Jamie Pence: 'Bred' for Video

To find out more about Videobred Inc., a Louisville-based company owned by Hardin County resident Jamie Pence, visit www.videobred.com.

Jill Pickett

Jamie Pence is the president of Louisville-based Videobred Inc., a video production company.

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Jill Pickett

Jamie Pence talks about how his career has led him to being president of Louisville-based Videobred Inc.

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rvillanueva@thenewsenterprise.com

Perhaps “Star Wars” deserves the credit for leading Glendale resident Jamie Pence to his role as president of Louisville-based Videobred Inc.
After seeing the movie, Pence made his own stop action film using “Star Wars” action figures and a Super 8 camera. Incorporating a toy frog in the production, he called it “Star Warts.”
Pence recalled his father’s words to him when he first took him to see “Star Wars.”
“He said ‘This will be a film you’ll never forget,’” Pence said.
That statement turned out to be true.
After seeing the film, he knew what he wanted to do.
“I want to make films like that,” he said.
Growing up, Pence said, he was somewhat of a geek.
“I love computers,” he said.
Pence found himself involved with Hardin County Educational and Community Television while attending East Hardin High School. He credits the HCEC-TV experience — in particular instructors Brad Mertens, Denny Duggins and Mike Lee — with providing him a foundation for flourishing in the field of video and film production.
“I caught the bug there,” he said.
After graduating from Western Kentucky University with a degree in communications, Pence took a job at Alpha Recording, a small studio in Elizabethtown. Then he found out about an opening at Videobred, a company that originally produced documentaries about horse racing and had been in operation since 1975.
Around 1992-93, Pence joined the company at a level which he equates to a bagger in a grocery store.
“The people there were really passionate,” he said.
Pence cited the company’s openness to allowing him to play with “the vast palette” of tools available.
“It was really easy to grow in that environment,” he said.
In 2003, Pence and another employee bought the company. The co-owner went into active duty in the military and Pence bought him out in 2009.
A lot has changed since Videobred began operations, Pence said. The company has diversified to produce projects for commercial and corporate clients, including General Electric, Papa John’s, the U.S. Census and Churchill Downs.
Among his favorite projects are those for the National Infantry Museum & Soldier Center and the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
“Honestly, every project I do I want to be something I’m proud of,” Pence said.
Over the years, he said, his tool box has expanded with the development of new media and technology, which he credits with creating a convergence in which the delivery of a message can involve a variety of means. Pence’s daughter even has a Barbie doll with a video camera in it that can transfer video footage to a computer, he said.
Social networking websites and online video sharing allow anyone to share their projects with the world. That medium, along with new, non-traditional structures of broadcasting, can be useful for companies like Videobred, Pence said.
“I think the big thing is it allows you to give more bang for the buck for your client,” he said.
Videobred has 16 employees and its building encompasses 21,000 square feet, including a 3,000-square-foot studio with a green screen, Pence said.
Part of the vision of the company is the one they’ve had all along.
“They believed in you and that’s something I still carry on with my employees,” he said.
In fact, he said, seeing growth in young employees is a perk of his job. He called his employees a “passionate team.”
Another goal of sorts, Pence said, is to be able to promote Elizabethtown and Hardin County.
“To me, Elizabethtown is such a gem,” he said.
With growth resulting from Base Realignment and Closure-related change, the county has great potential. Being able to convey that to the incoming populace is appealing to Pence.
“I’d love to help, somehow, someway,” he said.
Although he was born in Louisville in 1969, Pence moved to Hardin County in 1971. His grandmother lived in Glendale and Pence remembers chickens, rabbits and a billy goat on the property. Pence stayed in Hardin County because he wanted his family to experience the type of community he grew up in.
He doesn’t mind the interstate commute to Louisville, which he considers beautiful, especially in the fall.
“It makes the drive worth it,” Pence said.
The company owner and president enjoys being on the cutting edge of technology doing what he has enjoyed since he was a kid. His employees seem to enjoy that enthusiasm, he said.
“Some days are hard, just like other jobs, but we get to realize our dreams every day,” Pence said. “And our clients’.”
Robert Villanueva can be reached at (270) 505-1743.