all of that. We’re essentially creating shortcuts for video creators by providing pre-made visual effects that are plug-and-play. Users can simply drop them into their projects without worrying about the technical complexities of visual effects production.

Chasing Filmmaker Dreams

It’s a funny story—my journey into visual effects started back in high school. I began experimenting with Photoshop and quickly realized that the effects I was creating on still images could be applied to video as well. In the early days, I would turn my video footage into sequences of images and edit them frame by frame in Photoshop. Eventually, I discovered professional software like Premiere and After Effects, which helped me take my skills to the next level. I’d always dreamed of becoming a filmmaker, making feature films, but my strength in visual effects led me to work professionally in that field.

Very early in my career, I was fortunate enough to work on a project that went on to win an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. I was just 19 or 20 at the time, which gave me a huge boost and solidified my path. After graduating, I continued working as a VFX artist while also pursuing my passion projects, especially short films. Around 2015, I was working on one such project called Astronaut—a 15-minute short film where I had the wild idea of sending my own cameras into space to capture real footage and integrate it with live-action scenes.

It was an ambitious and expensive project, and at 27, I didn’t have the funds to support it. I decided to take a chance—flew to LA, pitched it to Hollywood producers, but unsurprisingly, no one wanted to invest in a short film. When I got back to France, I realized I needed to find a way to make money without trading my time for it. That’s when the idea of turning my visual effects skills into a sellable product started to form. I thought, “What if people could access blockbuster-quality effects and apply them to their own videos, without needing a big studio budget?”

So I spent six months developing a product that bundled high-end CGI effects—like the kind you’d see in Marvel movies—into easy-to-use video assets. I had no background in marketing or entrepreneurship, so the learning curve was steep. It took about a year to gain traction, but eventually, I made enough money to self-fund Astronaut. We actually sent cameras into space, captured real footage, and completed the film. You can still watch it on my website at stevenlika.com. That’s how the whole adventure began.

Unfinished Odyssey

The funny part is, despite everything starting with Astronaut, the film still isn’t finished. It’s been about four years, and it just needs one more month of post-production work to be complete. Every year, I tell myself I’ll make time to finish it—but running a business has made that nearly impossible. Ironically, it was Astronaut that led me to build a successful multimillion-dollar company, so I owe it everything. Still, I feel like I need to complete the film to truly close that chapter and fulfill my original dream. Maybe then I can move on to something even bigger—like directing a feature film. But to do that, I know I’ll need to find ways to automate the business even more and carve out time for my passion.

More Than Money

I’ve learned that money alone isn’t a strong enough motivator to carry you through the process of building a business from scratch. It’s incredibly hard—filled with struggles, uncertainty, and moments when giving up feels like the easier option. If I had been doing it just for the money, I probably would’ve quit early on. You really need something bigger than yourself—something that drives you on a deeper level. For me, it was the dream, the passion, and the sense of purpose behind the work that kept me moving forward.

Visual Effects Creation Shift

In the beginning, I was creating about half of the visual effects that went into our first pack. But I quickly realized how time-consuming it was—and how many different skill sets were needed. For example, I’m not a 3D artist, so whenever we needed effects like a crashing car or a collapsing building, I couldn’t do that myself. I’ve always been more of a 2D guy, so early on I focused on things like muzzle flashes, lasers, and similar effects.

As the business started to grow and generate revenue, I began hiring contractors—talented visual effects artists from around the world. I’ve always had a good eye for VFX and for finding the right person for each specific project. Over time, I was able to build a solid, global team of specialists, and now I don’t create the effects myself anymore. Instead, I manage the creative direction and bring in the right people for each type of effect.

Our approach now is to organize effects into themed packs, rather than trying to create one massive product. It’s just not practical to build a single pack with every possible effect—so we divide them into categories like sci-fi, action, fantasy, magic, superheroes, and destruction. At the moment, we have around 13 different themed packs, each creating its own creative universe for filmmakers and content creators.

Accessible Film Effects

We’ve found our place somewhere between beginners and professionals. We didn’t invent the idea of selling visual effects as stock footage—this market has been around for over a decade. There have always been companies offering high-end VFX stock for professional artists. But what I noticed early on was that there was a huge gap in the middle—nothing specifically designed for beginner or intermediate filmmakers who wanted great visuals but didn’t have the time, tools, or training to create them from scratch.

When I spotted that gap, I knew there was something valuable to offer. I didn’t want to create just another set of high-end stock assets that only seasoned VFX professionals could use. I’ve worked with those kinds of assets myself, and I know how difficult they can be if you don’t have the right software knowledge or artistic background. So instead, at Big Film, we focus on delivering high-quality effects that are easy to use straight out of the box.

We handle a lot of the complexity upfront—things like lighting, glow, motion blur, and composition—so users don’t have to. These are the details professionals would normally tweak manually using raw stock footage. But we pre-render and prepare them in a way that’s accessible, without sacrificing visual quality. Our packs are designed to let creators drop the effects into their projects and instantly elevate the final result.

So while our effects are definitely good enough for professionals—and we’ve seen them used in TV productions and commercial work—our primary target is the skilled amateur or intermediate filmmaker. These are people who know how to tell a story and make films but don’t have the time or desire to become full-time VFX artists. For them, we offer something unique: the ability to add cinematic effects to their work without needing deep technical knowledge.

Battling Software Piracy

We’re definitely aware that our products get pirated, and we’re doing our best to fight against it. It’s incredibly difficult to keep track of everyone uploading our packs to piracy sites. We know there are major websites where people go to download cracked software or assets, and we actively work to shut down those links. The problem is that these sites often don’t host the files themselves—they use servers in other countries, which makes legal action complicated and slow.

We do have a legal team working on this, but it’s a constant battle. Sometimes people even download our packs and try to resell them. When that happens, we take legal action without hesitation. In cases where someone shares the packs for free, we usually try to reach out first and ask them to remove the files. It’s time-consuming, expensive, and not something any creator wants to deal with regularly.

That said, I have mixed feelings about piracy. I’ll be honest—I started my own career by downloading software illegally. Back then, I didn’t have the money for Photoshop or After Effects, and I had to find a way to learn and get started. So I understand where some people are coming from. I’m not condoning piracy, but I know what it’s like to be at the very beginning with no budget and big dreams.

What I’m really against is people taking our work and reselling it for profit. That’s not about learning or surviving—it’s stealing. I want to support creators and help people grow, but I also want to protect the team and the effort behind what we’ve built. There’s a difference between getting started and taking advantage.

VFX for Everyone

Exactly. Now that I can afford it, I pay for all the tools I use—and I’m glad to see so many people doing the same with our visual effects. We have a large base of paying customers, and I’m genuinely grateful for that. Even though I know there are some free copies of our products floating around online, they’re not always easy to find, and if those pirated versions help someone take their first steps into the world of visual effects, I can live with that.

At the end of the day, we have enough people supporting us by purchasing our products that it’s not threatening the business. We’re not being ruined by piracy. And in a way, if our tools can inspire someone to begin creating—even if they’re just starting out without the means to buy them—I see that as part of the journey. The important thing is that people grow, and when they’re ready, they usually come back and support what we do.

Learning Marketing Strategies

When I first started, I didn’t know anything about marketing. I thought if you have a great product, you just release it and it’ll go viral—people will find it and buy it. Of course, that didn’t happen. Having a great product is just the baseline; it’s where you start, not where you finish.

We released our first pack, the Blockbuster Starter Pack, but it barely sold because no one knew about it. So I had to learn everything from scratch—how to market a product, how to find customers, and how to get the word out. Early on, I wasn’t good at targeted ads, so I dove into affiliate marketing. I reached out to as many YouTubers as possible and some responded well. We started partnerships where they became affiliates, earning commissions on each sale. For the first two years, about 80% of our sales came from affiliates.

My original goal with Big Film was just to produce my short film, Astronaut. After I made it in 2017, I slowed down on the business. Sales dropped dramatically, and for a couple of years, between 2017 and 2019, we barely sold anything. Then right before Covid hit, I realized my client work was also drying up, so I decided to experiment with Facebook ads.

I launched my first few Facebook ads in 2019, and they turned out to be successful. As a filmmaker, I already knew how to tell stories visually, so I used existing demo footage to create short, dynamic ads. It was a lot of trial and error—figuring out how to configure ads and find the right audience—but after a few weeks, I started to see profits and was able to scale.

Now, we rely on Facebook and Instagram ads for about 90% of our sales. It’s been a huge learning curve, but also a breakthrough that helped us grow beyond just relying on affiliates and word of mouth.

Filmmakers’ Market Focus

Our customers mostly come from individuals—filmmakers working on music videos, commercials, and similar projects. They’re really the core group buying our products. We target the global market, but the US responds best to what we offer, so most of our focus is there.

Our Facebook Business Manager setup has become pretty complex as we’ve grown, and we now target multiple countries. Still, around 70% of our ad budget goes toward the US market. Our main audience is males between 25 and 35 years old—filmmakers, either professionals or serious hobbyists—mostly working on music videos, commercials, or personal projects. They’re the ones who buy the most from us.

Social Media Surge

I create visual effects because I genuinely love it—I’m a filmmaker at heart, and I try to stay as hands-on as possible. All the videos you see on our Instagram and TikTok accounts are made by me, often with the help of my family and friends. We’re a small team, and most of our content is shot locally in France, though we sometimes travel to the US for shoots.

Until recently, I was handling most of the creative work myself, while our social media manager focused on uploading, managing comments, and keeping everything organized. Instagram was always part of our strategy, but our biggest surprise this year was TikTok. We started our TikTok account just three months ago and grew it from zero to nearly 200,000 followers. It took off way faster than I expected.

Honestly, I was hesitant at first. Our marketing manager pushed hard to get us on TikTok, but I didn’t think it made sense for our audience—most of our customers are between 25 and 45, and I assumed TikTok skewed too young. But I was wrong. Our manager began posting daily using the same content we shared on Instagram, and while the first month was slow, one video eventually went viral—and everything changed. We started gaining thousands of new followers and saw a direct boost in sales.

Now we’re focused on creating more of that content and uploading consistently. About every two weeks, one of our videos hits a few million views, and we can see the spike in sales immediately. It’s been a powerful discovery and a game changer for our marketing strategy.

From Trend to Career

Yeah, I really think we’ve been lucky to be working in this space. Video content has absolutely exploded over the past few years—it’s what everyone is doing now. Everyone wants to be a YouTuber, a TikToker, an Instagram creator. I happened to already be a filmmaker before all of that took off, so I was creating videos before it was even considered “trendy.”

Now, with every passing year, more people are stepping into filmmaking, even if it’s just through their phones. Honestly, anyone with an iPhone in their pocket today is a potential filmmaker—and that means they can also be a customer. That opens up a huge, growing market for us. We’re in a unique position to empower this new wave of creators, and that’s really exciting.

