Why Story Matters in Video Production: Video Storytelling for Hospitality, Leisure & Experience-Led Businesses in Essex
- Curious Spirit Pictures
- Feb 12
- 3 min read
There’s a question I often return to when working with hospitality and experience-led brands:
Why do people choose you — when there are cheaper, faster, more convenient options available?
As a video storyteller, filmmaker, and scriptwriter, I’ve spent years understanding how story keeps audiences emotionally connected to films. Over time, it became clear that the same principle applies to hospitality, leisure, and experience-led businesses - especially in todays economic climate.
Across Essex and the wider UK, independent venues are under growing pressure. Rising costs. Reduced spending. Increasing competition from large franchises with louder marketing budgets. In that environment, visibility alone isn’t enough. Meaning matters.
Video Production with a Video Storyteller Turns an Experience into a Relationship
The hospitality and leisure businesses that thrive don’t do so because they’re the most convenient. They succeed because they create connection with their customers.
It’s the familiar face behind the counter.The guide who remembers names.The owner who’s present, involved, and recognised and plays a part in the community.
That’s story — not as a script, but as a lived experience.
Yet much hospitality video production focuses on moments without meaning: beautifully shot food, interiors, smiling faces, highlights without a narrative thread. These videos create atmosphere, but they don’t explain why the business exists or what it stands for.
Story is what brings values, people, and purpose together.
Video Production That Works
Too often, businesses jump to filming without clear strategy or purpose. If you want your promotional video to really work, not just look good, you need planning, intent, and clarity about message and audience. For a deeper look at how to create promotional videos that truly engage and deliver results, see this guide on how to create a promotional video that actually works. How to Create a Promotional Video That Actually Works
An Experience-Led Case from Essex
A clear example of this approach is my work with Chelmsford History Walks, an experience-led business based in Essex.
For their Chilling Tales of Chelmsford guided walk in Essex, we didn’t aim to document the event - why ruin the stories that you will hear. Instead, we asked a more interesting question: What does it feel like to be part of this experience?
Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's trailer for "Psycho" (1960), we created short teaser films led by Alan, the guide himself, teasing and setting the scene for a ghost story and the dramatic darker moment from the city’s documented history - The Great Fire of Chelmsford. The videos were designed to intrigue, set tone, and shape expectation, not explain everything, not to give all the gruesome bits away, but to also meet the host and get a feel for his style of storytelling.
Those films are still being used today as the core marketing assets for the business, and the walks have continued to grow in popularity. That longevity is the power of intentional video storytelling for hospitality and leisure businesses.
A Video Storyteller Shapes Expectation - and Trust
For experience-led businesses, expectation is everything.
Video gives potential customers a visual and emotional sense of what to expect before they arrive. When the story told through video aligns with the real-world experience, trust is built. When it doesn’t, customers disengage quickly.
Strong video production doesn’t overpromise. It prepares. And when expectation and experience match, customers return and recommend.
Video Production: What Independent Essex Businesses Gain from having a Video Storyteller
Large corporations rely on scale and consistency. Independent hospitality and leisure businesses have something far more valuable: specificity.
The people behind the business. The connection to the local community. The purpose driving the experience and their service.
As a video storyteller, my role isn’t to apply templates or trends. It’s to uncover the human connection at the heart of what you do and shape it into a story that feels honest, engaging, and true to your business.
In hospitality, leisure, and experience-led industries, story isn’t an add-on — it’s the foundation.
If you’re a hospitality, leisure, or experience-led business looking to tell your story with clarity and purpose, I’d love to help.
Visit my video production services page to explore how bespoke video that communicates your story and values can help your business grow. Video Production Services – Curious Spirit Pictures
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