Item # 1:

My fellow microbudget filmmaker, if you do any kind of video production in between projects, and if you find yourself scrambling to get paid, here's a tool I no longer like nor recommend. That’s right. Due to ideological differences, I no longer use Paypal.

But, I’ll do some updated homework for you, my fellow filmmaker. Just because I divorced Paypal, doesn’t mean you will.

A video producer can get paid right away, as in today. It's quick for the client, and it's easy for the video producer. 

Don't already have a Paypal account? After reading this list, one might change their mind.

BUT WHY?!

Well, I'll tell you little Timmy!

1. They offer competitive industry merchant processing fees (which, depends on location, nature of the transaction, etc.) — go straight to the horse’s mouth HERE.

2. They do allow refunds for the client/buyer with ease.

3. They do allow for disputes.

4. They do have financing options! (SEE RED BLURB a few lines down).

5. Paypal money is accepted at more and more retailers!

Client doesn't have an account? They can easily create one, en route to paying for a video production service. Create a personalized link to get paid and share that turkey. 

At the end of the post, I'll do a walkthrough on how to get paid with Paypal, even if the client is BROKE, has no budget for video services, and/or doesn't have a Paypal account (and/or refuses to get one).

Step 1: Get a Paypal.Me link.

Once at the paypal.com/paypalme site, look for the big blue button.

Then figure out a name. I used "churchfilms" when I set it up because that was my business name, but “Uncle Bob” or “Clubber Lang” works well too.

Looks like the Autobots' leader is hosed in this instance.

If someone already has a Paypal account, easy as pie: follow the prompts. If no prior account exists, signing up will take a little bit longer.

Once an account is verified, then start sending people to the link. It's as simple as sharing:

paypal.me/unclebob

Step 2: Send clients to the link.

NOTE: always look for https when dealing with sensitive information. 

If money is to be involved and there's no https in the URL, we must FLEE.

If a client is a business owner or someone with a pretty hefty title (like CMO), they're already used to this, but if I’m working with a startup or anyone else working in the organization I’m filming for, it's okay to reassure them that they should be looking for my mugshot and a secure link, like:

https://paypal.me/unclebob

Step 3: Ask them to type in the amount.

Let's look at sending a few bucks. $10 is a paltry sum to pay someone through Paypal, but maybe it’s a worthwhile amount to sell an e-book?

Hey, byproducts can happen with anyone in any industry.

NOTE: If I know an exact amount I’m charging for my work, I can just send them that amount in the URL I share with them. If it's 20 bucks, I just add a slash and 20 to the end of my URL. When they click the link, they'll see in their search bar:

And below the URL, they'll see my mugshot with the amount already filled in for them. 

Whether they fill it in, or I pre-fill it, they will then hit the blue "Next" button.

Step 4. Log in

The next screen they'll likely see is to log in to Paypal (and then they're in good hands) - or create a new account if they don't already have one. 

If they HAVE NEVER USED Paypal before, I can send them here if they're unsure of the process. 

The next screen they may see when they create a new account is the email/pw screen. There might even be one of those rascally captcha thingy-ma-bobs.

Home stretch. 

Then the client will be asked to enter in the standard address info.

Pretty straightforward stuff here. Borrowing from John Oliver (fair warning: he uses salty language), for all I know, a user could be agreeing to the contents of Mein Kampf when said user hits that check box. 

I doubt it though. 

If they agree to the terms, then they'll be prompted to enter their cc info: 

and Bob's your Uncle.

Item # 2:

A square reader is a viable solution to accept payments and can connect right to a phone via its 3.5mm headphone jack or lightning port. Now, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve used Square in my video production business. Nonetheless, for those who want a more traditional point-of-sale system, this is a sleek way to checkout in this Jetsons-esque decade.

Pros: they can send receipts to a person’s email, and once an account is created with Square and linked to a credit card, they’ll have those receipts in their inbox. Presto! And Square’ll take just about every credit card under the sun and on the Mars colony that Elon Musk started with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Bob Ross’ estate.  

Cons: way too many pricing points (i.e. transaction fees). We’re talking more levels than an Essential Oils MLM. The standard 2.9% + $0.30 is just ONE such tier. Best to go to their site to learn what to expect.

Item # 3:

A website these days (without a lot of heavy lifting) can probably accept cc payments securely and might even include a paypal payment option. In any event, as a Squarespace user myself now for years, I love their built-in e-commerce options, which can be modified to account for services like our wonderful, wild world of video production. And… the standard 2.9% + $0.30 (give or take) applies, with a possible additional fee depending on a content management system. E.g. with Squarespace, depending on the plan, there is a small fee in addition to the cc processing fee or none at all.

Item # 4:

Cash.

We need to steer clear of this one, Iago. For the $ we’re doing video production for, the last thing we want is to be handed a pile of snake oil money. We don’t want to defraud our bank with faux cash, and we don’t (let’s face it) have the technical savvy to know a legit bill from a fraud.

Don’t accept cash.

I had an out-of-town client once hire me to work as a below-the-line crew member for a day’s shoot. Our written agreement stated I’d be paid by a check at the end of the day. Well, I was so exhausted by the end of the day, it didn’t sink in I was being given cash, and not just any cash, but ole timey hundo bills from the 90’s (or thereabout). Good gravy. Those bills are normally taken out of circulation! I went to my credit union and I told them (with my son in tow) I’m just a regular joe, I’ve been banking with you guys for years, and the last thing I want to do is defraud you guys. Can you please just take a look at these bills and tell me if I was given a pile of bantha fodder?

Two employees gave ‘em a looksy, and they said they agree with me: most times, these bills just seem… fake, in today’s world anyways, but this time, I was in the clear. Whew. They normally take them out of circulation and replace ‘em with more current tender.

Be honest if it happens, and better yet, don’t accept cash. Period.

Item # 5:

An old-fashioned check could bounce on us, but I’d rather take a check than cash any day of the week simply because I’d rather eat the bounced check fee than be accused of defrauding my bank if I was given a pile of bogus cash. Savvy?

One way to mitigate risk would be to ask for a certified check which isn’t that crazy considering our projects can easily run thousands of dollars. Personally? Once upon a time, I liked the ole Paypal option best and a plain ole cc second to that… Nowadays, I prefer to spend my dollars as responsibility as possible. I can only hope you, the reader, do as well.

...

BONUS: Okay, if the client says they're broke, it's too expensive, it's out of their budget, first response is to AGREE. 

"Yep, it is expensive."

"I understand, let me take care of that."

Let’s assume after this post, YOU have Paypal credit, and if the client is already set up on Paypal, they're good to go! If not, lead them to the water for 6 months of NO MONEY DOWN and NO INTEREST. Here's how:

You might find these useful too:

How to start a video production business in less than 24 hours

How to create a solid contract for video production work

Tired of your videos looking and sounding like that movie, "The Room"?

I'm the best-looking video producer this side of the Mississippi, and more importantly, I can guarantee your peace of mind. Send a courier pigeon or get in touch HERE or HERE.

Where am I?

You may have noticed I'm not frequent on social media. Here's what's happening:

1. I work full time in the AV industry and have been doing so since 2014.
2. Six days a week, I work on Keenumbers - Math for Kids Who Love Numbers. If your youngin' loves numbers, I've got just the channel for you. Subscribe HERE.

Original: 7/24/16; edited 9/3/17, 1/11/19, 11/26/22

No fancy-schmancy words here - just a straightforward, easy post you can read right now about a handful of clues a video production prospect will give you to let you know they’re not the clients you’re looking for. After this post, you’ll know when to say “adios” before wasting any more of your time - or theirs for that matter.

And… if you make it through this entire buffet of a post, I’ll throw in three more clues in the bonus section.

1) Tire Kickers

My favorite. I’ve talked about them before here and here. I won’t rehash this too much, but it boils down to this: they’re just fishing for the cheapest price more often than not. If they legitimately want info, that’s great, but a tire kicker isn’t too interested in buying.

In fact, I knew a guy in Vegas who proudly admitted to going to the dealerships (where the term tire kicker comes from) just to test drive new cars. He was a car fanatic. He loved working on ‘em too. But he had zero interest in buying a car. He had a beast of an old Ford Bronco, and he was proud of it. That car was his baby, and he spent weekends on a creeper (side note: if you’ve never worked in an auto shop, it’s not what you think). He was a salesman’s worst nightmare because he wasn’t a buyer, and he already knew more about what was under the hood than the 20-year-old green salesman working at the Ford dealership but owns an AMC Pacer.

If we put up our “Open For Business” shingle, we’ll get tire kickers. Click those two links at the top of this section to learn how to sniff them out.

2) I have an idea…

Man oh man oh man. The world is full of dreamers who love talking a good game but can’t walk a good game to save their life.

You know ‘em. I know ‘em. We need dreamers, and we need doers in our world.

We must strive to work with the other doers, the people who show up saying “this is what we’re going to do.”

Those folks have a plan. They’re the Rebel Alliance forming a battle plan to attack the Death Star and exploit its (their competition’s) weakness. We should want to work with those guys, not a bunch of serendipitous superheroes who think charging headlong into battle against the Mad Titan a second time with half a team is a great idea.

The conversation usually goes like this:

Hey, I hear you do ________________ videos. Cool! I’ve got this idea for ______________________________________.

We must avoid these talks. We’ll save our time, their time, and we’re not likely to convert the dreamer into being a doer. After all, they’re dreamers, and it’s on them to move the needle more often than not. Unless it’s their idea to take action, they’re not going to act. I.e. they have to will themselves to act. That comes later for this group of people, and when they’re announcing their idea, they’re most likely looking for validation rather than a quote, proposal, and a pen to sign the dotted line.

My m.o. is illustrated by a simple story: a gentleman once told me he had an idea, so I affirmed he had a great idea. I didn’t send him a contract, and I told him to circle back to me when he was ready to START his idea. I’d gladly have coffee with him then, but my time is non-renewable, so I won’t spend any time in meetings if I’m not required to.

This is true with W2 jobs as well. Those who can’t execute simply dream and chase one shiny object after the next. There are bigger fish to fry, and I don’t need to meet over lunch to hear an idea. Dreamer, I’m glad you have an idea. Cool. Keep at it until it’s ready to be born.

The young me, hoping to land a gig just by showing up to listen to a dreamer dream aloud? Let them dream on their own time. We’ve got stories to film.

Speaking of the dreamers…

3) Talk endlessly

These guys don’t come up for air, they don’t listen to what I say, and no matter what I say, their only concern is sharing what’s next on their tongue. They often interrupt and don’t acknowledge they’ve interrupted.

These folks require extra grace for us followers of YHVH. For everyone else, I we just gotta show grace anyways.

It’s helpful when dealing with prospects like this to assert myself:

Hey Bob! I’ve got X minutes, and then I have to go.

There’s no need to justify why. If they press me for an explanation, I just need to say I have a prior commitment, which in this day and age, I probably do have one. Don’t have a prior commitment? Find one before going into the convo with the prospect so you’re not lying. Taking the kids? I should be anyways to give my bride a chance to rest or run an errand. Time’s a non-renewable resource. While it’s great to listen, be slow to speak, and be slow to anger, unless I’m Mr. Incredible going up against Syndrome, I can’t afford to burn time with people who are inconsiderate and will monologue me to death.

But Jake the film guy…

How can I get a proposal or a quote in, much less close the person on an idea, an emotion, a solution if they can’t give me the time of day to respond?

We must spare ourselves the headache and move on. They are not the droids we are looking for.

4) Refuse to share their cell phone #

I once learned of a guy who ran a small business and was a part of my church in Vegas. I emailed him, I talked to him on the phone, I showed up to his group’s networking shindig, and after I believed he wasn’t a buyer, he invites me to his office. We talked about faith, kids, fostering, bull’s-eyeing womp rats in our T-16’s back home, you know, the usual chit-chat when getting to know another dude (by and large, dudes don’t connect over conversation, but by tasks). He shared his firm’s problems, I made a proposal for a solution by way of a few videos, and I wanted to text him info vs. emailing it. After all, you want to be able to follow up with the unsold through varied, creative means.

He politely deferred to using email.

I was a weak handler of objections back then, and I didn’t laugh, make a poignant comment, or anything. I just went along with it, painfully unaware of the investment in time thus far to just lay down and get run over by the bus.

There was a lack of trust, and that’s my fault, but it made me realize if after phone calls, networking shindigs, and an office visit, if at that point I’m still not worthy of a business card, then I’m wasting both of our time.

We need to take the Grant Cardone approach: we ask for their number so we can text them some good info in the first chat. Then we handle the objection if they throw one. I’ve seen segments with Cardone’s team where they just fish for one digit at a time with those who are playing the part of “hard-to-catch.”

For example,

Hey, so is the first digit a 9? I’m thinking it’s a 9.

We need to be creative, have fun, and be persistent a la The Founder (affiliate link for the film) aka Ray Kroc.

They still won’t budge? I say move on - plenty of other folks in the world who need video services.

5) Offer to pay you after you shoot and after deciding whether they like the video

I once had a gentleman tell me this, nearly verbatim, in the first phone call.

<<I did not do video work for said gentleman>>

Here’s a longer blurb from yours truly about folks who try to treat you like a newb and HOW you should respond.

We shouldn’t do business with these kinds of folks. Move along.

6) We’re paying so-and-so x dollars…

This one cracks me up!

I have a good laugh before bouncing on these prospects.

If anything, they’re showing their cards too soon if they’re truly hoping to book my services by anchoring a price point in my mind. In the off chance they’re trying to save time and QUALIFY ME, good on them. They might want to save time too. Otherwise, these folks are setting themselves up to lose by showing their hand too soon when they talk about what they’re paying a third party.

Basically, the convo goes like this:

PROSPECT: We’re paying Uncle Bob $50 to take photos.

YOU: … … … …

The crazy thing is, they are probably convinced that Uncle Bob is making off like a bandit. Meanwhile, Uncle Bob clearly doesn’t believe in his skill set enough to charge more or Uncle Bob really is an amateur’s amateur.

Either way, let’s have a spine and sell people a solution that checks off all the emotional boxes. If you need help knowing what to charge, start reading here or jump straight to my pricing worksheet here.

7) Never give you the info you need to give them a quote

The dreamers and the talkers could fall into this bucket as well. Maybe Mrs. Prospect is busier than a one-armed paper hanger? Maybe Mr. Buyer is spinning 27 different plates right now? Perhaps Darth recruited my prospect and they’re only one swearing-in-ceremony away from joining the Galactic Empire? Whatever the reason, they don’t give me enough info (or any info) to give them a quote. They may ask for figures but fail to run through whatever checklist I use (here’s mine - use and repurpose as you see fit).

For example, I had a prospect mention a video need three months ahead of the live event. I asked for info. A month later, I still needed info. The week of, I still needed info. I didn’t get info until 48 hours beforehand, but that’s okay. I had them go through my virtual checkout sheet because I clearly wasn’t invested in the project or I would have followed up more frequently and certainly more creatively. I wanted them to disqualify themselves so I could get my attention back on more important things. That part worked, but they were so wrapped up in the other things going on in their lives, they couldn’t give any info until the 9th hour.

I’m not going to do a wedding video for $500. It’s not a good use of my time, and for that amount, it’s a much better opportunity for a younger video girl or guy to step up their video production services. There’s that young whippersnapper who’s only ever cut their teeth on a $100 project for their father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate. Their second project should be the $500 video before they’re charging $1500 for their next project.

Not sold yet?

We have x tasks we can do in a given day, week, or month. God’s only given us so much mental hard drive space.

Not every project is worth our time.

We must learn to say NO THANKS. One way I can do this is to create systems for people to still get personable, solid customer service and disqualify themselves early on in the conversations so I can get back to the projects that matter.

…

The longer we do this, the more confidence we gain, and the more we learn to sniff out the bad gigs. I’m convinced getting our reps in as video producers is indeed beneficial when it comes to pitching ideas and closing people because those skills translate when trying to raise funds via crowdfunding or getting attention from a group of decision-makers who can then turn our stories into realities.

Which of the above examples did you immediately relate to? Comment below!

Bonus

Fellow filmmakers, I’m crazy about telling stories that will point people to the Almighty. I talk frequently about my faith in my posts, and if that’s not your cup of tea, no worries. There are thousands of other budding filmmakers out there like yourself, and there’s no shortage of people who need quality storytellers. I will not be offended in the least if you decide this isn’t your cup of tea.

But if you believe there is hope, if you believe you’re meant to tell visual stories, and if you too think a lot of faith-based content is super cheesy, we’ll probably get along just fine.

In the bonus section (which you can access by sharing your email, which I will not farm out to third party hooligans or Davey Jones’ crew or anyone), you can opt-in to download a content upgrade: 3 more “buyers” you’ll want to avoid working with like the bubonic plague.

Ready? Hit that button below.

NEIN

Tired of your videos looking and sounding like that movie, "The Room"?

I'm the best-looking video producer this side of the Mississippi, and more importantly, I can guarantee your peace of mind. Send a courier pigeon or get in touch HERE or HERE.

Where am I?

You may have noticed I'm not frequent on social media. Here's what's happening:

1. I work full time in the AV industry and have been doing so since 2014.
2. Six days a week, I work on Keenumbers - Math for Kids Who Love Numbers. If your youngin' shows an interest in numbers, they might just be capable of some 3rd grade math concepts before they are 6-years-old. Subscribe HERE.

Original: 7/18/19; updated 11/1/22

Ready to level up and stop doing 1-man-band projects?

At some point, if we're going to reach billions with stories of hope, then we have to graduate from "I shot this over the weekend with a GH5 and a 35mm lens. I call it Cup Of Joe."

It's okay to start there. But we shouldn’t live there.

Real filmmakers build a team and look to serve those working with them. Their focus is on empowering their crew to do amazing things. They lead and give credit. They don't stress over mistakes. They don't ogle over the newest cinema camera for hours on end.

I want you to tell stories of love, truth, forgiveness and more, and I hope and pray it's not self-serving. There's a hurt, lost world out there in need of the love of the Almighty, and stories are one way to communicate. I can't do it by myself, and neither can you. This site is for all of us microbudget filmmakers to level up, and it starts with leading the 5-figure shoots.

I don’t know about you, but I like Orson’s take: it takes an ARMY to make a film. Now, I talked about some key positions in the post on raising $8,567 for your short film. This post is a continuation and companion piece.

Bonus: for those who stick around, there's a contract you can use for hiring your subcontractors, and it's at the end of the post. It works for me! Standard disclaimer applies: Neither this site nor any of its representatives are a substitute for professional, legal counsel. Use discretion. Modify at your leisure; its use or misuse is your responsibility.

Let's break these sections down:  

0. Finding Crew

Step 1: Facebook groups

I was a part of a Las Vegas gigs, film jobs, and actors group for some time. I didn’t regularly interact there, but I tried to stop by at least once a week. 

If you live in Casper, WY, you're hosed. I've always lived in a big urban county. Even my six mos. of turning wrenches in Afghanistan was on a packed NATO base. Hopefully you live in a big metro area. If not, you might call Uncle Bob up for help.

That one simple post led me to my AD, and she was fantastic. She jumped through the screening hoops, and she turned out to be the best person for that role (next to my wife, who in days past would fill the role of an AD).

Step 2: StaffMeUp/Production Hub

I could (in the past) post jobs here, to the best of my knowledge, for free. I love this site because it really only seems to attract industry professionals or those who are serious about breaking into this industry. 

I wouldn't recommend them if I had zero connection to them. Sometimes I offer suggestions based on speculation, but as a previous premium account user of StaffMeUp, I love this site for finding jobs. It's just painless, direct, and again, for serious contenders only.

I can’t recommend CL because we'll get exactly what we think we should get on CL: spam, poor spelling (shows a lack of attention to detail → can't have heaps of that on your shoot), and whimsical queries, none of which bode well for a production.

With Production Hub, up through 2019 anyways, I only used them once as a producer looking to hire subcontractors. The peopled who turned up were persistent, very qualified, and way out of our budget.

That’s not a reflection on their lack of skill or professionalism. It was just a mismatch in what they could provide and what we needed; they wanted to sell us a Ferrari, and we only needed an Accord.

It worked for me when I lived in Vegas; if you too live in a big metro area, and if you’re short on names to call about subcontracting, you might give Production Hub a try. It could cost a pretty penny to get started. Headsup: each skillset might have to have its own listing. I.e. no creating one catch-all post for a crew. You might have to have one post per crew member you’re trying to hire.

Step 3: Your circle

I found my grip/1st AC/2nd AC from my friend Dale. I simply asked Dale if he had a good contact because Dale went to battle with a 17-man crew for a microbudget feature in Las Vegas. Surely he would know someone? He did, and I'm eternally grateful he led me to Rad. 

We have to ask our circle. Grant Cardone calls this your power base: family, then friends. We're missing opportunities to fund our projects with capital, both financial and human, when we ignore our circle.

Now, whether we recruit a blood relative or a close friend or we pay a subcontractor, we still have to sell them on the project. It's appropriate then, as if starting a business (i.e. shooting a film), to start with our circle, pitch the idea, and sell folks on turning stones over with us. My mother-in-law, as soon as she learned of the project, connected me to a lady who then connected me to a UPM/Line Producer in NM who's worked on Hollywood films like Book of Eli and Crazy Heart, et. al.

Trust those who are closest to us: ask for help.

1. Vetting Crew

Step 1: Accept submissions

I made it painfully clear how to reach me: email/contact form/SMS the office line (I used Google Voice for free to set this up - never mind the reviews - it's a free service, and for what it does, it's fantastic: it allows us to set up a 2nd line that goes to a mobile phone without divulging an actual cell number).

If we post in quality places, people will find us.

I never once cared about or read resumes and nor did I ask for them. People volunteered them, and that's okay, but I feel strongly they're a relic of the past. References seem to be the currency of hiring people in this film/video world.

Step 2: Ask for day rate and four or five references

We can’t overthink this step. My request was super simple, but if I were you, I would spell out the need for both emails and numbers (I failed this step early on):

You'd be surprised, but some people disappear at this stage.

If rounding up info for four or five references is too much work (three is too low - we can bank on at least one reference being unavailable despite repeated, varied followups), then we don't want this person on our team. This part serves three purposes:

• it gives us the info we need to vet work history

• it screens lazy bones jones people out of the running

• it doesn't let us jump at the first bite - resist!

Ashley was not and is not the average bear. She responded the same day:

And she had five references, numbers, and emails. Bueno!

Step 3: Ask basic screener questions

Again, I learned these from this amazing book "Who" by Geoff Smart and Randy Street (rent or buy - it's essential for cutting through the clutter and getting to the meat and potatoes of any kind of hiring decisions without violating any EEOC rules).

I typically asked each newbie crew member these same questions I asked Ashley:

Again, if the subcontractor answered these questions (and most who got this far did follow-through and answer these questions), then it was time to actually contact references. I think I had *one* subcontractor get to this stage and quit. Nope, that's not right. Several quit when I asked for references.

I had one subcontractor give a handful of references, and the first reference I called could not remember the subcontractor whatsoever. They were so embarrassed, confused, and awkward, they asked to call back in five minutes.

They didn't call back.

It was a huge red flag to me. I never followed-up on the other references or with that subcontractor.

He never reached out to me either.

Step 4: Contact each reference

At this point, I wrote down on a blank piece of notebook paper what each reference said about the subcontractor. I asked each reference some qualifying questions like

• What was your last job with Uncle Bob?

• What was a low point of working with Uncle Bob?

• What would you rate Uncle Bob's work as?

The "Who" book has loads of wisdom in this area too.

I gave adequate space and made room for the references, their #'s and emails because I was going to send a handwritten thank-you card to them (I made up my mind not to be a lazy bones jones - but actually do it). Also, I wrote down what my subcontractor said their reference would rate them as. 

Without fail, their number always matched what the reference said or it low-balled the reference.

For example, if my subcontractor Uncle Bob said Leia would rate him as a 7, I'd call Leia and ask, "What would you rate Uncle Bob's work as?" 

Leia would say, "Oh, a 9, easily."

9/10 is fantastic. If Jesus, Abe Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, and Groot are a perfect 10, then 9 is pretty darn good.

Some people are big fans of their subcontractors and would Spinal-Tap their answers as an 11/10. No joke - this happened more than once. One reference said a 50 out of 10.

Step 5: Schedule a Facetime/Skype call

I realized it was best to break the ice with face-to-face contact. Emails and phone calls are okay, but in lieu of face-to-face interaction, video conferencing seemed the next best thing. It didn’t take more than 5-10 minutes. I decided I would have more questions ready for them. And most importantly, I knew I needed to ask the holy grail of questions:

What are your expectations of me?

Thin-skinned? Well, we always need to work on that. We have to make it a practice to ask our team hard questions because they need to be able to approach us honestly. You and I both need raw feedback. Grab some zinc oxide, and be willing to receive constructive feedback.

At this point, I was settled on hiring this person.

Note: We can expect money objections at some point, as I had two crop up after the video conferencing calls. 

Two possible subcontractors really pushed back on the flat-rate pay based on hours and not days, which boiled down to 1.5 days. 

I had to take ownership: I did not over-communicate the pay. I did let them know from the start pay was based on a set number of hours, but I did not over-communicate this, and that's my fault.

Since they reached out to me about the job initially, I stopped following up with them. I was tired of haggling over pennies, and it didn't bode well with me. If they were okay with undermining the original agreement not once but two or three times, it told me what to expect on a set with them for 12 hours. 

Pass.

Step 5.5: Small business ad

I wasn't able to do this with any of my newest crew members, but with Justin, my DP, I did. We shot a small business ad in November, and it sealed the deal. Lunches are great, but there's nothing like a 12-hour shoot to know if two people are going to mesh.

Going forward, and where possible, I’m going to vet the working relationship over a small business ad/wedding video/paid project.

Step 6: Invite everyone to a dinner (not a meeting)

Got everyone assembled? Great! I broke the ice by breaking some bread together. I wanted my crew to know who they were working with. I didn’t want to assume they already knew each other!

I asked everyone the same question if I hadn't already - What are your expectations of me on this shoot?

And I'd ask, "What I can do to make you as successful as possible?"

This is a question worth repeating throughout the life of a shoot. 

I knew it couldn’t be all business. I asked fun questions too - film is fun, and if you're a stiff, your sets are going to be paaaaiiiinnnnfffffuuuullllll.

I borrowed two of these from a W2 job I had in Vegas:

• Middle name?

• If money was no object, where would you vacation?

• Favorite comedy in the last 10 years?

2. Expectations

This is an area I have much to learn. I wrestled with this as a math teacher, and I still have leaps and bounds to go. 

We must S-P-E-L-L out every single expectation.

We need to reinforce them verbally, have them in writing, don't assume.

I assume, all too often, people share/see what's in my head. I'm sorry, but unless someone has the E.T.-Elliott connection, communication and shared visions don't work this way. 

I’m still learning to communicate. Ditto over-communicating. The beauty of subcontractors is they know what's going on for the most part. They're already skilled at their job. We can't take end results for granted though. We need to be specific.

I once had a subcontractor show up a several minutes late. For the sake of illustration, I'll call this subcontractor Ellie. Ellie called a few mins before call time to let me know she'd be late. She did this again, on our next shoot.

'Twas my fault for assuming that Ellie understood start times meant show up ahead of time. If you're on time, you're late, right? Ellie didn't know my expectations.

By the time the third shoot with Ellie rolled around, I said to her, "be here at 4 pm SHARP." Ellie heard the inflection, she repeated the time back, and sure enough, she was 5 minutes ahead of time, if not earlier on that third shoot.

