Chris Ray spent about a decade at DC Shoes traveling the world to film skateboarding. Alongside Martin Fobes, he produced everything from product and marketing videos to full documentaries. Then the two of them walked away to build something of their own.
That something became Motion Clubhouse, a creative production agency that now works across six podcasts, including “Huberman Lab” and David Senra’s “Founders.” The path from skate videos to studio production wasn’t part of some master plan. Ray is the first to admit it.
“I don’t have all the answers or know exactly what the plan is, but we’ll figure it out as we go,” he remembers telling Fobes when they decided to leave. That mindset, it turns out, was the plan.
Leaving with a head start
Ray and Fobes had an advantage most new production companies don’t get. They were still employed at DC Shoes while their client list started forming.
“There wasn’t an immediate pressure to chase work or constantly pitch ourselves,” Ray says. “Most of our early clients approached us because they already knew our work through skateboarding or were fans of what we had been creating at DC.”
They had also invested in their own gear before making the jump. By launch day, Motion Clubhouse already had the equipment of a legitimate production company. The infrastructure was in place. So was the momentum.
Still, Ray learned early that no client is guaranteed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a company called Spacebar Society hired the duo repeatedly to film live music performances for online release. “I remember telling Martin, ‘If we left DC today, at least we’d still have Spacebar,'” Ray says.
Ironically, the moment they left DC, restrictions lifted, live concerts came back and Spacebar never called again. “I hadn’t fully considered how quickly circumstances, and a client’s needs, could change until it happened to us,” Ray says. A strong network carried them through. The community they’d built in skateboarding kept the work coming.
Take the job, post the spec
In the early days, the rule was simple. If a project genuinely excited them, they took it. Ray was doing work with NFL Films. They shot automotive commercials and experimented with styles far outside the skate world.
They also refused to wait around for permission. When an idea sounded fun, they shot it themselves and posted it online as spec work. “Every time we shared something, it seemed to create a snowball effect,” Ray says. “It attracted attention, reminded people that we existed, and showed them what we were capable of.” More often than not, a paying client followed.
The pivot nobody planned
Through photographer Mike Blabac, Ray and Fobes connected with Andrew Huberman and filmed live events with him in Portland and Seattle. The chemistry was immediate. After the Portland event, Huberman made an offer.
“Andrew said, ‘Come work for me,'” Ray recalls. “I told him, ‘We just left a company we’d been with for about ten years to do our own thing. We don’t really want to go work for somebody.’ He responded, ‘Then work with me.’ I really liked the way he framed that.”
The relationship with Huberman and Scicomm Media grew into a core pillar of the business. It opened the door to more podcast work. For Ray, though, the deciding factor was never the format; it was the people. “The work matters, but who you do it with matters just as much,” he says.
Flexibility as a business model
Ask Ray why Motion Clubhouse has worked and he points straight back to skateboarding. In that world, nobody gets to be just one thing. You direct. You shoot and light. You edit, produce and coordinate until the project exists.
“I’ve seen people limit themselves by saying, ‘I’m only a director,’ or ‘I only do this one thing,'” Ray says. “Especially when you’re building a company and working with new clients, you have to be willing to step into different roles.”
The best proof is what happened with editing. When they left DC, the plan was to stop editing entirely. Shooting was the dream. Shoot the footage, hand it off, get paid, move on. No more brutal revision cycles like the ones they’d endured as full-timers.
Then editing work showed up anyway, and they took it. As a result, editing became more profitable than shooting because the rates were strong and the projects ran longer. “You can have a plan,” Ray says, “but you also have to pay attention to what’s in front of you and be willing to adapt when a better opportunity appears.”
Six shows, six different animals
Motion Clubhouse currently works across many podcast productions, including “Huberman Lab,” “Huberman Lab Essentials,” “Perform with Dr. Andy Galpin,” David Senra’s “Founders,” “RIDEOUT: The Other Side of Hard with Ken Rideout” and “Inside The Space with The Millers.”
People assume podcast production means pointing cameras at people in chairs. Ray pushes back on that. Every show has its own visual identity, workflow and delivery requirements. Huberman Lab runs a focused two-camera setup. Senra’s “Founders” uses five cameras and can generate more than 60 social edits per episode, a workload that leans hard on the OWC ThunderBay 8 archive the team pulls from daily. For RIDEOUT and Inside The Space, the shows’ own teams handle filming while Motion Clubhouse handles post.
The team also helped launch “Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin,” which rarely filmed video. Their solution was a recognizable television graphic with an animated audio waveform, giving an audio-only show a visual home on YouTube along with a way to cut social assets.
The kit
Motion Clubhouse shoots Sony and formalized a partnership with the brand last year. “Founders” is the biggest production, running two Sony BURANOs, two FX6s and a Sony Alpha 1 on the wide. Five angles give the edit room to breathe.
For media, the team runs OWC Atlas CFexpress cards, chosen for their speed and reliability. Once a shoot wraps, everything offloads to an OWC ThunderBay 8 for long-term archiving. That archive earns its keep. The team constantly digs through past episodes for moments the news cycle has made relevant again. An older conversation can find a whole new audience if the footage is organized and easy to reach.
Ray is blunt about where not to save money. “Memory cards and hard drives aren’t the place to cut costs, because the entire production depends on them,” he says. When you’re traveling to film high-profile guests, some moments simply can’t be recreated. Five cameras and a great crew mean nothing if a card errors out. Speed matters too, since tight schedules demand fast offloads and quick verification. But reliability comes first. “Our responsibility is to protect that content at every stage, from the moment we press record until the final files are safely stored and delivered.”
Remember why you started
The biggest lesson from the whole journey? Perspective. “Ten years ago, I would have done anything to be in the position I’m in today,” Ray says. “During the difficult moments, it’s important to step back and remember that.”
He’s also learned to stop letting money drive every decision. Stay passionate, do great work and treat people well, he figures, and the money tends to follow. The team, the crews and the clients are what make it worth waking up for.
“Ultimately, it’s about doing work you love with people you respect,” Ray says, “and never losing sight of how fortunate you are to do it.”
For Motion Clubhouse, protecting that work starts with the gear behind it. You can explore the OWC Atlas CFexpress cards and ThunderBay 8 storage the team trusts at owc.com.
