Second Unit

AI operations for video and ad agencies

Run a more profitable agency
without adding more clients

Second Unit sets up AI to handle the operational work that eats your margins so your team can spend more time on creative. Delivered by someone who's run an agency, not just consulted for one.

20 minutes to see if there's a fit. That's it.

01 The problem

You know AI could be saving you time. You just don't know where to start.

Everyone has told you AI "changes everything." Nobody has shown you how, inside your agency, on your projects, in your tools.

And even if you know you should be doing this, you're busy. Multiple projects on the go, pitches to prepare, invoices to settle. You don't have time to keep up with the latest AI tools, let alone the bandwidth to roll them out across the team.

By now you and your team are probably using AI to some extent. A subscription here, a custom workflow there. But a pile of AI tools isn't a strategy: nothing's shared, nothing's kept up to date, and nobody's singing from the same hymn sheet. What makes a tool useful is the workflow around it, and building those takes time you don't have.

YouTube tutorials and “comment SLOP for the workflow” PDFs still leave you with the work. I show up, understand your specific problems, and get it done.

02 Values

Your craft is the product. AI never touches it.

I automate the operations: proposals, feedback chasing, deliverable churn, admin. Not the creative.

I use AI where it gives your agency time back for the work that matters.

03 Your stack

Keep the apps you already use.

Google Workspace, Trello, Slack, monday.com, Dropbox, and whatever else has accumulated around your agency over the years. However that stack is put together, there's a smart way to build AI into it.

No migration, no new platform to sell everyone on, no second place for your team to check. The alternative is asking them to take a punt on a whole new closed system, and that's usually the reason this stuff never sticks.

  • Slack
  • Google Drive
  • Gmail
  • Google Calendar
  • Trello
  • monday.com
  • Asana
  • Notion
  • Airtable
  • Dropbox
  • Figma
  • Adobe
  • Vimeo
  • HubSpot
  • Xero
  • Zapier

Running something that isn't on the list? That's the normal case, not the exception. The approach doesn't change.

James Chambers, founder of Second Unit
04 About James

James Chambers

In 2012 I co-founded Animade, a London animation studio. I know what running a client-facing agency actually feels like: the pitches, the revisions, the invoicing, the day that disappears before you've touched the creative.

While running Animade I built Boords, the storyboarding software now used by video agencies and brand teams worldwide. I still run it today, with a small team and a lot of AI doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

You get tooling tested daily across my own businesses, installed by someone who's sat in your chair.

You can find me on LinkedIn.

05 The solution

Someone who's run an agency, setting up workflows to run yours better.

I work with you and your team to find where your agency is losing time, then build systems to handle the repetitive work that pulls you away from the creative. Properly, in your actual tools, on your actual projects.

On a film set, the second unit keeps shooting while the main unit is on the big scenes. These systems do the same job: they chase the feedback and keep the admin moving while your team is heads-down on a pitch, or asleep.

You walk away with clarity, less busywork, and an agency that runs the way you always meant it to.

06 What you get

Systems built around outcomes, not my toolkit.

Systems that do the work, not slides about it

I don't hand you a strategy deck and a reading list. I build working systems inside your tools and leave them running. The test of whether something works is using it, so we implement, then refine.

Tooling built for your agency, not off the shelf

Every week I build custom tools to run my own businesses. I'll do the same for yours, fitted to how your team actually works, not a generic template you have to bend yourself around.

Real judgement about what's worth doing

I run my own businesses on this daily, so I know a hyped tool from a useful one. The automations that save the most time are usually the boring ones. Useful beats impressive.

Speed

I move fast and you'll see results fast. Tight feedback loops, quick wins first, no six-month roadmaps before anything ships. Early wins also buy your team's trust for the bigger changes later.

07 Pricing

Three ways in.

A good fit if

  • You run a video or ad agency and the ops are eating your week.
  • You want working systems in your own tools, starting small and building from there.
  • You (or someone on your team) will actually use what we build.

Not for you if

  • You want a strategy deck to circulate before committing to anything.
  • You're after a chatbot for your website (nothing wrong with that, it's just not what I do).
  • Your team is dead set against AI. I can't fix that from the outside, and I won't try.
08 How I work

Plain process. Useful output.

  • Show up, understand, deliver.

  • Frequent async check-ins and progress reports. Calls when they're useful.

  • Plain English, no jargon.

  • If it's not working, fire me. No lock-ins, no hard feelings.

09 Book a call

Let's get your week back.

A 20-minute call. No pitch. Tell me where the time is going and I'll tell you plainly if I can help.