Streamlining Business and Creativity

Right now, my main goal is to automate more of the business. One of my biggest mistakes in the past was being too involved in every single process. Even today, I’m still building the web pages, creating all the video ads, and handling a lot of the marketing myself. Since we release a new effects pack every three months, that’s a massive workload—figuring out what goes in each pack, designing the marketing around it, editing the ads, building the landing pages, writing all the emails. It’s a lot.

That’s why we’re starting to shift our strategy. Instead of selling standalone packs, we’re working on building a platform where people can subscribe and download effects whenever they need. That change would simplify a lot—both for our customers and for us. Instead of launching and marketing huge packs every few months, we’d be able to steadily upload new effects and focus on growing the library. For me personally, that means I could step back from the constant launch cycle and reclaim some time for my own creative work.

I still have big projects I want to finish. Astronaut is still waiting on that final stretch of post-production, and I’m currently co-writing a feature film with a screenwriter in L.A. We’re aiming to shoot it later this year or early next. That’s a major project for me, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. So this move toward automation and a platform model isn’t just a business decision—it’s about making space to return to what I truly love.

Being an entrepreneur has been a great experience, but it was never the dream. I never set out to build a company. I’m proud of what we’ve created and grateful for the journey, but at my core, I’m a filmmaker. I want to get back to making art for the sake of art—not just to sell a product. That’s the path I’m working toward now: building a sustainable business that runs without me, so I can come back to my first love—filmmaking.

Navigating AI in Business

When AI started really making noise, I think I reacted like a lot of artists—excited, but also a bit conflicted. On one hand, it felt like this amazing new tool with massive potential. On the other, it raised big questions about creativity, originality, and whether it might eventually replace artists entirely. It was hard to know where to stand at first. I’ve always believed in the value of human creativity, so it felt weird watching a machine start to replicate what we do. At the same time, I couldn’t ignore how powerful it was, especially for people just getting started or looking to experiment.

Over the past few months, I’ve started using AI tools like MidJourney, mainly for fun and concept art. I haven’t yet found a strong use case for it in my day-to-day work—at least not beyond creative brainstorming—but I know we’re only at the very beginning of this. I think we’re maybe one or two years away from AI being able to generate full visual effects or usable video content. And that’s exciting. It feels like we’re living through a revolution—something really big that’s going to reshape industries far beyond just filmmaking or art.

What’s been the most useful to me personally is ChatGPT. I’ve used it in real, practical ways for my work. For instance, I was recently in LA filming commercials for our upcoming subscription platform. We had actors playing characters like a Viking warrior or an action movie hero, and I needed to write lines for them. English isn’t my first language, and writing natural-sounding dialogue is something I’ve always struggled with. ChatGPT helped a lot. I could write the basic idea of the dialogue and then ask it to rewrite it in the voice of a Viking warrior—and it nailed it. It saved me so much time and made the dialogue feel much more authentic.

I’m still figuring out where I stand long-term, but for now, I’m genuinely excited. I don’t think AI will replace artists, at least not the ones who use it as a tool rather than seeing it as a threat. If anything, it opens up a lot of new creative possibilities and helps free up time for the parts of the work that matter most to us. I think the real magic is in how you use it—if you learn how to prompt it well, it can be a game-changer.

AI and Internet: Game Changers

Yeah… People can become useless. That’s the big fear with AI. And honestly, things are moving way too fast right now. Every single day, there’s a new breakthrough, a new disruption—it’s overwhelming. But maybe it was the same when the internet first appeared. I was too young to remember it clearly, but I think that was one of the major revolutions of the last century. And people were scared then too—afraid of losing their jobs, of being replaced.

But in the end, the internet gave us more opportunities. It made my career possible. I run a U.S.-based business from France. I work with teams in Los Angeles without ever needing to be there in person. I remember my dad, back in the day—he also had a company in the U.S., and he had to fly there constantly just to keep it going. Now? I do all of that from my laptop. That’s what tech does—it removes barriers.

So maybe AI will do the same. Maybe it’s the next big leap. We’re facing so many challenges right now—climate change, economic instability, global inequality. Maybe AI is the tool that helps us fix some of that. Who knows—maybe AI could do a better job than our governments.

It’s too early to tell. But I’m excited. Let’s talk again in 10 years—and see what happened.

Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned

Yeah, it was hard — because I didn’t start as an entrepreneur. I started as an artist. And honestly, I failed at so many things at the beginning. I didn’t even know how to build a website. I had zero idea how any of it worked.

Looking back, one of my biggest mistakes was not hiring people sooner. For the first four or five years, I was completely alone — doing everything. I mean, I was handling customer service at night just because our audience was in the U.S. and I was based in Paris. So when my girlfriend went to bed, I’d be up answering messages, chatting with customers across the ocean. It was exhausting.

Eventually, I hired my first team member — for customer service. And honestly, I thought it would just eat into our profits. But what happened shocked me: not only did they handle support better than I ever could, but refund requests dropped. We actually started making more money just from having someone good in that role.

That completely changed how I think about hiring. Now I realize: every time I bring someone on, the business grows. I make more, not less. But it took me years to understand that. If I were starting from scratch today, I’d ask: “Who can I hire from the beginning to help with what I’m not great at?”

So yeah — it’s scary to hire. But if you hire right, it’s not a cost. It’s leverage. It gives you back time so you can focus on what really matters: building better products, and getting them in front of the right people.

Rapid Fire Segment

I know it might sound strange, but I don’t read business books. I’m not particularly passionate about entrepreneurship in the traditional sense. I love running my business because it allows me to fund and work on my artistic projects, but I’m not one of those serial entrepreneurs constantly brainstorming the next big startup. So unfortunately, I don’t have a book recommendation for entrepreneurs—business books just aren’t my thing.

One area I’m genuinely excited about is AI. We’re just at the beginning of its impact, and it’s already transforming e-commerce, marketing, and content creation. New tools are popping up daily, making it easier to automate everything from customer service to video production. It’s clear AI is going to be a major driver of innovation in the next few years.

As for tools, I’ve really come to rely on Notion. It’s been great for organizing ideas and sharing them with my team. The fact that they’ve integrated AI makes it even more powerful and useful for our workflow. It’s probably the one productivity tool I use most regularly right now.

In terms of inspiration, Andrew Kramer stands out. He was the first in the visual effects space to package and sell VFX elements like explosions and smoke. He was both an artist and a savvy entrepreneur, which I admire. Another person who inspires me is Jacob Owens. He’s a filmmaker who’s built his own e-commerce store and even developed a film set in the desert. He’s someone who turns ideas into real businesses without losing his creativity. The best advice I can give: be passionate. If you’re not deeply passionate about what you’re doing, it’s incredibly hard to keep going—and your uniqueness comes from that passion.

Best Business Advice

I’d say the best advice is to do something you’re truly passionate about. Starting and running a business is incredibly hard—it takes years of effort, and if you’re not passionate about it, you’ll likely give up along the way. Passion is what keeps you going through the tough times. It’s also what sets you apart. To be successful, you need to offer something unique, and that uniqueness comes from your personal vision and love for what you do. So don’t start a business just for the sake of it—do it because you genuinely care about it.

Episode Summary

Steven Liszka, a French filmmaker and founder of Big Films. Big Films provides filmmakers with access to digital tools that enhance the quality of their films. Steven explains that their product consists of video files with transparent backgrounds that can be imported into editing software for adding high-quality special effects. The goal of Big Films is to make visual effects more accessible to everyone by creating and selling these effects as video files. Ste also discusses his journey as a filmmaker, his struggles to find investors for his short film project, and how he leveraged his skills in visual effects to create a product that generated income and led to the establishment of his successful business. He also touches on topics such as piracy, marketing efforts, and the use of AI in the industry. Overall, Steven shares insights and advice about entrepreneurship and pursuing one’s passion in the filmmaking industry.

  • 00:00:00 In this section, the host introduces Steven Liszka, a French filmmaker and founder of Big Films. Big Films offers filmmakers access to digital tools that enhance the quality of their films. Steven shares that the product they are selling is a digital product that consists of video files with transparent backgrounds, which can be imported into editing software for adding high-quality special effects to projects. He explains that their goal is to make visual effects more accessible to everyone by creating and selling these effects as video files, eliminating the need for individuals to generate the effects themselves. Steven also discusses his background as a filmmaker and how he got started in the industry, mentioning that his passion for visual effects led him to become a visual effects artist before pursuing his dream of making feature films.
  • 00:05:00 In this section, the speaker shares how he struggled to find investors for his short film project and decided to find an alternative way to make money. He leveraged his skill in visual effects and came up with the idea of creating a product that included blockbuster effects that filmmakers could apply to their own projects. After working on this product for six months and learning about marketing and entrepreneurship, he was able to sell it and generate enough income to produce his short film. This success led him to start a successful business in the visual effects industry. While his passion project, the astronaut film, remains unfinished, it served as the catalyst for his entrepreneurial journey. The speaker emphasizes that having a strong internal drive is crucial for overcoming the challenges of building a business and that money alone is not a sufficient motivator.
  • 00:10:00 In this section, Steven discusses how he initially created many of the effects in his packs but eventually started hiring a team of talented individuals to handle different aspects, such as 3D effects. He explains that they have different packs categorized by themes like Sci-Fi, action, and fantasy, catering to both beginners and intermediate filmmakers. Steven saw a gap in the market for high-quality stock footage that was easier to use, targeting hobbyists and those who want to incorporate visual effects in their projects but don’t have the time or skills to create them from scratch. While professionals also use their effects, their ads primarily target the intermediate filmmakers who want to make visual effects without being experts in the field. Steven mentions the challenge of piracy with digital products but doesn’t provide specific details on how they distribute their assets.
  • 00:15:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the challenges of fighting against online piracy. They explain that it is difficult to track and shut down websites that host pirated versions of their software, as these websites often store the content in other countries. They have a legal team working to fight against piracy, but it is time-consuming and costly. The speaker also acknowledges their own experience of downloading software illegally when they were starting their career, but they do not want people to resell their products. Despite the presence of pirated copies online, the speaker is happy that they have many paying customers and believes that if the availability of pirated software helps people get started with visual effects, it is a positive thing. The speaker then goes on to discuss how they acquired their first customers and grew their business through partnerships with affiliates and targeted marketing efforts. However, they also mention a period where sales decreased, but they didn’t actively promote their products.
  • 00:20:00 In this section, the speaker discusses how they started using Facebook ads for their filmmaking business in 2019. Initially, they had some challenges with configuring the ads and finding the right audience, but after a few weeks, they were able to make them profitable and scale them. The speaker mentions that their biggest market is the US, as they have found success targeting filmmakers working on music videos and commercials. They also talk about creating visual effects and videos for their social media channels themselves, with the help of friends and family. They mention that they recently started a TikTok account, which grew rapidly and has become a surprise success for their business.
  • 00:25:00 In this section, the speaker discusses their experience with TikTok and how it has greatly benefited their business. At first, they were skeptical about using TikTok for advertising and were surprised by how well it converted into sales. They have been able to track conversions and see a boost in sales every time one of their videos goes viral. As a result, they are now focusing on creating more videos to increase the chances of going viral. Additionally, they mention their plans to automate and streamline their business so they can have more time for other projects, including pursuing their passion for filmmaking. They are considering transitioning from selling individual packs of effects to creating a subscription platform where customers can access unlimited effects. Overall, they are grateful for the opportunities that TikTok has provided and are excited to continue growing their business.
  • 00:30:00 In this section, the conversation revolves around the new strategy and platform that will be released in the next month, with the promise of an amazing offer. The topic then shifts to AI and its potential impact. The person initially had mixed feelings about AI, as it seemed to be stealing art from artists but also offered exciting opportunities for creating new things. After three months of experimenting with AI, they are now a big fan and see it as a revolution that will change everything. They mention using Chat GPT for fun and even for work, as it has helped with writing dialogues for actors during a commercial shoot. Overall, the person is excited about AI and its potential to automate processes and free up time for more meaningful activities.
  • 00:35:00 In this section, the speaker discusses their experience using Chad GPT and how it can generate results that are not always exact, but can still provide amazing outcomes. They express excitement and fear about the future of AI, acknowledging that many people may lose their jobs and feel uncertain about what to do next. However, they compare the potential impact of AI to the internet revolution, which ultimately provided more opportunities for individuals. They suggest that AI could potentially address challenges such as ecology and the economy more effectively than current governments. The speaker also reflects on their journey as an artist turned entrepreneur and considers not hiring people soon enough as a big mistake. However, once they hired someone for customer service, it turned out to be a beneficial investment as it improved customer satisfaction and even saved money.
  • 00:40:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the benefits of hiring the right people for different positions in a business. They emphasize that hiring the right talent and skills can free up time for entrepreneurs to focus on important tasks such as creating good products and working on marketing. The speaker also mentions that they are not passionate about entrepreneurship itself but rather view it as a means to work on their artistic projects. Additionally, they express excitement about the potential of AI in the e-commerce industry and recommend the use of Notion, a software for sharing ideas with teams. The speaker also highlights the company Runway, which utilizes AI to automate video tasks, and mentions Andrew Kramer as an inspirational figure in the visual effects industry who successfully combined artistry with entrepreneurship.
  • 00:45:00 In this section, the speaker discusses two individuals who have inspired him in his filmmaking career. The first is a person affiliated with a company called the Video Compilers, who has inspired him with their work. The second person is a filmmaker named Jacob Owens, who has not only inspired the speaker but also has an e-commerce store selling tools for filmmakers. Owens has been able to transform ideas into successful businesses and remains a kind-hearted person. The speaker also shares his best business advice, emphasizing the importance of pursuing something one is passionate about and offering a unique vision to stand apart from others in the industry.

