About Us

Coverall Productions got its start in Birmingham, Alabama. Thirty-five years ago, Chris Mathis, a young 20-something kid, found his passion for event video production while working with ABC Sports in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

He went on to work as a stagehand at Oak Mountain Amphitheater and the Alabama Theatre. From there, he hit the road with a traveling show, "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp," which needed a mid-season fill-in TD Show Caller. He left them to join the ESPN golf crew in Dallas, Texas. During this time, the name Coverall Productions came about, but it wasn't until 2014 that it became an LLC.

After Texas, Chris returned to Alabama to work at the Birmingham Race Course Casino. He was a camera operator for the live horse racing video broadcasts there. After a few seasons, he was off to Atlanta for football and car racing video production. Here, Chris met someone who truly mentored him in the art of videos and photo shoots. thing interesting about your business here.

"It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. During that time, I got a call to start working on a small video truck that produced nothing but golf tournaments - shooting and doing play-by-play for the golfers. Great set-up! As soon as the guys were done with the par 3, they received a VHS of their hole with commentary. The company would have a master tape of the whole day that they would show at "the 19th hole" at the end of the tournament."

Chris traveled over 165,000 miles in one year, passing through 39 states. He made money while he could because there was no work during the winter. He needed a new adventure. Cue the Production Arts Workshop. 

"I was with them for over 7 years. When I started, I was loading trucks and helping set up concerts, later working my up to Camera for Microsoft and Wendy's corporate shows. I also worked with the local union to do shows at the Fox Theatre and some industrial shows for Ford and Phizer Pharmaceuticals. I was the lead for the video department at the local union. We were able to get the Union 3 shows because of my leadership and how well I worked with the clients and the video department. 

In 1997, a person approached me to run a company for him. I was to maintain a list of shows at each of the five venues in which he had a contract. I was there for a short time but made a name for myself because I was honest and paid the crew more than other places. I was able to increase sales by 30% in one quarter. I was the head bottle washer, so to speak; I did all the jobs- sales accounting calls for the jobs and getting new clients. That's where I started working with a company called AFTS, now Sweetwater Productions of Los Angeles. It's been 27 years and I'm still doing shows for them."

In 2002, Chris had a setback with many friends passing. So, he chose to go another route and went back to school. He enrolled at Spartanburg Methodist College and earned an Associate's in Mass Communication before moving on to attend USC Upstate. 

"I did pretty good. I made the dean's list four 4 semesters and had a 3.2 GPA. Not bad for a person in his forties."

During this time, he also helped out the SMC theater group, ran his company, and performed shows at Converse College. In 2008, he graduated from USC Upstate, and the economy went BUST. 

"So I started working with whoever I could work with, anywhere across the country, from Atlanta, Georgia to Dallas, Texas, or wherever. Shooting hand-held cameras became my specialty."

He worked like that for a while. But by 2012, Chris was attracting his own national clients: PRG, Freeman, the Credit Unions Association (Yorktel), and others. In 2024, Coverall Productions hired over 325 people and had sales of close to half a million dollars. Payroll and insurance, along with crewing, were all in-house.