Shatterglass Studios Named Chamber’s ‘Small Business of the Year’

The Champaign County Chamber of Commerce named Shatterglass Studios Small Business of the Year at its annual meeting on Friday.

Located in Champaign, the company specializes in film and video production. 

The business has grown considerably in the past three years – increasing its income by 60 percent last year alone.  Laura Weis of the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce said, “They are a great example of how small business can prosper in our community.” 

Brett Hays and Luke Boyce founded the company seven years ago.  “We’re not shy about letting people know that having a small business is a challenging thing,” Hays said.  “For the first three years we relied on our wives income to move forward on our dreams.  We have extremely supportive and understanding wives.  It was hard.” 

But Hays and Boyce persevered.  “We kept dreaming bigger and bigger.  There is no secret other than persistence.  We said, ‘Let’s just be the best at our niche, which is cinematic film and video production,’” Hays said. 

The film duo are also the founders of the Champaign-Urbana Film Society, which provides filmmaking education in Champaign-Urbana.

Workshops are just one way the society is promoting filmmaking.  On November 6, a presentation on DSLR camera filmmaking will take place at the University of Illinois. 

In addition, Hays said he hopes to inspire high school students to take an interest in filmmaking.

"We gotta start young,” Hays said.  “We’d love to get into the high schools and start creating visions for young people to say, ‘You can make film, you don’t have to go and buy an expensive camera.  You can start making films now, and we’d love to support you in doing so.’”