Podcast Episode Summary: Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS on TrepTalks

Host: Sushant Misra
Guest: Steven Liszka, French filmmaker and founder of BIGFILMS
Date of Interview: Likely 2023 (based on references to TikTok growth and platform launch plans)
Current Date (for context): June 7, 2025
Overview: The episode dives into Steven Liszka’s journey from a self-taught visual effects (VFX) artist to the founder of BIGFILMS, an e-commerce business selling digital VFX packs to filmmakers. Steven shares how his passion project, Astronaut, inspired the creation of BIGFILMS, the evolution of his business model, marketing strategies that led to success, challenges like piracy, and his thoughts on AI’s transformative potential. The episode concludes with a rapid-fire segment offering actionable entrepreneurial insights.

1. Introduction to BIGFILMS

  • Business Concept:
    • BIGFILMS sells digital video files with transparent backgrounds, containing pre-rendered visual effects such as explosions, lasers, muzzle flashes, smoke, and sci-fi or fantasy elements. These files are designed for easy integration into editing software like Adobe Premiere, After Effects, or Final Cut Pro, enabling filmmakers to enhance their projects without advanced VFX skills.
    • The mission is to democratize high-quality VFX, making them accessible to non-specialists and turning “everyone’s computer into a true Hollywood studio.”
    • Effects are pre-composed with professional-grade attributes (e.g., correct lighting, glow, motion blur), reducing the technical barriers for users who aren’t VFX specialists.
    • Unlike traditional stock footage, which is often complex and geared toward professional VFX artists, BIGFILMS targets a middle ground: user-friendly effects for intermediate filmmakers and hobbyists.
  • Product Offerings:
    • Offers 13 distinct VFX packs, each tailored to specific genres or themes, including:
      • Sci-Fi: Laser beams, futuristic weapons, spaceship effects.
      • Action: Explosions, muzzle flashes, car crashes.
      • Fantasy: Magic spells, mythical creatures.
      • Superheroes: Energy blasts, flight effects.
      • Destruction: Collapsing buildings, fire, smoke.
    • Each pack contains hundreds of effects, curated to suit specific filmmaking needs, making them versatile for music videos, commercials, short films, or personal projects.
    • Steven plans to transition from selling individual packs to a subscription-based platform (slated for launch in late 2023), where users can access unlimited effects for a recurring fee, streamlining marketing and increasing customer retention.
  • Target Market:
    • Primarily targets intermediate filmmakers, hobbyists, and some professionals who lack the time, budget, or expertise to create VFX from scratch or hire specialists.
    • Key demographic: Males aged 25–35, particularly in the U.S., working on music videos, commercials, or personal projects.
    • Appeals globally due to the universal use of smartphones (e.g., iPhones) for filmmaking, expanding the potential customer base to anyone with basic editing skills.
    • Fills a market gap between high-end stock footage (e.g., for Hollywood VFX artists) and free or low-quality effects, offering professional quality with ease of use.
  • Value Proposition:
    • Simplifies the VFX process by providing pre-rendered effects that don’t require advanced technical knowledge, saving time and money.
    • Enables small-scale filmmakers to achieve “blockbuster” aesthetics on a budget.
    • Scalable digital product with near-100% profit margins, as there are minimal ongoing costs after initial creation.

2. Steven Liszka’s Background and Entrepreneurial Journey

  • Early Career and Skill Development:
    • Steven began experimenting with visual effects in high school, initially using Photoshop to manipulate still images frame-by-frame to create video effects, a labor-intensive process.
    • Self-taught in professional editing software (Adobe Premiere, After Effects), transitioning from manual image sequences to industry-standard tools.
    • At age 19 or 20, he worked as a VFX artist on a project that won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a significant early achievement that validated his skills.
    • Balanced freelance VFX work (his day job) with passion projects like short films, where he honed his filmmaking and storytelling abilities.
  • Inspiration for BIGFILMS:
    • In 2015, Steven embarked on an ambitious 50-minute short film called Astronaut, which required sending cameras into space to capture authentic space footage for integration with actors.
    • At 27, he lacked the funds to produce the film, which was costly due to its technical demands (e.g., space footage, extensive VFX).
    • Pitched the project to Hollywood producers during a two-week trip to Los Angeles, meeting with notable industry figures. However, short films rarely attract investment due to their lack of commercial viability, and he returned to France without funding.
    • This setback prompted him to seek a scalable income source that didn’t rely on trading time for money, unlike his freelance VFX work.
  • Founding BIGFILMS:
    • Inspired by blockbuster films like Marvel movies, Steven identified a market need for accessible VFX that filmmakers could “drag and drop” into their projects.
    • Spent six months developing the Blockbuster Starter Pack, a collection of VFX designed to replicate Hollywood-style effects (e.g., explosions, fire).
    • Launched the product despite having no marketing or entrepreneurship experience, initially assuming a great product would sell itself (a misconception he later corrected).
    • After a year of sales, the pack generated enough revenue to fund Astronaut, though the film remains unfinished due to time constraints in post-production (missing ~1 month of work).
  • Business Evolution:
    • BIGFILMS grew from a side project to a multimillion-dollar business, driven by Steven’s persistence and adaptation.
    • From 2017–2019, sales declined as Steven focused on Astronaut and freelance work, nearly halting BIGFILMS’ operations.
    • In 2019, facing reduced freelance work pre-COVID, he revived BIGFILMS by experimenting with Facebook ads, which proved highly successful and marked a turning point.
    • By 2023, BIGFILMS had become a sustainable business with a small team, global contractors, and a growing social media presence.
  • Personal Motivation:
    • Steven’s drive stemmed from his passion for filmmaking, not entrepreneurship. BIGFILMS was a means to fund Astronaut and future creative projects.
    • Despite its success, he remains committed to returning to filmmaking, viewing entrepreneurship as a tool to support his artistic goals.

3. Business Model and Operations

  • Product Development Process:
    • Initially, Steven created ~50% of the effects in the first pack, focusing on 2D effects (e.g., muzzle flashes, lasers) due to his expertise. He lacked 3D skills for complex effects like car crashes or collapsing buildings.
    • As revenue grew, he built a global network of contractors specializing in various VFX domains (e.g., 3D modeling, animation), allowing him to scale production.
    • Steven’s role shifted to oversight, leveraging his “good eye” for VFX to select the right artists for each project and ensure quality.
    • Effects are pre-rendered with professional attributes (e.g., lighting, motion blur) to simplify usage, distinguishing BIGFILMS from raw stock footage that requires additional compositing.
  • Business Model:
    • Operates as a digital e-commerce business with near-100% profit margins, as products are created once and sold repeatedly with minimal ongoing costs.
    • Current model: Selling individual VFX packs, each containing hundreds of effects, priced for affordability (exact prices not mentioned in the interview).
    • Future model: Transitioning to a subscription platform (planned for late 2023), where users pay a recurring fee for unlimited access to effects. This shift aims to:
      • Increase recurring revenue and customer retention.
      • Reduce marketing workload by eliminating the need to promote each new pack individually.
      • Allow regular uploads of new effects to maintain subscriber value.
    • Steven hinted at an “amazing offer” for the platform, suggesting a unique value proposition (details not disclosed).
  • Team Structure:
    • Small core team of four, including Steven, a customer service representative, a social media manager, and a marketing manager.
    • Global network of contractors for VFX production, hired based on specific skill sets for each pack.
    • Steven remains heavily involved in creating web pages, video ads, and marketing materials, though he aims to automate these tasks.
  • Operational Challenges:
    • Piracy: Digital products are easily shared on black-market websites, often hosted in other countries, making legal enforcement difficult. Steven’s legal team works to shut down pirate links and discourage reselling, but it’s costly and time-consuming.
      • He has mixed feelings about piracy, recalling his own use of pirated software as a broke student. While he doesn’t condone it, he understands its role in helping beginners access tools.
      • Piracy hasn’t significantly harmed BIGFILMS, as many customers prefer purchasing for convenience and reliability.
    • Time Management: Steven’s early over-involvement in all aspects (e.g., customer service, website creation) limited scalability until he began delegating.
    • Production Demands: Creating new packs every three months requires significant effort, including effect design, marketing, and web development.

