AJ grew up around cameras. His father was a photographer who shot for state television in Sri Lanka, so there was always gear in the house and someone behind a lens. When AJ came to Australia to study he took a film degree, because of course he did, and the whole thing led back to where it started
"It all leads back home," he says
Oceania Film Company is what he built with it. On paper it's video and photography for business - corporate films, ongoing social content, product and team photography, drone work. In practice AJ is chasing something more particular than a marketing deliverable. He's a serious cinema buff, and he wants to bring a bit of that to work that usually settles for less
"The business is called Film Company, so we're all about film," he says. "Bringing that Hollywood influence to small Perth"
There are six of them now. They treat a corporate job the way you'd treat a short documentary, real people and real stories rather than a glossy ad that says nothing, and they build ongoing content for businesses that want to stay visible without turning someone in-house into a full-time content creator. The idea AJ keeps returning to is growth through education, helping a business teach its audience rather than just sell to it. It's a genuine point of view, and it's the thing he wants to grow
To grow it, he needed to stop flying blind. The creative side was moving. The financial side had stalled. AJ had a solo bookkeeper who'd stopped keeping pace
"I outgrew my bookkeeper," he says. "I was learning and moving forward. He was stagnant"
The fallout was more than a slow month. Business Activity Statement (BAS) lodgements were running late, superannuation wasn't set up properly, and the bank reconciliations were being done once every two or three months. For someone trying to build something serious, that's no way to know where you actually stand
"I was flying blind," he says. "No guidance from the man I paid to do my books"
Someone on your side
AJ came across Digit and booked a first meeting with Andrew. He wasn't expecting it to go the way it did
"We had a ninety-minute discovery meeting," he says. "Andrew asked me a lot of questions about where I want to go, what I want to do, the way I want things to look. He listened to me for a good forty minutes, and then he started giving me recommendations"
Then came the less comfortable part. Andrew walked him through the problems coming down the line if the books stayed untidy. Not a pitch, a straight read of the risk, aimed at protecting the thing AJ was trying to build
"It felt like Andrew was on my side," AJ says. "That's a beautiful thing I've noticed about Digit"
That was the whole reason he switched. He didn't want a bookkeeper who went quiet between lodgements. He wanted one who'd tell him what was coming, so he could keep his attention on the work and the growth
Early days
It's early. Digit has only been on the account a couple of months, so this isn't a story with years behind it yet. But the difference already shows up when something needs fixing in a hurry
"If you have a problem that needs solving right now, they'll throw bodies at it until it's solved," he says
Day to day he deals with Mark, and it's the kind of relationship where a phone call is a good thing rather than a bad one
"Mark is great, love getting a call from him," he says
None of this is what AJ set out to spend his time on. He set out to make films. Getting the numbers handled is what lets him get back to that, and back to the bigger idea, building a proper film company in Perth that carries a little of his father's craft in it
"Since they've come into my business, they've done some serious wonders," he says. "They just get it done, on time, the right way. That's what you want from a bookkeeper"
