Starting your own production house can be both challenging and demanding, especially in a competitive market like the Middle Eastern region. We spoke to Abdulsalam who started Adam Film in 2011, a production house or as he prefers calling it “production service for everyone”. He shared with us his journey from a freelance accountant to starting his own business in the production industry. We also got to explore the other side of his entrepreneurship journey, as a husband and a father to two boys, how does he juggle between being chores?
How the production house journey started
21 years ago, the Jordanian father who studied business administration was working as an accountant. His career in film production was a coincidence when one of his friends - who was working for a TV channel in the UAE - invited him over for a music video shoot. Abdulsalam enjoyed the process so much, that when the TV channel’s general manager asked him to join the team he immediately agreed.
“For the first time in my life, I saw how movies and music videos are made and my reaction was wow” says Abdulsalam
He has been working in the production field for about 21 years now, and he simply loves it. Before starting his own production house, he worked in different positions as a fixer, location manager and producer.
A production house that serves everyone
Abdulsalam started Adam Film in 2011, and he prefers calling it a production service; because he loves building and sustaining relationships with all his clients. At the same time, he enjoys working with everyone, and he refers to the companies and clients that he works with as his partners. Adam film’s services include post production, location Scouting, Permits, casting and everything in between. They work on producing movies, commercials and photo shoots.
“We provide a valuable experience for anyone who works with us. We are passionate about what we do and we’re very experienced within the region. Since we know the UAE regulation by heart, we coordinate and organize everything on behalf of our clients.
People are usually surprised when they know that he worked on more than a hundred movies, that’s because he has been in the industry for more than 21 years. Throughout his career he worked on different movies; like Bollywood movies, Japanese, Chinese, German and French movies too. He worked with Vanessa Paradis and with Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, John Ibraham and with Akshay Kumar.
Adam Film is currently the producer of an International TV channel in the UAE and he’s concurrently working on providing the location and permission for a Hollywood movie. On the other hand, in 2005 they worked on a Philippines movie called "Dubai", which makes them the first company in the Middle East to work on one.
When we asked him about how the industry has changed over the years he said “a lot has changed in the production industry, when I first started there was no technology, and it was hard for people to know us. But now with evolution of technology and websites; everything became easier and customers are reaching us from all around the world.”
Going online
Speaking of technology and websites, with the help of a friend Abdulsalam built a website for his production house Adam Film four years ago. The production house’s website is built with GoDaddy’s Website Builder and domain name, they’re also using the Professional email service. “When I first started my business, everyone advised me to launch a website, but I said no I don’t need one and by time I realized that I was wrong, and I built my website with GoDaddy.” explains Abdulsalam.
“Ever since I built my website a lot has changed for my business, customers have been contacting me from all around the world. I am very glad that I launched a website and I now realize that I should have built it a long time ago.”
Just as he specializes in simplifying his clients’ tasks, he chose GoDaddy’s tools and services as they’re simple, effortless and budget friendly. “Also, whenever I need assistance the customer support team are there to help me right away” adds Abdulsalam.
“My message to everyone is: if you want to launch an online identity for your business to use GoDaddy’s products and services, why? Because the tools are very simple, user friendly and cost effective” explains Abdulsalam.
He hopes that he can revamp and upgrade the website soon, by hiring an expert to organize it and add more details, as he usually doesn’t have the time to do so.
The compassionate father
Abdulsalam has a very homey daily routine; he starts his day very early in the morning, he then wakes up his children; Adam who is thirteen and Youssef who is eight years old. His morning routine includes preparing both his children for school and having breakfast together as a family before heading to work. Afterwards, he drops his wife by her work and then he heads to his office.
“I consider my wife my partner not only in life but also in business. She was the one who urged me and pushed me to start my own business”
Abdulsalam holds great gratitude and acknowledgment to his wife who has been supporting him ever since the beginning of his career and pushed him to start his own production house. “My wife helped me prepare and kickoff the company. I am very thankful for my wife and sons.” says Abdulsalam.
His children lookup to him, “sometimes Adam and Youssef will say Baba I want to become a producer too one day” says Abdulsalam. But he urges them to pursue their studies in a field that they’re excited about and go after their passion.
His busy schedule and long working hours didn’t make him distant from his family, it only strengthened their ties more. Abdulsalam holds great gratitude and recognition to his family and wife. In his words: “believe me, without my family I wouldn’t have accomplished or achieved anything.”
