Chase Crawford found out about “the list” at the same time as the rest of the world.
His first call, upon its release, he said, went to his wife. The next day, Crawford, founder of Four by Three, a Cincinnati-based independent film studio, is sitting on a Zoom face-to-face with judges like Alex Rodriguez, Russell Wilson and Ciara.
In terms of Cincinnati, Crawford is the second local tapped this year for the Forbes “Next 1000” (Chris Carey, CEO of Windows Direct USA, was named to the first installment back in February) and, at 25, among its youngest honorees. Take such honors for what they’re worth, but for Crawford, a Monroe High School graduate, it’s a big step into the limelight, and one he’s using to cast the Queen City as a budding stage in the entertainment industry.
“It adds legitimacy to what we’re doing,” Crawford said. “I think sometimes the older group, they raise their eyebrows when a 25-year-old kid is doing what I’m doing. We’re still the new guard, but we’ve made it out of that first rung of trying to survive, and now we’re able to forecast what the next 3-5 years look like. Hopefully we can continue to execute as planned.”
Crawford’s passion for movies and film came at an early age — he vividly remembers watching “30 for 30” documentaries on ESPN. Later, during high school, he and friends would make fake Taco Bell commercials and post them on YouTube.
Then Taco Bell called, and the rest, as they say in the business, is history.
"The week before my senior year of high school, they (Taco Bell) reached and said, ‘Hey, can you come out to L.A. next week and direct and write a spot for us?' I was like, 'I’ve got to ask my mom,'" Crawford said. “I’ve always felt called to this career path. When I was in L.A., she told me, ‘You have to pursue this with your life. This is your calling.’ That was powerful to hear.”
Crawford — a teen dad who got married at 18 and had his first kid at 19 — founded Four by Three at 20 in 2017, using money from a severance package he was given after being laid off. The company settled at the Warehouse Collaborative, which teeters the border of West End and Queensgate, shortly after.
It initially launched as an independent film studio, he said, creating feature-length movies from beginning to end. Crawford very quickly saw an opportunity on the distribution side; it’s a process that can feel predatory at times, with unfavorable terms and guarantees. It’s what sets the company apart from its competition, he said.
Today, Four by Three operates more like a Bleecker Street (“Logan Lucky,” “Eye in the Sky”) or an A24 (“Uncut Gems,” “Moonlight,” “Lady Bird”), just on a smaller scale.
The company still has a wing that focuses on original content, but it also has active distribution deals with 30-40 platforms in 50-60 countries, including Apple TV, Amazon Prime, ABC, Tubi and Comcast and more. Last year, for example, it distributed “River Road,” an award-winning stylistic drama starring “Riverdale’s” Cody Kearsley (Moose Mason), which Four by Three premiered at the Cindependent Film Festival at Over-the-Rhine’s Woodward Theater.
“I try to offer people deals that I would sign,” he said. “These filmmakers work for one, two years, sometimes longer on a film, and by the time they’re at the end of the road, releasing it seems like other mountain they don’t want to climb with a trailer, trailer promotion, coming up with art, finding theaters or platforms that want it, monetizing it, and the whole (quality control) process. We take that off their plate. They’re getting a partnership. Then essentially we’re playing moneyball from there.”
Per Forbes, those included on the “Next 1000” redefine what it means to build and run a business today, and the list aims to serve as a showcase, it said, for “ambitious sole proprietors, self-funded shops and pre-revenue startups” from all across the country — all with under $10 million in revenue or funding.
Four by Three falls under the cap but is growing, and the company has a huge slate for 2022. While Forbes said Four by Three earned $194,000 in revenue in 2020 and $263,000 from January through October 2021. That’s largely from streaming, Crawford said, since movies get run through separate LLCs for legal protection.
For 2021, Four by Three produced $400,000 to $500,000 worth of films, and he expects that number to double this year — maybe more.
Crawford said Four by Three is in the process of landing a massive deal that involves a $6.5 million raise. He’s mum on the particulars, but said it involves several well-known industry names.
Building in film studio in Cincinnati may still turn some heads — a reporter recently asked Crawford when he plans to permanently move to L.A. (the short answer: never). But he said it isn’t a hurdle.
“We have great scripts that can be written by anyone, anywhere, and we can shoot here in Cincinnati, and we have a great distribution chain that allows us to work with filmmakers from everywhere,” he said.” There’s a big rumbling happening in Cincinnati, and I think a lot of people are seeing what’s going on here and want to be involved.”
His ultimate goal? It had been to land on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list, which he did interview for last year. Now it’s to retire in 10 years. It’s become a running joke around the office and at home. “They tell me, ‘You’re never going to be able to stop,’” he said. Saying it out loud helps keep it top of mind.
“Pursuing entrepreneurship, let alone the entertainment industry, is a daunting task. When you’re in the weeds of building something, sometimes you don’t get to admire it,” Crawford said. “One day I do think I want to step to the side and look back at what I’ve built. Me, my wife, our family, we’ve experienced so much in the past seven years that, what’s happened over the past several weeks, it’s been so incredible.
“But this isn’t it. There’s still more coming,” he added. “That’s the overall positivity I’ve kept throughout this entire process.”
