Today we’d like to introduce you to Dalton Smith.
Hi Dalton, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started out as a kid who loved action sports, cameras, and making videos with my friends. Surfing and skateboarding were a huge part of my life, and picking up a camera was really just another way to be involved in that world. I started making YouTube videos, shooting surf content, editing everything myself, and eventually began getting opportunities to work with real businesses and brands. What started as something I genuinely loved slowly turned into a career, and then into a business.
Over the years, NPI Productions grew with me. I went from thinking of myself strictly as a filmmaker and editor to realizing that I really loved entrepreneurship—building a team, creating opportunities, solving problems, selling ideas, and figuring out how to keep growing in an industry that is constantly changing. Today, NPI has grown into a full-service production agency working on everything from commercials and branded content to live broadcasts, major events, tourism, documentaries, and full-scale productions. Most recently, we wrapped our first two half-hour episodes of *The City Series*, a travel show I host and produce, which feels pretty full-circle after more than 12 years of creating shows for YouTube.
Where I am today is really about continuing that growth while finding balance. I have two young daughters, an amazing family, a growing team, and the agency is the biggest it has ever been. For a long time, growth meant doing everything myself and saying yes to everything. Now, growth means building the right team, putting talented people in the right positions, and creating a company that can continue getting bigger without requiring me to sacrifice the reasons I worked so hard to build it in the first place.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been far from a smooth road. I’ve made huge mistakes, lost contracts, trusted the wrong people, and watched ideas I worked incredibly hard on move forward without me. Entrepreneurship isn’t about perfection – it’s about longevity. Every successful athlete, professional, or entrepreneur has probably failed far more times than they’ve succeeded. People see the finished product, but they rarely see or appreciate the process it took to get there. Adversity, and learning how to push through it, is a huge part of what made me who I am and built NPI Productions into what it is today.
One of the hardest lessons came from partnering with one of the largest entertainment brands in the world on a concept that combined their platform with my ideas and IP. We built a relatively small program that generated more than $150,000 in revenue within roughly 12-18 months, but ultimately the partnership ended in a way where I felt my concept had been taken and I was left on the outside. I was angry, but eventually I had to look at it as a business lesson: protect yourself better, get stronger contracts in place, learn from it, and keep moving.
The ironic part is that the same larger organization later hired me through an entirely different venture under one of its other companies. That taught me something important. If I had allowed my anger from one bad experience to dictate every decision afterward, I could have closed the door on future opportunities. You can learn from being burned without becoming bitter. Success isn’t about avoiding challenges… it’s about how many times you’re willing to pick yourself back up, get smarter, and keep pushing forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We have a saying at NPI Productions: “If it’s legal, we do it.” We don’t just love creativity and storytelling – we love business growth, solving problems, and making the impossible happen. Anyone who knows NPI knows that when we pull up, we’re bringing passion, creativity, and whatever it takes to get the job done. Visit Florida has even jokingly referred to us as their “difficult team” because they can throw some of the most challenging projects our way and know we’ll figure it out.
At our core, we specialize in storytelling, but what that looks like can vary wildly. We’ve produced action sports and adventure campaigns, commercials, documentaries, athlete spotlights, major World Surf League events, country music festivals, weddings, tourism campaigns, live broadcasts, and our own original shows. We’ve filmed underwater, from boats and aircraft, with FPV drones, high-speed gimbals, and just about everywhere in between. Today, we have a roster of creatives who are intentionally selected for different projects – from documentary teams working with cinema cameras, lighting, and beautiful storytelling to action-sports crews comfortable hanging out of an aircraft or chasing talent through the water.
What I’m most proud of is that we’ve built a reputation around our passion just as much as our final product. There are incredibly talented creatives everywhere, but I’ve never believed in waiting for the perfect equipment, budget, crew, or circumstances before making something happen. I’ll forever be the guy you can drop in the jungle with a Polaroid camera and a lighter, and somehow I’m going to come back with a documentary. It might not be exactly how they taught it in film school, but we’re going to get it done… and we’re going to make it great.
As NPI has grown, we’ve added more planning, structure, technology, and incredibly talented people without losing that mentality. We might do a small shoot for a local business in our community one day and execute a $20,000 multi-camera live production with directors, camera operators, audio professionals, and multiple streams the next. I take a lot of pride in that range. The scale may change, but the goal doesn’t: understand what the client needs, put the right people and tools behind it, and deliver something we’re all genuinely stoked to put our names on.
Any big plans?
I feel like I say this every year, but we’re looking at the next level for NPI Productions and for me personally. I now have two daughters – my youngest is three months old and my oldest just turned three – and family is everything to me. I’m also someone who needs adventure, athletics, animals, filmmaking, friends, and probably way too many hobbies to feel fulfilled. We even have our own little farm at home with chickens, ducks, a bearded dragon, a frog, and four fish tanks. Balancing all of that with being a husband, father, and entrepreneur is probably the biggest challenge in my life.
For me, success going forward isn’t just about making the company bigger. We need to generate more revenue each year while also building NPI to depend on me less each year. Right now, I’m still producing, editing major projects, communicating with clients, pitching, selling, budgeting, developing ideas, overseeing the team, and putting myself on the ground where I can have the biggest impact. The goal is to continue surrounding myself with the right people, delegate more effectively, and focus my energy where I’m best served.
It has taken a lot of practice, but we’re really starting to find that rhythm. There are some huge opportunities and projects already underway that I’m incredibly excited about, and I believe they’re going to create our next wave of growth. I don’t want to grow just for the sake of growing… I want to be prepared to handle that growth correctly. If I can continue pushing NPI forward while being present for my wife, my daughters, and the life we’ve built outside of work, that’s the version of success I’m chasing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.npiproductions.tv
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/npiproductions
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/npiproductions
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daltonsmithnpi
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/npi13productions