I can’t assume something is obvious. Over-communicate.

Gary Vee is a big proponent of this approach of extreme ownership as well - start with the leader at the top and see if the problem lies with them. Then be the coach in the relationship.

3. Contracts

At this point, I knew their day rate, so I used SignNow or another source to get some signatures. These days, most folks have a free way to sign on their phone, if not natively on their phone. Still, for the old-fashioned, printing out contracts and having them signed in person is a viable alternative.

Apart from the usual rigmarole, I used and highly recommend including the following sections, and yes, all of these in full-blown-Ben-Stein-detail are included in your bonus at the end:

Intellectual Property: if I hired them to shoot my film, then I better own the rights to the A/V media.

Delivery: when do I receive the media? If they're a grip, they're not going to give me final deliverables, but it doesn't hurt to include this in a contract.

Developer's Warranty: I keep this in my subcontractors' contracts because I want to know I'm not about to make a copyright-infringing work of art, and that they can do their work. It's peace of mind for both parties.

Arbitration: I talk about this here. Include this clause. Muy importante señora/señor.

Employee: They are or are not an employee of my company - I need to spell this out.

Risk statement: They should be responsible for themselves.

Future work: This project does not guarantee future work.

$600: I started including this reminder to make sure folks know I'm filling out a 1099 for them if their pay exceeds $600 in whatever year they're working with me. A 1099 form requires a social. One way to avoid having to chase them down later for their social is to have them fill out the optional W9 - I did this in person with five of my crew this time around (downloadable from the IRS.gov website). I made sure the form was secured after it was filled in.

If a client worked with us before and they simply sent an invoice, while it’s not as protective when it comes to intellectual property (and handing it over), it was used in a quick pinch. It saved me time and my subcontractor the headache of navigating my legalese.

4. Payments

It’s best if we offer multiple ways to pay our crew. Even in this day and age, most people prefer a check when they know they'll absorb the transaction fees of a payment processor, which are competitive in the merchant processor industry (2.9% plus 0.30 per transaction last I checked).

Note: there are many many payment processing apps these days that make it really, really, really ridiculously easy to get paid. All we have to do is pick one, do the homework, see if company “________” is someone we want to do business with.

Here's something I learned with paying extras, and 30 years ago, no one would have blinked; the check-issuer would have just done it: I was sloppy and made the mistake of not writing down the check numbers, and when one of them was lost in the mail, it came back to bite me in the rear.

1. The extra wasn't paid on time.

2. The "lost" check is out there somewhere.

3. The reputation takes a blow.

No. 3 isn't a biggie, though we do want to be known for how we take care of our people, not for how we send late checks of which I'm guilty of twice this time around. If we do these three as a budding filmmaker, we will do well: make sure our folks eat first, make sure they leave before us, and ensure they get paid on time. The Good book even describes a scenario where it’s best to pay the hired hand the same day… might behoove us to look into it.

5. Feedback

New crew? Fantastic. Old crew? Might be harder, but in either case, we must have the guts to ask for raw, honest feedback, every day of production.

Example: 

Me: What was the low-point of today's shoot? You can be totally honest; you can't offend me - I promise. I already had someone tell me it was hard knowing when we were rolling because I was too soft-spoken.

Crew: Okay... hmm... when there's a few minutes for an extra take, and the actors don't mind, forget the schedule! Get the extra take!

Easy, right?

You have to be prepared for raw, honest feedback. If it offends you, this will undoubtedly challenge you. If you want to grow as a filmmaker, ask the hard questions, and absolutely, at all costs, take the feedback and don't let it ruffle your feathers. Strive to be unoffendable.

Examples of GREAT questions I liked to ask my crew for constructive criticism:

1. What am I not doing that I can I do to make you as successful as possible?

2. What's it like to be on the other side of me during chaotic moments?

3. What was the low-point for you today?

4. (If talking to Uncle Bob, for example) You've worked with a 1st AC before (or insert any position here); what I can I do to make Jimbo (i.e. any person other than Uncle Bob) as successful as possible?

The last one looks confusing. Here it is without the remarks:

You've worked with a 1st AC before; what I can I do to make Jimbo as successful as possible?

We must ask questions. Questions are powerful.

No. 3 takes time because they have to trust our character. One subcontractor said the low point was when we ran out of fruit snacks (the candy) on set. Days later, I had earned enough trust for him to open up and offer a less tongue-in-cheek answer. We must be consistent throughout our shoot with these questions, and if we're the type who can handle stress and still smile, we'll be better off when earning the trust of our crew.

6. Followups

This too is essential. We must follow up with our folks. If we truly valued working with Darth, then we better add Darth to our calendar or CRM (I recommend Streak if you're a gmail user - it has oodles of features, even on the free plan) so we can follow up later. Followups are crucial! We can’t let it be the next project that we reach out to folks. They're people! If we only talk shop, that's going to sour an otherwise good relationship real quick.

My friend Terry and I first connected over IMAG (live broadcast), but we ended up spending time over Denny's and motorcycle rides around Clark County. We understood friendship isn't one-dimensional, and if you intend on nurturing relationships with your subcontractors, make it happen! I’ve slacked in this area, so go the extra mile - put their birthdays on your calendar, anniversaries, send a Cold Stone card when their kiddo graduates middle school. Be creative. I’ll do the same and strive to be intentional.

...

BONUS: ready to hire a subcontractor? Let's get rolling. This contract will take the pain out of

• terms

• conditions

• developer's warranty

• arbitration

• intellectual property

• expectations

• payment options

• intellectual property rights

and more - and makes them a non-factor.

This bad boy is yours when you join the Bold Nation newsletter:

Your turn: what advice do you have for hiring subcontractors that you could share with our microbudget community?

Original: June 19, 2017; updated May 4, 2019, Oct 14, 2022

I’ve worked video production as a PT side gig. I’ve done it as a FT freelancer/self-employed/single-member LLC. I’ve worked at two different W2 (i.e. someone else can claim me as their employee) video production jobs - FT - in two different states. And since I left home at 18, I’ve lived in several states and paid taxes in all four continental time zones. Sometimes my stints were as brief as eight weeks, and at other times, they were nearly five years. I’ve had more changes to my addresses than Prince did to his artist’s name. Part of that was being in the military, part of that was job-related. By no means am I an expert on moving, but along the way, I’ve learned a trick or two. While this list is by no means comprehensive, it’ll hopefully shed some light on areas you’re not thinking through just yet.

And what’s more, if you stick around after the show for the free performance by Limozee—, er, the bonus section, you’ll get a FREE SALARY WORKSHEET. It’ll help you budget what each dollar is meant to do with your new W2 video production job so you can make smart decisions and eat something other than Raisin Bran and canned peaches every once in a while. I’ll also have a bonus video for you with 10 more tips.

1. Make sure where you are moving is legit

I’ve heard horror stories of moving into a place that wasn’t on the up-and-up. I’ve never had that problem, and I don’t want you to be a Craigslist horror story.

Check Google, Yelp, the BBB, Facebook, heck, even Myspace! Research, research, research. Drive to the place and check every nook and cranny. Drive around the place at night. Be thorough.

When I left the Air Force, I moved out west to Utah and landed a room in a house with some Mormon dudes. Which, theology and beliefs aside, was a really good idea. Observant LDS folks don’t do a lot crazy things. They’re pretty laid-back, and there’s a reason why the FBI loves ‘em. Anyhow, their house made for a stress-free living situation.

BUT…

It was a gamble. I was young and dumb, and I could have been swindled. I didn’t do my homework, and I should have because I found those bros on Craigslist, packed my car full of clothes and headed off on a new adventure.

It could have backfired - big time. Thank God Almighty it didn’t, but I sure could have been up a creek without a paddle.

The only thing I had going for my move (as far as peace of mind goes) was zero red flags and a chummy chat or two between me and the property owner, himself a former Air Force vet. A veteran can sniff out a fellow veteran from the pretenders. That doesn’t justify my long-distance stupidity, but that’s what I went on, that and a prayer, Jon Bon Jovi style.

When we moved to MO, we looked everywhere. We even checked with the secretary of state’s website for MO to make sure the property management company was on the up and up because I didn’t have the benefit of scouting this place out. I did it all virtually.

Does your state have a division of real estate? Visit their site, call them, send smoke signals or holler like Rocky Balboa.

If you can’t drive around and check the place out from top-to-bottom, you’ll have to be extra discerning. Don’t be a sheep; do the homework before you move.

If you can check the place out before signing a dotted line, function check all the appliances in the house. Test all the power switches and test all the running water. Run the water in the W/D (if possible), the shower, the sinks, and flush the toilet several times.

For example, I once moved into a place where water backed up in the toilet and the shower (ditto the washer) just about every time any two of those were run at the same time. Or even just one of them. It’s something you take for granted, right? I sure did, not being able to flush or shower, having to save those for elsewhere where possible.

After about nine days of the landlord troubleshooting the indoor plumbing, it turned out there was a line from an internet/cable company that had run right through the sewage/drainage pipe coming out of the house. No wonder things were backing up!

2. Update addresses

Internet, gas, power, phone, water, sewage, trash, insurance, banking, Amazon Prime, Jelly-of-the-month club, the VA if you’re a veteran of the armed services, Netflix - this list goes on, really.

Note for veterans: you *should* be able to do this inside ebenefits in one fell swoop. I did, and I don’t even have the club jacket. If I’m wrong in your case, don’t bludgeon me with a baguette - call your local VA hospital and ask for help.

3. Get moving cubes

Since you’re moving across state lines, moving in a U-Haul is for the birds.

I left everything that was a major appliance in my home in Salt Lake when I moved down the road to Sunny Vegas. I still picked up a 15’ truck and towed my motorcycle behind it. That blasted U-Haul truck got 2.5 miles to the gallon.

I like to use hyperbole on this site, but in this rare instance, it’s no joke: 2.5 miles to the gallon.

Your boat probably gets better mileage than that, and your gigantic F-750 probably gets better mileage than that. Heck, an Imperial Star Destroyer gets better mileage than that.

If you have a family, the added plus of going the cubes route is you’re traveling with them and not in separate vehicles (try taking a car and little ones in car seats across state lines with you in the U-Haul - see how that works for your family).

I used a great service called UPack, and I had zero problems with them.

If you’re getting cubes, go the extra mile: get professional movers at both locations (the one you’re leaving and the one you’re moving to). They’re licensed and insured so if something goes south, you aren’t destroying a friendship with a buddy you were too cheap to pay.

Las Vegas: If you’re moving to or from Southern Nevada, I used and recommend Move 4 Less (showed up ahead of time, finished early, and filled two cubes perfectly without having to fill a third cube… they even left some courtesy tape and wrapping materials… top-notch guys). They are not, as best as I can tell, in other parts of the country, hence the note for “Las Vegas.”

4. Get Pelican cases

You never know what your move will do - protect your most valued gear with pelican cases. It’s worth it, and unless you’re able to trot all of your video production gear in your vehicle, you’ll end up storing some of the equipment in cubes. If you have the golden passport to Shambhala, you’ll want to tuck that away in a Pelican case and not just any old gym bag.

What about after the move? Besides making sure your theater subscription pass is updated so you can keep up with your flicker shows, here are some odds ‘n ends you’ll want to tackle.

1. Find a new credit union

Not every credit union is as big as Navy Federal. So, your mom and pop credit union in Cheyenne probably won’t be around in Timbuktu, or wherever you’re moving. Between the sites I mentioned above (BBB, Facebook, Yelp, Google), you have plenty of ammo you can use to discern whether someone is worth your time and money when you’re heading across state lines and rebooting.

I recommend finding a group that offers free business checking, and if the best you can find is a small chain that offers free checking up to 250 transactions, that’s enough to start, but I’d keep looking.

In Salt Lake and Las Vegas, I used America First. They were nothing short of phenomenal.

Note for veterans: USAA, for all its glitter and downright awesomeness, does not offer business checking.

2. Get busy looking into the home-business licensing laws in your area

Some places are about as indifferent to home-based businesses as the general public is to yet another Transformers movie (hint: they’re burned out).

In southern Nevada, it was pretty darn laid back. In other places (e.g. Raytown, a suburb of Kansas City), it’s pretty vague. Do your homework and dive in when you have some revenue coming in. Don’t spring for an LLC when you have nothing to your name and no revenue - classic rookie mistake (yep, been done, done that - have the T-shirt, shorts, and cap)

3. Update your will

If you’re an adult, it’s time to adult. If you have kids, you can’t afford to let your will lapse. Man knows not his time.

Find something off docracy and go to town with it. Simple is key here, especially if you’re not a high-net-worth individual, and chances you are not said type of individual are great if you’re here at this site.

You might be able to find a notary at a UPS store; your bank probably won’t touch your will with a 10-foot pole. You may be able to find one at your library.

Also, check your new place of work; you might just find (on a large team) a notary who is current on all their i’s and lower-case j’s.

Just don’t be a rookie like this guy walking with head held high into a UPS store only to forget my witnesses. Yes, witnesses. If your parents or Uncle Bob comes back with a vengeance when you’re pushing daisies, you want witnesses who will defend your name (your will) in court.

4. Reboot your niche or find a new one

This one’s easy. See if your town is without a legacy video girl or guy or maybe there’s nobody that does country music videos. Heck, you could be the first to carve out a niche filming Quinceañera videos. If so, be the best at that role, and get some ads going to let people know you’re in business.

And tell everyone. No matter how old or young. Explain your niche in such a way your 6-year-old nephew can tell people what you do.

5. Hit the gym

Moving really does allow you the best possible way to reboot. Hitting the gym and cleaning up your diet are a 1-2 punch you can knock out with this new transition and you should, regardless of whether it’s for weight-loss or just overall health.

For example, I put on a lot of bad dad weight after my oldest was born - you can see it in 2017 YouTube videos compared to 2018/2019. Like Elvis in his later years, I wore dark clothes to hide the fact. Well, in 2018, shortly after New Year’s, my wife introduced me to the app MyFitnessPal. It’s free to get started, and it’s got enough punch in it to see your weight loss over time, calories you’re burning by walking (or manually if you add them or other exercises), and what nutrients like fats and sugars you’re eating too much of.

It’s a great way to visualize weight loss, and let’s face it. We all spend too much time on our phones anyways, so you might as well add the app and lose some weight.

I went from a robust 210 at my worst in 2017 to a lean 185 at my best in 2018. All because I tracked what I ate and stuck to the nutrient goals outlined in the app. Up until 2018, I exercised regularly. Heck, I’ve been exercising since Washington crossed the Delaware that one blustery winter morning, but it really is about your diet when it comes to weight loss.

Let’s bring it full circle now. When you move, so much gets the reset button. Go the extra mile and leverage that momentum to get in shape, lose weight (if you want to), and more importantly, have a healthy heart and body.

Note: In the same year, they (MyFinessPal) had a huge hack, so if you use the app, don’t offer it personal details you’re not comfortable tossing to the wind. Headsup!

6. Plug into a group

Find a house of worship, a VFW, a meetup, join the Chamber of Commerce - perhaps all of the above. You weren’t created to go it alone, and that’s an immutable, God-given truth regardless of your intro/extroverted-ness.

Surround yourself with people who will become your new home away from home; use the new digs as a chance to hit the reset button on generosity too. Be generous with your time and money; you’re meant to be a servant leader, in your video production and in your standing as a new resident in Timbuktu.

But none of that is possible if you wall yourself off from the new town you’re in like Ben Kenobi wandering the desert, hoping to stumble upon Luke Skywalker and R2-D2.

This part’s hard, and as Simon Sinek said, there’s no app to shortcut the relationship-building. So buckle up.

7. Last but not least… your car(s)

One thing you’ll want to do in ADVANCE of getting new licenses, new plates, new registrations for your cars is to get a safety/emissions test (sometimes it’s one or the other or both) two months before you’re going to run the DMV gauntlet.

In my experience, you have 60 days from the time you get a safety/emissions test to trot out to the DMV and get your registration updated (COMMENT below the post if you know of a place where the safety/emissions test is NOT good for 60 days).

So, why is getting a jump on this early (enough) so important? Two reasons, muchachos. One, if you’ve got a bug in your car, it’s best to find out now than at the last minute (like this guy once did). Two, if you’re moving to a place like Missouri, as I’m discovering, there’s an extra layer of red tape to get through between the safety/emissions test and the trip to the DMV, and that’s the tax assessor’s office.

What the deuce?

I agree, and I’ve lived in several states, plus I had a 6-month jaunt in Afghanistan. Only in the great state of MO have I found an extra step of bureaucracy. Can you tell I’m a libertarian?

Give yourself time to get these steps done, lest you wind up illegally driving on your “new” roads:

1. Safety/emissions

2. Potential middle step/bureaucracy/red tape

3. DMV

Closing Thoughts

Over-deliver as if you were serving clients outside your organization. Remember to smile, shake hands with folks, listen well, and remember who you ultimately serve. Submit to the authority of those over you, eat your vitamins, say a prayer, and keep creating with the King.

Bonus

This site exists to share everything with you, good, bad, and/or ugly, in the journey of getting a TV show made. You’ll learn financing and marketing tips for you, the video producer, to engage your local community in whatever niche you apply yourself to.

So, join the newsletter below where I won’t spam you or resell your information to Icelandic crab fishermen. I, like you, want to tell stories of the hope we have in the Almighty to the masses, and if that’s you, hit that big subscribe button. I’ll send you a bonus video that’ll share 10 more pro-tips for moving across state lines, plus that worksheet.

NEIN

Original: 4/6/19; updated 9/2/22

We've already talked a great deal about what to do when you're fishing for prospects. 

If you haven't already, there's a guide on what to do once you have your list of prospects or even one way you can find more prospects.

However, if you are super broke as a joke, then you can do this manually. That's what we're going to talk about today. These are easy ways to find prospects in your backyard that you can practice your pitching skills to and also practice your filmmaking and more importantly, have a chance to serve THEM.

Ready to dive in? For those of you that want more - smurfs are blue - stick around to the end for the bonus.

Number 1: Google

I know it sounds like I'm being glib here, but the truth of the matter is, the ole Google search engine is so powerful, there's so much you can do especially if you learn its syntax.

For example, 

Free plug for ya there Uncle Bob. You're welcome.

P.s. There's always an Uncle Bob, if not in your family, then in your backyard. QED.

Okay, take this example:

site:linkedin.com "Maxwell company" "marketing"

If you took that string, verbatim, you will have it search LinkedIn for the marketing director, a marketing associate, or someone from marketing in the John Maxwell Company. Somewhere in that first page, if there is a match and this marketing director (or CMO or the like) is on LinkedIn, then you're going to find his/her page and you can click on the link.

Note: LinkedIn is expensive - it is to the tune of 500,000+ bucks a month just to unlock the ability to send some mail (for which you have x credits, and they reset every month) to these prospects.

They do offer a free trial, and when you are in a really good rhythm with your film/video work, I highly recommend doing the free trial just to unlock one more way that you can reach out to prospects if not clients. Otherwise, as the title of the post suggests, you are broke as a joke and you won't be swinging for their monthly service. It is, by far, the most expensive form of email I've run into. :)

Number 2: Manta

Now Manta doesn't have everything, and I don't know what they were trying to accomplish when they started, but it has become a kind of an online Yellow Book.

Only, it has rough estimates on a company's annual revenue, address, phone number, website URL, and possibly the owner or president or CEO or some other bigwigs that would be attached to the company.

Is the information always accurate? Heck no!

But what you don't realize right away is that this is an online directory for prospecting. Especially if you live in a big town. E.g. Las Vegas is home to two million residents and close to 40 million tourists every year. There are thousands of businesses here, and Manta is basically an online yearbook for every single one of those businesses, well, most of them.

Try it out with your town!

See how many businesses you can pull up that you can reach out to and ask, hey are you guys looking to do a video anytime soon?

Don't be that lazy of course - tailor your cold pitch.

P.s. if your pitch goes south, you'll at least

• get your name out there

• have a good story

For example, I once accidentally addressed a man as "Miss" in my email. He promptly wrote back with the same honorific for yours truly. 

Number 3: State Database

This is going to be different for every state and that's the beauty of states. I can give you the example that I go through at least once a month in Nevada.

Google the following:

Nevada entity details

and the top result will be a government website (.gov) for the state of Nevada that allows me to search business names.

I can then sort all of the results by alphabetical order and by those that are active domestic corporations. This directory is so exhaustive, it will also list all of the businesses that are expired or no longer current.

Now the one problem with my state that you will likely not have (unless you live in Delaware), is that a lot of businesses will have a nexus in Nevada, which is just a fancy business way of saying they have a permanent business location in Nevada.

Why?

Nevada is super lenient on businesses in terms of the no corporate income tax in addition to the no personal income tax (at the state level).

A small tradeoff and a random anecdote is that last year in 2015, they (NV) rolled out a new tax and they call it the Commerce Tax which applies to businesses with millions of dollars in revenue (> $4 mill) - though every business must "file" said tax.

I know the gaming industry has made Nevada what it is, and they are among the handful that pay this tax. It's a trade-off: they get to have their gambling, and the rest of us small business owners get to have some nice tax breaks. Now only if the state had more film incentives...

Back on track; try it right now-

Google

yourstate entity details

and see if you can find a state government website where you can comb thru its directory of active businesses.

For example, let's look at Cali:

First result! Let's try the usual...

This search tool in CA seems a little more rigid than my state NV (and yours?), but no matter.

Bingo. Got 'em.

Now this approach is not the most efficient way to find businesses, but if you are just looking for a big giant yearbook to start pulling out names, it's not a bad one to have up your sleeve.

Number 4: Meetups

Meetup.com... If you are not already using it, go sign up for it.

Everybody's heard how there is power in networking. I say relationships are more powerful, but if you have zero relationship, saying "hi" (aka the cold pitch) is better than nothing.

Sometimes you have no idea where to start, especially if you do live in a big metropolitan city like I do, in which case, Meetup.com will allow you to start parsing through the cobwebs and find clusters of like-minded people.

I recommend trying to find a small business meetup or a marketer's meetup or something along those lines. If you go to a meetup with other video production guys, you're likely going to be brushing shoulders with your competitors. I'm sure there's value to that, but you want to try to get your name and/or your company name out there to as many people as possible with a favorable image and more importantly your ability to serve THEM.

Now these meetups bring the added benefit of practicing your elevator pitch before a live group of seasoned professionals. NEVER TURN DOWN THAT OPPORTUNITY. Every single person at these groups has been working hard at their business for some time, and that kind of experience is invaluable for the real deal that we all hope to get to one day, and that is pitching the studio executives at Netflix or Paramount, etc.

Here's what I do:

Number 5: Staff Me Up

Now if I really wanted to go down this rabbit hole, I could list all of the other guys where video jobs are being posted, and this is different then really all these other suggestions (or for that matter, the point of this post), but if you are super good at editing or art direction or you have a super specific niche skill within the world of filmmaking, then you could find prospects here. I say that because not every job on Staff Me Up is from a studio.

I'll say that again, not every job on Staff Me Up is from a studio.

I've seen small businesses and other outfits post their help wanted ads or even just their freelance opportunities on Staff Me Up. By no means is this the norm for Staff Me Up, but this kind of leeway does exist.

If they don't list information for how to contact them, and if I really want to find out how to help these people, then I'll use some of these techniques that I wrote about earlier for finding those decision-makers and their information, provided they at least give a company name. You should too. There's no need to pay for the Staff Me Up service.

Number 6: Production Hub

This place mostly dumps “paid” leads on their site. Meaning, everything is behind a paywall in some shape or form these days, but I remember a time when you either subscribed for unlimited bids (per year) or you bought bids a la carte. But, if you look real hard, you’ll find some folks dump “free” bids on the site, and whether it’s a drone gig or a 3d animation gig, you can dive right in when it’s free (and signup to pay to use the site, of course).

I started using the service in 2018; in addition to networking, working your existing rolodex of contacts, etc, you might consider giving these guys a gander, but it will cost a few bucks a month a minimum. Ergo, why their service is further down the rabbit hole.

Headsup: not all prospects will list a phone number that you can call/text. Everyone, by default, is required to list an email.

Don’t just email.

Call/text and email. Stand out. Be creative. Be persistent. Smile so big, they can hear the smile over the phone. Go land some new contracts!

Honorable Mentions?

Craigslist? Can be super shady… egad.

Facebook? Join a production group in YOURNEARESTBIGCITY. That is bound to have a few leads. And I emphasize GROUP. Facebook Groups are the only good thing left about Facebook.

Upwork? I linked to the post at the onset of this blurb where I talk about when you should use Upwork, but I’ll dive a little deeper here. I don’t recommend Upwork for pitching prospects. Why? You’re competing with the global talent pool on what amounts to mostly animated projects. Good luck with that when a guy halfway around the world will do the same job for pennies on the dollar. A finished video may look like bantha fodder, but it’s pennies on the dollar, which is music to some clients’ ears.

Last but not least…

Next time you are a passenger, bring a notepad, your phone, whatever it is you like to write with and as you are driving by the familiar places in your backyard, start writing down the names of every business even if it's just on Uncle Bob's Law Firm. When you purposefully look at each and every business along your familiar routes, say to the gym or to the grocery store, you will be surprised at just how many dozens of businesses are right there in your normal commute.

This gives you some association, even if it is only by virtue of proximity.

You always want to make these cold introductions as warm as possible and as quickly as possible. It's a thin one, but even just the fact that you drive by Uncle Bob's Law Firm five times a week is better than just being some random Joe with absolutely no connection to the owner, CMO, etc.

...

Okay, here's your BONUS. It's real simple:

• I'm going to walk you through how to do a deep search of Manta so you're actually getting to the meat and potatoes (because it's exhaustive) as quick as possible with your prospecting.

• You'll see it can be done in at most 5 minutes using tools we've talked about in earlier posts (it took me less than 6 to make the video walkthru).

Dig in!

THIS ONE'S DIFFERENT, AND I POSTED IT ON MY PERSONAL FBOOK ACCOUNT NOT TOO LONG AGO: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FILM THAT SHOWS LOVE, GRACE, REDEMPTION, FORGIVENESS - EVEN GOD-FEARING PEOPLE - THAT WAS NEVER MARKETED AS A FAITH-BASED FILM? Comment Below!

...

Original: Oct 15, 2016; updated Aug 23, 2017; Nov 15, 2018; Aug 16, 2022

• won't be cheesy

• have meaning

• actually reach people

• remind them there is such a thing as unconditional love

Etc.

En route to getting there, you end up doing video production to serve others and grow as a leader and as a filmmaker. 

And while you're doing video production, in the prospecting and qualifying stages of any video production relationship, you have to ask questions. 

Lots. They help you control the convo, the sales cycle, and they’ll keep you from getting run over. If you’re silent and not asking great questions, you’ll get run over by a deuce-and-a-half of a savvy businesswoman or businessman. On that note, here’s what you need to do if your client treats you like you’re a newb.

I've lost deals and destroyed potential opportunities because I didn't ask enough questions. You probably have too.

Ask questions. Questions get people talking. 

Stick around, after the show, for a free performance (aka bonus)... by Limozeen (i.e. 12 more questions you can add to your arsenal).

Question 1: What’s your all-time favorite (insert genre) movie (or TV show) right now? Why?

Great question - ask it to everyone. Cashier, clerks, your Verizon wireless rep, your mom, your baby boy - ask!

Why? It gives you the much-needed practice of breaking the ice. It builds your confidence, and it sure beats the usual rigmarole.

EVERYONE ELSE

(starting a conversation) 

How are you doing today?

