Meet Albert Xavier of Infinity Filmworks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Albert Xavier.  

Hi Albert, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Coming up in the Bronx with childhood upbringings with my grandparents in the Dominican Republic, I had originally envisioned my future creating stories with a camera. Once a camera was placed in my hands, I realized I could explore so much more creatively and cinematically. I had things to say and just needed to gain the skills to unlock them. This quest has manifested itself in my love for visual storytelling through feature films, shorts, and documentaries. Since receiving my BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of Film, my survival map has kept me busy producing media projects for companies across the globe. I’ve spent my professional career producing and directing independent features, short films, and broadcast TV commercials. I’ve also had opportunities to produce and direct sporting events, the stage arts, and commercial medical projects, and blessed to have a chance to develop content for a non-profit, NGO-supported organization that’s taken me to Africa a half dozen times. But the creative explosion that has come from streaming video producers has elevated episodic storytelling to a new art. There is where you find the most dynamic stories being told. 

When I graduated from NYU, my dream was to return to my native country, the Dominican Republic, and pioneer filmmaking and dramatic, cinematic storytelling that had sorely been depleted. That’s exactly what I did. I wrote, produced, and directed 3 features and 8 short films on the island that screened in more than 20 international film festivals with multiple pick-up deals for distribution. In fact, the President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel Fernandez, invited me to participate in a film commission along with other filmmakers from other continents, to develop a legal framework of tax credits to encourage and incentivize producers to shoot films on the island and to hire local crews and talent. The position allowed me to give producing and directing workshops sponsored by the government. This phase of my career allowed me to give back to a country and an industry that has given me so much. It was a tremendous success, and the island’s film industry has been thriving despite a slowdown from the pandemic. 

After living on the island for 6 years up until the President’s term was over, I returned to the United States and took my production company to another level where not only did we produce content but began having relationships in China to manufacture and distribute LED walls to arenas, music festivals and real estate throughout the country. This began when I was subcontracted by Disney to create visual content for a convention in Las Vegas to project on a monster LED wall. That’s when I decided to create this business opportunity where we can represent the makers of this technology and bring it to Latin America. 

Between the content making, producing live events, and incorporating the technology of LED screens, my company Infinity FilmWorks has become a full-on turn-key production provider that with 25 years plus in this industry, today has been legally registered to work with the government at city, state and federal levels. You would ask, how did we manage, as a small minority business enterprise with less than 10 employees, obtained the reputation to be able to produce for so many companies like Netflix, Disney, Vogue, Northwell Hospital, the State of New Jersey, and so much more to mention, it’s the passion at doing what we do best, it’s rarely about the money. We beat out the bids because I believe that customer service is keen. Holding your client’s hands from start to finish of any project is the key to success. They remember that, and they continue to come back to give you more opportunities and become your marketing voice to reach their outer circle of colleagues. This is how Infinity Filmworks has grown, and as CEO/Entrepreneur, it’s allowed me to educate others the success I have driven in this industry and create opportunities for others to join me along the process. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
To achieve success, there has to be obstacles. No such thing as a smooth road to huge success. One of the biggest struggles I faced was trust. Making deals with clients who took advantage of my services and broke my single-page agreements to not pay because they knew I couldn’t afford a lawyer to sue them. After that matter, I went on and pretended to seek services that I provided from the bigger companies just to look at the agreements and contracts they had. Once I got my hands on a few of them, they became my template, and my agreements no longer were one-pager. Now clients took me seriously. Another rough one was getting the capital to buy and own my cameras and gear. I got credit cards that maxed out just to buy the latest gear so that I can be hired to them spend months and sometimes years paying it back. It was very hard to stay competitive because a new camera would come out, and I would be out there with outdated film gear. But even today, on a set we may have small setbacks because of weather or a key player gets sick, and there’s a timeline we have to meet. That’s where you work solely with the key players that have been with you because of my loyalty, to figure out how to diffuse the situation, which in our case, we always do. 

Struggles is the key to success. If you don’t struggle to meet your goal, you will experience the worst struggles when you reach your goal. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Infinity Filmworks?
Infinity Filmworks is a full-service, minority business enterprise video production company and creative agency that has produced hundreds of successful video and advertising campaigns for clients in virtually every type of industry. As CEO and Founder of this company, I created the company because I learned to write scripts, shoot with any camera and edit an entire video in the basement of my home. I then looked for freelancers that delivers the same amount of quality of work and had them drive my company to produce the work that was needed. Now I concentrate in branding the company by sharing the work we do on social media and our website, and go after the contracts and bid on them, seal the deal and go to work! 

Our most proud work we have done are our documentaries and short films that we produce for doctors and sports figures which become social media content to boost their level of work or land on ESPN or HBO to tell the rise and fall stories of an athlete now converted to a religious mentor, Darryl Strawberry. We are also proud of our recent live-stream movie premiere productions we have been producing for Hulu and Netflix every month. We shoot with multiple cameras of a QA panel discussion with the lead actors and stream it live to whoever is invited outside the live event. 

One of our successful projects has been in the medical field where we have captured patient testimonial stories, where patients describe thier post operational experiences to entice others who may be scared of have that surgery performed. Videos like this has helped tremendously in the medical sector when it brands and markets its practice. We have been blessed with this kind of work which has served in so many states throughout the country.

Our job is to captivate and educate your target audience through the power of video. 

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
To always be LOYAL to not only your customers but your friends and colleagues. Work without the intention of screwing anyone over. Work to build everlasting relationships that can be there to help you create a legacy. People need people. You can never do everything on your own. You need people. 

Also, one more thing. Expect to never make money from your 70% clientele base. That’s the percentile that will come for you asking for discounts, barter deals, partnerships, and favors. This is the group that will keep your company in the red. The 30% will be the ones that will VALUE your worth. They will ask you for your price, and when you give it to them it’s either yes or no. They won’t budge, and they won’t bargain with you. They will simply pay you your worth and hand you the opportunity of a lifetime. The bulk of work you been looking for might not be as much as you wanted it to be, but they pay is large enough to keep you out of the red. The biggest asset of that 30% is that if you keep them happy with your services they will extend out to their resources and bring you more big bucks’ clients. It’s the best lesson learned, and it’s helped me stayed focused on working hard for that 30%. 

That group you work with will help you establish the credit score your company needs to grow. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.infinityfilmworksnyc.com
• Instagram: TheRealWorldOfXavier
• Facebook: facebook.com/albertxavier
• Twitter: albert_xavier
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlfhE5k6LYuXyjwEZA2LLQ
• Other: IG: ininityfilmworksnyc