My word for 2026 is intentional. I have been trying to be more intentional about my business relationships, my personal relationships, what I eat, the music I listen to, and even the conversations I have on social media. That last one is exactly how I found today’s guest.

I came across Mike Fortin’s page and could not look away. You know the kind of account where you cannot quite say what the person does, but you can tell they have an aura, an X factor, an “it factor”? That was Mike. I needed to know more. He has appeared on TV series like CSI Vegas and SEAL Team, and behind that Hollywood backstory is a man who has lived several different lives in several different seasons. So I invited him onto Revenue from Retention to share the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between.

The Accident That Became a Hollywood Career

I expected Mike to tell me about a connection, an introduction, a lucky break from someone on the inside. Instead, he told me it was “totally a mistake.”

Years ago, Mike flew remote controlled helicopters as a hobby. When strange new machines called quadcopters and multirotors started to appear, he had no idea they would become what we now call drones. He started a drone business to build them for Hollywood and named it Cinedrones, spelled C I N E, like cinema. Purely because of that name, production companies started calling. Drones were brand new to film and TV, and many people were nervous about them because of their association with war. Mike was so aware of it that he hesitated to use the word himself.

He showed up at exactly the right time. He filmed TV shows for Disney and music videos, and he kept flying back and forth between Orlando and Los Angeles. One day, standing on top of the Capitol Records building filming a music video, he called his wife and told her they were moving to LA. Thirty six days later, the car was loaded and they were on their way west.

Learning by Fire on Massive Sets

Mike came into Hollywood without knowing a thing about it. He taught himself, reading websites until two or three in the morning, and he learned on the job. One of his first big shows was Bosch, where he met a director of photography who later brought him to Rosarito, Mexico for three seasons of Fear the Walking Dead. He learned about cameras, camera movement, and how much really goes into the shows we watch. Twelve to eighteen hour days were the norm for a very long time.

Over the years he has worked with names like Jason Bateman, David Boreanaz, and Billy Bob Thornton, and he is proud to call some of them friends.

Giving Back When the World Knows Your Name

I asked Mike about the price of being public. I think about people like Justin Bieber, Mark Wahlberg, or Taylor Swift, who can barely walk into a grocery store or find a private moment in a hotel room. Mike was quick to say he is nowhere near that level of fame, but he has been around people who are, and he offered a perspective I loved.

Without the people buying tickets and subscribing to streaming services, none of these stars would be where they are. He talked about Billy Bob Thornton, who will happily step outside and talk with a random stranger for an hour. For Mike, the question is simple: what are you really giving up out of your own life to make someone’s day? You might be the best thing in their week, their month, or their year.

When the Lights Go Out, Creativity Gets Harder

Mike was honest about the season Hollywood has been in. The writers strike that began on May 1st of 2023 changed the entire industry, and there are still around 60,000 people out of work. Mike worked about 70 days over three years.

When you work on a show, he explained, the crew becomes your family. You eat breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner together, and creativity simply flows. When the lights go out, that all disappears. He shared that it took him to some of the hardest places a person can go, including severe depression, because he had lost his creative outlet. I appreciated how openly he named it.

The Song That Changed Everything

Here is where the story turns. A month before our conversation, Mike was driving around with his wife, searching for inspiration. He put on cinematic music and landed on a remix of “Run This City” by Jay Z and Rihanna. Within thirty seconds, he had an idea. By the end of the song, he had a script in his mind. He went home and started writing, and he now has ten episodes of a TV series written, based on true stories drawn from headlines out of California.

Mike had never written a script in his life. He knows Hollywood inside and out, except for writing and how to get something made. So now he is teaching himself again, watching videos, talking to people, and looking for financing. He told me that once that piece is solved, he is off to the races.

We also swapped notes on music. I go to Disney jazz coffee shop playlists when I need a paradigm shift. Mike listens to EDM on the drive to the gym at 4 in the morning and might switch to Eminem when he walks in. Music dictates his life in so many ways.

The Person Who Stayed

When I asked who has been his biggest support, Mike did not hesitate. It is his wife. They have been together for 25 years, half of their lives, and she has been the rock through the good, the bad, and the worse.

He was candid about his own regrets. When he started his company, he did everything himself. He worked around the clock, struggled to trust others, and pushed away people who were genuinely supporting him because he was not at peace with himself. He said he did not love himself, and it cost him. Through all of it, his wife stayed.

Now she is hitting her stride with acting, modeling, and content creation, and Mike is learning to support her without taking over. Her advice to him, when he overthinks, is simple: just do it. He called his old habit paralysis by analysis, and today he is pulling every trigger on the ideas he sat on for years.

Just Press Record

Mike launched a peptide company called Fundamental Labs, started building a public speaking path, and opened a production company that teaches business owners to create their own content instead of paying tens of thousands of dollars for it. He credited Gary Vee for finally getting him to press record, and he has posted around 250 videos in a month or two. The response has been humbling. People send messages saying they needed to hear what he shared.

His story about social media stuck with me. He once paid someone nine thousand dollars a month to run an account, and the content never took off. The moment he stopped and simply filmed himself on his iPhone, walking and talking, it skyrocketed. Real beats manufactured every time.

He also shared a Tony Robbins story that hit him like a ton of bricks. A woman was afraid of what people would think of her, so Tony asked the room what they were thinking about her. Most were thinking about her earrings, or nothing at all, because they were busy with their own thoughts. What we imagine others think of us is rarely even close.

Love Yourself First

When I asked for his best piece of advice, Mike said to love yourself first and foremost. Other people may or may not love you, but at least you will have that. He reminded us that your personal brand is your currency, and that with a phone in your hand you can now reach millions of people.

He also encouraged everyone to take risks. He was afraid to start his aerial cinematography company, and it turned out to be one of the best things in his life. Rebuilding again took sleepless nights and tears, but last week he pressed enter and launched. Whether people love it or hate it, he did it. His favorite quote, from Denzel Washington, sums it up: fail forward.

About me:

I am currently a Master Facilitator for The Elliott Group in addition to being on the board of advisors for our Cultural Transformation Department in ELLIOTT ARMY.

With over 14 years of client service experience, I have held substantial leadership roles in the automotive industry. I’m also an accredited coach, a speaker, a triathlon finisher, and a wife. To contact me for engagements, you can reach me at [email protected].

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