4. Marketing and Customer Acquisition

  • Early Marketing Struggles:
    • Launched the Blockbuster Starter Pack in 2016 with no marketing knowledge, mistakenly believing a great product would go viral naturally.
    • Initial sales were negligible due to lack of visibility, forcing Steven to learn marketing from scratch.
  • Affiliate Marketing (2016–2018):
    • Reached out to YouTubers in the filmmaking niche, offering generous commissions to promote BIGFILMS’ packs.
    • Affiliates drove ~80% of sales for the first two years, providing a low-cost way to build awareness while Steven learned marketing.
    • Challenges included finding reliable affiliates and managing partnerships without prior experience.
  • Social Media Advertising (2019–2023):
    • Facebook and Instagram Ads:
      • In 2019, Steven experimented with Facebook ads, leveraging his filmmaking skills to create short, dynamic video ads using demo footage from BIGFILMS’ packs.
      • Early ads required trial and error to optimize targeting (e.g., audience selection, ad configuration), but became profitable within weeks.
      • By 2023, 90% of sales came from Facebook and Instagram ads, targeting U.S. filmmakers (70% of ad budget) aged 25–35.
      • Ads are highly visual, showcasing VFX in action to attract filmmakers seeking blockbuster aesthetics.
    • TikTok Growth:
      • In 2023, a marketing manager convinced Steven to start a TikTok account, despite his skepticism about its relevance for his 25–45 demographic.
      • Grew from zero to ~200,000 followers in three months, driven by daily posts of VFX demo videos.
      • A viral video sparked rapid growth, with subsequent videos hitting millions of views every two weeks, leading to significant sales boosts.
      • TikTok’s success surprised Steven, as he didn’t expect conversions from the platform, but tracking showed strong ROI.
    • Content Creation:
      • Steven personally creates most demo videos, collaborating with friends and family in France or the U.S. to produce engaging content.
      • Videos are designed to be short, dynamic, and visually striking, aligning with TikTok and Instagram’s fast-paced formats.
      • A social media manager handles uploads, comments, and engagement, freeing Steven to focus on content creation.
  • Key Market Insights:
    • The U.S. is the largest market (70% of ad spend), driven by demand from filmmakers working on music videos, commercials, and personal projects.
    • Global appeal due to the rise of smartphone filmmaking (e.g., iPhones), making BIGFILMS’ products accessible to a broad audience.
    • Targeting focuses on males aged 25–35, though the product’s ease of use attracts hobbyists and younger creators experimenting with video content.
  • Marketing Evolution:
    • Shifted from affiliate-driven growth to social media advertising, reflecting Steven’s growing marketing expertise.
    • Plans to leverage the subscription platform to simplify marketing by focusing on platform-wide promotion rather than individual packs.

5. Perspectives on AI and Industry Trends

  • Current Use of AI:
    • Steven has mixed feelings about AI, initially concerned about its potential to “steal” from artists but now excited about its creative and operational potential.
    • MidJourney/DALL-E: Used for fun and concept art but not yet integrated into BIGFILMS’ VFX production, as video effect generation is still 1–2 years away (as of 2023).
    • ChatGPT: Transformative for writing natural English dialogues for commercials, especially for non-native speakers like Steven. For example, he used ChatGPT to rewrite scripts in the style of a Viking warrior or action hero, saving time and improving authenticity.
    • Sees AI as a tool to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up time for creative work.
  • Future of AI in Filmmaking and E-commerce:
    • Anticipates AI will revolutionize video production, enabling prompt-based effect creation within a few years.
    • Highlights Runway, an AI-driven video tool for tasks like rotoscoping and background removal, as a leader in the space.
    • Believes AI will transform e-commerce and marketing by automating content creation, ad optimization, and customer interactions.
    • Compares AI’s impact to the internet’s, noting its potential to solve global challenges (e.g., ecology, economy) but also its “scary” ability to displace jobs.
  • Ethical and Societal Concerns:
    • Acknowledges the risk of AI rendering some jobs obsolete, potentially making people “useless” if they can’t adapt.
    • Reflects on the rapid pace of AI development (e.g., ChatGPT’s planned internet integration in 2023), which is hard to keep up with.
    • Draws parallels to the internet’s disruptive but ultimately opportunity-creating impact, suggesting AI could similarly open new possibilities for entrepreneurs like himself.

6. Challenges and Lessons Learned

  • Major Challenges:
    • Piracy:
      • Digital VFX files are easily shared on black-market websites, often hosted in jurisdictions where legal action is difficult.
      • Steven’s legal team works to remove pirate links and discourage reselling, but enforcement is costly and time-consuming.
      • He has a nuanced perspective, having used pirated software as a student, and prefers that beginners use pirated versions to learn rather than resell his products.
      • Piracy hasn’t significantly harmed BIGFILMS, as many customers value the convenience and support of legitimate purchases.
    • Over-Involvement:
      • For the first 4–5 years, Steven handled all aspects of the business (e.g., customer service, website creation, marketing), working late nights to support U.S. clients from Paris.
      • This limited scalability and left him exhausted, as he balanced entrepreneurship with his filmmaking passion.
    • Marketing Naivety:
      • Initially assumed a great product would sell itself, leading to poor early sales.
      • Learned marketing through trial and error, a steep learning curve for someone with no prior experience.
  • Biggest Mistake:
    • Waiting too long to hire help, working solo for 4–5 years before bringing on a customer service representative.
    • The first hire significantly reduced refund requests, saving money and improving customer satisfaction, proving that strategic hiring can boost profitability.
  • Lessons for Entrepreneurs:
    • Hire Early: Don’t fear hiring skilled individuals, as they free up time for high-impact tasks like product development and marketing. Choose excellent candidates to maximize ROI.
    • Focus on Core Strengths: Delegate tasks outside your expertise to focus on what you’re passionate about and skilled at.
    • Learn Continuously: Steven’s success came from learning marketing and entrepreneurship from scratch, emphasizing adaptability.
    • Balance Passion and Business: A passion-driven business sustains motivation through challenges, but over-involvement can hinder growth.

7. Rapid-Fire Segment

  1. Book Recommendation:
    • Steven doesn’t read business books, as his focus is on filmmaking and art, not entrepreneurship. His knowledge comes from hands-on experience, trial and error, and practical problem-solving.
    • This reflects his unique path as an artist-turned-entrepreneur, prioritizing creativity over traditional business education.
  2. Innovative Product/Idea:
    • AI, particularly its applications in e-commerce, marketing, and video production. Steven sees AI as a transformative force, with new tools emerging daily to automate tasks and enhance creativity.
    • Highlights the potential for AI to streamline BIGFILMS’ operations and create new opportunities for filmmakers.
  3. Productivity Tool/Tip:
    • Notion, a collaboration platform used for sharing ideas and managing projects with his team. Its integrated AI tool enhances functionality, making it a daily staple for BIGFILMS.
    • Steven’s lean operation (four core team members) relies on efficient tools to coordinate with global contractors.
  4. Admired Startup/Business:
    • Open AI: For developing ChatGPT, which Steven uses for scriptwriting and sees as a game-changer for automation and creativity.
    • Runway: An AI-driven video platform offering tools for rotoscoping, background removal, and prompt-based video creation, aligning with BIGFILMS’ mission to simplify filmmaking.
    • Both companies represent the cutting edge of AI in creative industries, inspiring Steven’s vision for BIGFILMS.
  5. Inspiring Entrepreneurs:
    • Andrew Kramer (Video Copilot): A pioneer in VFX stock footage, Kramer inspired Steven by creating accessible effects for professionals and sharing tutorials. His blend of artistry and entrepreneurship set a model for BIGFILMS.
    • Jacob Owens: A filmmaker who built an e-commerce store for filmmaking tools and a movie set ranch in LA. Steven admires Owens’ ability to turn creative ideas into profitable ventures while remaining approachable and authentic.
    • Both individuals influenced Steven’s approach to balancing creativity and business.
  6. Best Business Advice:
    • Pursue a business you’re passionate about, as passion fuels uniqueness and sustains you through entrepreneurial challenges. Without it, the grind of starting and scaling a business can lead to burnout.
    • Steven’s advice reflects his own journey, where his love for filmmaking drove BIGFILMS’ creation and success.

8. Future Plans

  • Business Development:
    • Subscription Platform: Planned for launch in late 2023, this platform will allow unlimited effect downloads for a recurring fee, shifting from individual pack sales. This aims to:
      • Increase recurring revenue and customer loyalty.
      • Simplify marketing by promoting the platform rather than individual packs.
      • Enable regular effect uploads to maintain value, reducing the workload of releasing new packs every three months.
      • Steven teased an “amazing offer” for the platform, suggesting a unique feature or pricing strategy to differentiate it from competitors.
    • Automation: Steven aims to automate marketing, web development, and other tasks to free up time for filmmaking. This includes delegating video ad creation and customer service.
  • Creative Projects:
    • Finishing Astronaut: The short film, which inspired BIGFILMS, requires ~1 month of post-production to complete. Steven struggles to find time but sees it as a personal milestone to close his filmmaking journey.
    • Feature Film: Collaborating with a screenwriter in Los Angeles to write a feature film, planned for shooting in late 2023 or 2024. This aligns with his long-term goal of returning to filmmaking as his primary focus.
    • Balancing Art and Business: Steven views BIGFILMS as a means to fund his artistic projects, emphasizing his desire to “make art for the sake of art” rather than solely for profit.
  • Industry Impact:
    • The subscription model could position BIGFILMS as a competitor to platforms like Artlist or Motion Array, which offer stock footage and music subscriptions.
    • Steven’s focus on accessibility could further democratize filmmaking, especially as smartphone video creation grows.

9. Broader Context and Analysis

  • Industry Context:
    • The VFX and stock footage market has grown with the rise of content creation (e.g., YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels), driven by accessible tools like smartphones and editing software.
    • BIGFILMS capitalizes on this trend by offering affordable, user-friendly VFX, aligning with the democratization of filmmaking.
    • Competitors like Video Copilot (Andrew Kramer) and ActionVFX cater to professionals, while BIGFILMS targets a broader, less technical audience, giving it a unique niche.
  • AI’s Role in Filmmaking:
    • AI tools like Runway and Luma AI (emerging post-2023) are advancing video generation, potentially disrupting BIGFILMS’ model by allowing users to create custom effects via prompts.
    • Steven’s proactive engagement with AI (e.g., ChatGPT, MidJourney) positions BIGFILMS to adapt, possibly by integrating AI-generated effects into its platform.
    • The ethical debate around AI (e.g., artist displacement) remains relevant, as Steven balances excitement with caution.
  • Entrepreneurial Insights:
    • Passion-Driven Innovation: Steven’s success highlights how personal passion (filmmaking) can lead to innovative business ideas, even without formal business training.
    • Market Gap Exploitation: Identifying and filling a niche (user-friendly VFX) was key to BIGFILMS’ growth, a lesson for entrepreneurs in crowded markets.
    • Adaptability: Steven’s shift from affiliate marketing to social media ads and his embrace of TikTok demonstrate the importance of evolving with market trends.
    • Scalability and Delegation: His mistake of delaying hiring underscores the need to build a team early to scale efficiently.
  • Cultural and Global Perspective:
    • Operating from Paris while targeting the U.S. market showcases the power of digital businesses to transcend geographic boundaries, enabled by the internet and social media.
    • Steven’s global contractor network reflects a modern, distributed workforce model, leveraging specialized talent worldwide.

