“I was putting together my résumé
and asked Nils to take a look at it,”
Mattie said. “We started talking about our
passion for film and things just clicked.
Nils showed me a script he was working
on, called Movies ‘Til Dawn. We decided to
collaborate on the film, and then we won
a contract from Panavision to produce it.
They even provided the equipment.”
Nils and Mattie were married in 1993.
They said their “I Do’s” under a huge oak
tree in the backyard of Mattie’s childhood
home in Gilroy. After the celebration they
headed back to Southern California to
build a new life together. But a year later,
they were on the set filming their movie
when Mattie announced that she was
pregnant. Their son Nathan was born,
followed by Jacob in 1996. With two boys
to raise, they decided to move to Gilroy so
they could be near Mattie’s family.
Launching 152 West
Building Their Dream Together
Nils was raised in Los Angeles. As a teen-
ager, he used his spare time to make Super
8 movies. After graduating from the film
school at California State University Long
Beach, Nils invested in some video equip-
ment and began working on a movie script.
Mattie grew up in Gilroy and attended
the Fashion Institute of Design and
Merchandising in Los Angeles. After college
she got involved in a few made-for-TV
movie projects and Star Search and totally
enjoyed the experience.
Nils and Mattie met in Southern
California, fresh out of college, and their
attraction to each other was immediate.
Nils took a job at eBay in 1998. He
led fraud investigations and did some
video work as well. The job involved
hard work, long hours and lots of travel.
He and Mattie began to take on side
projects, building up a small clientele and
a portfolio including weddings, music
videos and some corporate work. In
2006, they decided to take the plunge and
launch their own business. Nils left eBay
and 152 West Productions was born.
“The timing turned out to be less
than ideal when the recession hit and
businesses tightened their belts,” Nils said.
“As the economy gradually improved we
built our business back up, and we’ve
been growing steadily ever since. Today,
we work mostly with clients from San
Francisco south to Monterey and east
to Merced.”
Elevating Film Arts
in South County
For more than a decade, Mattie has been
a member of the Gilroy Arts Alliance,
which manages the Gilroy Center for the
Arts. She has served on the Gilroy Arts &
Culture Commission for nine years and is
currently its Chair.
“We need to keep the film arts
alive here in South County and create
opportunities for all genres,” Mattie said.
“People like Don and Karen Christopher
have been big supporters of the Alliance.
They have gone above and beyond to help
us build awareness of the local arts scene
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY / AUGUST 2016
in South County. The arts enjoy strong
volunteer support, and they play a big
role in celebrating our diversity, making
our community whole and our downtown
successful.”
“It’s never too early to get involved,”
Mattie added. “Every year we hold a film
class for local middle schoolers at the Arts
Alliance that gives them an opportunity to
write and direct their own video. The kids
absolutely love it.”
According to Nils, “Art also keeps our
history alive. South County has a rich
history that would disappear if not for
photographers, writers and filmmakers
who have faithfully captured people and
events from our past in creative ways that
people can relate to today.”
Meet Morgan Hill
In 2014, Nils and Mattie were brought
in by Leadership Morgan Hill’s Class of
2014 to help them produce a video about
Morgan Hill. Bill Haskell, a Class of 2014
alum, said that working with 152 West
made what could have been a difficult
process, easy and enjoyable.
“We were a committee of 20 people
with lots of ideas about the project but
very little experience. Nils and Mattie
somehow managed to channel our
enthusiasm. They went all over town with
us, taping interviews with students, city
officials, business and non-profit leaders
and senior citizens. Their editing was
masterful, combining video footage with
photos and recordings to come up with
a six-minute video from hours and hours
of material. People in the community
were really moved when they saw the
final video, Meet Morgan Hill, at our class
graduation. The City of Morgan Hill and
the Chamber of Commerce liked the
video enough to post it on their websites.”
Morgan Hill Rotarian Janene Towner-
Chernoff had this to say about 152 West:
“Our club wanted to create a video to
promote ‘Dazzle,’ our annual fundraiser.
We started out with a blank slate. Nils
and Mattie helped us to clarify our
vision for the project and then construct
the story. They are creative and skilled
videographers.”
Founding Families Tell Their Stories
Several years ago, Nils and Mattie were
approached by Kathy Sullivan from the
Morgan Hill Historical Society to help
capture the stories of Morgan Hill’s
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