YOU

Hey, what's your favorite action movie right now - how come? 

Be different - your filmmaking depends on it.

Scared to death? Fight it. Try this:

YOU

Hey, I got a random question for you.

CLERK

(deer-in-the-headlights look)

Okay? 

YOU

What is your favorite comedy right now?

CLERK

Uh... I really like that Rocky 5000 movie!

YOU

Great! How come?

Smile, be positive, and practice.

Question 2: What do you wish your current video did better so you wouldn’t have to replace it?

This question, and others on this list, are inspired by the sales training I'm going through from "Uncle G" (Grant Cardone) - as opposed to Uncle Bob. Grant's not for everyone, but I've learned a heap from him when it comes to business.

It takes some guts to ask this question; do it. Be wise as serpents, gentle as doves, ja? Do ask this one though in the fact-finding (i.e. figuring out what your prospective client wants) part of your sales cycle (qualify, fact-find, talk deadlines, close), the part where you figure out what the deuce they want?! We all know no two videos are alike, so dig in, and figure out what they want/need.

Question 3: What’s your all-time favorite commercial? Why?

Commercials are not as firmly etched in our noggins like good movies and tv shows, but everyone's got a commercial they remember really well (Where's the beef? for the baby boomers). 

E.g. no thanks to a certain insurance company, I always distinguish myself as “Jake the film guy” so I don’t get asked about khakis.

Chances are, your prospect has a commercial, favorite or otherwise, that they can immediately recall. Then you can ask questions about what it’s so memorable to them.

Question 4: What’s your favorite movie where the main character is a dad and a husband and he doesn’t compromise his family with his actions or inactions?

I love this question. It had some solid answers on my Facebook. People love questions! It gets them thinking and it's an opportunity to share part of their story.

Go try it. Right now. 

Then have the courage to ask your prospects/clients.

I haven't got a response to this one from a prospect - yet. I'll keep trying.

Question 5: What’s your favorite movie where there are themes of love, forgiveness, grace - even hope - that isn’t cheesy?

Whew.

I had some wild answers all over the map with this turkey. From the conservative "The Count Of Monte Cristo" to the out-of-the-box and unexpected "Pulp Fiction" - it was quite a turnout. 

I don't censor people's responses, and neither should you. That's missing the point of the dialogue entirely.

Question 6: Scale of 1 to 10, what do you rate your current video? What would make it a 10?

This is a trial close question, but you can use it in the fact-finding. Use it to help the person you're serving uncover sticking points. After all, it's their story, and they're financing it to solve an underlying problem (more prospects, more customers, more engagement, better retention, etc). It's then your job to reach for that '10.'

Question 7: What one action would you like your ideal customer to take after watching your video ad?

This works in tandem with the footer in the last question. Honestly - you need to discern what your client is trying to solve. I.e. fact-finding.

All of marketing is a gamble, and there are people who have been burned by it. 

For example, a gentleman once told me he was done:

Hindsight's always 20/20, and I should have said "I take full responsibility for that - that's my fault. Apart from not wanting to deal with marketing or marketers, is there any other reason I can't chat for 3.5 mins with you?"

I did the first part, but I didn't do the second part.

Ziggy said sympathy will cost you the sale; I know that, and I blundered and did it anyways.

Live and learn - we fail more often than we succeed. Always be learning. Commit your work to the King (ask for help - our kids are really good at this - why do we fail at this?), and try again.

Question 8: When is the last time you invested big in marketing your company?

This is more of a qualifying question.

You shouldn't be charging pennies on the dollar like the kids on Upwork do, and hopefully your client isn't either. If it's a nonprofit, you can find out (public info) just how much they dropped on marketing last year - which means how much they might drop on your services. 

If you're even half good, charge enough for your time, your subcontractors' time, your company, and most importantly, those in your charge.

If you're lost in the sauce on how to do this, you need to stop underselling yourself. Here's how to do it.

Question 9: If I could do even half of what I claim and get you more clients, are you the person to make a decision on a $16,000 investment?

Another qualifying question here.

Uncle G is right - always (in the prospecting) be upfront with the ballpark price.

I say ballpark 'cause let's face it; we don't know the exact price tag on our work 'til we've had a Q&A with folks. 

But we need to be in the ballpark. Don't be scared. You shouldn't have any room on your couch for fear anyways. 

Question 10: If [YOURTEAM] could fix one thing with your marketing, what would it be?

Fact-finding.

This is my least favorite of the questions partly because it's so straightforward and so useful, it's bland.

Don't be like me → separate personal preference from what needs to be done to SERVE your client (or would-be-client). 

Question 11: Other than yourself, who influences your marketing decisions?

Qualifying.

We can't afford to ignore the people who are a part of these thousand-plus-dollar decisions.

Ask to get them involved, and ask to speak with them early on. 

I once walked into a prospect's office and quickly realized I had the wrong decision maker. I was with an influencer, but not the decision maker.

You need to acknowledge and serve all hands on deck.

Question 12: What is a good # I can use to text you some information?

Drop this bad boy anywhere in the sales cycle if they’re not offering a cell number. It’s also from Uncle G - the idea is simple. The bigger their responsibilities, the bigger their inbox. Do you think they'll remember you when you're #23 out of #200? 

Unlikely. 

Get attention, and be creative (your profession depends on it).

Text messaging is quick and has absurd response rates.

Question 13: Will you make some time to see me later today or tomorrow?

If you can’t do the fact-finding right away, then after you’ve qualified them, you might need to bust this question out. It’s to the point - make the ask. If they say no, propose an alternate day. Let them pick the time.

I once used Assistant.to (free) for gmail to help with scheduling. Give it or another scheduling tool a whirl.

Sidebar—Here’s what it used to look like:

Step 1: open a new email and look for the wheel in the lower right-hand corner.

Step 2: Once this bad boy is set up, it can sync directly with your Google Calendar (Yosh!), so pick up to three days and drag your boxes around to indicate times you're available.

Step 3: The proposed times will be in your email, and your recipient can pick their favorite. Capisce?

Question 14: What's been the biggest reason for not doing a short film (or video) ad before?

Fact-finding. A favorite of mine right now - uncover the truth, and you'll find where their values lie. You might not be a good fit (in their eyes), even if you are the next Salomon Ligthelm and you know you can serve them and tell a butt-kicking story. 

It's your job to show it. 

Be persistent. You're a filmmaker, not a PA, not a caterer, not a dude/dudette who will tuck tail and run - persist.

...

Want more? 

Drill these.

I've got them in a quick .pdf for you that you should keep on your phone and available offline - plus 12 more questions you can ask to better serve your prospects/clients. Get them while they're fresh off the griddle~

My favorite example that fits all of criteria at the beginning of this post is the 1998 Les Mis with Liam Neeson; he plays a redeemed, God-fearing man - Jean Val Jean - who still wrestles with the old self on occasion, but he makes steps towards living a new life.

Powerful story. Powerful movie. Powerful acting. Power everything.

We need more stories of that caliber reaching billions of people and less of the (insert favorite cheesy faith-based, faith-inspired, yadda yadda yadda) variety.

My turn: What’s your favorite drama (movie - not tv show) right now and why?

→ Let me know below!

Original Oct 29, 2016; updated Sept 27, 2017; Feb 26, 2019; June 28, 2022

Tired of your videos looking and sounding like that movie, "The Room"?

I'm the best-looking video producer this side of the Mississippi, and more importantly, I can guarantee your peace of mind. Send a courier pigeon or get in touch HERE or HERE.

Where am I?

You may have noticed I'm not frequent on social media. Here's what's happening:

1. I work full time in the AV industry and have been doing so since 2014.
2. Six days a week, I work on Keenumbers - Math for Kids Who Love Numbers. If your youngin' shows an interest in numbers, they might just be capable of some 3rd grade math concepts before they are 6-years-old. Subscribe HERE.

At the end, if you stick around for the bonus, there's some straightforward copy you can use to re-align your intro emails.

If your sole job as a movie director is to inspire, communicate, and lead, then that middle part definitely starts here, in the weeds of video production - long before you ever yell action on a set with 100's of crew and cast members.

You dig?

Anytime you open your doors for business, you will get salespeople knocking on your door. 

I know; I knock on other peoples' inboxes just about every working day (Gary Vee said it really well - warning: there may be some salty language).

And churches get this point really well; they surround their lead pastors with gatekeepers to keep all the solicitors at bay.

One day, I’ll get more of the wacky, crazy kinds of emails (and even phone calls) that just don't quite add up. I already get some.

You will too as you progress as a filmmaker. 

Here are a handful of critical blunders you NEED to avoid like the whooping cough in your outreach.

1. Failing to find out your prospect's name

This is the easiest step, and yet so many lazy "salespeople" think quantity over quality is going to work.

It's not.

I will never do business with someone who doesn't have the time or willingness to find my name.

Not because I'm obsessed with my name or even basic customs and courtesies. 

It reveals a deeper issue when a sales pitch won't address my name - they lack attention to detail.

So will they make blunders? 

Will they over-deliver?

Will they communicate in a timely fashion?

Do they really care about my business or my crew?

No. No. No. And a whopping no. 

You don't have to be a super outgoing person - you need to make sure your comm is regular, and I'd even say repetitive. When you over-communicate, you naturally gravitate towards over-delivering, and blunders are easier to forgive because you're keeping your client in a constant feedback loop. It also communicates that you care (over-communicating and good listening show that you give a rat's behind and you should if you're working on that great commandment). 

For example, I know a guy in Vegas named Josh. I met him way back when on day one of my interview for the mega church that ultimately brought me and my wife to Vegas. 

He was serving as an IMAG producer (live video production - not my technical schtick, but if it's yours, stick with it like Josh does) on the weekends for this mega church. 

Through Josh, I learned a valuable lesson: over-communicate even the "obvious" details. 

That's a great of strength of his, and I let him know. And because he over-communicates, he works downtown on shows and events as an A/V guy (no shortage of those in Vegas), and his work has been so consistent, he's survived multiple slowdowns and force reductions in the A/V pool to the point he had to incorporate his work as an LLC. 

Over-communicate. You'll show that you care, that you work hard, that you value your client's time, and better yet, you'll get their name right.

2. Wrong product or service

I'm not a software company. 

Somewhere along the way, I got mislabeled as one, and I've had this one recurring sales pitch as though I am an SAAS (software as a service) company.

It's possible that our pricing calculator has given folks the wrong impression. It's meant for you, the microbudgeter, to give your client an instant quote for any project shy of a Hollywood feature, yes, but that does not make this site an SAAS co.

Don't pitch me on your conference, your CRM tools, or your timeshares. 

Same goes for us as microbudgeters.

3. Straight up lies (or wrong info)

This one cracked me up. It was so clearly spammy, I had to add it to this list, and it was the final straw for me to pull the trigger on this blog post. I had been collecting these examples, and this was and is the icing on the cake.

Not only did the guy ignore the first principle, he straight up didn't do his fact checks. 

I have never created a course.

I used to teach math before I ever did film/video full time, but I've never made an online film course. I toyed with the idea, even tested the waters before, but it never even got off the ground (my fault entirely). 

Make sure if you're using a template, that you use it as a BASE and tailor the darn thing to the person you're sending it to! Copy/paste jobs beware!

4. Poor CTA

Remember, a clear call-to-action is critical. 

This example shows a sales person who at least took 20 seconds to find my company's name and my name for that matter. They were off to a good start. 

This is where they dropped the ball though - the CTA was too vague, and it let me off the hook, so of course I never responded. She could have said, can I call you tomorrow at 3pm?

I would have been more assertive, and you should too. 

For example, "I'll call you on Wednesday at 1pm EST." 

Or, "I'll stop by your office 9am Tuesday morning." 

If you make a bold claim, you better back it up with action (and show up early - more on that down the road). 

For example, in 2016, I gave folks one simple CTA.

And one of our fellow film/video folks followed it and left a word of encouragement for Julian.

Alina - you're going to be a great leader. Don't quit.

So gang, make your CTA clear, actionable, and shoot, let it stand out from the rest of your copy!

Heck, I'm doing it again today (below).

5. Too long

This one's easy. While I was on Mariah's newsletter (I learned everything I know about webinars from her - and I will do more of those in time), this email was just too long. And don't get me wrong - Mariah is fantastic at what she does, and that's specifically equipping people with the skills they need to launch their first __________. Like Gary Vee, she uses colorful language, so she may not be your cup of tea.

I'm no saint. I've sent newsletters to some of you guys that were painfully long too.

I'm getting better at that. 

If your prospect has to scroll down to read your email, you're toast.

Stick to 1-2 sentences and try to get them to say a "yes" or "no" response to open the door to a phone call, sit-down, Skype chat, Google Hangout, jousting, you know whatever you gotta do to break the ice. Patience, consistent outreach, and time are your best allies - here's what else you can do. 

6. Too infrequent

One and done is rarely one and done.

Did your spouse go out with you after you first asked? Maybe. Did your kids eat spinach the first time you asked? Did you buy the very first home you looked at? Have you ever sold a cold prospect in the first conversation on your video productions?

Catch my drift?

Followup is key. 

Grant Cardone says 80% of sales take place between the 5th and 12th followup.

Do the followup. Don't be a lazy, indifferent house cat.

7. Too slow

It’s baked right into the H1 heading here: slow is spelled “l-a-z-y". Being slow is the epitome of lazy cat moves. Speed is the new currency according to the aforementioned Uncle G.

Which is why you should get all the info (from the prospective client) in the first conversation (and plugging it into whatever calculator of choice you use, be it mine or someone else’s). An in-person visit or call is best (audio or video).

A second best option is to build a form on your website with radio buttons and check boxes. It’s like taking their order, but it’s on you to turn around a quote ASAP. Don’t dawdle here.

Email is a terrible idea. People hate responding to long emails. Wait… didn’t we already mention this? Hmm…

Texting is terrible in my experience. The problem with text, while it does chunk up information into bite-sized morsels, is it encourages someone to take their time when a phone call could get all the info out in a tenth of the time. It takes longer to type than to speak, and it still takes longer to dictate than it does to just talk to another human. Our world of film and video is too technical for a good dictation tool to keep up anyways. I’ve made and still make this mistake because so much of our every day interactions take place via SMS. It’s easy to fall into this trap (in other industries, I’m sure SMS is a great tool - it’s not for a sales pitch in our world of video production). I’ll have people inquire of my services via SMS and I won’t hesitate to respond. I go right along with it and fail to provide them the answers they need. Texting is just too slow. Redirect them to your form or invite them to a call or a cup of joe.

Gather data as quickly as possible (Don’t know what data to gather? Try HERE). Then spit out a quote, send a proposal, close, and start your video production.

8. Too Indifferent

This is more for inbound sales, but it’s relevant. We’ve all had the CSR’s who answer the phone, “Hey.” No indication of name. No joy in their voice. No desire to serve, let alone sell.

Don’t be that CSR. Whether inbound or outbound sales - don’t open a text message to a prospect with “hey.”

Folks younger than me, hear me out - “hey” is an unwinnable strategy in the top-of-the-funnel sales—or at any point of the sale. Don’t do it.

...

There you have it my fellow microbudgeters. Go with God, create every day, play the long game, and invite people into the story you're telling, no different than what the Ultimate Creator does for us every day. 

Original: Sept 10, 2016; updated Sept 18, 2017 & Feb 3, 2019, May 22, 2022

Bonus: Stick around after the show for a free performance by Limozeeeen! Actually, I’ve got a guide for you that will walk you through, A-Z, everything you need to start your own video business from scratch. Because clients (or your own lack of responsibility) that drive you bananas are just the tip of the iceberg; you’ll deal with non-profits who want to undercut your services, payment processors who want their cut, and the interminable question: what do I charge my clients? All this and more are in the bonus section.

Thing # 1: drag their feet on deciding what they want

This can happen in oh so many ways (i.e. dragging their feet, in general). I spell out the obvious ones below, but this is generally your fault if a prospect doesn’t feel some sense of urgency in the process. You need to take ownership in the video production process and if they’re dragging their feet, I’d take a hard look in the mirror first.

But when it comes to deciding what they want, this can be a big pain, and if you can’t help them find an idea/solution to what they want/their problem, you won’t be able to close them, get paid, or produce a video for them and thus serve them.

For example, I once had a client who paid the customary half upfront for work to begin. But in chasing perfection, we never launched. The work never started and the money… just sat in escrow. Months went by with phone calls and emails but nothing ever got off the ground.

So, my fellow microbudget filmmaker, indecision can occur before they render their John Hancock on the dotted line and it can occur after they sign. A signature and a deposit are not safeguards against one’s inability to make a decision and press forward. Headsup!

Try this instead: in your contract, outline deadlines and progress checks. If the client fails to stay with you in the project timeline by some excessive amount, let them know their project will move to the back of the queue (and possibly add a “reactivation fee” - I haven’t implemented the latter but I have the former; if you have a “reactivation fee,” comment below: how did it turn out?)

Thing # 2: kick the tires

I once had a prospect always ask for the latest and greatest price on their next idea but never commit to doing any business with me, even when I set the service at a super-entry level price-point of doing business, just to get them in the habit of pulling out their cc: one hour of consulting. Nope - nada. Every call/email was about the next idea and how much would it cost rather than “let’s roll!”

I finally wizened up and automated the trash can on their emails and stopped answering their calls.

My fault for failing to deliver value? Absolutely. My fault for getting strung along with a tire kicker? You bet.

Another client strung me along for months about a project that always had a setback. And then another setback. And another. I finally wizened up there too and stopped following up. Yes, Grant Cardone believes you should follow up ‘til one of you dies, but his Vice of Sales also takes a more level-headed approach: there are 7 billion people in the world. Move along; they’re not the droids you’re looking for.

This is a biggie you’ll have to sift through the hard way when you’re brand new and starting out, but with training and time, you can sniff out the tirekickers very quickly. I wrote a much more detailed post here and I suggest you learn how to qualify the real prospects from the tirekickers here.

Thing # 3: disappear for stretches at a time

This one is frustrating in its own unique way. They can sign and pay but then disappear. They can sign but not pay. They can disappear altogether during negotiations and then reappear ready to rock ‘n 'roll later. It might be some combination of all of the above, and if they pull this Band-of-Brothers-Lieutenant-Dike move on you once, that’s no biggie. Twice? It’s likely a weather pattern you can bank on again… and again.

How to mitigate it? Practice your sales training daily. It starts with you creating a sense of urgency for the sale and your leadership to guide and funnel the process from cradle to grave with milestones and expectations, which you should be over-communicating regularly.

After all, you can’t have a client show up and expect you to drop everything at once for them when they’ve been AWOL for a month. Stay in the communication loop, tell them they must as well or the project goes to the bottom of the priority list (as hinted at in the first thing above), and put it in writing as well what those timelines are - then regularly reinforce them.

Thing # 4: stall on signing the contract

You might have a tirekicker (referenced above), you might have someone who is legitimately swamped. It might be budget season and they are scrambling to tie up loose ends before the next fiscal year begins. Maybe they’re trying to buy time for George to plant a big one on Lorraine so Marty and his siblings don’t disappear. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

If they’re stalling on signing, it’s possible they’re shopping other vendors. Follow up regularly, creatively, and offer outstanding service. Sometimes just being local is the dealbreaker that works for or against you as well. If you’re in a tie with another vendor for a company’s contract, then chances are, the guy who’s closest wins. That happened to me once, and thankfully, I was the guy who was closest. But I wouldn’t have landed the contract if I hadn’t remained enthusiastic, consistent, creative, etc. If at any point I threw in the towel, I would have fallen off the radar.

I once hired a moving company simply because they picked up the phone, their competitors didn’t, and they called back 20 minutes later to let me know some additional info they forgot to share, but wanted to make sure I knew. The guy didn’t even ask for the close; it was a service-oriented move, and he had my business. Visa promptly joined the party.

Thing # 5: stall on paying you

This one you can mitigate by dumping LARGE watermarks on your work ‘til they pay up, which I talk more about in the post on contracts.

As the Good Book says, in this world you’ll face hardships, or in my parlance, you’ll have tough video clients (Jake the film guy-ians 1:23).

And it might even be as simple as confusion on their part. Just because it’s a hyper-technological society, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll have clients who know how to use Paypal, Apple Pay, BItcoin or any of the other ways you prefer to be paid. If you’re old school and only want checks, you’ll probably gel with every client under the sun in this arena, but be flexible. Take what payments they can give, but at the same time, know they might be scared at the thought of checking out through Paypal. Zoinks, Scoob! Read more about the different ways to get paid here.

Sometimes, you’ll do work that can’t be watermarked. For example, you might be hired to only do the video shoot. In that case, I wouldn’t fork over the footage until you at least have some peace of mind. First of all, don’t go into battle without a John Hancock from the client. Second - and this is at your discretion because you know your client - consider getting some skin the game (e.g. half up front).

But what if it’s a day-rate gig to capture live footage at a conference, for example? Meaning, nothing upfront. Having been in Vegas, I can guarantee there are no shortage of such events, and chances are, you can find some corporate gig coming through your nearest Metropolis and they need you to be behind the lens at that event. In this case, I recommend holding off on delivering the footage until you can be paid.

Veteran video producers will twist my arm about this, I’m sure, and they’ll probably yell and stamp their feet, but hear me out. In the absence of a signature (say the drill is to simply invoice the client), then push for reviewing footage with the client, handing it over to them, and getting paid in one fell swoop. I mean it. If you lack the guts to do it, that’s on you. Can’t/don’t want to set up a meeting like this? At least get a real signature from a decision-maker that they owe you $ before you hand over your assets. Even then, do due diligence; do your homework. Check the BBB, Google, Yelp, even Facebook, and see if they’re shady. If applicable, see if your client is even a business registered with the state you’re in (go to #3 HERE to learn how to find this info) If you have the slightest inkling they might be shady, they probably are. This happened to me once, and I didn’t have a written agreement in place beforehand, but neither did I give them the footage until I at least had a John Hancock on my invoice I sent them.

Bottom-line: chasing accounts receivables (i.e. your paycheck) is no fun. Nobody likes net-30 or later, and nobody wants to chase $ in small-claims courts (thankfully, I’ve never had to, but at the same time, that also makes me a poor teacher on what to expect should your client relationship turn south in a hurry).

Thing # 6: change their mind at the last minute

Sometimes this happens with no explanation, which is okay in the short-run, but a long-term relationship should naturally build trust. In the absence of “why” in these moments, you’ll probably go bananas. If it becomes a habit, be forewarned, you’ve got a problem child on your hands. Your best bet after signing (and being paid!) is to simply go your separate ways.

For example, I had a client who waited ‘til the 9th hour on every decision in the project, and when the 9th hour approached, if they (in the off chance) had made a previous decision, they would change their mind. This indecision is a cousin to thing # 1, but in this particular instance, it was my fault for not having a stronger contract in place to mitigate this kind of last-minute decision-making. We scouted a location that was decided on 24 hours before the shoot, and in the interim of scouting location A and the next morning when we’d be shooting, the location changed to location B (which thankfully we had seen before, way back when).

Was it their fault? Nope. Again, I should have had a stronger contract in place to avoid these kinds of headaches. After all, if I can’t lead well on a smaller project like this, why should I ever be given 5 talents or 10 talents to manage?

Regardless of whether you cover your rear before pre-production, smile and don’t waver in your enthusiasm. Be like Tony Horton in your excitement for the project, and remember ole Winston Churchill:

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Thing # 7: complain about past vendors/contractors

If it happens early on in negotiations, flee! You’ve got a problem child on your hands, and you’re not going to be their savior. Get out of Dodge as quick as possible! No money amount is worth the pain they will drag you through. A complainer is not a leader, not a reliable associate, and not a good client to keep around! Keeping them around will drive you bananas to no end, and they’ll likely cut into your margins with endless talking, complaining, and revisions - no work, no matter how much TLC is given to it will ever be enough. You could lasso the moon for them; it’s not enough. P.s. Michael Hyatt has some pearls on this very subject HERE.

You’ll go bananas passing up the money too, but it’s the best option. Either way, you’ll go bananas.

I had a prospect that I had to fire before he signed the dotted line. He complained too much about the past vendor, and I had rose-colored glasses over the price tag on a 3d animation job. Thankfully, my wife could see the forest for the trees, and if you’re able to surround yourself with people who can do the same for you, listen to them! After all, in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was his inability to follow simple details in the written agreement. He bucked at everything, no matter how clear the process was made to him. I knew at that point my wife picked out the danger long before I did, and I was naive to think I could swoop in like a Phoenix. I fired him, and he had to get the last word in. Yep, he was that kinda guy, and the proof was in the pudding.

So, my fellow microbudget filmmaker, if you’re doing video production on the side or even FT, don’t get starry-eyed over a high price tag when it comes with a lot of baggage.

Thing # 8: fail to assume responsibility

Tangential to the last one is the subject of my 2nd book, Nobody Told Me There Was Mustard On This Sandwich: Take Responsibility At All Levels Of Filmmaking. Truthfully, it’s the backbone of all these items in this post.

In short, when it’s the weather’s fault, the landlord’s fault, YouTube’s, Facebook’s, or even the POTUS’ fault, the prospect’s/client’s lack of assuming responsibility will drive you bonkers. I know how awkward this feels when your client complains, out loud, in front of you, especially if it’s about their customers or their employees (egad). I’m embarrassed for them because the formula usually looks like this:

1. Problem arises

2. Complaint surfaces/defensiveness ensues

3. Problem persists

When it should really be more like this:

1. Problem arises

2. Zero complaints

3. Action taken

4. Apology issued/owns the problem

Or, if a ‘B’ effort is still passing in your book, the sequence might look like this:

1. Problem arises

2. Complaint surfaces

3. Apology issued/owns the problem/proposes solution

4. Action taken

There’s not much you can do for your client here other than some honest prayer. But… with your team, be direct about this with your subcontractors:

This is how we will act - we will assume personal responsibility and responsibility for those in our circle. Always.

Starts with you, director. Model the behavior you want duplicated.

Chances are, if you see your client blames everything under the sun for their mishaps, you’re going to be in the crosshairs soon enough. For example, I had a client who blamed everything: the venue, the audience (or lack thereof), the time of the day, you name it. I tried to reassure and focus on the highlights of the gig, but to no avail. When I sent the footage to the client, everything was wrong. They said I missed x, y, and z, and nothing played or worked as it should.

In those moments, put on your teacher’s hat and serve because chances are you have an excellent opportunity to model leadership (and thus responsibility). I had to walk the client through the strong possibility 4k wasn’t playing back on their 1932 Macbook (and of course, I softened the blow as much as possible). I knew the footage was there, it just wasn’t fun for the client to scrub through piles and piles of footage on a machine that wasn’t even built for 1080p.

Thing # 9: let you know they’re shopping your first draft around to multiple influencers and/or decision-makers

To echo the earlier Proverb, I’m all for the complementary Proverb that says “plans fail for a lack of counsel.” I absolutely believe in peer-review, and I firmly believe if we’re going to level-up as filmmakers, then we need to get away from the “one-man-band” dead-end (yes, it’s a dead-end - look at the credits of any of your favorite films… Orson Welles said it really well: it takes an ARMY to make a film). To do that, we have to grow as leaders and great leaders surround themselves with counselors and people who are truly smarter/better than them in many different areas. Suffice it to say, we should all be getting feedback/reviews/suggestions on our work, from the script to the sound mix to the coloring.

If your client does this though, and they let you know about Bob, John, and Rick taking a look at the video before they give you the notes you need for your next revision, it shakes your confidence in their ability to make the decisions that are needed to move forward.

