First Hold Book a call

First Hold, by Randall Systems. Made by a team that’s shot music videos and commercials in LA since 2011.

A website as strong as your work.

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Sound familiar?

Producers check your site before they call.

It happens to good filmmakers all the time. The reel gets someone interested, and then the site gives them a reason to hesitate.

  1. A cinematic frame of Joshua trees at sunset, shot on an Alexa, next to the same frame squeezed out of shape into a dated stock template with a “Welcome to my portfolio!” header and a blue “View gallery” button.

    It’s a step behind your work.

    You shoot on an Alexa and present on a template. The gap shows the second the page loads.

  2. A director’s site playing their reel in an embedded third-party player: a generic avatar and a file name as the title, a “Watch later” button, a “More videos” row of other people’s films over the end of the reel, and the platform’s logo in the controls.

    Your films play in someone else’s player.

    YouTube and Vimeo embeds bring their logo and their title bar. On YouTube, the suggestions when your film ends can’t be switched off, and on a label’s upload the title bar credits the label, not you.

  3. A receding wall of thirty near-identical template portfolio sites, each with the same header, the same hero photo with a centred title such as “Director” or “Filmmaker”, and the same row of three thumbnails. One of them is marked “Yours”.

    It looks like every other template.

    Squarespace, Wix and Cargo hand everyone the same handful of layouts, and the people who hire directors look at a lot of directors’ sites.

  4. Four tropes of AI-generated sites shown side by side: a violet-and-pink gradient blob on black, a glowing gradient “Get started” button, the headline “Elevate your vision” in a generic sans with gradient text, and sparkle icons with an “AI-powered” badge.

    You tried AI. So did everyone else.

    A prompt gets you a website in a minute: the same dark gradient, the same glowing button, the same fade-in. It looks generated because it was.

  5. A text thread where someone shares a director’s site: the link arrives as a plain gray bubble with only a name and a web address, no picture. Beside it, the same director’s Google result shows a generic builder icon and a description made of menu words.

    Someone texts your link. It shows up with no picture.

    Names travel in texts, Slack threads and forwarded emails. On a lot of sites, the link arrives as a gray bubble with a title and a web address, and Google writes its own line under the name.

  6. The same director’s site twice. On launch day it is clean: a full-bleed hero and an even grid of six films. Three months later a long title overflows the hero, the section heading has switched to a mismatched serif, one thumbnail is stretched out of shape, and the grid has broken apart.

    It looked perfect the day it launched.

    Then every new job meant a night in a page builder, so the new work waited and last year’s spot stayed on top. The edits you did make broke the grid. Most designers hand over the keys and move on, and the site drifts a little further from what you paid for every time you touch it.

What’s missing

  • Designer-level polishType, spacing and pacing set by hand for your work.
  • Your films, in your own playerEncoded from your master, or the best copy you can get, with nobody else’s logo on them.
  • Loops that play on hoverEvery project moves when a cursor finds it, and holds a proper still on a phone.
  • Motion that stays out of the wayPages cut into each other like an edit, and nothing makes anyone wait for the work.
  • A private pitch portalTreatments and selects behind a passcode, on your own subdomain.
  • RestraintThe difference between looking available and looking booked.

A site should back up the work. Not give someone who liked it a reason to second‑guess it.

What we keep finding

The same problems, site after site.

We look at a lot of directors’, DPs’ and production companies’ sites, public pages only. These are the ones that come up again and again, and most owners have no idea.

  • No pictureThe link shows up in a text or a Slack thread as a gray bubble, with nothing from the work in it.
  • No descriptionGoogle writes its own line under the name, usually from menu words.
  • Someone else’s playerThe films play in Vimeo’s or YouTube’s player, with their logo and their suggestions.
  • Anyone can send as youNo DMARC record on the domain, so anyone can send email that says it’s from you.
  • Dead endsBroken pages, and films that now say “This video does not exist.”

None of it is hard to fix. It just has to be someone’s job.

Get a free screen test of yours

The details nobody templates

We’ve spent fifteen years on sets making music videos and commercials, so we build sites the way we’d want ours built. Here’s what that looks like.

None of it is there to be noticed. It’s there so the work arrives well.

Shown on Feed the Wolf’s site: our own production company, built by the same team.

  1. Samplefeedthewolf.la

    The open A short open that plays once, then gets out of the way.

  2. Samplefeedthewolf.la/work

    The cut Pages that cut into each other instead of blinking.

  3. Samplefeedthewolf.la/work/bad-bunny-quien-tu-eres

    The depth Layers that drift at their own speed as you scroll.

  4. Samplefeedthewolf.la/artists

    The hover Work that starts playing the moment a cursor finds it.

Send us the folder. Yes, the messy one.

