Community Highlights: Meet Andrew Swanson of Forerunner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Swanson. 

Hi Andrew, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My senior year of high school my best friend and I were on the varsity soccer team. Due to heavy rain causing flooding, one of our practices was cancelled. My friend and I decided to go skimboarding in one of the creeks that was flooding. We made a short little video, added some music to it, and put it on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M0AoGN2qWw), those were the good ole days of shooting on mini DV tapes :D. 

After making that video we decided to join our high school’s media class. We ended up producing a show called the “Friday Show” shown to our high school every Friday. We poured so much energy into making these, staying after school, organizing, communicating, editing, etc. One day it hit me that I could do this for a living. So, I decided to go to Western Kentucky University and pursue a degree in TV/film production. 

Those 4.5 years at WKU refined my skill-set and a set a course for video production to become my profession. In 2010 I was blessed with the opportunity to create a documentary in Cannes, France that then appeared at the Cannes Film Festival. That experience solidify that I was on the correct path for my career choice. 

Fast forward to 2020, myself, Booba Young, and Julie Taylor decided to merge the assets and clients bases we had built up over the last decade doing the various freelance projects we worked on into a company called “Forerunner”. 

Since Forerunner’s inception we have developed a comprehensive portfolio of local, national, and international clients. GM, Colgate-Palmolive, Curb Records, Big Machine, and many others. We’re continually pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in content creation. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
In 2015, my company, which at the time was called Filmik, was stagnant. The company wasn’t growing and I felt the weight of financial failure creeping in. In October of that year, an opportunity came up for a position at Western Kentucky University. At that time, I felt I was at a crossroads. Do I give up on my dream of owning my own company and take this job, or do I keep fighting an uphill battle with the company? I chose taking the position at Western Kentucky University. The year following was one of the hardest of my life. Fighting the feelings of bitterness, resentment, and failure. It felt as though all the hard work and sacrifices I made to get my company up and going were all for nothing. When you’re a visionary and driven person like I am, those feelings are extremely dangerous and detrimental to the relationships of the friends and family closest to me. 

But God working the way he does gave me a wake-up call. He told me not to give up and to keep pushing to pursue my dream. So, I decide to turn what felt like was a dead-end into an opportunity. The next 5 years at Western Kentucky University groomed me into the professional I am today. That job ended up giving me the financial freedom, connections, and opportunities to keep growing my company until the point of 2020 when it merged and became Forerunner. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Forerunner makes visual content that closes the gap between you and your customers. We believe Faith is the fabric of our being and the backbone of our company. We believe in the importance of being a part of and giving back to our community. We believe our customers deserve the highest level of quality, and we strive to provide that on every project. As our name states, we believe in pushing past boundaries whether personal or technological to give our customers the highest level of quality. We believe our customers deserve the best experience from first contact to final delivery. 

Our focus is on creating engaging and effective visual content with our bread and butter being video production. We have produced every format of video you can image. Commercials, music videos, social media ads, short films, etc., we also provided photography, live streaming, and have a studio with a cyclorama wall. 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck is a funny concept. Luck isn’t simply a byproduct of randomness that people arbitrarily benefit or suffer from. God has divine purpose for each one of us. When we realize all, we need is the courage to walk through the doors he opens for us luck turns into something else entirely. 

Contact Info:

• Email: info@forerunner.tv
• Website: www.forerunner.tv
• Instagram: forerunnerco

Image Credits
Julie Hall Photography