Telling Albuquerque's Story One Frame at a Time

Grace Toledo and her husband Carlos didn't set out to build a video production company in Albuquerque. They met while working as radio hosts in Guatemala, dated for about a year, and eventually started talking about a bigger move. In 2017 they made it happen, landing in New Mexico with a plan to give the city three months and see what stuck. Grace picked up a job with Cumulus Media, the couple booked their first video client, and eight years later Indigo Screen Productions is going strong!

From Radio Hosts to Full Service Video Producers

Grace was born and raised in Miami to a mother from Guatemala and a father of Italian descent, and Carlos is from Guatemala. The two met while working for the same radio company there, and part of that job involved shooting corporate sponsorship content for advertisers, everything from short informational pieces to social media clips. That early experience in video production, paired with their broadcast background, became the foundation for the business they eventually built together in Albuquerque.

Their first video for their first Albuquerque client was shot entirely on cell phones. The quality was so professional he couldn't tell the difference, and he's still one of their best clients today. That job led to a referral, the referral helped fund better equipment, and word of mouth carried the company from there.

A Wide Range of Video and Marketing Services

Indigo Screen Productions now covers corporate and government videos, social media content, event coverage, real estate photography and drone work, website design, and social media management. Grace explains that the right approach depends entirely on the client. A restaurant or hotel might need user generated content showing off the food or the space, while a business owner who wants to build a personal brand might need a promotional video that puts them on camera explaining their services. Website videos tend to run one to three minutes and cover the full history and offerings of a business, while social content is built around quick, specific snippets meant for platforms like Facebook and TikTok.

The company also handles aerial photography and videography with FAA certified drone operators, work that gets requested often by real estate agencies looking to showcase properties and by event clients who want footage of crowd size and atmosphere. Grace notes that New Mexico's mix of desert, mountains, and adobe architecture gives them a range of visual backdrops that few other places can match, missing only an ocean, which Texas covers closely enough.

Supporting Minority Owned Businesses Through NMBDA

For two years, Indigo Screen Productions partnered with the New Mexico Minority Business Development Agency to produce video content for minority owned and female owned businesses across the state, completing more than 50 videos through the program. Grace says the funding for that initiative was cut and the NMBDA is no longer active, but she and Carlos are actively looking for other agencies or programs that would let them continue that kind of work alongside their regular client base.

Why Grace Believes Every Business Needs Video

Grace is direct about where she thinks marketing is headed. She believes every business should be doing video, since attention spans are short and a few seconds of visual content tends to connect with potential customers faster than a page of text. She's equally direct that video without SEO only goes so far, since a strong video means little if people can't find the business behind it. That combination of video production, web design, and marketing strategy is what she describes as the company's real value for a new business owner who doesn't know where to start.

Client Relationships Built on Communication

When a project wraps, Grace says the goal is simple. She wants clients to feel comfortable throughout the process, whether they're on camera or prefer to stay behind it, and she wants open communication about what the client expects the final video to say. Beyond that, the goal is repeat business, and Grace says she and Carlos work hard to make sure clients want to come back. Several of their longtime clients have become personal friends over the years, including one couple whose wedding they flew to Florida to film and photograph.

Visit Indigo Screen Productions

Indigo Screen Productions is based in Albuquerque and serves clients throughout New Mexico and beyond. Learn more at indigoscreenproductions.com, watch their work on YouTube, or follow along on Facebook.