Masters, Vimeo links, a credits spreadsheet, a voice memo listing jobs you forgot about. We pull the stills, cut the loops, fix the credits and build the site around the work. You take one call and approve one link.

taylorjamesrandall.com

Illustration: a messy folder of files (a reel, a master, stills, a lookbook, a phone photo, a voice memo, a credits spreadsheet and a list of Vimeo links) sorts itself into a finished cinematographer's site for Taylor James Randall, with his reel playing full-bleed.

  1. Send the folder.

    Dropbox, Frame.io, Drive, a hard drive in the mail. Whatever's easiest.

  2. One call.

    An hour to find the line that sums you up, the films to lead with, and what to leave out.

  3. Approve one link.

    Then you never log in again.

The Screening Room

Same film. Different first impression.

A film playing inside a generic embedded video player, with someone else's logo, title bar and suggested videos over the picture.
Embedded. Someone else's logo, someone else's player, and a wall of other people's videos when it ends.
The same film in a Screening Room: a clean player in the director's own design, with no third-party logos or suggestions.
Your Screening Room. Encoded from your master, or the best copy you can get, and played in a player built for you. No logos, no ads, no suggestions. When it ends, it ends on your card.

Two things no setting removes from a YouTube embed: the suggestions when your film ends, and the logo. On a label’s upload, the title bar credits the label.

You’re a video company. Your video can’t stutter.

Most portfolio sites play their films from someone else’s service: Vimeo, YouTube, or the site builder’s own player. Here’s what changes when we host them.

  1. It’s on your address, not theirs.

    Your stills, posters and hover loops load from media.yourname.com, and your films play in your player, on your page. No Vimeo, no YouTube, no site builder in between. Copy a link and it has your name on it.

  2. London waits no longer than LA.

    We keep copies of your images and loops in data centres around the world, so they load from close to whoever’s watching. A producer in London or Sydney sees your first frame as fast as you do at home.

  3. Bad wifi drops the quality a notch. It doesn’t stop the film.

    Every film is saved at several quality levels. On hotel wifi or a phone on set, the player switches to a lighter version for a few seconds instead of freezing on a spinning wheel, then switches back.

  4. Nothing loads before your film.

    A Vimeo or YouTube embed loads its whole player first: logo, buttons, tracking. We measured up to 730 KB per film before a single frame. Our player is part of your page, so the first thing that loads is your work.

  5. Your films don’t go dark when someone else’s plan does.

    When a site builder’s plan lapses or a video account gets flagged, every film on it stops playing at once. Yours run on servers we manage and watch, so if something breaks, we know before a producer does.

Your own address · Copies near every viewer · Adjusts to the connection · No third-party player · Included in every plan

Selects

Send them only the work they need to see.

A label is hiring for a dance video. An agency wants night exteriors. Pick the films that fit from your own site, or text us who it's for, and they get your selects on a private page in your design. You'll know when they open it.

A former Droga5 agency producer has written that directors without something close to the spot rarely made her bid pool. Selects puts the closest thing first, for each pitch.

Included from $99 a month, and for every production company. Passcode and expiry optional.

Sampleprivate.taylorjamesrandall.com/label

Sample: Taylor James Randall picks six dance films from his site in the First Hold portal, then the selects page the label opens.

Sampleprivate.feedthewolf.la/northline

Sample: a Feed the Wolf treatment for a fictional brand, in Feed the Wolf’s own design. Try the password on the door: FIRST

The Treatment Room

Your treatment, in your design, behind your own door.

Send the deck however it exists: PDF, Keynote, Canva or a link. We rebuild it in your site's design, check every budget line and date, and host it on your own domain behind a passcode, with a PDF ready to forward. It's back in 24 to 48 hours, and you'll know when the agency opens it.

An outsourced treatment designer runs about $1,200 a deck. The Treatment Room is its own plan, priced on how often you pitch and how much of each treatment we build.

We don't write treatments. We make them look like your work.

Behind the work

The small stuff matters.

A site can look right and still arrive in a text with no picture, let Google write the line under your name, and let anyone send email as you. We set up everything behind it at launch, and keep it right every month.

  • Clean linksyourname.com/work/nike-spring, never /work-copy-1. Old links redirect, so nothing you've shared breaks.
  • A page for every filmSend a producer the Nike spot as one link, not the homepage and “scroll down”. Each film’s page carries its credits as text that Google and AI assistants can read.
  • Found on GoogleProper titles and descriptions on every page, and the structured data that tells Google who you are and what you made.
  • Seen by AI searchReadable by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers. Set to “search yes, training no” unless you tell us otherwise. Nobody else asks you.
  • Real link previewsA frame and a title when your link lands in a text, a Slack or an email, not a gray bubble with no picture.
  • No plugins to patchNo WordPress, no plugins, no admin login to break into. Your domain locked with two-factor. Leftover template pages, gone.
  • Email that's really from youSPF, DKIM and DMARC on your domain, so your mail is signed and mail pretending to be you gets turned away.

