Long before Tone Production grew into the New Orleans video production company it is today, our founder, Benjamin Tone, came to the city for a very different reason. In the years after Hurricane Katrina, with much of the city still rebuilding, Ben arrived as a missionary — drawn not to the skyline but to the neighborhoods that had been hit hardest. He came to study, to serve, and to be useful to a community that needed every hand it could get. The story of our company really begins there, in a recovering New Orleans, with a young man who wanted to help.
A calling that brought him to New Orleans
Ben came to study at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), a school whose own mission has always centered on service — its motto is simply “Prepare here. Serve anywhere.” The seminary itself had been forced to evacuate during Katrina and then chose to stay and rebuild in the city, and that spirit fit Ben perfectly. He wasn’t looking for a comfortable assignment. He was looking for the work that mattered most.
Rebuilding lives in the 8th and 9th Wards
That work led him to the 8th and 9th Wards — among the neighborhoods most devastated by the storm. Ben spent his time there helping people rebuild, and not just homes: routines, hope, and a sense of normalcy. He was especially drawn to the kids. With so much disruption around them, the young people of those wards needed steady adults, safe spaces, and someone who believed in them.
So Ben started building exactly that — youth programs that gave kids somewhere to go, something to do, and someone in their corner. In a part of the city where so much had been lost, those small, consistent things added up: a regular pickup game, an adult who showed up every week, a reason to look forward to tomorrow. It wasn’t dramatic work, but it was the kind that quietly changes the direction of a young life.
From mentorship to opportunity
What started as ministry grew into something bigger. Mentoring turned into programs. Programs turned into opportunities. Over the years, Ben kept finding new ways to invest in young people — not just keeping them busy, but opening doors: skills, encouragement, and eventually real jobs.
He came to believe that the most lasting way to change a young person’s future is to hand them a genuine opportunity and the confidence that they can rise to it. That conviction never left him. As time went on, he kept putting it into practice — developing more youth programs, creating jobs, and giving young people in New Orleans and beyond a real path toward a better future. The goal was never charity for its own sake. It was opportunity: the chance for someone to build a life they’re proud of, and then pass that same chance on to the next person.
The same mission, a new medium
Tone Production is, in many ways, that same mission with a new tool in hand. Today our team of New Orleans videographers tells stories for brands, nonprofits, and families — but the heart behind it is the one Ben carried into the 9th Ward. As a New Orleans video production company, we still believe in lifting people up: creating jobs, giving young creatives a shot, and using video production to shine a light on the organizations doing good across the city. You can see where that mission shows up in our work today.
From mission work to mentorship to the company we run now, the throughline has always been people — and the belief that a better future is something you build for others, not just yourself. That’s what brought Ben to New Orleans, and it’s still why we do what we do, here and beyond.