10. Additional Details and Potential Follow-Up

  • Current Status (as of June 7, 2025):
    • The interview likely occurred in mid-2023, based on references to TikTok growth (three months prior) and the subscription platform’s planned launch “next month.”
    • No public data confirms whether the subscription platform launched or if Astronaut was completed. Checking stevenliszka.com or BIGFILMS’ social media (Instagram, TikTok) could provide updates.
    • The feature film’s production status (planned for late 2023/2024) is also unclear without further information.
  • Potential Questions for Further Exploration:
    • Has the subscription platform launched, and what features differentiate it from competitors?
    • How has BIGFILMS integrated AI into its workflow or product offerings post-2023?
    • What progress has Steven made on Astronaut or his feature film?
    • How has the rise of AI video tools (e.g., Runway, Luma AI) impacted BIGFILMS’ market position?
    • What specific ad strategies (e.g., targeting parameters, ad formats) drove success on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok?
  • Actionable Takeaways for Entrepreneurs:
    • Find a Niche: Identify underserved market gaps and tailor solutions to specific customer pain points (e.g., accessible VFX for non-specialists).
    • Leverage Skills: Use existing expertise (e.g., Steven’s filmmaking skills) to create compelling marketing content, especially for visual platforms like TikTok.
    • Embrace New Platforms: Experiment with emerging channels like TikTok, even if they seem outside your demographic, as they can drive unexpected growth.
    • Delegate Strategically: Hire skilled team members to handle non-core tasks, freeing up time for innovation and growth.
    • Stay Ahead of Trends: Monitor technologies like AI to adapt your business model and remain competitive.
  • Verification Note:
    • If you need real-time updates on BIGFILMS’ status (e.g., platform launch, sales figures), I can search the web or X for recent posts or announcements. Please confirm if this is desired.
    • Steven’s website (stevenliszka.com) may host Astronaut footage or updates on his projects, as mentioned in the interview.

People & Resources Mentioned in the Episode

What You’ll Learn

Interview with Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS

[00:00:08] Introduction to Trep Talks with Sushant Misra
[00:00:29] Guest Introduction: Steven Liszka, Founder of Big Films
[00:01:00] Appreciation and Thanks to Steven for Joining
[00:01:03] Overview of Steven’s Business and Product
[00:01:22] Details about the Digital Product Offered by Big Films
[00:02:28] Steven’s Background and Early Interest in Visual Effects
[00:03:43] Journey as a Visual Effects Artist and Winning an Oscar
[00:06:00] Motivation behind Creating a Product and Starting a Business
[00:07:18] Impact of the Astronaut Project on Steven’s Business
[00:08:31] Internal Drive and Motivation for Success
[00:09:44] Importance of Having a Greater Purpose than Money
[00:09:56] Product Offerings on Big Films’ Website
[00:10:38] Team Collaboration and Hiring Talented Artists
[00:11:58] Introduction to the business model
[00:12:17] Target market: Beginners and intermediate filmmakers
[00:13:36] Filling the gap in the market
[00:14:41] Making visual effects accessible for non-professionals
[00:15:12] Challenges with piracy and illegal distribution
[00:16:24] Dealing with unauthorized sharing of files
[00:17:07] Personal experience with software piracy
[00:18:00] Initial struggles with marketing and customer acquisition
[00:19:33] Affiliates as a primary sales channel
[00:20:23] Exploring Facebook ads and its success
[00:22:00] Targeting the US market
[00:23:04] Social media strategy and using movie scenes
[00:23:57] Growth on social media platforms
[00:24:17] Reluctance to start a TikTok account
[00:25:00] TikTok account creation and initial struggles
[00:25:40] Surprising success and conversion on TikTok
[00:26:04] The impact of viral videos on sales
[00:26:48] Balancing filmmaking and entrepreneurship
[00:27:15] Transitioning to a subscription model and creating a platform
[00:28:00] Automating processes and freeing up time
[00:29:00] Pursuing filmmaking and personal projects
[00:30:08] AI and its impact on the creative industry
[00:35:41] Future
[00:36:11] The Danger of AI
[00:36:41] The Impact of the Internet
[00:37:24] AI as the Solution
[00:37:47] Challenges in 10 Years
[00:38:13] Entrepreneurial Mistakes and Lessons
[00:38:40] Delayed Hiring
[00:39:22] The Benefits of Hiring
[00:40:17] Importance of Good Products and Marketing
[00:41:28] Rapid Fire: Book Recommendations, Innovative Products, Software Tools, Inspirations, and Business Advice

Rapid Fire

In this segment, the guest will answer a few questions quickly in one or two sentences.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS

  1. Book recommendation that you would make to entrepreneurs or business professionals (Response:)
  2. An innovative product or idea in the current e-commerce retail or tech landscape that you feel excited about (Response: Artificial Intelligence)
  3. A business or productivity tool that you would recommend (Response: Notion)
  4. Another startup or business that you think is currently doing great things: (Response: ChatGPT, Runway)
  5. A peer entrepreneur or businessperson whom you look up to or someone who inspires you (Response: Andrew Kramer of Videocopilot, Jakob Owens a Filmmaker )
  6. Best business advice you ever received (Response: Do something that you are passionate about.)

Interview Transcript

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey, they’re entrepreneurs. My name is Sushant and welcome to Trep Talks. This is a show where I interview successful e-commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders, and ask them questions about their business story, and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today I’m really excited to welcome Steven Liszka to the show. Steven is a French filmmaker and the founder of Big Films. Uh, big films gives filmmakers access to digital tools that would make their film look bigger and bolder. And basically, Steven wants to turn everyone’s computer into a true Hollywood studio.

And today I’m going to ask Steven a few questions about his entrepreneur journey and some of the studies and tactics that he has used to start and grow his business. So Steven, thank you so much for joining me today. Uh, thanks for [00:01:00] your time and really,

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: really appreciate it. Sure. Thanks for having.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So your business is kind of a, you know, combination of a digital product that you’re selling through an, in an eCommerce, uh, way.

Can you share a little bit about what exactly your product is, what you’re selling, and, and then I’ll definitely little bit about your and how started.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Sure. So yeah, so what we are selling right now is, uh, so as you said, it’s a digital product. So these are, uh, like video files put on a transparent background where people can import them in their, uh, editing software and then by adding it to their timeline, to their projects, it just makes it easier for them to have.

High quality, special effects in their projects. So what we are doing basically is that we are creating all this, the visual effects. So what the visual effects are is special effects made digitally. So by, generated by the computer, like an explosion, for example. We don’t film it, we generate it through c g I [00:02:00] and we make it accessible to everyone.

So like before our, uh, before we made our tools, People had to generate it themselves. So either be, they had to be like visual effects specialists or higher visual effects specialists. So what we are doing is we’re just creating the shortcuts where we are making all this stuff, we’re generating it for them, and we are selling it as as simple video, uh, file that they can import and apply to their projects.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. And. I mean, I know that, uh, um, you know, I heard that you are yourself a filmmaker. Um, so can you share a little bit about your background and, you know, what, what, how you got started and what really motivated you to get into this kinda business?

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yes. So, uh, that, that’s a funny story because I started to make visual effects very, uh, early in my career.

So I was, uh, I think in high school when I started first to, uh, work with Photoshop and I realized that, uh, what you can do on [00:03:00] a still, uh, picture, you can do it on a video too. So, um, Very soon I started to learn how to use these tools. So at the beginning, what I was doing is I was recording videos and I was just, uh, transforming it into a sequence of image.

And I was, uh, working in Photoshop to create the visual effects, like frame by frame. Then I learned, uh, about software like Premiere and After Effects, which are, uh, made for professionals. So I started to learn it and, uh, very quickly. Uh, I decided to become, my, my dream was always to be a filmmaker, so to make feature films and, uh, like big Hollywood movies and, uh, but I was good at visual effects, so I started to work as a visual effects artist.

I did it for a couple of year or a few years. Um, uh, I was. Very lucky because I started to work on a project that won a Academy Award, so the Oscar, for the best visual effects. So it was very soon at the beginning of my career, I was something like 19 or twenties, uh, at that time. [00:04:00] And, uh, then, so once, uh, I graduated from school, I pursued just my career in visual effects and I was also working on short films that, that I was, uh, making.

For me, but that was like my passion work went to, to short films and my day-to-day work was working on visual effects. So, uh, I think it was in 2015, uh, I was working on a short film called Astronaut, and this was like my dream project. So for this project, I had the ambition to. It was like a 50 minute short film for which I wanted to send my own cameras into space, uh, to shoot videos of space and then to, uh, integrate my actors into the background.

So this was like a very ambitious short film and I needed, uh, films to produce it cuz it was super expensive at that time. And I didn’t have money cause I was 27, so obviously I was broke. And, uh, so. I was super ambitious. I, I just thought to [00:05:00] myself, okay, let’s take tickets and go to la, meet with producers in Hollywood, pitch them the story, and maybe someone will invest money in this project.

So that’s what I did. I stayed there for like two weeks. I think I met with a lot of great producers in Hollywood, but no one wanted to invest in this project because, I mean, this is just a short film and you don’t invest in short films. So I came back to France and I was like, um, alright, so I have to find a, To make money without having to trade my time for money.

Mm-hmm. Cause that’s what I was doing at the time. I was a visual ex artist, so I was just working on projects and commission projects. So, uh, I was thinking like, okay, if you can, uh, sell a product, like let’s say a t-shirt, you just have to design it once and once you design it, then you have to find a way to sell it.

But I mean, you can like automate all this process. But I wasn’t, uh, uh, working in a tissue industry, so I was thinking like, okay, so what do I, what am I, what am I good at? And I’m good at visual effects, so I have to find a way to turn it [00:06:00] into a product. And, uh, so the, the, the idea came to me as I was watching movies and I was thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be great just if you can watch like the last Marvel movie and just take the effects from the movie and, uh, apply to your movie?

So as I was good in visual effects, I thought that, yeah. Okay, so let’s try to create one product. Uh, which would contain like all the blockbuster effects that you always dreamed to have in your projects. And let’s see if I can sell it. If I can do it, then maybe I can make enough money to produce my short film.

