Get to Know Michael Sharon
6162 Productions turns ten this year! Learn more about our founder + creative director, Michael Sharon, how he got into filmmaking, and how he started the business. You can meet the core team here, too!
How did you get started as a filmmaker?
I was born and raised in Centennial, Colorado, a suburb near Denver. I have two sisters; one is 11 ½ years older and 18 months younger. As a child, I was creative and loved dressing up in costumes, putting on plays with my younger sister, and making worlds come alive through my Legos and other toys.
When I was 13, we borrowed a friend’s video camera to make a video for my grandparents, who lived out of state. One day, while my parents were helping my older sister move, my younger sister and I filmed a movie about spies. I shot the whole 50-minute epic on this old camcorder, rewinding the tape every time there was a flub on set. My passion for storytelling and filmmaking was born before I was even in high school!
Over the next few years, I wrote, filmed, directed, and starred in several amateur films and even got a couple of them screened in a movie theater. My older sister and now business partner, Alaina, worked in PR and marketing, so she booked some TV and print interviews for me. When I started my business, the nonprofit Alaina worked for also hired me to do several videos over the years, and we enjoyed working together. She joined my company in 2022 to help with business development, marketing, and client relations.
My parents are therapists, relationship coaches, and authors who have always been very supportive and focused on entrepreneurship, which gave me the freedom and confidence to explore this passion and eventually start my business. They taught me the importance of relationship-building and strong communication skills, which have been the backbone of building my company. They also raised us with a service-oriented mindset, which translated into creating videos for nonprofits and mission-driven companies.
In the early stages, I named the company 6162 Productions after my parents’ address–the home I grew up in and where I found my passion for filmmaking. 6162 reminds me of those humble beginnings, fueling my desire to make every project just as memorable as the first time I hit the “record” button on the camcorder at age 13.
How has 6162 Productions evolved over the last ten years?
When we were a startup in 2013, I built a strong network in Denver for the first three years, mainly in the nonprofit sector (plus, growing up in the Denver area and making film school contacts helped). Then when I moved to Seattle in 2016, I added a new market while still operating a business in Denver. Like most small business owners would agree, it was challenging and a little scary but rewarding and profitable. While in Seattle for four years, I attended graduate school at the University of Washington. During this time, I made great contacts in different industries. These contacts helped me form partnerships with talented filmmakers, videographers, and crews. Working alongside these creators allowed me to create various videos for nonprofits, insurance companies, healthcare organizations, schools and educational organizations, tech companies, and more.
Having my own business during the pandemic taught me a lot and helped us expand our offerings. In 2020, we added live-streaming services to help our nonprofit and event planner clients host influential virtual fundraising events. I moved back to Denver in 2020 and continue to operate our business in both cities, and we have fantastic video production talent that we can mobilize all over the country.
Today, 6162 Productions is a high-quality, in-house, full-service video production company that specializes in human-centered storytelling to maximize your brand engagement across the web. We love helping brands of all sizes with creative, human-centric, authentic storytelling that conveys their vision, mission, and values. We assemble the best team for each project, quickly scale to fit the budget and scope of the video, as well as execute promptly and efficiently.
What keeps you motivated as a full-time filmmaker?
Telling various stories about our clients’ fantastic work to help others keeps me inspired, excited, and motivated day to day. I honestly don’t feel like this is “work” – I genuinely enjoy what I do, and I’m sure that is a crucial factor to my success. Some lessons I’m learning along the way are: keep it fun; laugh; surround yourself with intelligent, successful, and inspiring people; learn from your mistakes; and be agile and adaptable.
To stay connected, check us out on social media. You can find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Contact us today to learn more and get started on your next video project to kick off the new year.