Of course they need to surround themselves with their fellowship. They need their Samwise Gamgee and Gandalf as much as you do. But when they enumerate their counselors and how the video is making the rounds with each of them, it invariably SLOWS down the process and makes you question their decision-making.

Clients, your best approach is to simply be THE POINT-OF-CONTACT for your video vendor. Be the filter. Let them know, if you must, we are reviewing, and I WILL get back to with you notes. Be the leader in the dialogue between your team and the video company/vendor. Don’t be a hapless middleman who appears to be incapable of making decisions, even if you truly are - take a cue from the Air Force playbook: perception is everything.

Filmmakers and video producers, spell it out to your client: all communication needs to be routed through YOU, the client. You don’t want your Slack, e-mail, Trello, Asana, pigeon courier bogged down with too many chefs in the kitchen.

Thing # 10: never use your completed video

This has only happened a handful of times in my lifetime as a film/video guy. I once had a client pay for a small business ad; the ad was completed, the ad was delivered, and then I even came back a month later to do some pickup shots of an informal shake-take-salute ceremony (to all my non-military folks, I think you should look it up). The client, despite my asks, despite my offers to upload and come up with copy for the ads, just sat on the videos. If there were physical VHS tapes, they would have collected dust… in the back of the attic next to the “Best Of Bread” on 8-track tape.

It made zero sense. We rolled out actors, scouted locations, brought in a small crew, etc.

I never got an explanation, only smiles and a “thank you.” Were they embarrassed by the product? Quite possibly, but then again, the shake-take-salute video footage was never shown the light of day either, and that was something near and dear to the client.

They gave me and my onscreen (and offscreen) talents permission to use the footage for our reels, etc. But they never shared one iota of the ad or any of the videos themselves whereas my earliest video with them, they did push out on the line.

Baffling? You betcha.

Thing # 11: re-open your completed project

I’ve only had this happen… maybe twice. Definitely once. The decision-maker, the final approving authority, was not the droid I was looking for. A sheriff with a bigger six-shooter rode in and declared law. My video was unpublished and a handful of changes, albeit minor ones, were made. The new sheriff was forgiving - after all, the other person signed off on the video. I was just the grunt in the matter.

Don’t be surprised when it happens to you. I went to a school for some hands-on training in 2011 (film and media arts), and I was getting paid FT for video work as early as the beginning of 2014. I haven’t looked back since. Just when either of us think we’ve seen it all, there’s always an exception. Bottom line: even when you think it’s over, signed, sealed, and delivered, it might not be over!

…

Your turn: What else would you add to this list? Comment below!

Bonus

Ready to get started with your video production business? Of course you are! You can do it on the side or even as a full-time job. You don’t need massive amounts of debt (Mark Cuban: you can always bet on the bank coming to collect, regardless of how well your business is doing/isn’t doing) - just a little bit of sweat equity, grit, and maybe a vitamin, a prayer or two, and a niche.

Get the rundown below - IN ORDER - when you join the Bold Nation newsletter below (no spamming, no selling your info to Boba Fett, Jabba, or other scoundrels) on these topics:

• Pick your niche and pick only ONE (don’t try to do everything!)

• Build credibility when you have none!

• Places to find clients

• Do this first when talking to your clients! Qualify your clients!

• Find emails to clients you want to work with!

• Need help finding those emails? Get some help!

• Emails? Great! Here’s how you cold pitch them!

• Emails? Supa! Here’s HOW NOT to reach out to your clients!

• QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS - ask your client piles of questions!

• 3d animation? Do’s and don’ts for you and the buyer!

• Cover a live event? Here’s the essential checklist!

• My client isn’t ready - how do I followup with them?

• What DO YOU CHARGE THEM? Stop guessing and stop waiting! Here’s how!

And MORE!

Get in on the action below:

NEIN

Original: 12/29/18; updated 5/3/22

To illustrate this idea of picking a niche, I will share my goal from when I first started my self-employment in 2015 and what it is now.

Then: get a quality visual Gospel into the hands of every single person.

Results: few got behind it - it's such a big vision, and it's hard to know where to start! Church Films ended up in the red in 2015 because I did not know a thing about a vision, mission, or a niche! No one was really helped and every initiative failed.

Now: my goal is to teach 100,000 of you’s how to manage 5-figure budgets so that you can take the same principles and direct larger budgets and crews to tell stories of hope that will reach millions of people. Even that's kind of a lofty goal, but it’s concrete. I have it written up on my board that my goal is to live to see 100,000 of our shared community of microbudget filmmakers launch a show (movie or TV).

My video work (that which pays the bills) is singularly focused on my clients’ video needs. The store is for you, my fellow microbudget filmmaker.

Results: the newsletter is at a healthy 1900 or so, the company is in the green, and more importantly, one of our microbudgeters landed a 5-figure deal (more on that below)! I had nothing to do with it, but I (and you) get to celebrate it with him!

Once I get to that sweet spot of 100,000, I'll bump the number of people up. It's as simple as that. But that is my job right now. That's what this whole site is dedicated to.

I can't reach enough people with the hope we have in the Almighty and do it in a way that's not cheesy or superficial. I need your help. The world needs you too. And the biggest area that we all struggle with as microbudget filmmakers is financing. Even Orson Welles famously said filmmaking is 98% hustle - or in other words, securing finances for your film.

There's a story of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett sitting down with Bill Gates’ mom for dinner and the question was posed to them, what do you attribute to your success? They both thought for a second and then answered, focus on only one thing.

John Lee Dumas of entrepreneuronfire.com (or eofire.com as he’s going by these days) was a huge inspiration for me in starting a podcast back in the day. He too says to focus on just one thing. He even made an acronym out of it. He says focus on, no that's not right, he says follow one course until successful.

That's his acronym: FOCUS.

I've talked about this before, and I will talk about it until I'm 6’ under: you have to pick a niche. If you won't, you will not succeed, you will not get funding, you will plateau and eventually burn out and retire your lenses.

Pick a niche. Learn how to fund it. Tell stories of hope.

Don’t know where to start?

Here are several areas that you can pick from and be the go-to-girl or guy in your town without competing on price.

If you stick around ‘til the end, I have a bonus where I’ll walk you through the “formula” you need for figuring out if the investment in one of these areas is worth it for your growth, that of your company’s, your family’s, your crew, etc.

Now, if you live in a town where there is a post office, two gas stations, three churches, and Save-A-Lot, then you are probably going to be out of luck. If you live in a metro area, then you definitely need to niche down and be the girl. Or be the guy. Be that person for _______________________ videos.

0. uncle sam videos

Yupp. Military videos. Guns, explosions, choppers, and more - even video content for other federal agencies. After all, Uncle Sam employs millions.

So, get an outsourced video request to do a video for Uncle Sam. How do you go about getting a gig like that?

Beats me!

Let me know if you do know how - not how to land a W2 job with Uncle Sam, but how to be the team that Uncle Sam calls up and asks for a slick promo, an outside request for a sharp video.

Is it who you know? My time working for the Air Force both in and out of uniform suggests YES. But that’s only a hunch.

Note: you can - as best as I can tell - get a free account at DIVIDs and download public domain footage of the folks in uniform who serve the ole red, white, and blue.

1. small business videos

With so much technology at our disposal these days, there's no reason why you cannot partner with a business and tell a story that creates an emotional connection between their branding and their target audience like Zappos, Apple, and many others have done fairly well if not excellently.

If you have no clue where to start with this, then I highly recommend you brush up on how to cold pitch businesses.

You might even (temporarily) hire a virtual assistant through Upwork, Fiverr, etc. to help you with finding some of these businesses. And then once you have found these businesses, you can find their emails using some free tools for the most part. If you want to find 500 emails, you probably have to pay to do that kind of volume. But if you're looking for just 50 emails, which is plenty, because you shouldn't be going for quantity but quality in your pitching, then you can use all of these tools for free! At least, many of them are freemium.

Or, if possible and SAFE, show up at their place of business. A person who walks through the door is much harder to ignore than a phone call/email.

This is what traditionally has driven revenue for Microbudgeter: small business video ads. And I do believe it is the best place to practice your filmmaking. This forces you to work in the same relationship that you would with a studio or a producer in securing financing for your film. Especially if you're brought on as a director and not so much a storyteller slash director.

Does that make sense?

There are directors that do not write their films but jump into the films and take the written words and turn 'em into a visual experience (example: most Spielberg movies).

This is your opportunity to do the same thing, with the clients and businesses in your backyard acting as your producers. Do it! There is no other place to practice this but in the real world. Not YouTube videos, not Google University, not film school, but the people downtown desperately in need of getting their company “out there” because the market is crowded and they need a Zappos-level video and a sharp filmmaker to tell people they exist.

Even The Duffer Brothers, the directors behind the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, had to pitch their vision to producers.

This skill, being able to cast a vision and have people buy into it, or in sales terms, the ability to sell and close a deal, is what separates us from the Christopher Nolans and Alfred Hitchcocks of the world.

2. house of worship videos

Somebody asked me on reddit what the heck a church/synagogue/mosque/house of worship video is all about, and that's fair.

And yes, reddit is lower-case.

For anybody that has ever been on staff or even served as a volunteer video producer for their house of worship, you understand what this means: announcements, highlight videos from an event, or a testimony video.

Unfortunately, houses of worship are either really big and have enough funds in their budget to hire this work as a part-time if not full-time staff role (which is how my family and I got started in Vegas), or they are too small to even think about affording your services to come in and do a video for them.

Nonetheless, this is an area that is ripe with opportunity.

I did it as a volunteer at the church that I met my wife at in Salt Lake City; it was a small Vineyard church, and because a Vineyard motto ever since the early 80's has been a place for everyone to play, I did just that.

It didn't matter if it was a men's breakfast, I tried to figure out a creative way to tell folks about the breakfast in a minute. This helped me fine-tune my storytelling skills, and I did it with regularity, and the pastor was totally fine with it.

Yes, most of them were cheesy videos, but I learned a heck of a lot, way more than I ever did in film school.

And I've always said it, if there are truly over 300,000++ christian churches in America, then I promise you, they need your gifts. And that’s just christian churches. Whether you attend a synagogue, a mosque, or another group altogether, there are hundred of thousands of houses of worship. Whether you get paid or volunteer your time as a side thing, it's a great place to learn and grow and practice all of the intangible skills we truly need as filmmakers.

3. wedding videos

Documentary filmmaker Darren Wilson said it really well: for some people, this is like the 7th ring of Hell. 

I know that's harsh.

Some people do this really well, and they make a living at it.

Here's a guy that uses his wedding videography as an opportunity to practice his cinematography, which is a great attitude.

As with any of these niches, if you are going to be a wedding video guy or girl, then your Vimeo should reflect only wedding videos. Or whatever portfolio you use, it should only reflect wedding videos.

And be the best in your town. Don't compete on price (in any of these niches, not just wedding videos), charge what your skills are worth, and go do your work unto the Almighty and not unto men.

While I’m no stranger to wedding videos, I’ve made the bulk of my living in the corporate space.

4. celebration of life videos

Also known as funeral videos.

I once upon a time looked to see what the landscape looked like in Vegas. So, I used Google AdWords or rather their keyword tool to see what the competition looked like.

And then I started thinking about more generally what did the competition for this kind of video work look like.

The front page for it had only one guy. ONE GUY. The rest was fodder.

This is a niche that is ripe for opportunity. If you were to niche down and say I'm going to offer my video services as a celebration-of-life video girl or guy, then I promise you, you will find there is ample room to be at the top of this stack.

Why?

Because this is something that people either value or they don't. So, you already have a curated group of people that need this - you just have to shout really loudly “Hey! I’m here!” so they know that you can help.

When value exceeds price, people pay for a good or a service. And when most people (including funeral homes) only do simple slideshows, then you have an opportunity here to practice your cinematic documentary filmmaking unlike any other time, not to mention bless a family with a quality story.

5. birthday videos

This is kind of like the last two items. Be exceptional and don't compete on price.

6. other special events

Surprise proposals, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, special anniversaries, you name it. Show up, remember who you are an ambassador for, and over-deliver.

I met a guy in Vegas who started dabbling in quinceañera videos; I told him to be the guy for quinceañera videos. Double down; it’s a niche no one was serving in Vegas, and with his talent, he could provide a quality service and be paid well for his creativity.

7. music videos

This one would is hard to break into initially, but like any other niche, if you’re exceptionally talented and better yet, a true servant to your clients, then you’ll be alright. Everybody with a camera thinks they can go and make a music video for their friends that are in a band (that was me too).

That's fine. But if you want to dedicate your side hustle to music videos exclusively, then you need to be working on making videos that look and feel like a legit music video, and they too need to be a sub-niche:

• metal

• hip-hop

• gospel

• pop

• rock

• country

• techno

• other

Two seconds in, and you can tell this is a quality video (headsup - this is a screaming metal band, and the video has some aberrant and downright weird elements... that’s metal for you):

And not like this. Yes, we all start somewhere thinking we can do it all. Don't be like the younger me. Pick a niche.

8. Live Events

I'm not one for live events usually. It's a different kind of video production all together, and the bigger the platform, the more technology you need to keep everything in sync (literally). This is a super niche field unto itself with its own sub-niches, and it's not my schtick.

But if you're cruising for pre-recorded live events, here's the essential guide for covering all the bases with a live event. 

You might be thinking that a lot of these other categories are live events, but they are not. Anytime that you go back to an editing suite to edit your footage, you have not been working a live event.

I'm talking live events are those that you are working with a team that consists of a switcher, shader, a director, camera operators, etc. A live video goes into a broadcast medium such as a streaming service (especially now that YouTube streaming is free) or tv. That's live video production, and it is fiercely expensive.

If this is your cup of tea, go for it.

Be the best at it.

You need to be able to price your services so that you are being paid for your time, your knowledge, and that of the people that you bring onboard with you (your crew). Not to mention you have to have enough leftovers to pay for any subscriptions, insurance, licenses, fees, etc.

I came up with a Calculator that I use all the time when it comes to knowing what to charge for my company’s services.

It can crunch any video job, and while that is a bold claim, I stand by it, and I know you need it and you need to stop guessing what to charge and wind up getting underpaid.

If after two weeks you don't like it, just email us back and say hey I'd like a refund.

No other explanation is needed. And we will not twist your arm about it - promise. Companies will have you jump through hoops to get you to give up on the refund process.

That's shady and yet another reason why marketing and sales can have bad names.

We won't do that to you.

…

Bonus: Okay to get you started I'm going to walk you through a simple formula so you can calculate what you can expect to earn with your niche.

Requirements:

• 10+ minutes

• YouTube

• Excel

• Thinking cap

It's not a super dense mathematical formula, but it's going to lead you down the trail that you need to go down and figure out is the return on investment (time and money) worth it for you?

After all, you have to pay the people that help you out when you do video production. Sometimes you have to pay for other supplies in the course of the video production (gaff tape, bulbs, DVD masters). And then you have your operating costs, like any utilities, subscriptions, insurance, etc. that you're paying. Also, you should be working towards making a livable wage from what you are doing - you absolutely can and must if you have a family > 1.

To get the walkthrough and Excel workbook (it's hideous - you don't want it), sign up here.

NEIN

Focus.

Pick one niche.

For example, I am going to do cinema-quality home birth videos in San Jose.

Super niche? Yep.

Start tagging your site, your stuff, and even an ad or two with

• San Jose Home Birth Videos

• San Jose Home Birth Videography

• San Jose Home Birth Video Production

• San Jose Baby Video Production

Few are searching for that. That’s okay. NICHE DOWN!

Anybody else competing on those words? Probably not.

Yep.

Don’t be a generic “we do it all” video company. Been there and I even caught myself telling a client this recently (oops) - you’ll end up closing your doors (I surely did as “Prior Service Productions”) because you will not survive as Google/YouTube looks to commoditize video production.

Be specific.

David F. Sandberg is a shining example of this, even with his film films. He consistently did short horror films on his Vimeo/YouTube, and his first feature just came out this summer (Lights Out) with another one in the works right now (Annabelle 2).

Think of it like character actors - Morgan Freeman essentially plays the same role in every movie, and he’s not slowing down. Do you want to direct a few flicks in your 80 years, or do you want to tell stories of grace and redemption (a la the ‘98 Les Mis) ‘til you’re 6’ under? Clint’s not slowing down anytime soon! 

Go create with the King, and don’t quit.

Original: 9/3/16; updated 7/17/17, 10/15/18, 4/6/22

Don't worry my fellow microbudget filmmakers and video producers - this post is not a rehashing of the post on tirekickers. This post is rather about questions you need to ask a potential client up front - and fast.

Don't waste your time, your team's time, or their time preparing materials, finding out their problem, demo'ing a solution, and then have nothing to show for it. Don't be a sucker!

Stick around 'til after the show for a free bonus to prime you with EVEN MORE questions to ask your prospect.

1. Ask if they are the decision-maker.

I once prospected an architecture firm. I got the marketer to commit to a lunch. I got all the way through the first 7 or 8 steps of the sales process that Uncle G (Grant Cardone) outlined. I was doing good... or so I thought! He, the prospect, even agreed to a followup in a few days to close the deal and start working on their pain points (bad videos, sloppy editing, incomplete and cut by a non video guy but just a generic social media marketer). 

Towards the end of the convo, I realized he was not the real decision maker. He was an influencer, no doubt, but I had been wasting time persuading the wrong person. 

Still, I sent a video thank-you message afterward. 

I followed up days later. Not yet he said. Sent another video or two and useful information some time later. 

Weeks later, I stopped by in person and dropped off fresh-baked bread with a note that I'd LOAF to do their videos for them. I got the dreaded: "We'll let you know if we're interested." 

I was a weak sauce salesman through and through, and if I could go back and watch a play-by-play of that sales process, I'd wince a time or two, and so would you.

The first big mistake was I DID NOT find the real decision-maker. I settled for a lunch date with a guy with zero buying power. Three months of effort and a lunch down the drain. It was a mistake I didn't repeat and won’t repeat ever again.

I don't want you to repeat this rookie mistake either. Money can be recoup’d; time cannot. These kinds of mistakes are beneficial, however, in this way: they are exceptional teachers, but you don't have to go to their schools to learn their wisdom. You can read this blog or watch its video.

Jeff Gitomer says in his little red book you shouldn't ask this question "Are you the decision-maker?" because they could lie. 

Good point.

But Grant Cardone is slinging more sales knowledge than Jeff these days, and I'm a fan of Uncle G, so ask away.

Or take Jeff's approach: ask how will the decision process work.

I wonder how Zig Ziglar would handle this question? I think I need to read some more Zig... you should too while you're at it.

Jake, I'm not in sales! I'm just a videographer/cinematographer/editor/grip/guy with a Movie Pass subscription. 

First of all... Not true - if you want with your whole being to make films and tell visual stories of hope or some kernel of redeeming value, you will sell people on your vision, on funding your vision, on showing up on time, on delivering when they're dog-tired at 5 am, and so on so forth. You are in sales because everybody is in sales! That's Zig for you.

Secondly, in 2018, I said Movie Pass would be like Napster or Pets.com. ‘Twas only a matter of time. Fast forward to 2022, and there are rumblings of a resurrection.

2. Ask if they're the head-honcho for x-dollar projects

Want another classic "I-biffed-it" story?

This one's from my Vegas days, where there was no shortage of (live) AV work. I decided I'd flex my sales skills and bid on a live gig in Tampa.

After all, whose grandparents don't live at least part time in Florida, AZ, or Las Vegas? I wanted an excuse to go visit Opa and Oma. 

I had the right decision-maker. Check.

I didn't know how much to quote for the job. I had zero idea. I'm still learning how to pitch LIVE video jobs (we're talking a switcher, shader, camera ops, cabling, and so much more) as of this writing, and so I erroneously made my buddy waste precious mental energy and time coming up with a ballpark figure with me.

It turns out this prospect was fielding bids for a live video crew (with streaming, mind you) to work the weekend gig for about $1,500 all-in.

We're talking gear, manpower, and more across 2 days - live streaming by the way. 

My jaw dropped. It was just so... what Craigslist producers say (look it up sometime on YouTube; it's full of colorful language, but its truth can't be overstated). 

But, it wasn't his fault he was looking to pay a penny or two on the dollar. 

Nope, it was MY FAULT.

I should have qualified his project from the get-go, not waste an hour or two of my buddy's mental energy, or waste my time (or his) for that matter. It was 100% my fault. I knew better and didn't execute.

But Jake, how do you qualify the price if you don't know what to charge?

I pride myself on lickety-split quotes; I have a whole tool for that express purpose (see below - the RED font), but it's only for pre-recorded live action/animation, even with a crew, per diem, etc. 

Live video production? 'Tis a whole 'nother story; I'm learning. I am, however, an ex-math teacher, but you don't have to be one to understand a floor or a minimum: quote a minimum for one factor you do know.

Like manpower.

What I SHOULD HAVE DONE is qualify with a floor pricing:

Uncle Bob, are you the guy behind $5,000+ projects?

We needed 5 people on the gig. Excluding flight days, we would have needed, just for manpower (not gear), approx. $5,000 for 5 quality video techies across 2 days of all-day broadcasting. 

Could it have been $6,000 just for manpower? Yeah, but the point is to give a floor price, a lower bound, a minimum for just one facet of the production - and then mention it's simply for manpower. Gear, flights, hotels, etc. will be tacked on later; you can even assure the prospect right now you want to be respectful of everyone's time. For example,

Uncle Bob, I want to be respectful of everyone's time; are you the guy behind $5,000+ projects? 

Shoot, your prospect might have gear and just need quality people, so err on that side of the equation and give a floor price that covers manpower and adds at least 10% profit just on wrangling people, if not more.

If your prospect takes bids for the comically low $1,500, then said prospect will lose his/her marbles here. 

The point is to save both parties time. Get them qualified quickly and if they're not qualified, move along; they're not the droids you're looking for.

Don't send this bitmoji, as tempted as you might be. I did this ONCE and the prospect let me know I was unprofessional. She was right, but she'll also remember my name from here on out. But don't follow my example with an ill-timed bitmoji; it is unprofessional, and we're called to serve others, not laugh in their faces when they want to undercut a business with a 90% discount.

When I have my head on straight, I typically give them a range. The guys at HubSpot advise against this. They think you should say a firm price point AND what that firm price point includes. 

In our line of work, that could look like this:

• $3,000

• 1 camera

• 1 sound operator

• 3-hour shoot

• b-roll

• two revisions

• music that is free to use in commercial projects

• a ham sammich

• cloud storage

• a thumb drive with your completed video

• no actors

• no voiceover

• no locations (other than yours)

• no scripting (your team handles the script)

• no visual fx (for example, no green-screening)

• some typography

• 5 edited still photos of your new location

• bonus: 30 keywords your competition isn't leveraging - .pdf bonus

• 5% payment at our pre-production meeting and the remaining 95% is due with your final deliverable

Or if it's animated project, it could look like this:

• $3,000

• no voiceover

• Developer is not developing the script but will assist in crafting the language

• Buyer will issue "storyboards" which can be dictated (see the attachment example) or roughly drawn with simple (even über simple) illustrations

• two revisions (1st, 2nd, and final draft)

• three-week turnaround if Buyer stays in the communication loop from the time of signing and consideration

• use of music that is licensed in perpetuity from our library - no copyright infringements, ever

• HD video playable anywhere, online, externally, or internally - even broadcast mediums

• Indefinite access to web-ready and high-quality video files - hosted in the cloud

• no DVDs, Blu-Rays, or physical media

• 16:9 widescreen

• customer service

      → available every day but Saturday & Tuesday, 8a - 5p PST
      → Office line (call/text): 702-JakeTFG

Back on track.

I combine sections 1. and 2. into one question: 

Are you the one who leads $3,000 - $5,000 projects like this or are there others you'd like to get involved too?

You can phrase it multiple ways, but scope out their personality first before you call them:

• the head honcho

• the big kahuna

• the top dawg

• the guy in charge

• el capitan

Instead of "leads $3,000 projects" you can say:

• oversees video projects

• leads video projects

• is in charge of videos

• runs these kinds of projects

• manages video projects

• any variation of this with a dollar amount or range

The sky is the limit. Vary it up, be tactful, and ask the bloomin' question.

How do you know your range? Generally, a prospect will give some information, and if you've been in this business any length of time, you'll start to develop an intuition for pricing. If not, head on over to the post on quoting your clients to learn more about pricing strategies, and if you need more, there's always my worksheet to crunch numbers for you.

3. Ask if they're okay with remote work/an out-of-towner

Some people are fiercely loyal to their town, and they want their money to be reinvested locally. I can understand that, and I'm grateful for that mindset; otherwise, we'd lose out on a lot more jobs than we do to the guys on the other side of the world who will work for pennies on the dollar.

Back to Tampa, there was another gig I bidded on. This one was for a single person and not a crew. I was jonesing to go see the grandparents, so it made sense to try.

But after a fruitful conversation, the guy decided he didn't want to work with an out-of-towner, even if I footed the bill and worked as a local (so airfare, per diem are out the window). I volunteered that much.

He wouldn't budge.

I tried him from my second number with a creative folllowup.

I used my name again; I wasn't trying to be sneaky, but I also know multiple emails and phone numbers can help. Uncle G will call a prospect back, for example, and leave an immediate 2nd voicemail from a cell phone after he's already tapped his office landline. It's about coverage, creativity, and persistence.

The man was interested and completely spaced on who I was (again, I identified myself) - but he qualified me very quickly:

Are you in Tampa?

Thereafter, he made sure all of his jobs explicitly stated something to the effect of a bolded, all-caps NO OUT-OF-TOWNERS; IN-STATE ONLY.

Now, this question about location won't always apply, but it's a huge qualifier for any animated work. Ditto if your neighboring state has a gig, and you can easily drive over and visit/crash with Uncle Bob. 

Don't wait until you're halfway through talking to your crew, finding out the client's venue, and burning precious man-hours. 

Pro-tip: set up a Google Voice number in the nearest film mecca if you can work as a local and don't mind footing the bill for your own travel.

For example, when I lived in Las Vegas, the nearest hub for work was LA (about 5 hours down the road). I shouldn’t have pitched with my Las Vegas number. I should have used an LA number when I was making calls, sending texts, or sharing my contact information.

Note: Sections 1 through 3 shouldn't take more than one minute. Talk about a time-saver!

4. Other questions

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Why me? There are oodles of video producers in my town; you can almost throw a brick and hit one without trying.

• Why now?

• What will this video do for you?

• (If they are the proxy and not the check-writer... i.e. not the real decision-maker) What does your leadership want to know, and I know you'll be talking with them, so that when you go to them, all of their questions can be answered?

• What will your leadership team want to know?

• What does your leadership want to know before they even look at a proposal?

The guys at Hubspot have oooooodles more you can pick and choose from.

Bonus Time

Are you ready to quit losing precious time with tirekickers, unqualified buyers, and the über price-sensitive?

QUALIFY THEM!

I've got a bonus set of questions for you to mine valuable information from your prospects once you've qualified them. Repeating: they are not necessarily qualifying questions; most of them are not, but they are powerful in their own right and belong in your sales at various points. Here's a companion, introductory list of questions should you need them.

Your info won't be farmed out or sold or repurposed in any way - I send emails roughly once a week and sometimes share an occasional offer that will help you in your filmmaking journey!

NEIN

Who do you know that needs this info? Share it with them por favor!

Original: 8/1/18; updated 3/6/22

Don't have a camera? Lies! You have one in your pocket!

You have no experience? Well neither did you when you first launched a business, but that didn't stop you!

