OutCast! Productions – An Improvisational Idea 

When Kimberley Gray, Elisa Hitchcock and Dennis Thurston, with OutCast! ®  Productions, LLC, first visited with the Alaska Small Business Development Center’s South Central Region’s office, they had a lot of ideas for their improvisational card and board games, along with a few products they had created in their homes, but admittedly were not organized in their strategic plan or business plan.  

Over the course of a year, their business advisor helped structure their business plan, advised on a more formal financial system, created timelines for new products, and refined their marketing outreach/approach.  The SBDC TREND program also assisted OutCast! ® Productions, LLC., with their trademark and copyright concerns.

Once the team was ready to seek an outside manufacturer, their SBDC business advisor invited them to a business function to meet the Commissioner of Hong Kong, Margaret Fong.  This meeting resulted in the team receiving valuable and reputable referrals they needed to manufacture their products in China.  

With their solid business plan in hand, their products now being made in China, and with a commitment to a broader vision for their future, OutCast! ®  Productions’ leadership team went to their first bank appointment for a loan.  The team was proud to hear the banker express delight in their business plan, their vision, and their products.  

Since that meeting, OutCast! ® Productions, LLC., has increased their product offering, expanded their games into other languages; Spanish, Korean, Greek, and Italian;  are getting orders from out to educators.  As actors, and with the encouragement of their SBDC business advisor, OutCast! ® Productions’ leadership team has also begun a more concerted effort in offering teambuilding workshops to businesses with their improvisational repertoire.    

Through the assistance of Alaska SBDC, OutCast! ®  Productions LLC  is definitely playing a good game of business!