Hmm. So that’s what I did. I worked, so I just, that’s the short version of the story. So I just worked, uh, like six month on this product. Uh, put it on the markets. Uh, and yeah, I mean I found my first customers, it took a lot of time, cuz at that time I didn’t know anything about marketing or entrepreneurship.

I almost, I was just a complete beginner in this, in this field. And yeah, so it took me a few months, uh, and I think. One year after launching my first product, uh, I made enough money to produce [00:07:00] astronauts, so that’s what I did. Then I shut my short film. We, we, we’ve really sent the cameras into space.

Mm-hmm. Uh, we filmed footage there and, uh, you can even find it on my website if you just type steven lika.com. Uh, and, uh, yeah, you can see the, the results. So that’s how, uh, the, the adventure started.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Awesome. And, and with that, so I mean that was kind of like your passion project, like the, at the astronaut.

Was that, like, did, did that have any commercial appeal? Like, are are you using that in, in certain ways or was that really just a passion project? You know what the

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: funny, the funny story here is that, uh, everything started because of astronauts and I never finished as. Right. So it’s still like we we’re still, it’s missing like, um, One month of work in the post-production to, uh, to release the film.

And, uh, every year I just, I say to myself, okay, now I have to find like this one month where I can just focus on astronaut. And it’s been four years and still I can’t find time to, to work [00:08:00] on it. But I mean, Astra gave me the opportunity to start a, um, multimillion dollar business, uh, that is successful. So, I mean, thanks to astronaut, I have big friends now.

I didn’t yet finish the project, so I feel like I still have to do it in order to accomplish my journey in the filmmaking industry, and then maybe move to something bigger and make a feature film that I, if I want to do it, I have to find a way to, uh, even automate even more the business so I can find more time from a patient

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: brothers.

You know, that’s, that’s such an interesting point, and I find that anybody who. Become successful or you know, find some idea that you know that they’re able to, you know, really helps them to be successful. I think you need to have a certain internal drive. That’s to, to move to, to, to, to get you to moving forward.

For you, that was the, for you, that was that, you know, project that, you know, you really wanted to [00:09:00] make that happen and, but you didn’t have the money so you figured out a way to, to find the money. And of course that became your business. And I think that’s always true for everybody. You know, some people do it for their, their family.

Some people have, you know, other goals. But I think unless you have some sort of an internal drive, you, I mean, it’s almost like you. Have a way to think outside of the box to figure out a way

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: to make it happen. That’s true. Yeah, that’s true. I think money is not motivation big enough to drive you through all the, because it’s hard to, to, to, to just take a business from beginning to where it is now.

I mean, there are so many struggles, um, that, I mean you would give up if you just for money. You would give up very early. So you have to have something bigger than you to that that just drives you.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So I know that you mentioned that the first product, you basically created it yourself and started to find, uh, market for that on your website I see you have about, uh, what, 13 different items?

Yeah. Is that your, is that your, um, main product [00:10:00] offering? Can you talk a little bit about, you know, um, uh, what everything is and did you create all of these animations yourself? Yes. Or now do you have a team that that.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: So, yeah, at the beginning I was creating like half of the effects that go into pac, but I see it takes a lot of time.

And also you have to, uh, have skills in different, uh, uh, domains. So like, I’m not a 3D guy, so every time you have to create a 3D effect, like a car that is crashing or a building that is collapsing, I wanna be able to do that. I can create a team of people who, who are really talented, but I don’t have the skills.

I’m more a 2D guy. So, For effects, like, um, muzzle flashes, lasers, things like that. Uh, I do the, I I created them at the beginning. So for the first product, I, I did like 50% of the effects that go into, into the pack. And then I started, as, uh, money started to come in, I started to hire people to, to, to work on the [00:11:00] specs.

So these are contractors and um, I have a good eye, uh, for the visual effects. I’m able to find like the, the perfect person for each, um, for each each project. So it was easy for me to create a team of talented artists. And, uh, so right now I, I don’t create any more, any, any of the effects that go into the box.

We just have, uh, teams of artists everywhere in the world, and, uh, I just know who to call for each, each. And so we have different packs because, um, the idea for us is to create different kind of universes where, uh, you can have like a sci-fi themed packed, uh, action themes pack. And, um, so yeah, it is like to divide cuz we can’t, we just can’t create like a.

Giants back where you have all the effects we ever dreamed of it just way too big. So we divided into different categories, and right now we have like 13 different categories, I think from magic to action to fantasy and distraction superheroes.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And in terms of the [00:12:00] business model, I think this is, uh, very similar to like a software product where, you know mm-hmm.

You, you create something and then it’s a very scalable way. Yeah. And, you know, uh, it doesn’t really have too much of a cost involved, like on an ongoing basis. You basically have a product that you can sell again and again and again. Yeah, exactly.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: The margins are all like a hundred percent on it, so, so, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely. Can you share a little bit about who your target market is? Um, are you. Are you selling mostly to like hobbyists, uh, who are movie hobbies and who are doing their own project? And so we’re,

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: yeah, we are somewhere in the, between, between the, the beginners and the professionals. So, um, cause we didn’t invent anything with this products cuz you, the stock footage market exists for, for a decade I think.

And, uh, there are people who are selling. There are companies who are selling stock, like high quality stock footage for visual effects artists, and these exist for, for a long time. But [00:13:00] there was nothing in the, in the middle, like for the beginners and the intermediate filmmakers. There was like no offer.

And I was, when I saw this gap in the market, I was, I just found that there is something to do here. Like you, I didn’t want to create like this high quality stock footage for a professional visual effects artist. Only those people can use it. And it’s hard to use cuz I know, I know, I know what it is because as I’m a visual effects artist, I use a lot of these stock footage assets and they’re just, if, if you don’t have the, the knowledge with your software and uh, if you don’t have an artistic knowledge, it’ll be hard for you to use it.

So while we do a big film is that we create the. Uh, quality of effects, but we just make them easier to use because we, it’s like we create all the, um, we recompose all the effects that you have the right lighting, you have the right glow on your effect, you have the right motion blur. And, uh, things that visual, visual effects artists need to create [00:14:00] themselves with high quality stock footage.

We already do it, pre render it for people. So, uh, our target, I will say is like, uh, anyone from the hobbies to. Even to the professionals, cuz I see a lot of professional projects on TV using our effects. So professional visual effects artists are using our effects and, but what we are targeting through our ads are like the intermediate, like people who are good at filmmaking, but they are not professional visual effects artists.

So they just don’t have the time or they don’t want to learn how to make visual effects. So for them we are, uh, we are giving them a brand new offer, which is you can make visual effects without being a visual effects. Definitely.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now, one of the challenges I would assume with this kind of a product is, I mean, and, and I know, and this, this used to occur a lot like, uh, few years back, and I’m sure there’s definitely a, a black market for this.

You know, when you have a digital product, it can be easily, right? So I’m not sure if this is, [00:15:00] you know, if you provide anybody who buys like a downloadable file for these kinda, uh, assets. Yeah. But, but once somebody has downloaded this, Um, they can put it

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: on any forum. Exactly. And they do. So we’re, yeah, we are trying to fight against it.

It’s extremely hard because, um, it’s hard to just, to keep track of everyone who’s uploading it on, on the websites. Uh, so yeah, we know like there are some major websites where, uh, people used to go to download like, uh, pirate versions of software. So, uh, we are trying. Shut down those links. It’s not easy because what those websites do is, is that they don’t store it on their servers.

They do it like in other countries. So it’s hard. Uh, so you, you can’t attack like these websites cause they don’t own, they don’t have it on their own, uh, servers. Uh, so yeah, we have a team, legal team that is trying to, to fight against it. I mean, it’s, [00:16:00] um, sometimes what we try to do is usually discourage people.

Downloading our packs and then selling it themselves. Cause it already happens. So when it happens, we just, uh, we just skew them and, uh, um, whenever someone downloads it and, uh, gives it for free, I mean, we just try to communicate with, uh, to be in touch with, uh, with the, the person and ask them if they can remove the files.

So, yeah, usually it’s, uh, it takes a long time. It’s, uh, very costly. So you don’t want to do it. I mean, I also have like mixed feelings about it because when I started my career as a visual effects artist, of course I didn’t pay for any licenses, so I was downloading Photoshop and After Effects, uh, from these websites.

So I know that when you don’t have the money, um, I prefer that. I mean, I wouldn’t encourage people to, to download illegally things, but yeah, you have to start somewhere. And when you don’t have the money, it’s uh, always hard to, uh, I mean, you, you, you can, you have to find a [00:17:00] way to where, where you can start from and yeah, so I understand why people are doing it.

It’s just that I don’t want people to resell our products.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely, definitely. I mean, I used to, you know, when I was a student and I needed a software, I would go exactly and stuff and download. But now of course, you know, as I’ve, as I’ve grown and you know, I have a job and everything, it’s much too much of a hassle to do that.

And I don’t know if those softwares have like wider

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yeah, exactly. Now that you can afford it, I mean, you will pay for it. And I’m, I’m super happy because we have a lot of customers paying for, for our, our, uh, visual effects. And, um, yeah, I know. Even if, uh, there are some free copies online of our products, first you have to find them.

So it’s not easy. And I mean, if this can help people to, to, to just get started with rfx, that’s great. And we all, we, we have so many people paying for RFX that it’s, I mean, it’s not ruining us right now, so, Okay,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: so how do you acquire customers? Like, [00:18:00] uh, can you share a little bit about, you know, how you got your first customers when you first got started and, um, yeah.

Cause you know, as you were saying, you know, you didn’t have a market marketing background. You didn’t know, uh, how to actually sell. Absolutely. And, and how have you grown it? What’s really working? Which channels actually really work in terms of customer

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: acquisition for you? Ok, so yeah, when I started, I mean, I didn’t know anything about marketing, so what I was thinking at that time is that if you have a great product, you just have to release it and, uh, it’ll go viral.

People will find about it and they will buy it, but. It didn’t happen, of course. I mean, obviously, uh, you’ll having a great product is just like, uh, just a base, uh, from where you start. And, um, so I had to learn everything. So we released the first, uh, pack, it was called the Blockbuster Starter Pack, and. It didn’t sell at all because people didn’t, didn’t know about it.

So I had to learn everything from scratch, how you market the product, uh, how you can find which are the [00:19:00] different ways to find customers. And at that time I wasn’t very good at, uh, targeted ads, so, I was, uh, I learned about affiliate marketing and I was searching for affiliates. And this is how it started.

We had, uh, like at the beginning we had like zero persons talking about our product, and I just reached out to have many YouTubers as I could, and, Some of them responded very well and we started to, uh, have partnerships with them where they were our affiliates. We were giving them a great commission for each sale, and that’s how it started.

So for like the two first two first years, uh, we were just working with affiliates and they were bringing like 80% I think of our sales. And then it, then it evolved because, uh, for me, when I started big films, um, the idea was just to produce my short film astronaut. That was my only goal, and once I did it, I just, I didn’t shut down big films, but I didn’t do anything about it.

