Entrepreneur Turns Filmmaker With 'Google Me' Gig

Written by Justin Petruccelli of Entrepreneur.com



What's in a name? In an age when a few keystrokes will deliver just about anything you'd ever want to know about another human being, Shakespeare's eternal question seems all the more profound.

But for Jim Killeen, pondering the question wasn't enough. With a little help from Google (GOOG Quote) and inspiration from his entrepreneurial roots, he set out to discover more about his name -- and six other men who share it with him -- and became a filmmaker in the process.

Killeen, 38, is a former professional poker player who started Casino Massage by himself in 2000. The company is now the official tableside chair massage provider of the famous Commerce Casino in California, with 45 employees and double-digit sales growth over the past few years.

Killeen acknowledges that he broke the first rule of filmmaking in the production of "Google Me" by spending his own money to make it. But he also broke the mold when it came to releasing the film, circumventing the notoriously nightmarish Hollywood distribution quagmire by debuting "Google Me" on YouTube and then selling DVDs of the film from his Web site.

"Having an entrepreneurial background, you can't be too risk-averse," Killeen says. "You have to be able to feel confident about taking calculated risks. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you don't. I've just always been more satisfied to attempt to control the means of production.

For me, it was complementary that I had some experience as an entrepreneur to find this new path and new distribution model. I think I have the skill set as a filmmaker and as a business person, which you don't always see in people who have the ability to make an independent film."

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