Nobody can promise rankings, AI answers or inbox placement. We promise the foundations are done right and kept right.

Screen test · free · one page

See what a producer sees when they look you up.

Send us your site and we’ll send back a one-page screen test: how your link shows up in a text, how Google and AI search describe you, what’s happening with your films, and whether your email is set up properly. It arrives within two working days.

Public information only. No logins, no scanning, nothing intrusive.

What it looks at

The second look
Does your link show a picture in a text or Slack? · Does Google show a description you wrote? · Does your page title say what you do and where? · Is there a page for each film?
Your films
Whose player are they in? · Whose account are they on? · Any dead or private embeds?
Search and AI
Can Google, Bing and the AI search crawlers read the site? · Is anything blocking them by accident? · Is AI training allowed by default?
Email and domain
Can anyone send mail as you? · Does your domain sign its mail? · When does the domain renew?
Housekeeping
Leftover template pages · Auto-numbered links like /contact-2 · Newest work on the site vs. your latest release

Better than a template. Half the price of an agency.

First Hold compared with template builders, AI site builders and design agencies
Template builders Squarespace, Wix, Framer AI site builders Design agencies First Hold
Designed for you A template Generated Yes By hand, for one filmmaker
Your films in your own player, from the best copy you have Embeds Embeds Sometimes Yes: your Screening Room
Hover loops and transitions Basic Generic Yes Yes
Private pitch portal on your own subdomain No No Rarely Yes: the Treatment Room
Selects for each pitch No No No Yes: Selects
Updates You do them You do them Billed by the hour Done for you within 72 hours
Google, AI search, security and email, set up right Up to you Up to you Sometimes, at extra cost Included, and kept current
Your time Weekends Endless prompting Months of meetings One call
If you leave Rebuild: exports skip portfolio pages Depends on the tool Usually yours You keep the code and the domain
Price $20–50/mo plus your time $0–30/mo plus your time $10,000–$25,000+ From $2,900

Agency range from published minimums and quotes for studios that build production-company sites, 2026.

What happens when you book

One call, no slideshow.

You leave with a plan for your site, even if we never work together.

  1. Before the callWe run a free screen test on your current site: how it reads to a producer, to Google and to AI search, and whether your email is set up properly. The one-page report arrives before we talk.
  2. On the callTwenty minutes with Colin on the work you want more of, what your site says today and what it should say.
  3. After the callA direction, a fixed price and a start date, the same day. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so, and the report is yours to keep.

What it costs

One price for the site. Then a monthly plan that hosts it, keeps it current and keeps your films playing.

Filmmaker

$2,900

for the site, then from $49 a month

For directors and DPs.

The positioning call, two design directions, a custom build, Send the Folder, credits cleanup, copy and your Screening Room.

  • $49/moYour site, kept current. Add projects whenever you finish one, live in 72 hours. Schedule releases for the day you choose. And your films in the Screening Room.
  • $99/moEverything in $49, plus Selects and your Closed Set. Send Selects: a private page of just the projects that fit the job. And keep anything private on your Closed Set, the private side of your site: any PDF, deck or link behind a passcode, with an expiry date and an alert when it’s opened.

Production company

$5,900

for the site, then from $149 a month

For production companies and their rosters.

Your company site with the roster, everything in the filmmaker site, and a Closed Set switched on for every director.

  • $149/moUp to 5 directors
  • $199/mo6 to 10 directors
  • $249/mo11 or more

Every plan includes everything in the filmmaker’s $99 plan, across the whole roster: hosting, updates, scheduled releases, the Screening Room, the Closed Set and Selects. Want a director to have their own site too? $1,500, plus $49 a month.

The Treatment Room. Want your treatments and decks rebuilt in your site’s design, not just hosted on your Closed Set? It’s its own plan, a step up from the monthly plans, priced on how often you pitch and how much of each treatment we build. We’ll size it with you on the call.

Founding clientsFirst Hold is new. The team behind it isn’t. We’ve made music videos and commercials since 2011, and we’ve built sites for a DP, a production company, a writer-director and a film festival. What we don’t have yet is five clients who’ll tell you what it was like. So the first five keep today’s prices for as long as they stay, in exchange for a case study, an honest testimonial and permission to show the build. Five of five founding spots are open. We start four builds a month.

Book a call20 min
Free

Love the direction, or your deposit comes back.

  • If an update takes longer than 72 hours, that month is free.
  • If your site isn't live within three weeks of your folder, your first three months are on us.
  • If a deck misses its 24- or 48-hour window, it doesn’t count against your month, and the next one is free.