You have no idea what to say? I'll help you, and chances are, you have that dynamic person on your team who can bring it. 

You're full of lip service? Bury it. We're leaders in our communities, and we have NO TIME for poor attitudes or poor responsibility. 

Bonus: need additional help bootstrapping your own business videos? I've got three bonuses that will save you at least five hours, and a lotta pain and frustration below.

Still want more? You got it - this is but a part of the guide. Get the entire ebook in the store!

1. What camera do I use?

I answer this extensively here. Next.

2. How do I shoot on my phone?

Also available here.

3. Should I use Facebook Live or YouTube live? 

If you have no time to edit or no desire to edit, then do LIVE videos. They're free and you can do them with your phone. 

If you have zero presence on both channels, then pick one and learn it!

a. Facebook

Pros -

• You spend boatloads of time on Facebook anyways if you’re born before 1990.

Cons - 

• Facebook is not a home to video. Yes, it supports video, but you’d rather watch Tik Tok videos, Instagram videos, or YouTube videos.

• People drop off after 13 seconds en masse.

b. YouTube

Pros - 

• It’s the OG video platform.

• It’s a monster search engine.

• It boasts longer retention rates.

Cons -

• YouTube can be a cesspool, a wormhole, and much much more.

• YouTube has two capital letters (I'm grasping at straws here).

4. What do I say in front of the camera?

Easy - think of the top 10 questions you get asked in your industry/niche. Each question is a video by itself because you can explain the answer to the camera (and hence your viewer and possible buyer). 

As you get more comfortable, you can expand that list to 40 and 100 video ideas. Yes, you want frequency here before quality. Quality comes later. A lack of frequency tells your buyer you don't give a poop about video, when that's how they want to engage with you before buying.

Don't conclude every video with "Call Now For The Best Service!" but do use it every now and again. Mix it up in the meantime:

Click the like button if you enjoyed this video!

Who do you know that needs to hear this? Hit the share button!

What's bugging you? Leave a comment below and I'll answer it!

If you're a business owner, you're used to problem-solving, so be creative. 

Bonus: in the content upgrade/bonus section at the end of the post, I'll hook you up with some ideas for titles and topics for your videos. Get to it lads and lasses!

5. Presentation basics for appearing on video

Look into the camera - this is not a documentary. Dress for success. Don't mumble. These are easy tips. 

Smile. Be enthusiastic. Study dynamic personalities and emulate successful presenters. Do you remember Tony Horton? Be that guy for your industry on the camera.

Yep, he's ridiculous and over-the-top, but it's a part of who he is, it works for his branding, and most everyone who takes fitness seriously in America knows who he is - be that kind of dynamic onscreen personality.

Speaking of, be yourself. Unless you're a bore (then you need to work on your skills). Unload your wit, your crazy accents - share your personality. 

Color is important - more on that in a second. Keep in mind every color scheme can use black, gray, and/or white. The colors you wear and the colors in your background.

Do your videos regularly. Once in a blue moon is ineffective at best. Try weekly or more frequently - and stick with it. Like marriage or your business - every day, you have to commit.

Finally, end every video with a CTA. It can be as simple as "like this video" or "subscribe to this channel." Train your viewers to take steps to become buyers with simple actions they can take.

If you're providing great information/entertainment, there's nothing wrong with asking for help.

6. Why your colors matter

Colors communicate meaning. Do you know what pink communicates vs. black? 

Do you even have a color scheme for your brand? You probably do. 

Have no idea where to start with your color scheme? I recommend Adobe's free tool. Find a good monochromatic (one color) or complementary color scheme (two opposing colors, like green and red... Christmas?). 

Or take the natural world for instance. The sky and the sun are complementary colors between their blue and yellow and blue and orange schemes. 

Or be bold and do a three-color scheme (I use a red, yellow, and blue scheme).

You can even take a photo you like and upload it to the color wheel site to dissect the color pattern. Adobe will - again, freely - determine what colors are predominant in your image and spit out hex values you can then copy and repurpose elsewhere.

Don't wait any longer - head on over to their color wheel and move the handles around to find a scheme that works for you.

7. Where do you shoot your videos?

a. Outdoors - don't stand with the sun directly in your face. Make sure the sunlight is behind you (or your onscreen talent). You don't want them squinting (just because Uncle Bob wants the family photo with everyone facing the sun, it doesn't mean it's a sound photography or video practice). With the sun behind the talent, you avoid squinty eyes, and you put a nice "rim light" on the subject's hair line. 

One possible exception: you can have the sun lighting the subject from the side.

b. By a window - it acts as a natural source of diffusion. So plant your left or right side facing the window, and then you'll have a natural contrast on your face. Sit or stand near the window and hit record.

c. In a large room like a garage - or anything with a big exit to the outside world. Like the window example, you'll get some natural contrast on your subject's face if they're far enough away from the (open) door and their side is to the door. Here, you're using distance to diffuse the light rather than a window.

d. Anywhere you can wrangle soft lighting - think lamp shades. Your desk lamp probably doesn't cast soft light. Neon lights can be soft (a la Las Vegas). A china ball, if you have one laying around, and even better, a soft box will do the trick - so will a shower curtain between your light source and your subject. 

e. B-roll - we'll take more about this later, but anything you shoot can be used as B-roll. So, this may not be a "where," but rather a "why." Regardless of whether it's pretty or not, wherever you are, hit the record button, Zapruder!

8. How to record audio that doesn't blow chunks

First, don't record bad audio. People will watch bad video if the audio is fine. But when it's crackling or peaking super bad from wind or people yelling, it's a major turn-off. For proof, consider movies like The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield.

Alright, how do you do that? Simple. 

a. Outdoors

If you have zero gear, make sure it's not windy outside. If it is, you're hosed.

If planes are flying overhead, don't record.

If the dog is barking, shut the dog up with a ham sammich or just wait. Or move your shoot.

b. Indoors

This one's ideal. You can control most noises inside. Things to check:

• mechanical noises are powered down/off - fans, HVAC, fridge, etc. 

• digital noises won't interrupt - phones, alarms, etc.

Any kind of electrical contraption that could kick on and ruin your shoot? Unplug it. 

And...

Pro-tip: if unplugging the fridge or other appliance that MUST be reconnected to power, leave your keys by the plug to help you to remember to plug the darn thing back in when you're done shooting

c. Mic direction - point the mic toward you. You want it facing your sternum more or less. Don't talk off mic. Just like you're supposed to keep eye contact with your audience when you're speaking (live), you want to give your mic your undivided voice.

d. Speak loudly and clearly - if you're a mumbler, work on it. Push with your diaphragm. Use your full voice. Don't be shy, timid, and reserved. It'll make it hard for people to hear you.

You're a business owner; you provide a service for people. Act confident in front of the camera just as you do when selling your big vision to an investor or you're pitching your product to a customer.

e. Content matters - if your content is boring or uninteresting, or if you're a bore, all the crisp, clean sound in the world won't save you. Make sure your material's informational, entertaining, or both! People should be busting a gut every 60 seconds! 

9. Should you shoot video at night or during the day?

For the vast majority of the business world, you should be shooting during the day, especially if you're shooting on a phone. Our current phones don't have big sensors, and they can't handle dark or dimly lit areas. You've seen it yourself I'm sure - when shooting a dark area with your phone, the quality of the footage goes down the pooper.

Plus, if you're not selling a product or service that isn't deathly or ideal at night (e.g. a mortuary, or a headlamp), you want bright lights. Think cheery. Use warm lights where possible. 

If you must shoot at night, still, find ways to include daytime shots. You want people to have a warm impression about your solution. 

If you're shooting on your phone sure enough, use practical lights from around your office to avoid these "fuzzies" you might otherwise pick up with poor lighting. 

If you happen to have a DSLR or a camera that shoots RAW, well, you're probably doing a little better than the average bear - or at least you're in a position to do a little better than the average bear. So, YouTube how to light your scene on the cheap and then go do it. Or hire the broke-as-a-joke college kid down the street to do it for you. Think Jimmy McGill here.

10. Make sure you have enough space!

Check your camera's memory card if it's a DSLR. If it's your phone, check to make sure you have enough space to record. Videos can be HUUUUUGGGEEE and before you know it, you get the fabled "recording stopped" message because you didn't do your due diligence before launching the Saturn V. Way to go NASA!

If you are in fact on an iPhone, check your settings to see how much space you have. If you're clogged like an artery after "In & Out", hook up your charging cable to your computer and use your default/stock "IMAGE CAPTURE" app to sift through all your videos and clear them in bulk off your phone. Don't worry - you can move all the files (videos/photo) to your desktop and delete them off your phone. Once on your computer, back up your footage in the Cloud. Pick two cloud platforms - they're not 100% safe. Do this for your prized footage, but if you want to go nuts, you can back up all footage. While you're at it, check out the tools page for recommend cloud hosting solutions. Shoot, back up your footage on two solid-state drives. You never know when a fireball is going to hit Bluffdale, Utah, so I use and recommend the 1 TB drive from SanDisk. 

If you're on an Android, Google how to clear space off your device. I'd be a charlatan trying to explain how to clear space on an Android. I haven't owned an Android since... 2013. Egad. Move along.

11. What to do with your videos when you're done

Step 1:

Put your video on YouTube.

When you share a YouTube link on Facebook, Facebook will cruuuuusssshhh the organic reach of your YouTube link. They don't get along, lads and lasses.

Step 2:

Share the video on LinkedIn with your YouTube link.

Step 3:

Upload the video to Facebook. Why not?!

Step 4:

Other platforms as needed: Instagram, Twitter, reddit - you know your industry better than I do. Tik Tok? I don’t know anything about its ecosystem.

Start with the two Juggernauts though - upload the video to Facebook and YouTube. Heck, focus on just one of those platforms or both of them. If you are of the Tik Tok generation, let me know in the comments if it only accepts phone videos (my hunch is “no”).

Step 5:

Embed that video in all of your outbound emails. Why not?! It's extra eyeballs you're jonesing for, and how many emails do you send a day? Exactly. With YouTube, you'll get a thumbnail that *should* populate at the bottom of your emails, especially if you're using GSuite to handle your inbox. 

Step 6:

Use a URL mask to send people to your video. Instead of something crazy looking like https://youtu.be/h1rgC0q4W_k, dig into the URL mappings of your website and generate a mask, like microbudgeter.com/shop. That's easier to remember. It's easier to share. It's less scary. Etc. If it's your champion video, put it on your business cards: "Watch the video here at microbudgeter.com/shop." Yes, that example link is a real link to my store. Headsup!

12. Additional places to share your videos

First place:

Your email list. If you have any kind of online presence in this day and age, I suspect you have a newsletter. 

Send your newsletter an email and say you have a video for them in the subject. People will be all over it like a hobo on a ham sammich. We're talking as much as 3x or 4x your normal CTR or even more. People love video!

Second place:

Share your newest video on your Facebook groups. Give them a great hook in your copy, then in your call to action, tell them they can "learn more" in the video. 

Be tactful. You can't just spam your groups here. I personally share content once a week in my groups, and three days later, I ask a question in the groups. Rinse and repeat. Never been banned this way.

Third place:

Ditto LinkedIn groups

Fourth place:

reddit - if you're already a user here, you probably already know how it goes. Don't spam your subreddits (more on them below). Find appropriate places to share your video and brace yourself. redditors hide behind anonymity, so if you think Facebook comments are brutal, better head to reddit with a thick skin.

Fifth place:

Use a link (and URL mask) or a QR code to your ace video on your business card. Again, you don't want https://youtu.be/h1rgC0q4W_k on your business card. No one is going to type all that nonsense out! But microbudgeter.com/shop? Someone might be inclined to type that address in - in lieu of a QR code to your ace video. Does anybody still use the ole QR code? I guess with the way the world went bananas in 2020, it is seeing a comeback.

13. How to get the most bang for your buck out of your YouTube videos

AKA optimize your videos. 

Step 1:

Have a keyword-rich title. E.g. "How to change a flux capacitor in a 1985 DeLorean."

You can even consider using Google, Quora, reddit, YouTube itself, kwfinder.com or a plethora of other places to find keyword ideas. Adwords - great place as well. Google Trends - another solid place.

Step 2:

Have a 500-word description in the body of your video. Don't do a hack copy and paste job. I learned this from Miles Beckler - you want to connect video to text (which Google understands), and you can do that with your 500-word body of text in the video's description. I'm lazy about it, but that doesn't mean you should be a coach potato.

Step 3:

Link back to your post or website or landing page in your video's description, just as you probably embedding your video on your blog, website, or landing page. It's the perfect marriage of SEO and it doesn't even need prenup agreements. 

Step 4:

Also from Miles Beckler, in the thumbnail image of your video, have a keyword-rich title in the name of the file itself. When your custom thumbnail (don't use the default ones from YouTube - they seem to always find the most unflattering stills like when your nostrils are flared, your mouth is gaping, and your eyes are shut) is ready for upload, go to its file and rename it. E.g. what-to-charge-for-your-corporate-video-production-services.

If you're still on Windows 95, a) what are you still doing reading this post, and b) why aren't you on YouTube for your business? Okay, '95 may be a stretch, but I bet there are businesses still running Windows XP.

14. 6-second bumper ads and why you need them

Imagine going to three meetups/networking events in a month. Between coffee (or other beverage/snack) and gas, you'd spend about $30 just to meet a handful of business owners. With a 33% to 50% appointment rate, that means you'd get at least one appointment. Not bad for $30 - especially if you're able to add them to your sales pipeline and close them. If you aren't already, add meetups/networking events to your marketing strategy; here's what I recommend. 

Or you can go to Adwords and spend $25 there and probably get $50 or $100 of additional ad money if you're a first time user. 

Then spend that $75 - $125 on video views. With simple targeting of people who would benefit from your ad, you can easily get a view for $.01. I.e. you could turn $25 into 2,500 views and more, and as a bonus, the first 6-seconds are unskippable. That's a lotta eyeballs for $25. If you have a crown jewel video on your YouTube, those first 6 seconds will be hard to forget. 

2500 people vs. 75 or so (between 3 meetups) - both are essential in your marketing because one's online and the other is offline. We were created to be social - yes, even introverts, so you can't ignore the offline component, but in this day and age, you can't afford to ignore the online component either!

If you want a walkthrough on setting up a 6-second bumper ad, you can do so here (it’s dated) or you can go to the Tube of You for an updated primer from someone else.

15. Facebook ads - should you use them? 

Whether you're in a B2B or B2C business, the fact of the matter is, you're in the people business, and people use Facebook. The problem with Facebook is, they crushed the organic reach of your page posts (business page) a long time ago.

There will be a time when you need to use Facebook ads, and since videos were expected to make up 80% of web traffic in 2018, or it’s gonna happen in 2080 (depends on who you ask), you might as well get on the wagon. 

Fact: my generation and the next generation don't read much. We love videos though. 

Idea: push as much "free" organic traffic as you can to your video AND do a paid video campaign. Like YouTube, you can generate views as cheap as a penny a view. Just go to your page, navigate to your ads manager, and start a video views campaign. 

Of course, you need to have a goal in mind: are you sending them to a sales page? Probably not - you're probably sending them to some gated content (a lead magnet, like "Join the newsletter below and download Uncle Bob's ultimate guide to selling swordfish in 2018"). That's what I would do:

This way you have a virtual handshake in place - a warm lead possibly. Unless you've already got Walter Cronkite-levels-of-fame, people gotta like and trust you before they'll do business with you. 

I won't go into more details on "how" here, but you can study this topic more extensively on YouTube. In case I haven’t name-dropped him enough, head on over to the Tube of Miles Beckler; he has a wealth of information on setting up Facebook ads.

16. Use a URL mask for your crowning video

The what, the what, and the what?

It's simply really. Instead of sending people to your ace video (or blog post or sales page...) which likely has a clinical, unfeeling URl (e.g. https://youtu.be/h1rgC0q4W_k), create a URL mask for your ace video.

For example, I send people to microbudgeter.com/phone when I want to encourage them to shoot their own videos with their phone (and how to do it without being a complete noob). It's much easier than https://microbudgeter.com/blog/how-to-shoot-with-your-phone-and-why-you-do-not-need-an-expensive-video. Both links send people to the same page, but the first one is easier on the eyes.

Check with your CMS (Squarespace, Wordpress, etc.) and then hit up YouTube university to learn how to create one for your ace video. 

• It's easier for you to remember the link

• It's less scary for your viewer/prospect/buyer

• It makes it easier on them to remember as well should they have to manually type it out

17. Where to find video ideas? Google.

Just type in any phrase into the google search bar. Look at what starts to autopopulate:

This will give you some clues as to what people are looking for.

You can also go to your Adwords account (if you have a gmail already, you can log into Adwords no problem: adwords.google.com) and use the keyword planner tool.

To find it, go to the "Tools and Settings" menu (I'm walking you through this on a desktop) and select "Keyword Planner."

The first drop-down menu might be in green, and that's the one you want to start typing phrases into to see what happens when you pull the lever and watch if the 7's line up.

Wade through the searches. For example, if you're a Thai Restaurant Owner, you might want to attract local diners to your restaurant. Let's take the above query and see what happens in Clark County, NV.

Boom. Come up with a video on why you're the best, and then do another video on your delivery service. 

18. Where to find ideas? YouTube.

Similar to its partner-in-crime Google, YouTube will autocomplete entries for you. You can punch in a few words and watch the magic happen.

Additionally, you can use vidIQ for a free idea or two. Like adwords, it'll show you what people are searching for. 

Like Moz, it'll show you page authority and domain authority (the closer to 100 these two numbers are, the more better - it means you're the cat's pajamas). 

Also, look at what YouTube suggests after watching a video or even in the playlist if not above the playlist (desktop). Sometimes, it'll recommend something pretty darn random, but every year, it gets a little more sophisticated. 

As with any of these ideas, emulate success, and Bob's your uncle.

19. Where to find ideas? Quora.

Quora is a repository for questions. It's a lesser known social-media platform than the big guys, but it's still a thriving community, and it's geared towards questions and answers on just about anything. Unlike Google, it is geared towards threads. Multiple people can answer a question, and you yourself can plug in your expertise and answer questions too (or ask them).

Try googling "bicycle quora" to see what pops up (suppose you own a bike shop). 

First results has some ideas and subthreads. Let's check the first one.

There you go champ. And like the next platform, you don't need to be logged in to Quora to view the questions. 

Go mining for ideas!

20. Where to find ideas? reddit

That's right. reddit is lower-cased, and it's a darn good place to get some eyeballs on your video (possibly even hundreds or more with a great tagline).

You don't even need to be logged in. The social media platform has millions of users and looks janky like Craigslist, but it is brimming with questions. 

Say you're in the landscaping business. Try a basic google search:

Boom! The very first subreddit (meaning, a subpage) Google pulled up has great ideas for videos. In particular, look for any question - copy it verbatim if you wish in the title and topic of your next business video. The old saying as a teacher applies here: if you (are brave enough to) ask a question, then someone else is thinking the same thing too.

So, if you've exhausted YouTube, Google, Quora, Uncle Bob for ideas, try reddit.

21. Where to find ideas? emails

I need to do this more often as well: email our people. Both in a literal sense and in an ESP sense of the word - figure out the FAQ's you see cropping up in your emails, both in your inbox, and those you address in your past email newsletters. 

If you aren't already building a newsletter, try a freemium service like MailChimp to get started. You can, last I checked, send 12,000 free emails a month to 2,000 people. I've had zero problems with Mail Chimp in the years I've been using them. 

Don't hesitate to ask your newsletter for ideas, especially if you're already regularly emailing them with valuable content (and not just sales copy every week). 

But also look at past data (open rates, click-thru rates, etc.) to see which subjects were smash hits. 

An email with a 5% CTR (click-thru rate) is beefy, and that tells you it's prime material for a video. If your open rate is abominable and your CTR is laughable (e.g. less than 15% open rate and less than 1% CTR), then you have a stinker. 

When is it time to hire a video producer?

There are several times when it's a good idea to hire one. 

First, you're just out of time. 

Second, you're not doing the work yourself.

Third, you're in a position where you must delegate.

And last but not least, technical reasons - e.g. you want stop-motion animation, underwater footage, aerial footage, crazy 3d-animation, you know, the usual stuff you do every day, right?!

Don't want to do any of this yourself? No worries, whether my team** or another video production team, you need to be prepared for your project. And you want to make darn certain your production team is up to snuff. I've got a packed checklist for you to make sure whoever it is you work with, they're going to take care of your vision from start to finish. Check it out below!

**Shameless plug in 3… 2… 1…

Tired of your videos looking and sounding like that movie, "The Room"?

I'm the best-looking video producer this side of the Mississippi, and more importantly, I can guarantee your peace of mind. Send a courier pigeon or get in touch HERE or HERE.

Where am I?

You may have noticed I'm not frequent on social media. Here's what's happening:

1. I work full time in the AV industry and have been doing so since 2014.
2. Six days a week, I work on Keenumbers - Math for Kids Who Love Numbers. If your youngin' shows an interest in numbers, they might just be capable of some 3rd grade math concepts before they are 6-years-old. Subscribe HERE.

...

Bonus time

I've got short vignettes for each of these sections - that's right short videos with this information if you'd rather watch/listen than read. You can gain instant access to every video once you join the newsletter (your information's safe - no reselling, no spam). You'll also get a list of 20 ideas to shoot your videos on if you're still scratching your head and wondering what the heck to say in front of the camera. I've also got the essential checklist you need to comb through before hiring any video production team to do a project for you.

Get instant access now:

NEIN

Have you started creating videos to promote your product or service? If you've hit the mighty 40th milestone, comment your biggest learn below!

Original: 3/15/18; updated 2/19/22

They could be corporate, wedding, birthday, or other celebratory events – it doesn’t matter. You need to treat each live event with utmost attention to detail. Here are several items on the ole checklist you can’t afford to forget, from both a business and a practical standpoint.

Stick around, after the show, for a free performance by Limozeen (aka a bonus). Actually, for those of you who are in need of additional resources, I’ve got a less complicated, more intuitive work agreement you can download and use in your media productions. It’s a scaled back version of my earlier one on this site (and referenced in the next section), and it’s very disarming when pushing for a signature. Use it with legalese-weary clients and land more business in the process!

1. Have a written agreement

To this day, my post on contracts remains one of the most visited pages on this site. If you have no idea where to start with a solid video production contract, try visiting this article here. Don’t like reading? Well, if you made it this far and are tiring out, there’s a video at the same post. Bon Appétit.

At the very least, if you’re going to invoice a client for live coverage and the amount of time is unknown at the start, make sure you have clear terms before you go into battle.

E.g. I’ll cover the event at a rate of $500 per 10-hour day. If work extends beyond 10 hours, I bill at time and a half, and if work extends beyond 12 hours, I bill double time. Half days are billed at $0.25.

That last part’s a joke.

This could be an open-ended clause if the event lasts at least two days but might need you onsite three or more days and the event itself will dictate your coverage needs.

Go paper-based where possible, and if not possible (e.g. distance and time preclude it), send your invoice via email and simply ask for them to agree to the rates in writing before the work begins.

If you don’t FOR WHATEVER REASON, don’t panic.

2. Keep the footage until the agreement is signed

I get it; sometimes you lack the backbone to drive the hard bargain up front. I’ve been that guy too but every day that I’m still in business, I gain more confidence, and the more I pray for wisdom and read a Proverb or too, the wiser I get.

Suppose you don’t have the work properly signed off just yet. At the very least, the benefit of covering a live event is you have the footage firmly in your grasp. Include this clause in your invoice (that’s to be signed):

Footage will be delivered when the agreement is signed.

It’s simple, non-legalese that anyone can digest without losing their marbles.

Even if the job prevents you from keeping the footage for your reels, you don’t need to fork over the media until - at the very least - the agreement is signed. If you want, you can require a deposit or the full bill before the media is handed over. Either way, the footage is your bargaining power. Your showing up onsite is great and it’s needed until the day a bot can fly around and take shots, but the final delivery is what the client wants. Don’t just let it loose until your terms are met, and this kind of playing-the-cards-close-to-your-chest scenario can really only happen in a rush job.

For example, “I’ve got an event tomorrow at Bob’s Hotel. I need coverage from 9 am to 7 pm.”

You: Great. I’ll be there; here are my terms…

The client goes dark, but you know from earlier homework, they are an established, reputable business in town, and your gut says to take the job. You take the job but they don’t agree to your terms beyond an email that says “Yeah, that looks good.”

Push for the signature. Better yet, push to get paid. Hold onto that footage like it’s your dog pulling on the leash when he sees the neighborhood cat giving him the stink eye.

3. Hardware

With the bare-bones business essentials are out of the way, let’s talk what you need to bring in the way of hardware.

First, get in the habit of asking your client or point-of-contact from the get-go for a safe, private staging area where you can securely leave your belongings, eat, and check footage without prying eyes. Worse-case scenario, it’s your car, but you won’t have wall power in your car so push for a secluded area.

1.    Camera: rent or bring your low-light-sensitive camera. E.g. a solid Sony DSLR from recent years works here, but so would something with 16 stops of dynamic range too, like my new favorite, the Canon C70 (affiliate link). If you’re going to a place with little or no concept of the rooms and environments you’ll be shooting in, you need a camera that can shoot a clean image in dark or dimly-lit rooms. ALWAYS EXPECT dimly lit rooms. This isn’t cinema – real life is often dimly lit and unflattering on video. A large sensor goes a long way here as does a clean image at ISO 2500, so come packing.

2.    Eyepiece or viewfinder: you need something you can block sunlight with if your event involves any shots outdoors.

3.    A great zoom lens: have at least one that’s somewhat fast, sharp enough, and able to go somewhere between wide and zoomed in. It’ll be your workhorse lens on these kinds of shoots.

4.    Tripod: should be self-explanatory if it’s an easy-to-use tripod. If it involves lots of setup and tear-down from surface to surface, you’ll lose precious time. Pick a tripod in your inventory which allows for quick deployment and leveling.

5.    Memory cards: yeah – plural. Don’t get goosed here with one or two cards. What if a card craps out? What if you fill the cards up faster than Congress stuffs a spending bill? Get your ducks in a row here, mates.

6.    Slider: don’t leave home without it. If you can bring a gimbal, fantastic, but your slider should mount on your tripod and be ready at the drop of a hat to spruce up your footage.

7.    Shoulder rig: you may not use it, but handheld footage looks awful when your camera weighs more than two pounds but less than the Arri Amira or other massive beast. It’s better to have it than not. In lieu of a shoulder rig, an “easy rig” is an acceptable alternative.

8.    A phantom mic: audio purists, I know it’s a “phantom power(ed) mic,” but I always just call it a phantom mic. You need one on your camera or rig that can wire right into the camera and record spur-the-moment interviews. Just about anything is better than a camera’s built-in-mic, so I won’t list examples here, but I do like and recommend this Rode mic (affiliate link). To the best of my knowledge, Rode manufactures their mics in Australia and not some shady sweat shop, so that’s a plus too. If I’m wrong, correct me in the comments below.

9.    Cans/earbuds: something to listen in on your audio for those spur-the-moment shout-outs or interviews – don’t forget them.

10. Loads of batteries: don’t settle for a handful. Bring as many as you can in case you lose one, one gets destroyed or fails to maintain a charge mid-shoot. Or worse, you don’t have enough time to recharge your exhausted batteries. Even worse, you have no way to charge your batteries. See that? Several horrible scenarios you don’t want to live out, so pack the batteries and more batteries before you head out.

11. A power strip (and power bank while you're at it): what if your staging area only has one serviceable outlet? Nightmare scenario yes, so bring a solid power strip.

