Production partner,not production company.
Story First makes video for law firms that want to look like themselves. Boutique by design. Strategic by approach. Cinematic by craft.
An unlikely path to filmmaking.
I didn't take the standard path.
At 16, I had a full-time job painting cars through a high school program. By the time I was out of school, I was earning a living at it. I figured I'd be a painter.
Then came a music career and a record deal. Family struggles and addiction came with the years that followed. When the music failed, I was homeless. I had to start over.
Faith and work pulled me back. I returned to painting and built a career — twenty years in body shops, eventually one of the top earners in the industry. That's where I learned I'm a visionary by nature. Looking at a wreck and seeing the restoration before it exists. The same instinct shows up now when I'm planning a brand video.
The shift to film came through self-education. Tony Robbins. Business books. Entrepreneur podcasts. Anything I could get my hands on while I was still painting cars. I started shooting video on the side, learned the craft, and eventually built operations at the nation's largest legal video production company. That's where I learned the craft at scale.
Story First is what I wanted to build next. Boutique by design. Strategic by approach. Cinematic by craft. The kind of partner I'd have wanted to hire.
— Chris Gray, Founder
Four things I don't compromise on.
Excellence isn't a slogan.
I anchor it to a verse from Ecclesiastes — 'whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.' I've handwritten it on cards for clients. Not a religious sales line. A personal commitment to how the work gets done. Renting the gear we actually need instead of getting by. Scouting locations the night before. Editing a quick gift video out of footage I had laying around just because. Going past where most people would stop. Excellence isn't a value statement. It's a way of working.
Find the human first.
Most attorneys come into the first call with a guard up. The work starts the moment that guard drops, when I learn what their weekend looks like, what their kids are into, why they took on this practice in the first place. The video isn't a sales pitch. It's a conversation. The conversation can't happen until the human shows up.
I see it before it's there.
Twenty years of automotive painting taught me to look at a wreck and see the restoration. I bring the same instinct to video. By the end of a Discovery Call, I can usually see your brand video in my head. The tone. The cut. The moments that have to land. The shoot day is just the work of bringing that version into reality. Most people call that vision. I call it the thing that's kept me going.
Nothing accidental.
The way you treat people shows up in the small, deliberate choices nobody else sees. Returning a text at 9pm. The handwritten card. Cutting an extra version because a client mentioned a use case in passing. Treating someone the way you want to be treated isn't a slogan. It's the small intentional choices, repeated.
— Chris Gray
The best money we've spent on marketing.
Across every major practice area.
Atlanta · Nashville · Los Angeles · Washington DC · Portland · and more
Coast to coast. Every major practice area.
Personal injury. Employment law. Criminal defense. Medical malpractice. Insurance claims. Family law. Firms from 2 to 20 attorneys, coast to coast. And the marketing agencies that bring them to us.
What every engagement has in common: a firm that cares deeply about how it's represented.
When you're ready, we're ready.
We take on a limited number of firms each quarter, and our calendar books out weeks in advance. 30 minutes, no obligation — just a conversation about your firm and whether we're the right team for the work.
Every project is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
Or call us: 770-525-6192