What we won't promise is that you'll get signed. Nobody honest can. What we will promise is that when they click, you'll look like the tier you're pitching for.

Colin Randall, founder

Questions

Anything else, ask on the call.

Is this a template?

No. Every site starts from two design directions and is coded by hand. We reuse our own engineering underneath, which is why it takes weeks, not months.

What do I actually have to do?

You send the folder, take one call and approve one link. We handle everything in between.

I can do this on Squarespace.

You can, and most of the people we looked at did. The template was never the hard part. The night after every job was: the embeds, the titles, the link with no picture. We do those every month, so you don't.

$2,900 is a lot for a website.

It sits between a template and an agency, and it comes with a team that keeps it current. If you don't love either design direction, your deposit comes back.

Won't a site like this look like I spent my time on the site?

It can, and producers notice. The motion on a First Hold site is there to get people to the work faster: films that start on hover, pages that cut instead of reload. Nobody should notice the site.

My films are only on YouTube or Vimeo. Is that a problem?

No. Send the links, and the best copy you can get. Your editor, post house or production company usually has the master, and asking for it is yours to do. Until it turns up, we work from what you've sent.

Will I show up on Google?

We set up everything Google and AI search look for: clean links, proper titles and descriptions, structured data about you and your films, a sitemap and Search Console, plus redirects from your old site so you keep what you already had. Nobody honest can promise rankings, but you won't lose ground to a broken setup. On any monthly plan, we also check each quarter what the main AI assistants say about you.

Do you do AI SEO?

There's no secret AI trick. Google's own guidance says optimizing for AI answers is mostly ordinary search work: a site that's easy to read, true and current. We add an llms.txt file because it costs nothing, and we won't tell you it gets you into ChatGPT, because nothing says it does.

What goes in the folder?

Whatever you've got: masters, Vimeo links, stills, a credits spreadsheet, a voice memo listing jobs. Messy is fine.

Where is my video hosted?

On servers we manage for you, not on Vimeo, YouTube or your site builder. Each film is saved from your master, or the best copy you've sent, at several quality levels. Your stills, posters and hover loops load from your own address (media.yourname.com), with copies kept in data centres around the world so they load fast wherever the viewer is. It all plays in a player designed in your house style: no third-party logos, no recommended videos, no Vimeo bill. It's included in every plan.

Will my films buffer?

On a decent connection, they start sharp and stay sharp. On hotel wifi or a phone on set, the player switches to a lighter version for a few seconds instead of stopping, then switches back. Nobody can promise zero buffering on a bad connection, and we won't. What we can promise is that nothing else on the page competes with your film: no embedded players loading in the background, and the first frame is already waiting near whoever's watching.

Why not just embed Vimeo or YouTube?

Because the embed is someone else's player. On YouTube, the suggestions when your film ends can't be switched off, the logo can't be removed, and on a label's upload the title bar credits the label. Vimeo is cleaner, but its logo and end screen depend on the uploader's plan, and the film goes wherever that account goes. In your Screening Room, none of that is up to someone else.

Can I edit it myself?

You can, but you won't need to. Text or email us the link and it's live within 72 hours.

Do you write treatments?

No. The Treatment Room rebuilds yours in your site's design, checks the numbers and dates, and hosts it behind your own door. The writing stays with you or your treatment team.

Can I send someone just the work that's relevant to them?

Yes. That's Selects. Pick the films from your own site, or tell us who it's for, and they get a private page in your design with only those projects. Passcode and expiry are optional, and you'll know when they open it. It's included from $99 a month, and for every production company.

What's the difference between $49 and $99 a month?

Both host your site, add new projects, schedule releases and keep your films playing. The $99 plan adds Selects and your Closed Set, the private side of your site: any PDF, deck or link behind a passcode, with an expiry date and an alert when it's opened. It's designed with your site either way, so switching it on later doesn't need a redesign.

I'm signed. Doesn't my production company's page cover this?

That page belongs to the company. Your site is yours, and it follows you between rosters, reps and markets.

What if I cancel my monthly plan?

You keep the code and the domain. We hand you the files and a guide to hosting them yourself, so nothing is held hostage.

What if you disappear?

You own the code and the domain from day one. If we stop working together, for any reason, you get the files and a guide to hosting them yourself.

Do you work outside LA?

Yes. Everything runs remotely, and we've built for clients in Austin and Dubai.

Do you build for production companies?

Yes. The company site covers your roster, director pages and reps by territory, for $5,900. The monthly plan scales with your roster: $149 up to 5 directors, $199 for 6 to 10, $249 for 11 or more, and every director gets a Closed Set and Selects. Any director can also have their own site, built on yours, for $1,500 plus $49 a month.

Let’s make yours.

Book a call20 min
Free Not ready? Start with a free screen test or write to Colin directly