Video production company The Film Farmers, of Surrey, have worked with expert Chris Maslin of Go EO to become an employee-owned trust. Co-founders Tom and Alison Farmery wanted to secure the future of the business and benefit their ambitious team
Successful video production company The Film Farmers, based in Reigate, Surrey, has turned its business into an employee-owned trust to secure its future.
It was in 2017, that co-founders (now husband and wife) Tom and Alison Farmery set up their video production company with a view to working with brands, companies and charities to tell their stories through film.
Since then, they have worked all over the world with organisations including the elephant charity Space For Giants, Meta, Michael Kors, Baillie Newman, Boxwise and many more. Their business has seen growth – 50 per cent year on year up to the pandemic and that growth is now gaining ground.
“We never dreamed that our little company in Surrey would attract such wonderful clients and that we would travel the world helping to tell stories through the power of video,” Tom said.
“We’ve loved it and now as a team of six and working with trusted freelancers, we’re still growing yet it’s time for my wife and I to consider our future and what we want from our lives too.”
Tom and Alison, still in their 30s, had n’o even considered that their company could become an employee-owned trust until a plan to sell to a larger business fell through at the eleventh hour.
“Our financial adviser suggested this may be an option for us,” Tom said. “It felt like a perfect solution where we could exit gradually, be rewarded fairly for our own hard work in building the business yet our team would be protected. Also we felt sure, that they would be highly motivated to keep growing if they too were benefitting from future success.”
Tom did some research and found Kent-based expert Chris Maslin who runs Go EO which provides an affordable process for becoming an EOT. In 2021, Chris moved his previous business, an accountancy firm, into such a trust after deciding it was time for him to move on to pastures new.
“Like Tom and Alison, I was invested in my team but felt that my time leading the business should come to an end as I wanted to move on and enjoy new adventures. I sold to an EOT, which I’m happy was a great move for all concerned.”
Chris felt that the process of becoming an EOT was more complex than it needed to be and came up with a more stream-lined approach to help others transition to this business model. Since then he’s supported many business owners across the UK to do the same.
An employee-owned business means that the founder or owners can exit the business by selling their shares to a trust run by employees. That founder can exit immediately or leave over a period of time.
Tom said: “We’re not leaving the company immediately. I have an MD role and Alison is running operations and we will exit over time. We’re learning to delegate and hand over responsibility to our small team. The aim is that I will focus on new business and both of us will cease being so involved in the day to day running of the company.
“Working with Chris at Go EO was so easy. He made it all very simple and we felt we were in in safe hands and we really trusted him. We have no regrets that we are planning for the future of this business beyond our time here.”
For more information about The Film Farmers visit https://www.thefilmfarmers.co.uk/
• Image shows - Tom Farmery, Nick Marrington & Mihali Moore of The Film Farmers. The other team members are Alison Farmery and Gwen Thurston
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