Takeda Entertainment celebrates 25 years

It started on Valentine’s Day 1999 – a true labor of love. After years of working inside TV stations, I struck out on my own to create a production company. My goal was to tell genuine people stories — visual stories with emotional impact. Every story. Every time.

Creative team in 2008.

I started with very humble beginnings. I rented a half-room in what was then called The Ogden House — a community of editors, animators, directors, producers all housed in a Denver Square not far from the birthplace of Denver. My first desk was the box of a brand new HP Laserjet printer, propping up an Apple Powerbook G3.

The first desk of Takeda Entertainment. (March 1999)

My first client work was copywriting radio commercials for University of Colorado Hospital and an annual report for the Arvada Center. Not exactly visual stories, but stories none-the-less — and a very needed life-line to keep a fledgling company afloat.

And then in 2000, my Cadillac came. Project work for General Motors’ prestige car division in the middle of reinventing itself for the next generation of car buyers. I’m very proud of our combined efforts to bring that to life. That led to literally hundreds of client films for Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and the entire GM lineup.

Lori Kay Allred directs the cast on a recent film shoot.

In 2002, we added a second director to the team — the simply brilliant Lori Kay Allred — and we grew. We’ve never stopped following our mission to tell genuine people stories for our clients from LA to Paris, and everywhere in between.

Many thanks to our loyal clients who return year-after-year and to our creative team all over the country and the globe. Lori and I look forward to upcoming collaborations in our Silver Anniversary year and in future years to come.