12. Adapters: make sure you have every power adapter and converter you could possibly need. Bring your phone’s USB to wall power adapter. Bring two of those. Bring your phone charging cable!

13. Your laptop: you need to be able to make sure you’re hitting critical focus, and you must be able to back up footage onsite frequently. Again, don’t let a corrupt memory card ruin your job and reputation. If it’s a corporate event, grab coverage, head to your staging area and back up the footage and assess your shots. A long hard look in the mirror will do you boatloads of good. I once had an event where I was out-of-focus on more than a few shots the first day. It was a full-frame camera, and I biffed a number of shots, but I learned really quick to check my shots throughout the day on my 15” laptop to see where I was failing. Iteration is a good thing amigo; use it.

14. An SSD drive to back up footage: again, don’t let a bad memory card-to-be or a laptop crash be the end of your work onsite. Bring an SSD drive to also backup your footage.

15. Food: yes, this isn’t exactly “hardware” but it might as well be. Don’t assume the client has food for you. Low blood sugar will destroy you in a live event where you work continuously with little to no breaks. Keep food in your staging area that won’t spoil, and your food needs to pack calories like an Ivan Drago punch.

This list could go on several more rounds – if I missed something, leave it as a comment below in the comments section for the benefit of your fellow filmmakers and video producers.

4. Personal care

Long events are tiring on your body and your mind, so make sure you’re hydrated, fueled, and rested every day. Don’t sacrifice sleep; don’t eat Cheetos all day. Pack quality calories for the days and eat a balanced meal before and after. Don’t neglect water during the day. Honestly, you probably need at minimum an oz. of water per pound of body weight during a normal day, and on a shoot day, you need even more than the minimum. Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul here.

Don’t show up looking like a bum. Shave or cut your hair beforehand if you’re unkempt. Don’t wear jeans with holes. Even consider wearing a button-down shirt, and as with any A/V work, all black is the way to go where possible.

Bring gum. Brush your teeth in the morning after breakfast. Don’t schmooze with people at the event if you have Dragon’s breath (ergo, the need for gum).

Keep your phone charged.

Wear shoes you can stand in comfortably for 12 hours if need be.

Don’t lock your knees out when standing in one spot – ever. I had a kid in my Air Force training at Port Hueneme (coast of CA) back in ’08 pass out during a muster because we were standing at attention for a while and sure enough, he locked out his knees. To add insult to injury, we were mustering on asphalt. Egad. I don’t know the science behind it, but it’s a no bueno.

5. Network

Every live event, you need to have your business cards on hand. People will stare at you with bewilderment, others with excitement, but most people are indifferent when you stick a camera in their area to get your shots. If you look the part and it’s a packed event, your presence is expected.

You’ll talk to people. You will, even if you’re introverted. Onlookers and weary guests alike will want to know what you’re doing, where the footage is going, etc. I’ve had militant people give me the 20-questions routine, and they were not decision makers or my client’s agent in any way, shape, or form. They were just vendors or other attendees. This post-9/11 and online culture has made people fearful of the unknown and certainly cameras in some instances. Smile, and remember we’re called to love one another. Answer questions, show enthusiasm, and don’t forget if you leave a sour taste in one guest’s mouth or one visitor’s mouth, it will surely get back to your client.

The folks you meet who are chummy – ask for their card and then connect with them on LinkedIn later. I talked about this in the post/video on networking and why you need a killer 8-second-or-less hook when you engage new people (i.e. make it memorable). Treat each live event as a job and to a lesser extent, a networking event. Of course, you’re there to cover the event, but willfully ignoring the people who are trying to engage you is rude and prevents you from further opportunities to serve people down the road. Smile, engage, and get back to rolling the camera.

6. Cloud storage

When the job is done, back up all footage in the cloud. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it ties up your machine, and it’s a data hog. Grow up! It’s a time-saver in the long run, I promise.

I started using pCloud (affiliate link) for my client footage in 2017; you should too because your clients can upload footage as well as download footage. It’s the underdog in this war for cloud storage solutions, and that’s part of their charm. Give them a whirl – ONE MONTH of 500GB - 100% FREE TRIAL – using the link above.

This is something you should be doing on a regular basis anyways in your routine client care when the job is over. Inevitably, your client will want to pull some random shot down the road, and this new era has made postal delivery of physical media time and cost-prohibitive. Other than for Uncle Sam and Redbox, DVDs are dead. Physical media is on life support. So, factor cloud storage into your costs, and if you’re struggling with pricing your services to cover the overhead of running your video production business, I recommend a refresher at this post.

Bonus:

As promised, I’ve got a solid bonus for you in today’s post. If you’re in need of a simple, easy-on-the-eyes work agreement, I’ve got a newer, much different template for you to adjust and use as needed. I made it from scratch, so you have my blessing to tear it up.

To access it right now, just join the newsletter below. Your email is safe – no farming out data here. I send emails about once a week with news and the occasional offer to help you grow as a video producer.

Download the work agreement here:

NEIN

Original: 2/25/18; updated 1/23/22

Tired of your videos looking and sounding like that movie, "The Room"?

I'm the best-looking video producer this side of the Mississippi, and more importantly, I can guarantee your peace of mind. Send a courier pigeon or get in touch HERE or HERE.

Where am I?

You may have noticed I'm not frequent on social media. Here's what's happening:

1. I work full time in the AV industry and have been doing so since 2014.
2. Six days a week, I work on Keenumbers - Math for Kids Who Love Numbers. If your youngin' shows an interest in numbers, they might just be capable of some 3rd grade math concepts before they are 6-years-old. Subscribe HERE.

In 2017, the SBA reported there were 23 million small businesses in America with only one person. That’s 23 million one-man/one-woman-bands where the owner is the operator. If that’s you, you don’t need me or any other video producer. You do need, however, to bury the excuses and use that pocket-sized movie camera to shoot some videos of you and your business! In this post, I’m going to explain how you can use that nifty little phone to record decent videos and why you need to be doing this.

For those who need more, I’ve got a promotional video with your yours truly, shot with nothing more than my iPhone. You can study it, emulate it, and then shoot your own video. I’ll also send you a list of 20 different ideas for what to shoot because let’s face it – you may be rusty in front of a camera! Stick around ‘til the end for the bonuses!

1. Let’s start with WHY you need video

I talked a great deal about this here, but I’ll summarize right now:

• Your buyers don’t read

• Your buyers can’t read

• Most of your buyers are visual learners

• Your buyers want something disarming

• Your buyers want to know who you are

• Your buyers want to know if they can trust you

• If it’s a product, your buyers want to see and learn about the product before they drive across town for it or wait for it to arrive in the mail

• If it’s a service, your buyers want to see several video testimonials from your buyers

• If it’s coaching/consulting, you better bet you need videos of you, and you better be espousing King Solomon levels of wisdom

With most internet traffic being video, you can’t afford to NOT do video.

2. Why you don’t need me or any other video producer

I want to do a video for you (as does any video producer worth her or his weight) – but only if you have the infrastructure for it. If you’re a digital ghost town, save your pennies and bootstrap your videos.

First, what do I mean by ghost town? Meaning, if your website is getting next to no traffic (you can check with Amazon’s Alexa tool), if you have zero SEO juice (can check with SpyFu), if you don’t have a YouTube (the 2nd largest search engine, and you’re not on it!?!), and if your Facebook is collecting cobwebs, then it’s a safe bet that you don’t know a thing about digital marketing.

It’s okay, I’m still learning too.

The fact of the matter is an ace video will not suddenly produce hundreds of leads for you. Chances are, like everything else you’ve haphazardly waded through online, your video will amass a few views (half of which are from you).

If you spend thousands of dollars on a quality video with no marketing strategy (if you’re the ghost town online), then chances are you’ll play the blame game, and if you’re not committed to being a quality leader, you’ll point the finger at the video producer as though it’s their fault. I talked a great deal about this need to own your mistakes before blaming others in my 2nd book, Nobody Told Me There Was Mustard On This Sandwich: Take Responsibility At All Levels Of Filmmaking. You need to look at the man (or woman) in the mirror and accept you’re at fault for breeding an online ghost town and then hoping a video producer will solve all your online traffic and lead generation problems.

Don’t shoot the messenger. A quality video (better yet, a GREAT story) is one tool in your toolkit to reach your people, your buyers, with your message. If you aren’t committed to a comprehensive online marketing strategy, you’re doomed to fail. Don’t pin it all on the producer.

Truthfully, I don’t want to do a video for you if you’re a one-man-band or one-woman-band. I have nothing against you – I’m for you, I want you to succeed, and that’s why I created this post. I want you to tear it up with video, but the reality is you can’t afford me and even if you could, without that infrastructure in place, you’ll likely blame me when the video fails to turn viewers toward your product or service.

I can be hired to consult and advise (filmmakers/video producers - consider this service instead), but I can't produce the video for you. I don’t want your nasty reviews online. I’d rather sacrifice the short-term gain of a few thousand bucks for the long-term gain of a sterling reputation. My business can fail tomorrow, but I’ve worked hard on my reputation.

So, you might as well fish out your iPhone, snap a video of you, and post the video on Facebook.

Then go shoot a YouTube live video answering another question. Rinse and repeat until you’re comfortable and actually seeing some results. More on that in a second.

But my brand…

You have no brand if you have no videos. I had a client do a few videos once and never use them - anywhere online. What were they waiting for? I don't know. But action is better than no action - figure out what didn't work later and improve or iterate.

What’s the expression about Rome and a single day? Get started, muchacho.

3. Robert Rodriguez

He’s a brilliant, entrepreneurial director, and if you haven’t already (this is for my fellow filmmakers here), read his autobiography about his start in Hollywood. It’s inspiring, and if you finish it (yes, filmmakers, you need to read), you’ll find your courage meter going up.

For business owners, non-profit founders, or house-of-worship leaders (or any decision-maker toying with videos), here’s a morsel of Robert’s wisdom:

Your first 40 films will be crappy, so go ahead and shoot them to get them out of the way.

Sub “films” for “videos” - you don’t need Malcom Gladwell levels of practice or mastery, but you do need to commit to videos.

When your first 12 videos fail to gain traction, do you quit like the average bear, or do you lean in? We’ve established videos are a vital component to your online messaging, and video consumption will not slow down. Gone are the days of 1845 and the newest Charles Dickens’ classic hitting the book shelves. Your video messaging has to either entertain or inform your buyers within the first few seconds, and if you walk into this world halfheartedly, you will fail.

When you’ve shot your first 100 videos (why be average, why shuffle your way through any of this?), answer below in the comments section the answer to this question: what worked well?

4. Why you don’t need a fancy video camera or tons of lights – do this instead

I used to cringe every time I would see this post on nofilmschool.com:

For a while there on NFS, the same hopeful filmmaker hedged her or his career on the camera they’ll be using for their next video. Shucks, I sometimes get asked a similar question:

Tsk, tsk, tsk. My response is always the same: use the camera you already have.

UK-based Simon Cade probably still shoots on his Rebel T2i, and that camera is about as old as Atlanta, if not older.

For years, I shot on a Blackmagic Pocket Camera (OG) and a Rebel T4i. While I’m versed in several cameras, my own personal cameras, like Cade’s, weren’t anything to write home about. It wasn’t until 2021 that I even upgraded to 4k.

It’s like the old question given to Stephen King: “what kind of pencil do you use?” As though it was the pencil he used that pioneered his storied writing career… egad! It’s you – not the hardware so much. Sure, a Red Camera’s footage looks better than an iPhone’s, but go shot-for-shot with a talented cinematographer, and you’re going to get pleasing results with both.

If you have to bootstrap your way to doing videos, don’t shell out tons of bucks for gear you don’t need right now (if ever). Start small, and try this on for size:

A window.

Daylight.

Your phone.

Something to keep your phone upright.

YouTube app or even iMovie to trim and add some basic edits.

That’s it. 5 ingredients. Start with those.

Step 0: know what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’re going to entertain or inform the viewer. It’s the same when you cold prospect or follow up with a warm lead – you need to know what you’re doing. Don’t improvise like Michael Scott when he “filled in” for Dwight at the “best salesman” award ceremony.

Step 1: set up your camera on something that won’t move. Heck, books work here. You just need something sturdy your gato can’t knock over.

Step 2: make sure you have plenty of daylight coming through the window. Position yourself so the window is pouring light in on your side. This will create a soft, natural contrast to your face. If the light however comes in straight on you, then you’ll have a flatter look. Don’t – turn your shoulder to the window, and presto!

Step 3: put a few objects in the background to give some sense of depth (nothing is worse than a boring white wall, but if that’s all you have, then here’s what you can do to dress it up).

Step 4: turn off as many mechanical noises as you can (fridge, heating, air, etc.). Shoot your video when it’s quiet. You don’t want kids screaming in the background or your neighbor firing up the leaf blower outside the window.

Step 5: hit the record button. Speak your mind. Finish the recording. Until you’re comfortable with editing and capturing (or procuring b-roll), don’t sweat the fact it’s just you the whole time.

Step 6: trim using the free YouTube app or another app (like MPEG Streamclip if you’re on a desktop). Publish!

Step 7: (Bonus step) download Filmic Pro for your phone to control exposure, focus, etc. for your next video – when you’re comfortable with the basics and you want greater control over your image.

Step 8: embed that video in a blog post. Use that video’s description to write related content. It’s a perfect marriage between text and video that SEO will love, especially if you’re making people all learned and what-not. If you’re just staring at the camera and mumbling, you need to get pumped up first and start over at step 1. Better yet, if you’re a bore (unless you’re Steven Wright), find someone who’s energetic and pay them.

Step 9: this is the most important step, regardless of whether you paid someone to create your video or you did it yourself – promote the snot out of your video. So many rank-and-file social media users make this mistake. They post their content once and hope it’ll find its way home to its audience. Wrong! Post, re-post, and re-purpose. One-and-done is never one-and-done!

When you’re ready to level up, go to the school of Google University and YouTube University for loads of free education. Heck, even iMovie will allow you to make basic edits and overlays, and you can learn more about that tool at the aforementioned schools.

But Jake the film guy, I just bought this nifty light and I dropped big bucks on a camcorder!

I don’t care. I’m telling you need to focus on your delivery as you would in public speaking. What are you going to say in front of the camera? Figure that out first, then learn how to “work the crowd, keep eye contact, and minimize the shuffling of your feet as you speak.” Know what I mean Uncle Bob? Your mechanics as a speaker can be great (your video dressing can be phenomenal), but if your message is flat, you’ve failed. Go back to step 0.

Your first video is going to be bad. It’s going to be awkward. Unless you have a rich background in talking in front of a camera, accept that you’ll be awful in front of the camera. That’s why I mentioned the third point about Robert Rodriguez. Commit first and get some grit!

In time, you’ll get creative. You’ll find ways to broaden your videos. Your production value will grow. Heck, look at my early work:

2013:

2017:

If you want an instructional (non-narrative) before-and-after, it’s the same story:

Early 2017:

Late 2017:

I’m still finding my voice and style for instructional videos. I’m okay with my learning curve because I’m committed, and I’ll be a part of what the Almighty’s doing through film and video ‘til I’m 6’ under. I hope and pray you’ll do the same if you’re a filmmaker. Or, if you’re a decision-maker in your organization, commit to videos as a part of your online messaging. When your first 100 cold prospects chewed you out, cursed you, or hung up on you, did you quit? If you’re still in business, clearly you didn’t throw in the towel!

5. Okay, so when do I need a big, bad expensive video? And why?

→ First, you might be sick of janky-looking iPhone videos. Or embarrassed by your current stable of videos – either way, if you can afford a quality producer, this might be a sound reason.

→ Second, you might want an animated video. If you can’t find a joe in your backyard, you can consider finding a freelancer on a site like fiverr.

→ Third, if you have more than one employee, you’re already in the groove of delegating and recognizing your time is more valuable elsewhere (like growing the top line of your business and finding quality people who can do the same).

→ Fourth, you might want quality sound in your videos as well. Or graphics. Or a hybrid of animation and live-action. Maybe you need stop-motion-animation. Or drone shots. Or special-fx. Or underwater videos. Or a virtual set that’ll give the Mando a run for his money. Or maybe it’s a live event altogether with too many moving parts for the one-man-band. At that point (or any of these points), find a team.

My team and I are the best video producers this side of the Mississippi (we’re also the most humble), and we the best price and the best value. Reach out if you’re in a pinch, if you’re tired of failing to reach your buyers, or if you’re growing, and let’s see if we’re a good fit for one another. But! Before you consider Jake the film guy and his gang, you need to brush up on all the odds and ends that make up a video, its price, and so on so forth. I put together a 21-item checklist of what you NEED to hear when you talk to a video producer. If they (or even me) fail to address these items, proceed with caution – if you’re tired of getting burned by wannabes, get the list below in the bonus bundle.

…

Bonus Time

As promised, I’ve got a video of this exact same, simple setup that you can emulate. I want you to be successful with your videos. It takes time, and it takes patience, but I know you can get there. After you’ve shot your first hundred videos, comment below.

I’ve also got a list of 20 video ideas you can steal. A lot of the one-woman or one-man businesses have no idea what to do in front of a camera. This list will give you a dose of inspiration to get started. If you’re the best at what you do in your field, then share your expertise a la Bob Ross and his insanely fast paintings.

Lastly, I’ll give you direct access to the 21-item checklist of time-saving, headache-sparing pro tips you’ll need before you ever have a conversation with a video producer, whether my team or someone else.

Just hit the blue button below to join the newsletter. I won’t spam you with junk. I won’t sell your information. This tribe of microbudget filmmakers is a niche tribe, and I promise to be a good steward of your email. Uncle Ben always drilled it into my head, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”

NEIN

 Original: 12/21/17, updated 12/22/21

Tired of your videos looking and sounding like that movie, "The Room"?

I'm the best-looking video producer this side of the Mississippi, and more importantly, I can guarantee your peace of mind. Send a courier pigeon or get in touch HERE or HERE.

Where am I?

You may have noticed I'm not frequent on social media. Here's what's happening:

1. I work full time in the AV industry and have been doing so since 2014.
2. Six days a week, I work on Keenumbers - Math for Kids Who Love Numbers. If your youngin' shows an interest in numbers, they might just be capable of some 3rd grade math concepts before they are 6-years-old. Subscribe HERE.

Fellow filmmakers, if you're dabbling in video production, you'll be pitching your services to old geezers and young entrepreneurs and everyone in between. The barbershop down the road without an Instagram page? They're a tough sell. The digital marketer downtown who does SEO, Facebook ads, Adwords, website design, etc. can't possibly be great at everything. So sell them on the beauty, utility, and ROI of video!

Business owners, you need video. It's a hybrid-virtual world we live in. It's not 2003. Your buyers want to see who you are, what your service or product is, and they want to window-shop from home. A page full of text may have worked in 2003, but as Dylan mused, the times they are a changin'. Face the music, you shoot videos of yourself and your family on the weekends. Your buyers do too! It's a powerful tool! People believe what they see, not what they hear, and people love video!

Filmmakers, you have ample opportunities to take your God-given passion for film and video to the businesses right in you backyard. They win with a video, and you win with more experience. Comb through this list, find the facts that resonate with your prospects/clients, and learn your pitches. Sell people on the value you bring them. Don't cut prices to accommodate the tire-kickers.

Microbudgeters, stick around 'til the end. There's a BONUS for you that'll give you some inspiration and models to study in crafting your pitch, communicating your value, and more.

Let's begin.

0. It gets people out of obscurity

Videos are easy to digest. Word on the street is 80% of people remember an online video ad. 

It's 30+ years later, and people still remember "Where's The Beef"?

That's why I made a short, unskippable 6-second bumper ad on YouTube. I call myself "Jake the film guy" because I want to stand out from the other Jake's in the world AND because State Farm forever owns the name with their infernal ad.

So, tell a story. Be memorable like Amazon or Sainsbury (2014 Christmas ad - still holds up):

Even if it is informational, stand out. There are so many ace commercials you can learn from as you navigate this world of video.

1. Most people are visual learners

Almost 2/3 they say - that's a lot of buyers who don't read or can't read. 

My wife learns all her makeup how-to tutorials from YouTube. Shoot, when I needed to learn how to replace a p-trap, I went to YouTube. When I was a mechanic in the Air Force, I would have used YouTube if I could have!

As of 2017, more than half of all people watch online videos every day at a rate of almost 2 hours every day. You can bet that number has only grown since then, that’s why those numbers are lower bounds. It's great news for filmmakers like you and me, and it's bad news for business owners who still think Friday nights at the discotheque are far out.

2. People read a book a year

This is one of my favorites, and it's a staple in my 30 and 60-second video pitches. From the sales guru Uncle G circa 2017: the average bear watches 750 videos a year, reads a book a year, and worse, half of all books sold are romance novels. 

Bottom line: people don't read. People like video.

N.B. Ever heard of "leaders read"? Filmmakers, we need to read - daily. I recommend learning sales, marketing, and leadership every day - and make it a point to READ a real book that covers topics from one of these areas (or other relevant non-fiction). Yes, we have the best excuse to watch films and TV as we are constantly learning from those who have gone before us, but neither of those mediums are sufficient. Read!

3. Video has an ROI

Every business owner thinks about ROI (return on investment); understandably, they care about turning $1 into $2 (or better). Jolly good! Great news! 83% of businesses report seeing an ROI with video. Not only that, most marketers agree it is the type of content with the best ROI. Wunderbar! Even shoddy-looking iPhone videos do well when the information (or story) is great. 

A business can't afford your services? 

"Oh... that's too expensive."

"EXCELLENT! Wait 'til you see what it does and the VALUE I'll bring."

"No, really, I'm broke as a joke. There are cobwebs and banana peels in my business account."

"Great! Sit by a window and use your iPhone to shoot a 30-second welcome video." 

"I can... do that? What about outside by the pool?"

"No, do it inside where you can control the noise."

If a business truly can't afford your services, don't be stingy with information - inform, and move along. There are 7+ billion people on God's green earth, and they need your vision and skillset as a filmmaker. 

For those business owners and leaders who can afford quality video production, they're likely to recoup their investment - and then some.

4. Video means faster growth

Businesses that use video grow revenue 49% faster year-over-year than those businesses that are content to party like it's Y2K - and that’s a 2017 stat. You can bet it’s amped up a bit nowadays.

Now, some small mom and pop businesses (by their own doing or by the Peter Principle) are content to stay small. If so, call 'em out! 

"Do you want to stay small?"

"Uh..."

"Of course not! You want to leave something for your grandkids' kids! Let's roll cameras!"

5. Page ranking matters

A business with a video on their site is 53 times more likely to show up on the first page of Google. Again, that’s a 2017 stat. Imagine what it is now?

That's a whopper.

6. People stick around longer

Video cuts down on bounce rate (how quickly people bail after landing on a page). Intuitively, that makes sense, right? People have something to engage them when there's a video, so they stick around longer. This tells Google your site is the cat's pajamas.

And remember, Google owns YouTube, and both are still the #1 and #2 sites in the world. There were in 2017, and it’s true now.

So, reference your site in your video's description and embed your video on your site. It's a perfect marriage.

7. People who watch an explainer video are more likely to buy a product

Yep - 74% of people who watch an explainer video for a product go on to buy that product. Egad, Brain!

8. Most internet traffic will be from video

If this isn't one of the most compelling reasons for you, then you're probably still lamenting the death of the 4:3 aspect ratio and CD's. Time to smell the roses! In 2017, Cisco said 90% of internet traffic will be video by the year 2019; in the same year (2017), Forbes said 80% and by their estimate, it’d be by 2021. Another estimate said that majority wouldn’t be reached until 2022 (a claim made as recent as 2020 after the world slid into chaos and video demand went thru the roof). Whether the conservative estimate or not, a moving goal post or not, video consumption isn’t slowing down.

Heck, even Zuckerberg believed Facebook would be mostly video by 2021, but that didn’t pan out the way he envisioned. Pictures and straight text posts abound even in 2021.

9. Video is shared more than anything else

Adult smartphone ownership is nearing 100% in the US. 92% of people who watch videos on their mobile devices share the videos with others. What's more, videos are shared a monstrous 1200% more times than text and links combined. 

Yowzers. Get off your bum and go shoot a video or call up a pro.

10. Video has the best CTR

On average, it has a CTR (click-through-rate) of 1.84% - that's the highest rate of all digital ads. 

It's great for landing pages.

It's great for explaining your widget.

It's a deciding factor in a buyer's mind.

11. Live streaming is free

People watch live videos even longer than pre-recorded videos. It doesn't cost a dime. If you have a YouTube or Facebook account, you can do a live video from your phone. It's that simple. I'm sure Amazon Web Services ain't too fond of it, but hey, that's technology for you. Yes, I’m old enough to remember the company I worked for paying AWS every weekend for the gift of streaming. That still exists, but the gateways are much more accessible (and sometimes $0).

12. Video can be cinematic

With the advances in prosumer and consumer cameras and gear, it's very possible to have a cinematic video for your business/organization. This example is an instant classic. It wouldn't have been possible 20 years ago and no decision maker would have bought into such a visual treatment even 10 years ago:

But now you too can do something equally fun, cinematic, and memorable. Call up a pro down the road from you or in another state if you must for you big idea to reach your buyers.

Speaking of...

13. Videos are no longer for the big guys only

Obviously, your quality, your reach, and more go up with a larger budget. But for $7,000 or less, let's say you throw it up on YouTube, and suppose it lives there for the next 2 years. That's less than $10 a day, which you already spend on your power bill every day at your place of business. The electricity won't bring in new customers or clients, but a video can, and its shelf-life is solid if you do it right.

That’s a way to handle the price objection.

Speaking of...

14. Videos have longevity

A picture will be forgotten days from now. But your video - if compelling, original, funny, etc. - can last years. That Sainsbury 2014 Christmas video is still powerful, still emotive, even today.

Ditto "Where's The Meat?" 

15. Videos can be used anywhere

Thanks to YouTube, videos can be shared on all social media platforms, embedded on your website, slapped in the middle of a slideshow/presentation, emailed, airdropped (sometimes), SMS'd - there are no limits. They're super portable. Gone are the days of lugging the box set, remote, and VHS on one big rollaway cart to watch the latest blurb on a tape. Nowadays, it's okay to watch a video over someone's phone, even in a formal meeting. 

16. It gives new life to testimonials

I gotta hand it to these guys at Vivint (solar company). It's not too flashy, but neither is it a cheesy iPhone video testimonial with poor exposure and awful sound - it's just right:

If you're going to do a testimonial video, make it something you can be proud of. Cheap begets cheap.

17. It shows off new ideas or products

Before you even bring your gadget to the market, tease it! Marvel does a phenomenal job of this with their teaser promos!

And of course, Apple does a fine job of this too. All the juggernauts do. It doesn't have to be any different for a small business of ten or a small business of one.

18. It lets new customers see YOU

Use it to intro yourself (for the Cadillac of examples, think of the dollar shave club guys - love 'em or hate 'em, they made a splash when they first started out) and if you want, the receptionist at the front who will be the first point of contact. Or, answer questions from social media. Either way, it's disarming, especially for service-based businesses, to show WHO YOU ARE. Every doctor, dentist, and healthcare professional (for example) should have a welcome video from the top brass!

19. Video allows behind-the-scenes demos

Show off how your doors are built. The best chefs had their cooking shows to share their knowledge and they KNEW people couldn't duplicate them. Same goes for Bobby Ross and his glorious afro. He taught people his methods to further his brand, cement his reputation as a master, and he did it because he knew he was the MAN. There was no other Bob Ross (just disciples - even his son) and there probably won't be for some time because years after his death, the man's likeness is still on the shelves, still on YouTube, still relevant. Smart man - he doubled down on video.

