Kody Sabourin is hooked on the impossible.
Working his way up Vancouver’s visual effects (VFX) food chain, Sabourin was always after the hardest work, the most complicated shots.
“It seemed a couple of times a year, I was doing the hardest thing I had ever done,” he said. “Once that rush had worn off, then I was looking for the next thing that was impossible.”
That’s the force Sabourin continues to bring to video game trailer company Goldtooth Creative Agency Inc. – the company he founded 2008 with longtime friend and audio guru Tyler Weiss.
Over the past three years, the company’s revenues have shot up to over $5 million as its staff has expanded to approximately 65 from 10. Part of that growth is driven by the company’s unique structure, which shaves off time and costs by integrating the offerings of a creative agency and a full-service production studio.
Goldtooth’s trailers include Mortal Kombat: Legacy, produced for Warner Bros., as well as NBA Live ’10, Fight Night and Need for Speed for Electronic Arts Inc.
But much of the company’s growth comes from the talents and drive of its founders.
From the company’s earliest days, Sabourin’s love of the impossible had Goldtooth taking on projects nobody else in town would touch, due to their truncated deadlines.
“People thought we were crazy and we kind of were,” he said. “But that was the fun part.”
Besides taking on gruelling challenges, Sabourin said Goldtooth has built its reputation by achieving and surpassing clients’ quality expectations on key projects – even when it’s required extra work on Goldtooth’s own dime.
“We can say, ‘This is something that’s going to attract attention so let’s invest some of our own time and money into it and make sure it’s great,” he said.
Sabourin said that’s the great freedom and he and Weiss have found in running their own company – eluding the budget restrictions that constrain quality.
“It’s almost impossible to build something that way.” •
