Our Mission
To make ambitious video production dependable.
We give organizations a creative partner they can trust with important stories, complicated productions, and ongoing content needs — without sacrificing creativity, quality, or execution.
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Our Philosophy
Great Creative Requires Great Execution
We believe creativity and execution are inseparable. The story and the shot matter — but so do the crew arriving prepared, the interview sounding right, the files being organized, the deadline being met, and someone being accountable for the result. That’s shaped Dogtown Films from the beginning.
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Our Story
From Venice Beach to productions nationwide
What kept coming up: companies didn’t just need talented filmmakers. They needed filmmakers who understood the objective beyond the shot list, who could build the right crew in an unfamiliar city, and who took ownership of problems instead of making them the client’s.
That idea became Dogtown Films — founded in Venice Beach, California, in 2021, and later relocated to Miami.
Since then, Dogtown has coordinated productions across multiple cities, filmed in more than two dozen states, and built a nationwide network of 200+ production professionals — producing documentary stories, corporate films, product campaigns, donor stories, educational content, sports productions, live events, and post-production work. We’ve executed projects as straightforward as one videographer in the right room, and as complicated as seven shoots in seven cities on the same day.
Different projects. Same responsibility: get the right people in the right place and make the work excellent.
Crew & Behind-the-Scenes
The people on the day.
Many of our team members are Emmy Award winners — talented not because of the accolade, but because they love the craft and creating the best content possible, in the moment. That same standard is what we bring to every project.
Company
The Founder
Nik Petrakis began working in video in 2006. A lot of his early training came from working alongside the founders of Fresh Focus Sports — a relationship that’s continued for nearly 20 years and shaped his eye for live, high-pressure production. By 2009, he was directing a music video production involving roughly 150 people.
Over the years that followed, his work expanded across television, documentary filmmaking, commercial production, live professional sports, corporate storytelling, product videos, independent films, and post-production — working within the film industry both independently and on staff, as a videographer, editor, and in various stunt department roles. He spent a decade in Los Angeles before founding Dogtown Films in 2021.
Today, Nik combines creative direction, production leadership, and years of hands-on production experience to guide every project from concept through final delivery.
How We Work
Documentary Thinking.
Documentary filmmaking shaped how we approach every production: listening for the moment nobody planned, and understanding that the person in front of the camera matters more than the equipment around them. We combine that instinct with commercial discipline — planning, scheduling, budget awareness, crew management, post-production systems, and deadlines.
What We Believe
Five things we hold to.
Judgment Matters.
Production rarely happens exactly as planned. We expect our team to recognize problems early and make decisions that protect the project.
The Story Comes First.
Cameras improve, platforms change, and AI is transforming how content gets made. None of that changes the need to tell a great story that captures attention. The tool serves the story — never the other way around.
Own the Outcome.
We don’t believe clients should have to manage their production company. If we take responsibility for a project, we take responsibility for moving it forward.
Scale Shouldn’t Lower the Standard.
Whether we’re sending one videographer across town or coordinating crews across multiple states, the expectation stays the same: professional people, clear communication, strong judgment, excellent work.
Technology Should Remove Friction.
We use AI-assisted workflows — for voiceovers, content development, post-production — when they save time, reduce cost, or solve a real production problem. Not because it’s fashionable.
How We Scope
Built for the Project
Dogtown Films doesn’t force every client into the same production model. Sometimes that’s a full production team, a documentary crew, a single editor, a videographer in another state by tomorrow morning, or help turning years of footage into a finished story. We start by understanding the problem, then build the production around it.
The Name
Fun Fact
Dogtown was the local name for a rundown stretch of coastline in South Santa Monica and Venice, California. In the early 1970s, a surf shop opened there and took in a team of local kids, training them and documenting everything they did. When a mid-1970s drought drained pools across Los Angeles, those same kids turned empty pools into their training ground, inventing the low, aggressive, vertical style that became modern skateboarding.
That same spirit — hard work, excellence, and staying nimble — is what we’ve built Dogtown Films around.
The Promise
We take the work seriously.
Your story, your deadline, your reputation, and the responsibility that comes with being trusted to represent them.
Dogtown Films. A creative partner you can depend on.