Expertise

Sometimes it’s about sticking to your guns, and more often it’s about compromise. Either way, negotiation is at the core of what the executive producer brings to a film and entertainment project. In developing his considerable skills in the industry, Kewku has mastered the art of effective negotiations throughout a career founded on getting things done. He can cut the deal while building and sustaining the important relationships on which all agreements are founded.

For investors, negotiating a fair rate of return is weighed by the filmmaker’s need for adequate funding, flexibility, and creative autonomy. These contrasting imperatives can be difficult to balance, and a skilled negotiator can make or break a promising project. This is where Kweku’s talent for visionary thinking comes to the fore, seeing all sides of the equation, forging a professional bond, and crafting a deal that satisfies competing interests.

Kweku Hayford has done a lot of things in his professional life, but none of them have involved standing patiently by while someone else handed him an opportunity. He has built a solid career on the tenets of entrepreneurship: self-reliance, creativity, courage, and the will to succeed.

Having experienced the trials and victories of a genuine self-starter, Kweku understands that feeling of jumping into the great unknown. He has helped start-ups blossom into revenue-generating dynamos by developing realistic business models, securing investment, and implementing innovative strategies to reach (and exceed) initial targets. His entrepreneurial expertise has proven to be a cornerstone in his success as an executive producer, seeing every new project as a fresh opportunity to build something of value out of a fledgling idea and a leap of faith.

The path from conception to distribution doesn’t run in a straight line, and nor is it traversed without multiple challenges and pitfalls. Solid strategic thinking is required before the first dollar is committed, and the plan which follows has to take into account a multitude of operational, financial and creative intangibles.

Most entertainment projects begin with a business plan, and the opening sentence must foreshadow the conclusion. That means formulating a business strategy that will take a nascent idea from pre-production to international rights and consider all stops along the way. Kweku is a consummate strategic analyst, able to envision the optimum flow which will ensure a profitable outcome. Great talent makes good movies. Superior strategy gets outstanding results.

Everyone’s got a list. The script, the storyboard, the lunch order. Making a motion picture or television show is an endless trail of things to do and details to remember. In the vast pyramid of sub-delegation, the executive producer stands at the pinnacle, with the biggest list of them all.

In addition to his executive director duties, Kweku has been the Procurement and Logistics Director for Nimble Sage Productions since 2011. He’s handled all the logistics for domestic and international transportation, negotiated with suppliers, developed risk management programs, and made sure essential pieces of the puzzle were in the right place, at the right time, on budget. He possesses a level of expertise that you earn from years of working in the field, which ensures that people, props and equipment are going to get where they need to be on time, every time.

It can take anything from a handful of passionate friends to a small army of dedicated professionals to create movie magic. Regardless of the size, budget or complexity of the project, all embody a single common element. Leadership. Leadership that inspires, motivates, and brings forth an effort that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

As the Principal and Executive Producer at Nimble Sage Productions, Kewku leads both projects and the people who bring them to life. He recruits key staff, liaises with financial backers, and pulls together all the creative and practical strands that are the weave of a successful venture. From pre-production to release, he keeps the project moving on time, on budget, with boundless and contagious enthusiasm.

Throughout his career, Kweku has nurtured an extensive network of entertainment industry professionals. They are the key to the wide range of services he is able to offer, and enable him to provide the right people for the right job, regardless of whether a filmmaker needs additional resources to get a project started, finished, or in front of an appreciative audience.

The network includes dedicated professionals from all corners of the media, filmmaking, and television community. Producers, directors, casting agents, investors, financiers, talent, technical experts, scouts, distributors – all number among the more than 5,000 members of his professional cadre.

Among all the components of a well-drafted business plan, the budget seems to create the greatest hurdle to filmmakers looking for investors. Making accurate projections requires sound business acumen, a firm grip on reality, and the ability to foresee the unexpected.

Working closely with a team of resourceful financial experts, Kweku can help filmmakers craft accurate budgets that will give potential backers the confidence and assurances they need to invest. As executive producer, he is ultimately responsible for ensuring the project stays within its allotted funds, and that means getting it right from day one. He has managed projects with seven-figure budgets which have delivered exactly as promised, to the satisfaction of both the project team and the investors who received their expected rate of return.

Securing adequate financing for new productions lies at the heart of Kweku’s expertise. As an accomplished executive producer, he not only finds investors, but ensured that the ensuing budgets are respected so that projects achieve their anticipated returns.

Kweku’s network of industry professionals enables him to connect filmmakers with the entire gamut of creative talent required to mount a successful production. Everything from casting to editing falls within the scope of services he is able to provide both established directors and those who are just finding their way in the world of independent filmmaking, television, and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters.

Kweku Hayford doesn’t just manage projects. He manages people. As the Principal of Nimble Sage Productions, he guides a small group of in-house associates who work closely with a multitude of filmmakers, investors, and service providers. He has built a career on knowing how to instill trust, loyalty and commitment in those who turn to him for leadership.

Management is central to all that Kweku offers as an executive producer, leader, financier and entrepreneur. Whether managing budgets, schedules or meetings, he prides himself on paying close attention to both the details and intangibles that mark the boundary between success and failure. Visionary thinking, strategic planning and innovative problem-solving. What management looks like when it’s done right.