About Us
Sheldon RichmanReprinted from an article appearing on NJ.com.
“Fifteen years ago it would have been difficult to produce commercials in Westfield, NJ. But now, because so much is done digitally and online, it’s very do-able,” said TV Director Sheldon Richman. Richman Films moved from Manhattan seven years ago.

“In Manhattan, we mostly produced commercials and corporate films for mid-sized and larger companies. But we didn’t start that way. In the beginning we worked for very small companies... a lot of startups,” Sheldon explains. “We became the masters at turning out high-end looking productions with minuscule budgets. This formula worked really well for our clients. So well, that quite a few of them became famous for their marketing successes.”

In the late eighties, Richman Films started making commercials for a tiny mortgage company which grew to become the largest in the industry, number 1 in a field of about 10,000 competitors. The company was Champion Mortgage. “We developed a concept for them that just caught fire. In fact, in 2001 when they were taken over by a large bank and switched to a big agency, even though they doubled their media exposure they stopped using our programs and their sales plummeted.”

“We developed campaigns for a tiny fashion company that became a major department store brand," said Richman. "We took a start-up food product and got it onto supermarket shelves nationwide.” Richman Films successes began to attract the attention of larger advertisers. Richman explains, “In the late nineties we had become one of the most prolific production companies in New York. The high point had to be one night when I was home alone watching a primetime sitcom and they broke for a commercial island. Most breaks on the network affiliates are comprised of a mix of national and local advertisers. This break had two national spots and two local. All four of the commercials were spots I had directed. Unfortunately no one else was there to witness it and it loses quite a bit of impact in the retelling."

Digital Changes Everything

In the mid-2000's the world began to change. The digital revolution took over the production industry. All of the features of the $800 per hour edit suite we were used to using became available on a laptop. The elusive film-quality image requiring large crews and large budgets became virtually achievable with small, inexpensive digital cameras as long as you had the experience and talent to know how to employ film-style lighting.

Strong lighting skills and vast experience directing award-winning performances has brought Richman Films into the spotlight as one of the Northeast's premier resources for high-end productions on a budget.

Sheldon talks about the future for Richman Films, “We've become incredibly prolific in this new arena. We’re showing people that they should expect much more from their video productions. And that just because our productions look expensive, it doesn’t mean that they were expensive.”