So like the, all the sales just decreased [00:20:00] and it went at a point where we were just, we weren’t selling anything, uh, for a few years, I think. Cause yeah, cuz I produced, uh, Astros in 2017. And from 2017 to 2019 we weren’t selling anything and. It was just before Covid. Um, and I was feeling like I was getting less work from clients.

So, uh, I decided to give a, a try to, to the Facebook ads for, for big films. And I started to play with the Facebook ads and it turned out to be successful. So in 2019, I launched like my first three or four Facebook ads and they were pretty successful at that time. So that was great. So I discovered something.

I was, I discovered that I was good at making. Which I mean, which I, I was, um, it was maybe easier for me because I’m a filmmaker, so I know how to tell the story, how to make videos. And we already had like, uh, great footage from, um, the demo videos that we were [00:21:00] making for our packs. So I, uh, edited them into, uh, like a super short and dynamic ads and I started to play with the, the Facebook ads.

And so at, at the beginning it was quite hard because I didn’t know how to configure it, how to find the right, uh, audience. So it was just, uh, trials and errors and, uh, I was. Improving each time, uh, if someone tried something new. And I think after a few weeks I was, uh, it started to be profitable and I was able to scale it.

So it was great. And now we, like, we rely 90% on Facebook ads, Facebook and Instagram ads. Okay.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: In terms of market, um, what are, like, what countries are your biggest markets? Cause I’m assuming there’s visual. Doing this kind of a thing everywhere. Right? Uh, so, so which markets are you, uh, seeing the most demand from for you, for this kinda, uh, item?[00:22:00]

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: I mean, it comes from the individuals, so, um, It’s just filmmakers who are working on music videos and uh, and um, commercials. They are the ones that buy the most of our products. And, um, we are essentially targeting the US market cuz we try to target the, the entire world. And, uh, US just responds very well to our, our products.

So right now we have, uh, because. We really evolve in terms of, um, targeted ads. We have a, um, business manager accounts on Facebook that is pretty complex now and we are targeting different countries, but I mean, I think that 70% of our budget goes towards the US and we usually targeting males that are around 25 and 35.

So these are the people who buy the most our products and, uh, yes, well, males from the US who are filmmakers, uh, working usually on, uh, music videos, commercials, or some of them are [00:23:00] just hobbies. And yeah, so these are the persons who buy.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Um, I see that you know, you or you, your social media channels, um, you have put some great, uh, movie scenes or, you know, I should call scenes.

Uh, I mean definitely I, I think this gets attention. Um, oh yes. Who, who, who is, I mean, I’m assuming you’re creating it in a house or you know, the help of contractor or something, just to give people an idea of, you know, what kinda

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yeah, usually. Yeah, usually we create, I, I do it because I love creating visual effects and I’m a filmmaker, so I try to do it as much as I can.

And all the videos that you see on our Instagram and TikTok accounts, uh, I create them myself with my friends. So basically, because we are a very small team and I’m already working, Either my family or my family or my friends. And we are making these videos, uh, together here in France, or we sometimes struggle to the US to shoot them.

And yeah, so, um, I [00:24:00] create almost all of them now. We have a social media manager with, uh, taking care of uploading everything, uh, command, uh, replying to commands and everything. But yeah, so we are growing on Instagram, but our biggest surprise was TikTok this year cuz we started our TikTok accounts, I think three months.

And we grew it from zero to, I think we are somewhere near to 200 K right now, followers. So yeah, it, it just grew super, super, super fast and, uh, To be honest, this wasn’t my idea. I mean, this was like, we have a man, uh, a um, manager of the marketing at Big Films who was just begging me to start a TikTok account for a month.

And I was like, no, I don’t want, cause TikTok is just my generation. This is something that I don’t really understand and I was, cuz our customers usually all. Not old, but between 25 and 45 usually. So I was, uh, I didn’t think that this demographics would be on TikTok, but they are. Mm-hmm. And [00:25:00] so our, uh, marketing manager started our business, our TikTok account three months ago.

And he was just posting every day, every day all the content that we are, we were creating for Instagram. He was posting it on TikTok, and, uh, it was at the beginning he was, we, we just struggled for like, like a month where you don’t grow at all. And suddenly one of our video went viral and we just gained customers.

We just gaining like every day, a few thousand of customers. So yeah, it was, it’s working great. And, uh, we were also able to track the conversions through TikTok, and it’s converting pretty well. So I was surprised because I didn’t think that people would buy things from TikTok or at least from, uh, videos that they see on TikTok.

And, but it worked. I mean, it’s, it’s working. So right now what we are trying to do, Create more videos like this and try to upload, uh, more frequently. So one of these video goes, goes viral and yeah, so right now we have like, every two weeks, one of our video hits, uh, a few millions. So, uh, we see it [00:26:00] in terms of sales.

We see like a boost every time we have a, a viral video. So yeah, it

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: was working great. That’s, that’s awesome. I mean, I think the, these videos, the format of these videos goals, Really well for, for what TikTok is? I

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: think so. Yeah. Yeah. We are lucky because we’re, uh, working in this field, like video just exploded this last few years and I mean, this is what everyone is doing right now.

Everyone wants to be YouTuber or TikTok or Instagrammer and yeah, we were lucky enough, I mean, I was lucky enough to be, to be a filmmaker and I was doing this videos before it was even trending and uh, yeah, now I’m lucky. Every year we have more and more people becoming filmmakers, and I mean, everyone who has an iPhone in his pocket is a filmmaker, and everyone who has an iPhone in his pocket can use our products.

So this is just giant market for us.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely. So is this, um, is this now your, I mean, is this your full-time thing now or This is kind of like, because, because it can be easy. I mean, this business, I mean, I would assume this business [00:27:00] can be easily. Um, outsourced or, you know, you can create processes so that the business is kinda running on its own.

Yeah. And, and you, you can create more, uh, time for yourself. So are you, are you pursuing any other projects? Are you creating any, uh, films? Yeah, so

Steven Liszkaof BIGFILMS: that’s the goal for me right now because, um, I’m trying to automate it such as, and it was, it wasn’t easy for the last few years and I think it was my, uh, one of my biggest mistakes was I was involved too much in every process, uh, of, of the business and.

Even to this’s date, I’m still creating the web pages for every product that we release. I’m still creating all the video ads, so this is a lot of work cause we try to release a new pack every three months and it’s a lot of work each time because you have not only to think about all the effects that go in each pack, but you also have to think about the marketing part.

Which means creating the video ads, uh, creating the, uh, uh, product page on the internet, creating all the, um, [00:28:00] emails and everything. So, yeah, it’s a lot of work. Uh, and I feel like today we. I want to change the strategy cuz right now we are selling individual pack and we are slowly transitioning from selling packs to creating a platform where people can subscribe and download our effects, uh, and unlimited amount of effects on, on the platform.

So this would change a lot of things because it wouldn’t mean for me that I would be less involved in, uh, all the marketing parts and all the um, Video creation and everything, cuz right now it’s, uh, just every time we release a pack, we have a few hundreds of effects inside and each time we do it, we have to market the entire pack, which means create, uh, a lot of different ads, uh, that use all the effects.

And it’s, it just takes a lot of time. So I think, I feel like. Transitioning from selling Pack to creating a platform where people can download individual [00:29:00] effects and where we can just upload on a regular basis. New effects mm-hmm. Will be much easier and will give me more time also for my project, uh, on the site.

So, yeah. So I still have a lot of projects finishing astronauts. I’m writing a feature film now with a, uh, screenwriter in la so we, uh, plan to shoot it at the end of the year or maybe next year. So this is a big project too, and, uh, yeah, so I’m trying like to. Because being an entrepreneur is great, but this was not my dream.

Like I, I never dreamed to have a company. Now I’m super happy to have it and I know that I’m good at it, but it’s just that film. I miss filmmaking and I just wanna make art for art for the sake of art, and not just, I’m not trying to sell product. So slowly I’m trying to come back to my first love, which is filmmaking.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. And I think, yes, with, with a subscription model for your business, I think, uh, Um, yeah, I think that that could be a big, uh, big recurring revenue, but I, I think at the same [00:30:00] time, you have to probably continue adding new products so that people continue to find, uh, value in

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: description. Yeah, exactly.

So yeah, we have, we have new strategy for this and so I can tell much too, too much about it, but yeah, in. Next month we’ll release the, the platform and we have a, a, an amazing offer on this platform that people have never seen before. So yeah, I’ll tell you more about it in, in a few, few weeks. Okay.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: What do you think about, um, ai, the, the new.

I don’t, I don’t know if you’re keeping up with this.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Oh yeah. I’m whole

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: gt and I mean, it’s just starting out. Who knows where it’ll be 2, 2, 3, 5 years down the road. But, you know, you can, you can give, uh, a prompt. For this AI to create an image and it creates an image, like a completely new edge, royalty free, whatever.

And I’m assuming, you know, creating these kind of am animations of not, not [00:31:00] that far.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Absolutely. Exactly. What,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: what, what, what do you think about it? Do you see any opportunities for yourself or do you see it as a threat? Uh, what are your general thoughts about

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: it? Yeah, so when it started, I think I was like everyone.

I was, I had mixed feeling about it because I was super excited at first and then when I thought it was, um, coming to my business and people like artists, uh, were becoming less and less. Uh, I wouldn’t say useful, but I mean it was hard for me to to choose a position. Um, Because, yeah, I had this mixed feeling about the fact that it was stealing art from artists.

And at the same time it was an awesome tool for people to start creating new things. And I’ve been playing with it for I think, three months from now. And I’m a big fan of Mid Journey cuz I, I, I use it for now, I just use it for fun. Uh, I never find a way to, to [00:32:00] um, to transfer. Yeah. Like to, to use it for my work.

Um, More than just creating concept arts or, or things like that. So I think we are at the very early stage of the AI right now. It’s just, um, people are playing with it. I think, like you said, like in we’re maybe a year or two, uh, from being able to create videos effects and things like that. Still I’m excited about it because this is just a huge revolution.

I think that, um, Not many people leave this kind of revolution being, I mean, I’m still, I’m young and seeing this kind of revolution now. I feel like I’m still young enough to use it for, uh, my work, my business, and yeah. So I think I, I’m, yeah, I have to say I’m excited. I mean, say, I, I know that this will change everything in the world.

I mean, not only in the artistic business, but everywhere. I mean, Chad, g p t, can. Automates or [00:33:00] so many processes can think for you. It can, uh, create, I mean, they are about to plug, I don’t know if you read this, it was like two or three days ago. They are about to release a plugin that will plug G p T to the internet, which cause for now it was just limited to a, a, uh, yeah.

Text, uh, box where you were communicating with it. And now it’ll be released on the internet, so it’ll have access to everything that is on the internet. It will. It’s, we’ll be able to take action on the web and, uh, that is scary. And at the same time, super exciting because it means that, um, there are so many things that you will be able to automate, and you will be able to just find more time for things that you want to really do.