...

Video is powerful. Take your phone and start recording. Something is better than nothing, but please have some passion in your voice and be memorable. Don't rest on your laurels, don't put people to sleep. 

Time to expand?

When you're ready to reach your buyers with your offer and you want a quality video you won't be embarrassed to share, give me a shout HERE. My team and I will set you straight, and you can get an exact quote in the first phone call. 

Whether my team or someone else, I want you to be successful with video. You can't die in obscurity! So, I put together a detailed checklist you should peruse before hiring me or any other video production company. It'll save you hours of headaches and frustration as you navigate this world.

Your turn - what else would you add to this list? Comment below!

Bonus Time: 

Fellow filmmakers, part of this blog was born out of frustration with the lack of unified information on the web. Everyone wants to teach the latest camera or the best vlogging microphone, but nobody wants to teach the soft skills we TRULY need to be legit filmmakers, skills like sales, marketing, and leadership. I'm no Nolan, but I will be a part of this industry, telling stories of hope to the masses 'til I'm 6' under - same as you. Everything I learn, good, bad, or ugly, I'll share with you.

I want you to join the Bold Nation newsletter. I don't sell your information to anyone, and I genuinely want to encourage and empower you in your filmmaking journey. Today I'm offering a look at my 30 & 60-second video production pitches, my message I leave for voicemails when no one picks up, my pitch for the gatekeeper who usually answers the phone, and a video of today's post.

Recap: when you join the newsletter, you'll get

• my 30-second video production pitch

• my 60-second pitch

• my voicemail pitch

• my gatekeeper pitch (you know, the admins who screen the calls)

• access to the video version of this very post (for those who don't read!)

Click that big button below.

NEIN

Original: 11/27/17, updated 12/5/21

If you stick around, at the bottom of this post, there's a bonus video bundle for those who join the newsletter and 

• can't read

• don't read

• don't know how to setup an unskippable bumper ad on YouTube

• want to see an example of such an ad

Note: Make the most of your "free time." Heck, if nothing else, pick up a book and LEARN. Grant Cardone says the average bear reads a book a year, and half of those books are romance novels. If you read a nonfiction book a month, you're doing well. A library card costs only time and you can request books straight from your phone.

1. Learn more about your ace skill

Say you're a great editor. A lot of us one-man/one-woman-band types are better at editing than any other facet of filmmaking. Let's be honest with ourselves; it's the most time-consuming component, it's where we are the pickiest, and we all want to edit our own pieces for fear of delegating. We're great editors, if nothing else than by virtue of time spent doing it. Malcom Gladwell would agree (if you haven't read his book, pick up a copy or rent one); we achieve mastery by sheer brute force of thousands of hours given to a craft.

If I spend 30 mins a day playing drums and only 15 minutes a day playing guitar, what instrument I will be more proficient at in a year's time?

So it is with editing. 

What then? Niche down. 

Are you exceptional at multi-cam editing?

Or perhaps a tangential skill to editing, like...

Coloring? 

Motion graphics?

Blender?

Maya?

Spend more time learning your *ace* skillset. Go 20 miles deep with it. For me, it used to be flat 2d-animation (in the context of "editing," which some would argue is unrelated). I'm nowhere nearly as talented as this guy (this video still holds up), and I'm okay with that. I'm not insecure about my animation, but it's not my career path. But while I'm on the microbudget side of the industry doing W2/client work, if time permits, I could spend regular time learn more about After Effects tools for 2d-animation. I spend "free time" nowadays with Keenumbers and to a lesser extent, reading non-fiction. I want to be a director and producer, so I train to be one. I learn sales training daily, and every working day, I'm working on the above-referenced kids math show.

Yes, we have a golden excuse to watch TV and movies because we're always absorbing the technical details, the plot, and a dozen other things. But we can't watch a bunch of films and call it good. It's the same with going to a house of worship or studies during the week. Without practice and implementation of the principles we learn, we're full of knowledge but low on execution. 

2. Follow up on the unsold

If you're in video production, chances are you've had conversations with people wanting to know more about your services.

And chances are, for whatever reason, you failed to close the deal.

It's not their fault after all; it's yours for not being able to close them and serve them through your God-given passion for film and video. I'm guilty of this daily. I've blown job leads for clients, for employers, for colleagues, and I'll always blow leads, but I'd rather blow an opportunity by trying or pushing too hard than not trying at all.

Pick up the phone. Call the unsold. Fax them. Show up at their place of business. Ask to do business with them:

Hey Uncle Bob, I'd love to do a video for you - what problem are you trying to solve these days?

So much of our line of work requires persistence and initiative. Yes, creativity plays a part in filmmaking, but honestly, grit goes a long ways too. 

P.s. you don't need a fax machine to fax people - just a .pdf and a computer. Use that link above; while it's a dying technology, some businesses still use it per the great prophecy of “Back to the Future II.” 

3. Find new prospects

In this day and age, there are millions of people who can pick up a camera or their phone, shoot in some kind of V-log, F-log, or C-log style and call themselves filmmakers. 

Which is great - that means more stories of hope.

But that also means you have to be louder and make more noise to get attention.

When my son was one, he would dart around the s-shaped corner in the gym without looking, and I’d tell him to shout "Hey! Excuse me."  I knew he would do it eventually. He’s getting to that point now: be loud and announce your presence so you don’t have a collision. Repetition is key; he's still young, and most people don't think to look down when they're barreling through the s-corner. 

I'm getting better about being loud in person too.

I'm Jake... the film guy! Not that State Farm guy!

There are two ways to find new prospects: 

1. 1980's way of sales: cold calls, door-to-door sales, radio ads, TV ads, billboards, print, etc. 

2. Today's way of sales: digital ads, emails, etc. plus all of the 1980's methods

Both are still valid. If you have no idea how to do #1, there's an entire writeup here. It's how I ran business in 2016, and by 2018, I started learning the second method.

4. Let your circle know you're on the hunt

Call up your friends. Family. People you vaguely know. Let them know you're between jobs and would love to know whoever it is they know. 

Uncle Bob, Jake the film guy here. Who do you know in need of video production right now?

Uh... I guess I know Curly Sue from work... her kid's got a softball skills video she needs done...

Softball Skills videos pay peanuts, but if you're starting out, hey! Jump in. Serve, over-deliver, and get paid. They ain't bad to break the ice with if you've never done paid video work.

I'm really bad at this deliberate, intentional, and daily ask of people in front of me. We owe it to ourselves, our families, and our crew, past, present, and future, to make the asks of EVERYONE we know. 

Be obnoxious, be a servant, and be loud. Ask. We have not because we ask not. Remember the saying about the squeaky wheel? Be that wheel.

Think I'm kidding? Try falling into the trap of "if you build it, they will come." Seth Godin is right, not just about social media, but his wisdom applies to our films and our video productions as well: build it, nurture it, entertain, engage, and maybe folks will stick around for the long haul.

5. Cold pitch producers and agents for their time

I shot the first 12-minutes of my pilot Powers & Principalities in the spring of 2017. That’s what started me on my journey of cold pitching industry veterans. Whether it was Powers & Principalities or a script, I cold-pitch folks.

A) It’s one more person I can potentially meet.

B) It’s one more person who might get to know me.

C) It’s one less “no.”

If you have a movie or show on deck, you should be doing this every working day anyways. 

If we're going to tell big stories, and if we're going to reach millions with stories of hope, we have to think big. Start practicing your pitching skills now, start learning now, and start shaking hands with folks now. Don't wait for the heavens to part for you. 

I'm terrified of the phone too. Pick it up. Crush that fear, it ain't from God anyways. Even if you get the snot beat out of you on the phone call, you're still alive, right? Call. Chances are it'll be a voicemail anyways. Leave a voicemail.

If you have no movie and no show on deck, then for the same reasons given above, pick up the phone, pound out an email, and send a courier pigeon to start learning from the industry veterans now. Why pretend to be a filmmaker without putting in the hard work now and later as well?

If you're without a completed project (for example, your feature is finished and you want to distribute it or your pilot is finished, and you want to expand your show into a series), and if you're ramping up for your next film, I recommend starting with the budget after you have your idea. How much are you trying to raise? 

In the business world, it's impractical to order 200,000 gizmos to find nobody wants to buy 'em. 

Start with your idea and sell people on supporting the film. Don't find all your locations, actors, and don't do a 5th draft if you have peanuts to fund the project.

If you're trying to raise about $1,000 for a short film, I recommend reading/watching how to here.

If you're trying to raise between $5,000 and $10,000 for your short film, I have a super-detailed guide here. It's not for the faint-of-heart or weak-willed. It contains a bonus for a visual pitch deck you can adapt and send to your investors to show this is a real project and not a flippant idea. And if you're in need of an actual slide deck to plagiarize or customize (knock yourself out champ) that's fully editable, I've got you covered there too.

6. Make an ad for yourself

If you're in the business of doing corporate or small business video work, then you might as well make a creative ad for you. 

If you don't believe in yourself, why should anyone else? 

I made two. One is for unskippable YouTube bumpers. More on that in the next section.

The other is a little bit longer and I created it as a creative followup for a company. As the guys behind Base Camp said in their byproduct "ReWork," create byproducts! Meaning, if you've already put in all the work of doing project A for project B, see if you can cobble elements of project A into a paid product. It might just be the solution someone else needs for their problem. I did that with my shotlist template in the store because I was frustrated with other "templates" floating in cyberspace for us hapless filmmakers.

Now, I wouldn't have created such an elaborate video ad for someone without a secondary plan for it. It's also an ad for me. You can see it below when you join the Bold Nation newsletter.

Spend time fleshing out an idea to promote your services, whatever they might be (weddings, music videos, business videos, etc.), and invest quality time in promoting yourself. Which leads us to...

7. Learn about advertising

Facebook ads are typically reserved for consumer products but there are consumer services being advertised on Facebook (chiropractors, graphic designers, et. al.). You won't find B2B services advertised on Facebook, not often, but I strongly believe it's possible, and I'm currently learning how. I've always promised I'd share everything I learn (good, bad, and ugly) along the way, so a person whom I've learned a thing or two about Facebook ads is Miles Beckler. If you're considering Facebook ads, I'm not the guy to learn from.

If you're considering Google Ads, you have one advantage right out the gate: your ads are shown to people who are specifically looking for your service.

When YouTube rolled out 6-second (unskippable) bumper ads, I knew I had to give it a try. I don't care if no one clicks the ads. For 5,000 impressions of these bad boys, it's about a whopping $5. While 100% market penetration is a pipe dream, that means thousands (up to 5k in this instance) now know who Jake the film guy is, and I purposefully made a ridiculous bumper ad in the style of an early 90's sitcom intro - font, jingle and all. Jingles are powerful, and I don't want to die in obscurity, so if I get a jingle stuck in someone's head that I'm there film guy in my town, that's a win.

...

Bonus Time

Do you want to see two video ads I’ve use? I'll go the extra mile for you (Bold Nation, make it a part of your DNA: over-deliver, always) and record how to set up an unskippable bumper ad on YouTube. The Adwords format is always changing so by the time I upload it, it's entirely possible they'll have re-formatted the whole shebang.

I'll also have a link for this post's video included as well. If you can't read/don't read, I gotcha covered.

Recap: when you join the newsletter below (I don't sell emails or spam you with solicitations for bailing peanut farmers out in Pahrump, NV), you'll get links to: 

• Video of this post for those who can't read/don't read

• Video walkthrough of setting up your first YouTube 6-second bumper ad

• My 6-second bumper ad

• My longer ad

Sign up by hitting that red button below.

Your turn - what do you do between video jobs to stay current? Comment below!

Originally posted: 11/5/17. Updated: 11/09/21.

But where the deuce do you sell it? I didn't really have a good firm grip on anything beyond trying to sell locally. But that's a subproblem I have to address quickly: where I'm living at the time of this blog post is middle Georgia, with chickens, trees, and hundreds of thousands of people. I wouldn't say there's a major metro, but we do have one of the largest cities in Georgia: Macon. It's not the bursting scene of Atlanta for film and video, but then again, Atlanta is nearby. I was hopeful that I could find somewhere to sell my old gear. So, I looked into three avenues. In this post, I'm going to give you a simple, no-holds-barred explanation of what I encountered, what mistakes you can avoid, and ultimately where I ended up selling my gear. But don't take my word for it. Do your homework, eat your vitamins, say a prayer, and then make an informed decision before you resell your gear.

This post contains no affiliate links, no upsells, and no lead magnets. It’s just my perception of the various resellers you can pursue. Let's roll.

Idea 0: Craigslist

For a high-ticket item like multiple camera gear, pass, do not collect GO. For a single item that’s at most a few hundred bucks? Just meet somewhere very public, and give the person a receipt. Bring backup, and be wise as serpents yet gentle as doves as the Book says.

For everything else, CL is a hard PASS.

Craigslist: 1/5.

Idea 1: Facebook Marketplace

If you're going to use Facebook Marketplace, here are a couple things to consider. They have a threshold, it's either about $600 or $800, at which point you can no longer offer to ship your item. I'm sure that's a checks and balances kind of thing, whereby they want to protect both the seller and the buyer. For me, I had a lump of old gear that included the OG Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, its bells and whistles, and a good ole Canon T4i. They were collecting dust. I needed to sell them somewhere. I had used Facebook Marketplace before, and I didn't like it simply for the fact that I got way too much email, or rather Facebook messages, asking about the item. I spent more time answering and deleting those messages then the sale price of the item was worth. It left a bad taste in my mouth. But, I reason that this bundle of old gear was a niche item because of the high price tag, so Facebook Marketplace would invariably weed out a lot of the bad actors for me.

Well, since my price tag was a tad more than what their threshold allows for you to sell AND ship, I was stuck in my local area: middle Georgia, as of this blog post’s original date. That meant, chickens, peaches, and several hundred thousand people, only a handful of which probably are interested in what I am selling. There is a booming market up in Atlanta, but we are just far enough removed from Atlanta that in middle Georgia, the tractors probably have more use for an OG Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and a Canon Rebel T4i.

Not to mention, there's always the awkward interaction with the stranger/customer (or at least the prospect of it) if you sell something via Facebook Marketplace. In my early years, I would sell random things off Craigslist like the Watchmen graphic novel for a roll of duct tape and a bran muffin or a dollar or some other equally random item, but I would meet somebody at the grocery store. I figured, in the parking lot, it was a relatively safe location for such a minor transaction. But for something with hundreds of dollars involved, not to mention electronics, the person is going to want to try it out. I once sold my Rebel T3i by meeting somebody at a restaurant, where we sat and talked for a good 30 minutes. He constantly tried out the photo functionality; he didn't care about the video. He wanted to buy it for his significant other’s son. We ended up making the transaction happen after discussing the idea of Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah (he said Judaism has had multiple people come and go with sizeable followings and even talk of being the Messiah), but the transaction was made possible because it was only one item. As for multiple items, testing it out in person, and a neutral location? That's a lot of moving parts. As I mentioned earlier, bring backup, if you go that route…

Me? Too many items to offload and no patience for the first two ideas. I had to look to another platform.

Marketplace: 2/5.

Idea 2: eBay

I tried eBay. Thing is, I quickly had to learn from my mistakes. eBay was a disaster for me but that doesn't mean it will be disaster for you. My Achilles' heel? I had never sold anything (directly) on the platform before; I always sold vicariously through established sellers. The transactions in the past were always sub $100 - never to the tune I was looking to command with the old gear. We're talking hundreds of dollars of used gear that was in reasonable condition and could be given a fresh set of legs in the right hands. There's always gonna be that young, hungry video student at some school who is dropping thousands of dollars on a college education when really they just need YouTube, Google university, and a lot of grit.

Sidenote: just ask people to be a part of your short film. Be like Jimmy Carter and ask, ask, and ask some more. We have not because we ask not. And yes, Jimmy Carter, disagree with his policies all day long, was one of the 46 best salesmen to ever live in the United States.

Back on topic: with eBay, I opened myself up to scammers by being a new account. All someone had to do was be a thorn in my side because that's what bored keyboard warriors do. Either they stir the pot or they look to make peoples life difficult or they might even do something more nefarious like digital thievery. Nonetheless, some pork chop across the globe decided he should make my life miserable for a few minutes, so he said he would pay - off the platform. That's a huge red flag, not to mention his crazy font and bad spelling. It had all the trappings of a scam.

I immediately reported it to eBay. I even had to get on the phone with them and verify a few different things about my account because my account was in its infancy, so they wanted to make sure that I wasn't in on the hustle. At least that's my interpretation for the extra red tape. Nonetheless, they restored my account, they reinstated everything. They took down the item and presumably booted the scammer. But I had had enough. I was too impatient to start low and build up my reputation, so I jettisoned the idea. It's not their fault. It's definitely my fault for shooting for the moon as a new seller account, with a little more than secondhand knowledge of how the platform works.

Thankfully, my colleague was selling one of his Sony cameras, and we got to talking. He mentioned a little old site I previously had never heard of, MPB.

For what it’s worth, ebay more than makes up for my shortcomings: 3/5.

Idea 3: MPB

Now for those are curious, MPB is a pretty skeletal site. It's not that it looks like it was made on Windows 95 or any other blast from the past, it's just that it doesn't have as many bells and whistles as you might expect. My hunch is they are a small outfit. Certainly smaller than BH. Nonetheless, they've tapped into a market, and they wanted to buy my rebel T4i and my OG Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera.

They will ask you to list what condition you think the items are in. I gave an honest assessment, given the barometer they used to determine what items were in very good condition and what items were well-used. I was honest in my assessment, and thankfully, I had some spare boxes laying around. In this day and age, if you have piles of cardboard boxes you need to recycle, this is the perfect opportunity to put some of them to good use. I packed my gear very snuggly, and I made sure nothing would shift around because you and I both know how package handlers are.

These guys are amazing about the shipping too. I elected to have FedEx come to my door, and all I had to do was print out the printing label and fix it to the package as well as some other information on the package.

I used a massive sharpie, a goodly sum of tape, and large letters. But then I got cold feet. I panicked and called the nearest FedEx because I just didn't wanna leave stuff outside my door. Thankfully, the folks at FedEx said not to worry, I could drop it off at one of their locations. These days, your run-of-the-mill Walgreens can have a FedEx shipping point. I've even seen one inside a Walmart. Just do a search on Google Maps.

Anyhow, the package arrived about a week later at their headquarters in New York. They sent an email saying that they would review my items and get back to me in a couple of days or so. Well, I was so anxious and excited, I checked my email several times a day throughout, waiting to hear back from those guys. A whole week passed, and they finally got back to me and confirmed that the items I sent them were in the condition that I said they were in. It got me thinking, don't undersell yourself. If you undersell yourself, they're going to just agree with you. Better to start high and have them come back down if you truly believe in the integrity of your items. I.e. they are in great condition.

Now, just because my experience was hunky-dory, it doesn't mean yours will necessarily be. Be wise and discerning as with any transaction. When I looked ‘em up on the BBB, I gotta say, it wasn't favorable. If you went by the BBB reviews alone, you wouldn't want to do business with these guys. Though, it behooves us to remember that the BBB isn't as robust as Google or Facebook in that the BBB does not field positive comments, only negative ones as far as I can tell. Say what you will about Facebook and Google, at the very least, there seems to be a system in place to receive positive and negative fanfare. Thankfully, I had a great referral from my friend. Word of mouth marketing is the strongest form of marketing, and I am pleasantly surprised by MPB. I’m certainly surprised by the simplicity of the service. I will use them again, and as of this post’s original writing, I did use ‘em again. The only drawback is, when they confirm the items are in the condition that you say they are in, and they agree to put money in your account, the link takes you to their website without a whole lot of fanfare. In fact, I wasn't even logged into my account. It seemed like it was a link that existed outside of my account. Headsup. While we are on the subject of accounts, whatever pending transaction you have with them doesn't really have a whole lot of information in that section. It's a little bare-bones, perhaps too bare-bones.

But overall - and thus far? MPB: 4.5/5.

YOUR TURN

What are you going to use? What have you used? Let me know in the comments below.

I want you to be able to spot a tire kicker right away, save yourself time and spare yourself the headache of dealing with one. Tire kickers - while I’m all for what Jesus/Yeshua and even folks like MLK Jr and Gandhi preached and practiced (love) - are folks you can steer clear of without being a turd. You can say to them with confidence, “move along - I’m not the droid you’re looking for.”

Bonus: would you rather watch and learn this information through a video? Scroll to the bottom, fellow microbudgeter.

1. They want to know price up front.

Every time I’ve talked to a prospective client who brings up price as the first talking point, they are without a doubt a tire kicker. They’re price shopping. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’ll have to work that much harder to communicate value to them because whether $5 or $5,000, any amount is too much for them since they

a) don’t know you

b) don’t know your value

c) probably talked to at least one other video production group before you (or they have an iPhone in which case, they’re already the next James Cameron in their mind)

At this point, it’s your choice - if they disclose a budget up front, then you’ll know right away if the job is a good fit for you or not.

Now, let’s talk about pricing up front. I believe in Grant Cardone’s practice of disclosing price up front. In fact, you should know the minimum amount you’ll work for and tell folks up front. If your minimum is greater than their maximum, it’s an easy way to excuse yourself from talking to them any further:

“Hey, I’m Jake the film guy, and my intention is to bring you the best video production service at the best price, and I am the best value. My services start at $2,500.”

At this point, you have two options in your next breath:

Can take the job: "Let me ask you something - what problem are you trying to solve?"

Can’t take the job (too much for what they need): "My best suggestion would be to call up the local university and see if there are any media/journalism students who can help you out or try Craigslist."

Note: it’s very important you don’t give a specific name - you don’t want to undermine our profession or refer a lemon, you dig?

It’s easy to tell folks a floor price up front. An exact quote is something you have to figure out in the first conversation, both for their sake and your sanity. I made a tool if you struggle with this idea of cranking out fast, exact quotes for prospective clients. Give it a spin for 14 days and if you don’t like it, send it back - no questions asked!

2. They make an absurd request.

This one always cracks me up. I once had a tire kicker spam (only the good Lord knows how many) people in Las Vegas and Los Angeles:

Hey Jake

I wish to have 50 videos (90 seconds or less each) produced exactly like the

Attached example:

<YouTube link>

Video ingredients include

- intro logo overlay

- music

- 1 picture overlay

- 1 social media overlay

- 5 word display overlays

Right now I am price shopping between

Las Vegas & Los Angeles

Looking for

rapid delivery over budget.

Please get back to me asap with a quote.

…

Yikes. The best part was his subject read, “Hey Jake, my budget is around $2500.”

I’m no math teacher anymore, but that is an average of $50 per video. The YouTube example he shared was three minutes long and looked like a church announcement video with graphics and slides, etc.

Instead of ignoring him, I took the opportunity to send a response few others would likely do:

And I did it because it only took 7 seconds to further my business’ name. Businesses die because of obscurity. Get attention - yes, it goes against everything your parents taught you. If you’re promoting a great cause through film or working to put bread and butter on the table for you and your family, then get attention.

Note: the emoji face I used on my phone looked more like the “laughing-really-hard” face and less like a gumdrop.

P.s. he responded with:

Then, in a followup email, he asked:

Does that mean it's a go? Lol.

I hit the “ignore” button at that point. I made my point, and I’m sure he blasted 200+ producers looking for quick and cheap. I do quick work because I've had years of practice, but I refuse to do “cheap.” Find a student for entry-level work, entry-level turnarounds, and sub-par customer service; I’ve got a family to feed.

3. One and done.

This one needs some explaining. One and done - a prospect reaches out to you for some work, then vanishes.

No amount of followup on your part gets them to respond. Phone calls, emails, e-cards, snail mail, social media posts, showing up at their business - nothing gets them to come around the corner again. If persistent, creative, and VARIED followup are the keys to sales, then how do you spot a tire kicker?

You have three options:

a) do nothing - you lose the sale, the chance to grow, and the experience - and they lose too (their problem isn’t solved)

b) continue with persistent, creative, and varied followups - when you get no response, it’s tempting to quit, and I don’t blame you

c) use the same medium they used to reach you and ask “what problem are you trying to solve?”

I don’t recommend the first option because you’ll never know if they were a tire kicker or a legitimate buyer because you folded before the cards were dealt. How can you stay in business that way?

The second approach is strong when there is a dialogue - i.e. a two-way street. But if your prospect won’t talk to you, then you have a tire kicker, and with 7+ billion people in the world, move along, they’re not the right droid.

The third approach is best. If they email inquiring of your services, email back. If they call, call back. Respond on whatever medium they like. I've had people essentially tell me to "shove off" on the phone, but I tried again by email and they opened up 'cause they liked email and were probably scared of the phone. Ask the magic question and put the ball back into their court. If they don't respond after the magic question, try again a time or two, then load ‘em up with your contact info and move on.

4. More than one.

If a person refers a tire kicker to you more than once, it’s a good bet they’ll keep referring tire kickers to you.

For example, there’s a local wedding place that sends folks my way. The people who are referred to me are always folks that fall into the first category (i.e. they ask about price up front). Without fail, these folks that are referred to me can’t afford my services. I always respond because I believe in getting my business “out there” (more on that in a second), but I always tell folks my pricing up front and then refer them to find a student or put up an ad on Craigslist.

You don’t have to do this - you can politely call the place and ask they stop referring folks to you. Me? I’d rather talk to someone than not. Because the brave and bold will still ask a tire kicker for a referral:

“Sorry I can’t be of service to you Uncle Bob; do you know anyone who needs __________?”

We have not because we ask not. Your call, amigo.

5. No previous hires.

This applies to people who are brave enough to freelance on sites like Upwork (I don’t recommend). If your prospect has never hired someone on the medium they are posting a job, it’ll show:

Guess what they do when they’re next to a wheel?

Your best bet: don’t apply to their job. If you insist on freelancing through sites like Upwork, work only with clients who have hired people on the site before. Tire kickers show up to the dance, stare at the crowd a while, then exit. They’ll amass several proposals, but they have no real interest in doing business. Chances are they’re price-shopping before hiring someone local. Move along.

If you’re working “offline” and/or not through a freelancing site like Upwork, just screen prospects with this question:

“When’s the last time you did a video?”

-OR-

“Why do a video now?”

If they’ve never done any videos in the past, you’ve probably got a tire kicker, but rest assured, someone will work for them. If they can afford you, bring the value and loads of it champ.

If you need more qualifying questions to screen people, here ya go lass - or laddy.

6. The owner of the business is talking to you in the first chat.

This one sounds like you’ve hit the gold, right? After all, this is the gal or guy who can sign the checks!

But as I learned from Grant Cardone, if the owner - the top dawg - is talking to you in the first call, they have too much time on their hands. People without enough time are the the people you want to work with.

Think about it. If the owner calls you, it’s likely they’re in the first category, and they’re the type who would spend 3 hours to save $100 rather than spend $3 hours to make $3,000+.

For example, I once had a small business ask about my services. I should have known better from the get-go when the lady said she did it all, from opening and closing to marketing, etc. - like it was a badge of honor.

When I sent the proposal through betterproposals.io, my proposal’s tracking showed me she opened the proposal multiple times over the course of several hours:

Too much time on her hands? Yep - kicking them tires buddy!

People with NOT enough time hire other people. People who hire people generally have an admin to screen calls or place calls or inquire of video guys or gals like you and me. They (admins) are typically the ones you’ll talk to in the first conversation, and you want to make sure you’re talking to a decision-maker when the time comes to making a deal. Try this for a spin to see if they’re the right person:

“Are you the person who’s in charge of these kinds of video projects?”

