Based here in Lincoln, NE, Digital Sky (www.digitalsky.com) provides professional visual media production services to a wide variety of clients across the country. Capturing footage through the use of drones, Digital Sky has applied innovation, creativity, and hard work to become an industry leader.
Give our readers a brief synopsis of what your company does. – We specialize in aerial video capture, full scale video production, and social media video. Whether you need a creative alternative to normal video production, aerial volumetric analysis to save time, high resolution and current aerial maps, or simply aerial photos, we’re here to help!
How long have you been in Lincoln? – We established Digital Sky in 2014 and made it our full time project in early 2016. Since our founding, we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response to our service offering and pride ourselves in the relationships we build with our clients.
Who are the owners/important executives? – Digital Sky was co-founded by Grant Schlichtman and Justin Kyser. Grant holds degrees in video production and film. Justin holds degrees in business administration and professional aviation.
What do you think makes you different from other companies similar to yours? – In many regards, there are no companies in the area similar to ours, as our closest competitor is located in Texas. But to best sum it up, we feel there are many things to gain from mixing the best ground shots and best aerial shots together to make videos that are truly captivating.
What do you like about doing business in Lincoln? – Lincoln is a great city to call home. We like the fact that people know us, and that we can partner with a lot of great organizations that also call Lincoln home to do amazing things together.
What kind of community organizations/groups are you involved with? – We spend a lot of time volunteering for Big Red Challenge, a group that raises veteran awareness in Lincoln. We love their mission and the fact that they’re doing great work to help people who have put it all on the line. We also work with Men With Dreams, Community Hope, Indigo Bridge, and a few others.
Do you have a business philosophy or mission statement? – We don’t have a written philosophy or mission statement. When we founded our company, we set out to elevate the level of service provided to clients in the video production world. We’ve seen how many companies take advantage of their clients, and we wanted to do something different. We believe working hard with our clients to assist them in reaching their goals will make us both successful.
What changes have you seen in the industry and your company in the past few years? – Specifically in regards to the aerial work we do, there has been an increase in regulation; some good, some bad. We adapt and work within the scope of the Federal Aviation Regulations in order to ensure our company stays inside legal limits.
What do you see happening with the business in the next five years? – We’re forecasting a lot of growth over the next five years. Over the last four years, we’ve focused on markets that benefit most from our service, which has led to the significant growth of our business. In that time alone we’ve done a lot of neat things, and looking forward, we already have some really fun projects in the pipeline!
What is one of the biggest challenges that your company has faced? – I think the biggest challenge we’ve faced was when we were starting out. Drones were a foreign concept to people. We still run into people who have never seen one in person, let alone the professional equipment we use.
What has been your most important achievement as a business? – I think for us it’s been that point where we were able to say we’re “self employed, full time.”It was a big transition to go from working a day job to being our own bosses
What is the most unique or interesting thing about your business that most people don’t know? – I think it’s the lengths we go to make sure our projects are done safely and legally. All of our drones are flown by FAA licensed professionals. We’ve obtained airspace authorizations for day and night flight in every airport with controlled airspace in Nebraska.
What is one goal for your business that you have yet to accomplish? – We’re hoping we’ll soon get to fly for a major film, and with connections we’re making on the West Coast, it’s looking like that goal will be met.