So, yeah, I mean, for now, I mean, I think it’s too early for me to like to, to, to take position, but it is just I right now, I’m excited. I’m super excited and I have to say it all. I use chat JD for my. Because, uh, mid [00:34:00] Journey or Delhi, uh, like the software that are creating the images, I mean, they’re great, but, uh, I never find a great way to use them for my work.

But chats, pt, it’s awesome because, um, You can, uh, you can either just stuck to, to it and have fun just by communicating with it, or you can find creative ways to use it. And for me, for example, I was in LA uh, three weeks ago and we were shooting commercials for, uh, the subscription platform that we are about to release.

And I have dialogues that I to write for my actors that I’m not a native speaker, so it’s always hard for me when I had to write something in English and uh, to make it. Um, natural. It’s always, I’m always struggling with this. And now with ChatGPT changed a lot of things because I was, we, we, we had like different characters that we had to play for.

We had, we hired actors for different characters and um, we had like a Viking Warrior and action movie hero, and they had different [00:35:00] dialogues. And for me, like if you ask me, write a dialogue in English, that sounds like a Viking warrior, it just, I mean, it’s too hard. But I was able to ask Chad j pt, okay, this is my script.

Mm-hmm. Can you just write it in a way that a Viking warrior would say it? And it did. And it did, it did really well. So, I mean, it doesn’t give you like the, the exact results that you want every time, but once you learn how to use it, once you play with it, uh, and you understand the, the way you can prompt it, I mean, it can give, give you amazing results.

So, yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. I’m excited. Yeah, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s exciting and scary at the same time because we don’t know what’s coming in the

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: future. Exactly. So what do you think about it?

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Well, um, I, I just think, uh, I’m very excited, but I just think that, uh, a majority of human population is maybe is not ready for it cause.

I think so [00:36:00] many people may lose their jobs and then they may not, they may not really know what, what, what to do next. Exactly. Exactly. And that kinda, that’s kinda scary. Yeah.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yeah. People can become useless. So that, that, that’s the big danger of the AI and uh, yeah, I think that, Things go way too fast right now.

Way too fast. And like every day you have a new revolution in the AI and it’s like, it’s hard to keep up with it. And, but I guess that it was the same when the internet appeared. Maybe cuz I was too young for to remember it. But I think that, uh, there, there were like a few revolutions this last century and I think Theran was one.

Major revolution and I think that people were scared maybe to, to lose their job too. And at the end of the day just gave more opportunities for people like me. For example. I don’t have to be in the US to have a business cuz my business is based in the US. I work only with people in Los Angeles or uh, across the us and.

Having the [00:37:00] internet makes things so much easier cuz I remember when I was young, my dad started the company in the US too and he had to be there. He had to be like every uh, month he was flying to the US to meet with people. And I can do it now, uh, remotely from my computer. And so, If the internet brought this kind of po positive revolution, I think that the AI will too.

And there are a lot of things that we are struggling with right now, which is, uh, the ecology, the economy, and all the, the, the crisis that we have. Maybe the AI is the answer to it. Maybe the AI will, will do better job than, than the presidents or the governments do right now for us. So it’s hard to say. I mean, we are at the very beginning and will see, let’s, let’s talk about this in

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: 10 years.

Definitely, I think, I think maybe we may be working on different kind of challenges when we have ai. Yeah, sure. So, yeah, for sure. Eh, i, I, I ask this questions to every [00:38:00] entrepreneur. You know, in every entrepreneur’s journey there’s always mistakes made, lessons learned, failures, you know, throughout your journey, what has been like a big mistake or a failure that you thought, um, was a big setback for you?

What did you learn from it? What can other entrepreneurs learn from, from that, uh, from your mistake?

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yeah, it’s hard because, uh, as I’m not an entrepreneur at the beginning, I mean, I started as an artist. I failed in so many things. I mean, it was, at the beginning it was just hard with, I was struggling with everything actually, cuz uh, it was even hard for me to understand how to create a website, how to, I had zero notions about how it is working.

So, yeah, I think my biggest mistake, uh, It would be maybe not hiring people, uh, soon enough, I would say cuz uh, for the first four years I think I was just alone working on everything. And when I say everything, it was like re really like doing the customer service at night [00:39:00] because I had to answer to people who were in the us.

So being based in Paris, uh, was. Extremely hard because, uh, when, uh, my girlfriend was going to sleep, I was in my, uh, in front of my computer just answering and chatting with people who were waking up in the us And so, yeah, I think that it took me like five, four or five years before I hired someone for, for my business.

And, uh, so my first, the first person I hired was for the customer service. And I was thinking that, uh, it will just make me lose money because, Obviously you there is, you need to pay a salary at the beginning and you don’t make a lot of money. So, um, it was big investment, but it turned out that. The person I hired, which is really, I think one of the per best person you can ever have for the customer service.

Uh, he was just so good at it that less and less people were, were asking for refunds. So I was even, we were even saving money even by h hiring someone [00:40:00] than before. So, so, yeah. So it made a huge difference and I realized that now every time I hire someone, uh, I actually make more money. Than before. So that’s, that’s crazy because uh, you tend to think the opposite when you think about hiring someone.

But yeah, like a big lesson. I know that if I had to start a new business now, uh, from scratch, I would think from the beginning, like, who can I hire for, uh, different positions? Cause uh, it makes a huge difference. And usually very often people are scared about hiring. I mean, of course don’t hire people that you don’t need to have, but I mean, don’t be afraid to, uh, because it’ll just free up so much time for you.

And you have to spend more time on working on what’s important, which means creating good products and uh, creating and working on the marketing cuz this is like the base of your business.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Definitely that’s, I think that’s a, that’s a great advice and yeah, I think having the right, right [00:41:00] people and right talent and right skills is definitely Yeah,

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: exactly.

You have find them. Yeah, exactly. So, so don’t try to hire too fast, of course, but just find the right person and, uh, I’m happy because we are. We have, like, we are just four in big film at big films. So we are just four persons, but every, every one of, uh, the people I hired is like excellent, super excellent.

Like what, what, what he’s doing. So it makes a huge difference. Awesome.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now I’m going move on to our rapid fire segment. In this segment I’m going to ask you, uh, few quick questions and you have to answer them maybe in one or two words or a sentence or so. So, One book recommendation for entrepreneurs, um, or I guess even creative professionals.

Uh, and, and why

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: I would say, uh, I don’t read any books about, uh, business. I mean, this isn’t, this may be, this may sound weird, but I’m, I’m not passionate about entrepreneurship. I mean, [00:42:00] I like, I love, uh, Doing my business is something that I love to do, but it’s just, I do it because I know that this will bring me the opportunity to work on my artistic product.

So I’m not like, uh, you have some like serial serial entrepreneurs who are just thinking about what kind of business they can start tomorrow. I’m not this kind of guy, so I’m not reading books about business. I’ve never read any book in my life about business. So sorry about that.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No worries, no worries.

Uh, an innovative product or idea in the current e-commerce retail or tech landscape that you feel excited about?

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Definitely ai. I mean, this is just, uh, we are at the beginning of AI io, which will just change everything, even, even in the e-commerce industry. And, uh, yeah, definitely I think. There are tools that are appearing every day on how you can connect AI to, uh, e-commerce, to marketing, to, uh, making videos.

And I know that this will be something big in the next few years. So yeah. Ai,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: a business or productivity tool or software that [00:43:00] you would recommend or a productivity tip.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yeah, we don’t use many software. I think that’s, uh, the last one I discovered and that we use a lot is notion. Notion is great for, uh, just sharing, uh, ideas with your team and, uh, I know they also have an AI tool that is implementing a notion.

So yeah, notion, I would say this is like the last tool that I discovered and then I lose use on a daily basis.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Uh, a startup or business, um, an e-commerce retailer technology that you think is currently doing great things.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Um, I mean, obviously open ai, who’s buying, uh, chat, but also there is one company, um, It’s called, uh, runway and Runway.

What, what they are doing is that, uh, they are creating videos from prompts. So this is super new. I know that Google is working on it too, but, uh, runway, they have like all sorts of tools for filmmakers and people who want to create, um, yeah, all, all, all kinds of video [00:44:00] stuff. And they are running on, on ai.

So, uh, it’s crazy because. They can automate all kinds of tasks, like, uh, rotoscoping, removing backgrounds from an image or things like this. So runway is doing it for video, and I think that they are, uh, they’re doing great. Okay.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Uh, peer entrepreneur or business whom you look up to or someone who inspires you?

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Yeah, when I started, uh, working in the visual effects industry, there was uh, one guy called, uh, Andrew Kramer, and he was like the first person who, uh, released and sell visual effects back. So at that time it was just oriented towards professional visual effects artist, but he was like the first person who, uh, made uh, a stock footage back with action elements.

So it was like explosions, fire, smoke and everything, and. What I really love about him is that he was, uh, an artist like me and, but he was also an entrepreneur because he was selling [00:45:00] his stuff and yeah, so he was making a lot of tutorials where he was showing how he, he does it and he had his company called, called the video and.

Yeah, I think he inspired me a lot. And also another person I think about is, is a guy called Jacob Owens. He’s the filmmaker. And Jacob Owens also has his, uh, e-commerce store where he’s selling a lot of, um, useful tools for filmmakers. And he recently, uh, opened his sets in LA so he’s building. In the desert, you have a ranch that he transformed into a movie set.

And he’s super inspiring because I used to work with him a few a couple of years ago. And, um, it’s a kind of guy who al always finds a way to transform your idea into a business and he’s still a nice guy. So yeah, I would say two people.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And final question, best business advice you ever received or you would give to other entre?

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: I would say, uh, do do [00:46:00] something that you’re passionate about because, I mean, it’s just so hard, uh, when you start a business. It’s just so hard to, to do it for years. And you will eventually, you will give up if you are not passionate about it. So, and also you want to be, to be successful, you have to offer something different from the others.

You have to have like your. Vision, something that makes you unique and being passionate about something makes you unique. So yeah, I would say be passionate. Don’t, don’t start a, a business in, uh, about something that you are not passionate about. I, because it wouldn’t make sense and it would just too hard for you to.

Definitely.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I think, I think, I think, I think that’s, that’s a great advice. Uh, and, and very true. Well, Steven, those were all the questions that I, I, I had. I really appreciate you joining, joining us from Paris for sharing your time, for sharing your, uh, story and also Sure. Uh, a little bit on, uh, advice. Uh, so yeah, thank you so much again for joining, uh, for sharing your time.

Thank you for having me.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Thank you so much,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: and good luck with your, uh, [00:47:00] uh, creative project.

Steven Liszka of BIGFILMS: Absolutely. I’ll send it to you when it’s finished. Thank you so much. I’m looking forward to hearing the interview.

Thank you.

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