Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Hatling.
Andrew, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My love for filmmaking goes back to growing up in rural Minnesota. As one of four children, and being miles from civilization, we had to make our own fun. A favorite activity of ours was making short films. The body of work was broad: sequels to our favorite Disney movies, stop motion animations of our Lego, and Irwinesque nature documentaries. At age ten, things really took off when I received my own camera for Christmas. The combination of storytelling, technology, and creativity had me hooked.
As that passion grew, I found myself in high school, still in a rural Minnesota town with very few fellow filmmakers around me — so I decided to bring the filmmakers to me (this was when YouTube was still in its infancy). I started the Watertown Film Festival my sophomore year, which became a way for me to discover what other filmmakers were doing around the world (with the occasional contribution from my friends, who created cult classics like “Homeschool Musical” and “The Taurus and the Hair.”
That enriched passion fueled my desire to go to Los Angeles for college. After starting my career there and bopping around the country for a few years, I returned home to Minnesota and began work at a Twin Cities-based advertising agency.
While the work was exciting and taught me a lot, I missed the independence I had loved in my previous roles — so I decided to go out on my own and start a production company. This was the beginning of Noble just over five years ago.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Running a business is not easy. At the outset, I didn’t realize how much it would challenge me, holistically.
I had no formal business training at that point. On day one, I began work learning how to read P&L statements, how to hire, and, maybe most importantly, how to build something that had a greater purpose.
Early on, I realized that, despite the learning curve, holding true to your values is the key to successfully building a business. At Noble, those values meant finding the best possible people to partner with, treating those partners like family, never compromising on quality, and perpetually pushing the creative bar higher.
Those values built Noble and are shared by our entire team. They successfully brought us through the pandemic, continued economic uncertainty, and the never-ending change in our industry. Today, I am so proud of what we have created and where we are headed.
We’ve been impressed with Noble, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Noble is a full-service content studio, meaning we are able to help produce photos, videos, and design work from start to finish. Serving as a one-stop shop is a unique offering.
What truly sets Noble apart though is the philosophy we bring to our work. There is no shortage of content creators out there today, and certainly no shortage of content to consume. So the challenge as a content studio is figuring out how to stand out in the crowd.
Our solution is in how we create. Our work focuses on human-centric, story-driven, and creative-fueled stories. This “honest” approach to storytelling leads to work that warms the heart and stirs the mind.
Through this approach, we’ve developed deep relationships with major brands like Target, Medtronic, Bosch, and Cenex — helping them tell their stories in fresh ways.
Beyond our client work, we seek opportunities to support our community and feed our creative spirits. We consistently have a mix of pro-bono projects that include partnering with non-profits to share their impact, producing music videos for up-and-coming artists, and helping promote fellow, local small businesses.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up in rural Minnesota, I was surrounded by nature. Exploring forests filled with magic, floating through summers in our backyard lake, discovering new creatures in our neighbor’s chest-high grass — my creative spirit was fed every single day.
As a child, describing myself as shy would have been an understatement. I was much happier simply observing the world around me. I have such vivid memories from throughout my childhood that takes on this sort of observational lens, which provided a way to truly study and understand the world around me. It taught me a lot about people.
That shyness lingered until the day I found my Dad’s old Hi-8 camera in the closet. I discovered a sort of superpower when I had a camera in my hand. Walls would disappear and I found it so much easier to connect with others.
As an adult, the practice of meeting so many people through the stories I have told helped me to grow out of this shell. While I still find energy through holding a camera, I’ve discovered that it wasn’t necessarily the camera that created that sense of freedom, but a true love for people. Connecting with others brought me to life. This discovery has been integral in building Noble and creating work that has a purpose.
Today, I continue to see nature as a muse and I use nature as a space to recharge and reconnect to the world, in between feeding this unquenchable curiosity I have for hearing the stories of the people around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.DiscoverNoble.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discovernoble/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/discovernoble/