-OR-

“Are you the decision-maker for a minimum of a $3,000 investment?”

Expect to talk with the decision-maker in a subsequent chat. Treat the admin like royalty; after all, they have their decision-maker’s ear, and that makes them an influencer. You cannot be rude or anything less than a servant leader with an influencer.

Found your decision-maker? Great!

Screen. Propose. Close. Go shoot your video.

...

No matter how tempting it is to jump on a tire kicker’s job offer, don’t. There are so many other people out there in need of your talent and your vision. Focus on marketing your services. Marketing is all about getting your message out there: HEY! I’m open for business!

Keep getting the message out there and you’ll find clients to work with. It’s a numbers game, so commit, say a prayer or two, and get some grit in you.

Again, if you need help with quoting your video production jobs, check out the pricing tool. It’s a worksheet you can plug numbers into and churn out a quote in the first convo with a prospect. It’s saved me time, helped me avoid tire kickers, and ultimately it helped me land my first 5-figure contract in 2016. It itemizes your costs (to the prospect) and exports quotes as a .pdf you can keep for your records and send to your prospects.

VISUAL LEARNERS: if you’d rather learn this info from a video, join the Bold Nation newsletter to watch! Skimmers and non-readers beware, this thumbnail is a pop-up!

*Cue Billy Mays voice here*

But that’s not all!

When you join the newsletter below (click the thumbnail), I’ll also send you the 21-item checklist you NEED to be covering when you’re talking to a prospective client. Fail in any of these areas, and it’s your job to lose!

NEIN

Original: 10/23/17. Updated: 9/22/21

But the process of drafting video production contracts for you and your videography clients is essential, and today, you're going to learn how to draft said contract, quick, painless, and easy as can be - or you can use the one below. 

Because you're going to do client work. Lots of it in between projects. 

Adjust your attitude and treat each as an opportunity to grow in the areas of:

• pitching

• creativity

• budgeting

• communication

• leading

All of which the Christopher Nolans of this world do for a 10-figure film (box office yield). 

Want to impact the world and share the message of hope? Adjust your attitude!

NOTE: This post is a beast. 

Bonus: buckle up, and if you're around long enough (the vast majority of you will interact for about 24 seconds before leaving), I've got a solid video contract template for you to use at the end of this post.

Make sure you read through it before using it though. The odds are stacked against you that you live in Clark County, Nevada.

Neh-va-duh... say "va" like you would "vat." 

Secondly, I'm not a motion picture-savvy lawyer. Everything I share here is what's worked for me and cannot be taken as sound legal advice. Take responsibility for your work. Use discretion and add or detract as necessary. This is ideal for the solopreneurs out there who are working with the businesses, nonprofits, and churches in their backyard, not E! or ABC.

FIRST, A RABBIT TRAIL

Lately, I have been really drilling down and figuring out what niche audience - what crowd - I am serving.

And that's you, the microbudgeter.

You can go anywhere for film stories, tech know-how, and YouTube how-to videos. Caleb Wojcik (DIY Video Guy) is one such site for all things DIY video and film, and if you haven't checked his blog out, you need to today. 

But you come here for financing and marketing your microbudget films.

Because without those two (underrated) tools, your film will FAIL.

I know; I'm living proof. I shot a microbudget feature film in the summer of 2013, and I didn't know a thing about marketing.

When I started full-time self-employment, I had big pie-in-the-sky aspirations, and I still do.

You need to have that big goal, and that's important.

But after trying and trying and trying to find an audience, I realized my goal was too broad. Originally, I wanted to get a quality visual gospel into the hands of every man, woman, and child, and that's a good, noble goal, but it's so big nobody can get behind it, not even me.

If I can't get behind the vision, no one else can. (See Addendum at the bottom.)

So after niching down further, I realized that my work is really about teaching people how to finance (in the pre-production phase especially) their film and then also market their film (in every phase).

Both of those areas (financing and marketing) were areas that I was lacking in when I shot my microbudget feature. Badly.

The reality is they are areas that you are probably lacking in because they're not fun; they don't have the sizzle, pop, and glamour that shooting a video has. There are countless tutorials on YouTube for how to shoot a video or how to be a filmmaker. You can literally go to the school of Google and YouTube University and learn how to shoot a film and be a good filmmaker without ever dropping a dime on film school - but to really grow, you have to learn how to negotiate budgets.

You also need to learn a little bit about marketing your film.

Let's say you're just a run-of-the-mill videographer. For you, this is just as applicable because you need to be able to learn how to negotiate a budget and ultimately what your fee is - it's no different than what James Cameron said about being a director: A director is someone who tells a story, and at the end of the day, he is no different than you are because you both do the same thing - you negotiate a budget to go tell a story, and then you have to pick what your fee is from that budget.

So if you're the run-and-gun videographer or the casual video girl or guy, what that means is you have a budget that you have to work with: it's your client's budget, and after taking away the expenses in the creation of that video for the client, you have your gross profit, from which you'll cover your fee and operating expenses. We'll possibly get into that in a later post (the difference between gross profit and net income).

For the longest time, I didn't know that they were different!

But they are! They're not the same thing, and so if you're learning how to do the business side of film, we'll get into those nuances. 

If you are doing contract work to pay the bills to raise funds for your shorts (or feature) or for whatever reason (like... hmm... I don't know... living), then you need to always have a good solid contract ready to go and adjust as needed.

I started off in video years ago, and I made a lot of rookie mistakes.

I still make mistakes.

I learned the hard way what needs to be included with every contract that I send. In no particular order... 

0. SCRIPT

If you are responsible for developing the script, spell out how many revisions you'll do. Charge accordingly.

Also, very clearly spell out how you will co-create this story with your client. I propose you write a script, then the two of you must schedule a time to rap about the script after they've read it, and they must come with detailed notes.

I had a client once ask for a shot of the main character in a hospital - long after we had signed ink and there was no hospital in the original story. My budget wouldn't accommodate one either. I found a work-around with stock footage, and it was ultimately thrown out after watching the first cut, but it was a hard-lesson learned: scripts need to be signed off before production starts. If your client doesn't spell out their hopes and dreams early on, they will hate your final product, and you'll likely never serve them again.

1. WATERMARKS

The first thing that you need to consider is a watermark.

Clearly state in your contract that you're going to have a watermark in every video that you send to this client.

The watermark is to protect you so that the client does not run off with the video, being a digital asset, until you are paid.

In your contract, you need to have a clause that says "every cut (every draft) that I send to you will have a watermark until considerations are made."

Note: consideration is just legal mumbo jumbo that means payment. You want to get paid, and you won't get their final draft to them - you won't get any draft to them without a watermark - unless you are paid. That's to protect you from piracy and just as bad, chasing accounts receivables (AR) 90 days after the work's been done. 

You don't want that. 

The frivolous and the frugal both will sit on their money. It's cash for them to use (ever notice why your bank, Paypal, and others all take their sweet time getting your money to you?). So do yourself a solid and avoid chasing AR.

Make sure that watermark business is in writing (i.e. in the contract), and of course once they've agreed and signed, then you're good to go. 

Don't start work until the contract is signed (and any down payment is collected).

2. PAYMENT TERMS

The second thing you need to clearly spell out are the payment terms.

If your client's going to be paying with credit, you need to explain to them what their options are - you need to explain that they can use PayPal, that they can use Square, or that they can use Stripe, etc.

Whatever it is you're using, then spell that out. Tell them that there are no refunds, there are no partial refunds, etc.

Tell them that you expect to have payment in full before the work starts or you need to have half of the payment made upon the completion of production (or start).

If it's a small project, you have more flexibility, but if it's a larger project, you need capital upfront!

If you're just doing the post-work, say you're just editing somebody else's work, then you need to definitely have a deposit at the beginning of the job, but if you are doing the job from pre-production all the way through post-production, then you need to have half of that payment made the first day of shooting. And you have them agree to that in the contract, and the balance is to be remitted at any point thereafter.

Going back to the watermark idea, they have incentive to pay.

In case you missed it before, you don't want to be chasing accounts receivables. You're not big enough to do that; you don't have an accounting team to do that for you, and so with the watermark, they have a real good reason to pay.

The Watermark I used to use was just a big giant text overlay on the video:

Sometimes, it's smaller.

They're not going to want that. Nobody does, so put yer name on that there video of yers. If yer name is Uncle Bob, then use UNCLE BOB as a big giant overlay on yer video.

3. REVISIONS

Another big thing you need to be looking out for are the number of revisions.

Your client will take you to the town with this if you don't spell this out. Tell 'em you are providing, for example, a maximum of two revisions, so they'll get three drafts. After the third draft, or the final draft, there's no going back - there is no additional work that you're going to put into the video. At that point, you wash your hands and tell them you find no fault in the video.

You have to make this super clear to them, otherwise you will beat your head against the wall because they will ask for the littlest things, and at that point, you might wish you weren't listed on Google+ or Yelp.

More often than not, you should adopt a policy that they are allowed no more than two revisions. Smaller projects should only have one revision. Anything above and beyond that is just you over-delivering, which is isn't a bad idea. Use discretion.

I tell them I'll send them the video; they can make any changes that they want and note them because I'll put those revisions into the second cut of the video, and usually they're good at that point. If they still feel like something's off, then they have one more chance to get it right. 

4. TIME (EXTRA DAYS)/LOCATIONS

So that you two can agree on what the finished product will look like, you also need to spell out in your contract how many extra days you allow for shooting.

That's a biggie. 

Tell them that this is something that you require payment for: any extra services above and beyond the terms listed in the contract (and in the separate invoice) will incur additional charges.

The same goes for locations. Remember my hospital example. After reviewing the script (whether theirs or yours), spell out how many locations you'll shoot at in your contract, and go the extra mile and reinforce that number with a pen if you must.

You need to spell this out because they don't understand what goes into making a video; they have no idea. They don't understand man-hours, subcontractors you'll need, or locations you'll need to wrangle. They just assume it's a breeze for you to just come on over and grab some B-roll at Sears.

Like Jon Acuff says, they'd rather you work on spec.

And as Acuff points out, does your plumber work on spec? Heck no. 

They think it's that easy to come on over and grab some b-roll.

Translation: come work for free - pretzels and tonic are are on us.

It's not like you have a family or anything better to do. Aren't video guys kind of like video gamers anyways?

I hate to say it, but sometimes clients just see you as a novelty act, and that they're doing you a solid, or best case scenario, they think you're a historian that's responsible for archiving their latest show of force, annual retreat, or other bloated, self-aggrandizing ceremony. 

Don't you love company write-offs?

To them, you're already working to tell their story; they may have already paid you. So why wouldn't you be there to capture those 40 minutes of self-serving homilies?

Bottom line: you need to spell it out that extra shooting days will incur additional charges.

Even if it's only a 3-hour block where they want you to come and hang out at the company party and take some video of the CEO, the CMO, and all these big suits, then you need to tell them any extra days above and beyond what is spelled out in this contract will be charged the full day rate of 12 hours.

They need to be aware of that very important clause, and once it's signed, that's it.

Stand your ground here; don't let them try to wiggle out some extra charity because everybody wants cheaper, quicker, and better, but the reality is you can't do that. You may have people that rely on you for work, and you have a family (even if it's just you and Milo) to feed, and you have films and stories to tell. That's what God put on your heart to go and do: tell authentic, engaging stories that are going to remind people there's hope.

You're never going to reach that point or that platform where you can impact a multitude of people (millions if not billions) and lead large crews to carry that story to the masses if you don't have the grit to just say NO.

"No" is your friend. 

Scared of turning down someone who needs your help?

Try this: I'm not going to help on this one; I need to honor my other commitments. 

Simple. Hey, Bob Goff (affiliate link to a non-fiction book of his that will do a number on you) is a big fan of "no," and he says he quits something every Thursday.

5. ARBITRATION

You need to have an arbitration clause - in everything. Heck, tattoo it on your arm.

I learned this from the Score guys downtown (check them out for free mentoring, yes, even you the microbudgeter).

This is so you can avoid costly court fees and the need for costly lawyers.

Arbitration is something I've never been involved with thankfully. But it's so useful, I even include that clause even on my Dunkin' Donuts receipts.

Nobody's ever taken me up on arbitration - thank God. I don't have time for spats, and neither do you, which is why you want the arbitration clause.

It's very simple: you include a clause saying that you will have all disputes and conflicts resolved by binding arbitration in Clark County, Nevada.

If you're not in Clark County, Nevada, then adjust: use your county and state.

If your client is in the same county as you, great - that makes it easy on them. If they're hiring you for work, and they're completely out of state, then they're probably not going to be inclined to take you up on this process.

Everything legalese points to arbitration being a much cheaper, much quicker, and just overall easier way to settle disputes.

Hey, in case you skimmed to this point, make sure you include an arbitration clause. It's the most important clause you can include, above and beyond everything else, and if I've overused that superlative (most important), please forgive me, but binding arbitration is the whole enchilada.

P.S. look into errors and omissions insurance (commonly known as E&O), if you haven't already. Because of worker's comp laws, every state will have small mom and pop insurers who can take on the little guys like you and me. They be harder to find than Rotel Tomatoes in a Wal-Mart, but they are there. State Farm won't touch you 'til you have some serious muscle behind you.

6. INVOICES

In your invoice you need to make sure that you clearly spell out if the music that you will be using in this video is good for commercial use.

If you license your music from the Musicbed, and if your client has absorbed the cost of that, then hopefully you agree to their (Musicbed) terms, and by that I mean you've licensed something from the Musicbed that is good for web, internal, and external settings.

Just go ahead and assume your client will need all three. Let me break them down real quick: 

1. Internal Use - This turkey is pretty simple; it's just like the name suggests. A good example is you have a bunch of suits at the company, 20-50 of them or however many employees. They get together in a room, and they huddle around the projector 20 minutes after the meeting was supposed to start. The lights dim, and they watch the video that you were commissioned to make but half of them are checked out, thumbing through emails, eating scones, sipping coffee, and you know, the usual waste of money and manpower that companies love to do because they still haven't figured out what a meeting should do or look like; they just follow what other companies do. (Seth has a lot to say about this.) That's an example of internal use, sans the rant on meetings. 

2. External Use - Know how all the companies at a trade show have their booths set up and they play their 30-second spots on repeat for all the people that pass by? That there be an example of external use, Sonny. Word to the wise: external use (by Musicbed standards) does NOT include broadcast use or paid advertising.

3. Web - Well, you know this one.

These are the three options that you will need to check on your checklist of different licensing options when you go to the Musicbed. Of course, your clients are going to absorb the costs of these.

But if they're too cheap, or if it's a small mom-and-pop shop or some other small business downtown that just doesn't have the wiggle room for licensing music, then you need to spell out that you will be using music that is free to use commercially (of which there are no shortages these days, free or paid).

You can scour the usual places like the YouTube Audio Library or the Free Music Archive (FMA) or other places to find music, but I would explain (not only in writing but also verbally to your client) that by using this kind of music, you are limited in your choices.

The music that you get from the "free" sites is just that: it's free because it's limited. I use free music all the time because I have clients that just don't have the room to find and license a good quality track that costs as much as their video does because they want to dump some ad dollars on it. So we make do with the public domain or the attribution-free music that is available.

Another idea: I do not list how many days I'll be shooting for the client on my contract.

I have that on my invoice that I have automatically generated through my Instant Quotes Calculator - this way they can see how many days they're getting me for, and each day is defined by two 6-hour blocks.

They get me for a half-day? That's one 6-hour block. They get me for one-and-a-half days? They're going to get me for a 12-hour day and a 6-hour block.

This is so that they know anything above and beyond that will be charged the full extra day and all the rates that go with it.

I have all that in the invoice, and one of the clauses on my contract states that everything that is listed on the invoice is what they will get in their video service. Again, everything above and beyond is extra, but I do recommend that you over-deliver. Always. Not only is it the attitude of the best servant leader to have ever walked this earth, but it's the best attitude that you can adopt. 

Want to tell a big story to a lotta people that will move them to action? Be a servant leader.

7. DISCOUNTS

The other thing that you should consider listing on your invoice, and I realize this post is about contracts, but the invoice goes hand-in-hand with the contract (it really does), is you should be very upfront and clear about the discount they are getting.

Like:

Your nonprofit is getting a 10% discount.

I always suggest charging a full rate for a for-profit company. Because nonprofits and faith groups often work with leaner budgets and leaner manpower, and because they have a different mission than that of their for-profit counterparts, I recommend these discounts:

• If it's a house of worship, you should offer a flat 20% discount.

• If it's any other non-profit, then I suggest a flat 10% discount.

Clearly state this discount on your invoice.

The reason you want to do this is because nonprofits and houses of worship will try to discount every penny that they possibly can - and that's fine. Let them try. Negotiations and opportunities to haggle build grit. You need grit and loads of it.

But know this: most nonprofits and ministries are understaffed and under-resourced beyond your wildest dreams.

If they are paying you for work, however, then you need to be firm that the discount is already being applied. This gives you bartering power and a position of strength to communicate with them.

Lost in the sauce? Keep it simple: 

"Sir, I'm discounting the service 10% because you are a nonprofit, and I believe in what your group is doing in Las Vegas." 

Have an answer ready because I promise you, they're going to ask for that discount. Shoot, for-profit groups will ask too.

I've often said this, especially lately in the webinars: you need to only take the nonprofit work or faith-based work that pays you.

It's different if you want to go to them and volunteer your services because you agree with their mission. That's a different ball game entirely. But when they ask you for free work, you need to politely decline.

You have responsibilities, and you will never grow as a filmmaker if all you do is free work. The guys that do commercials for GE like Diego or the Coen Brothers of this world didn't get to where they're at by doing work that didn't pay the bills or their crews for that matter. At some point they had to learn how to level up so that they could manage larger teams with larger budgets to reach larger populations.

It's pretty simple here.

"No budget" means you have a very poor chance of reaching multitudes of people. If our whole mission and focus is to take our gifts as storytellers and tell people about hope, forgiveness, redemption, or grace, then we have to level up. Go back to the parable of the talents. Write it down somewhere you can see it every day and then take a picture of it, and email me when you have done it. 

8. Extras

Dave Ramsey suggests including clauses on the following "in the event of" type of situations:

1. Death - what happens to the agreement if one of you guys dies?!

2. Destruction - what happens if someone wreaks havoc?

3. Default - what happens when one party fails to live up to the agreement? The other party should be able to terminate the agreement or exact some kind remuneration where applicable.

4. Disability - ditto someone gets hurt.

In his book (affiliate link in 3… 2… 1…) Entreleadership, Dave goes through several more, including natural disasters and extreme moral shortcomings (e.g. one of the contracted parties starts abusing substances). I highly recommend going through his book for this section on contracts alone, not to mention the other chapters on running/leading a team (essential for us as we grow as filmmakers).

Dave also reminds people to sign as an officer of your company (if you have one) rather than as yourself to limit your liability (in the former instance, the company is the contracted party, in the latter, you're putting yourself at risk.

ALSO...

Put everything in writing that you and/or your client wants in the video. Spell everything out, from aspect ratio (is it 16:9 or 4:3?) to resolution to which services you are including and not including. There are more ideas of what to spell out for your client here.

Bonus: Boilerplate Example

This one is massive, and it's one big scary beast (read instead here), so I recommend going through it and magnifying the image as much as possible so that you can get to the brass tacks. A boilerplate contract is one that is rife with a lot of cold and unfeeling legal terms. In the course of your videography/video production business/video company, you will find yourself at the receiving end of one of these bad boys. Don't panic. Learn how to keep your head above water in this monster video.

Firehose of info?

Raise your right hand, and repeat: "I can do this."

If you need some inspiration, go read the story of Esther, Frederick Douglass' story, James Dyson's story, or Seth Godin's, or Henry Ford's, or Eisenhower's, or Phil 4 - whatever you gotta do. 

If you're tired of having to scramble to find the invoice to send to your clients, if you have no idea what to charge them, and if you kick yourself for underbidding your services, then I came up with a tool for that, and the name is pretty darn simple: Instant Quotes Calculator. 

This is a tool that I developed over many, many, many hours and years of rookie mistakes to crunch all the numbers that you need to give your client in the first conversation for 90% or more of your jobs that you run into, from a wedding to a slideshow to a corporate video to a church video to a crowdfunding video - it has you covered.

It allows you to enter your rates and give them an instant quote and invoice right there in the first conversation, even if they have to fly you out of town.

It will start generating some numbers for you to carry out their vision and account for your crew and your talents. This is so they (your client) can have the peace of mind of a flat rate, right then and there and you guys do not waste your time any longer (never offer them hourly rates).

If they're too scared to hire you because of your price, be firm and confident in your abilities and please, charge what you're worth.

This Instant Quotes Calculator can help you with that.

...

Now here's your bonus: to make it easy on you, I'm going to share the contract that I use with my video clients, and you can download it here (below).

Even if you're just doing this video stuff on the side, be ready to jump. You need to have a good set of written terms for you and the client to agree on, and this one's worked really well for me and my clients.

It's based off of the video production template at docracy.com, and I did my due diligence: theirs is in the public domain, so if you want to save yourself the time and the hassle and the headache of going and finding a form off Docracy and then modifying it to include these terms we talked about, you can go ahead and download this contract. 

I also put together a 4K-ish, behind-the-scenes video on CudaSign (Now SignNow), which works really well for sending documents and getting digital signatures. Or, ask ‘em to hop on a Mac and use the Preview app, sign the doc, and Bob’s your uncle.

To get in on all of the goodness, download here:

Original post: May 6, 2016; updated July 3, 2017, June 8, 2018, August 9, 2020, Sep 16, 2021

ADDENDUM

Bad Example:

Better:

Best:

If you are looking to take your video production skills to a non-profit and do a little videography work with that non-profit in your backyard, then I highly recommend you take a quick look at Guidestar first, if it is paid work. Volunteering to do free work for a cause that's meaningful - that's on you. There's more on that below, and it's a great way to get out of obscurity.

Today, let’s demystify the tax forms that a non-profit has to file every year, so that you can learn an easy, step-by-step process for deciding if you want to do video production for them.

At the end, I'll have a bonus tutorial for you so you are equipped to handle the guaranteed question you'll face with non-profits (and penny-pinching businesses) "Can you discount your work?" or "Can you do this for half as much?"

But to get there, let's back up a second and understand the why for this tool, Guidestar.

I was introduced to Guidestar in 2014, just before I started getting the idea for my NV-based Church Films, and I'm thankful that someone took me under their wing to show me the nuts and bolts of Guidestar. I don't know everything about it, and you don’t have to know everything about Guidestar either.

You need to know this: with a handful of exceptions, every non-profit in America has to file a form 990 with Uncle Sam every year (at some point), and this is public information that breaks down where their dollars are going.

Did you catch that? A form 990 is a non-profit’s money report.

Churches aren't the same. Let me repeat that: churches are not the same. You cannot expect to find a form 990 for a church on Guidestar because churches are given certain exemptions, and the long and short of it is, churches report differently than your average bear because churches do a lot of benevolent work that Uncle Sam simply doesn’t have the time/manpower for (nor should he). Here’s a list of other exempt organizations, straight from the horse’s mouth.

All that to say, if you are going to take your video production downtown and work with a non-profit, and you are going to book a deal with these guys, be sure to do your due diligence on Guidestar.

Here’s a word to the wise: if your non-profit in question doesn’t have a form 990 on Guidestar, then you may go to the physical location and ask for a form 990. The NPO is required by law to keep the last three years’ worth of physical copies handy.

And you can always pester Uncle Sam for a copy.

Now, don’t just storm through a non-profit's doors and demand to see a form 990. I guarantee you won’t close any business deals with them. Once numbers come into the conversation, be tactful and organic about asking to see a form 990. Hopefully you are practicing this art of pitching every week, and you’re able to save them time and yourself time by getting to the “numbers” in the first conversation. If that’s the case, then jump right through the door and ask for that form 990. I’ve yet to do this though because every non-profit I’ve looked at has their form 990 on Guidestar.

1. Create a login

Yupp.

2. Use the big search bar

Let’s look at “Ransomed Heart” as an example. They’re a non-profit in Colorado. It started off teaching men how to be men, honestly, but it’s grown from that into a hub for men and women.

They’ve got a couple of form 990's on Guidestar.

If you’re on your desktop, you can expect a good, clean layout.

I haven’t used the mobile version of the site because like you, the video producer, I like having a larger canvas to see my work. Us video folks are very comfortable on a laptop/desktop, so this tutorial will you take through the desktop version, but know this: since we’re ultimately looking at .pdfs, it won’t matter what device you use.

Here are a couple of talking points on a non-profit’s landing page in Guidestar.

A. The form 990’s are on the far right, available under the appropriate link.

B. You can see their mission statement and start date up top.

C. If you scroll down, you can see some of their leadership.

Note: a non-profit does not have to (i.e they are not obliged to) provide Guidestar with the information Guidestar is looking for. Guidestar is an aggregator of information.

If you sign up with your email, you will have access to this huge library of information. Mark their messages for deletion if they blow up your inbox (I haven't had a problem), but the service is well worth your email.

Back to “Ransomed Heart.” They’ve got years of form 990’s on Guidestar. They should have the most current form 990 any day now.

I rarely scroll to the bottom because the form 990’s are right there at the top of the landing page.

Also note: these form 990’s (as with any financial statement) are a reflection of where they (the non-profit) came from. You cannot be certain where they are headed. It’s like predicting the weather - you can’t know for certain. You can only get a rough estimate. You don’t know if they’ll repeat last year’s mistakes or successes for that matter, but nonetheless, I recommend sifting through a non-profit’s financials before committing to video work with them.

“Ransomed Heart” is a (I’m dropping the quotes from here on out) 501c3 organization. That means they are tax-exempt for the sake of their charitable mission.

Can they be taxed? Yes. UBIT (unrelated business income tax... like a church bookstore selling Motrin in its bookstore - that would be taxed) is a real thing for non-profits to deal with, but I won’t get carried away with it here. Non-profits also pay taxes on their employees, just like every other corporation. There’s no such thing as truly tax-free. Bear that in mind.

In Part 1 of the form 990, look for their expenses. In Part 9, you’ll see what these guys are doing with their wages/salaries. These screenshots and others will be from their older 990s - headsup.

In 2013, Ransomed Heart (scratch it, they’re RH from here on out) had a total of 2.3 million dollars in contributions and grants, as well as 1.1 million dollars in program revenue: digital downloads, like audio, video, books - the whole nine yards - and they host faith-based retreats. These are meant to inspire and encourage and build people up and mentor them, so on so forth. 

They had 3.4 million dollars TOTAL in the year 2013 from all of their programs. In the year 2014, RH brought in a little less than the year before.

Over here, under expenses, they paid out $0 in grants and similar amounts. We’re going to come back to these guys; this is worth comparing to another non-profit.

3. Compare

I am a fan of Compassion International; my wife and I both really respect what these guys are doing, and I'll show you why they're really good with your dollars. Last time I checked, what they’re able to do is they're able to turn around two-thirds of your hard-earned dollar and get that directly into the hands of those who are going out and reaching out to the at-risk youths around the globe.

These guys are doing amazing stuff.

At the top of their landing page, you’ll see the same info: who their top dawg is and the option to look at their form 990’s, as well as their mission statement (it’s pretty bold).

I'm sure they are under a lot of scrutiny, but that's natural when you are operating at their level. Why do I say their level? In the year 2013, they brought in 712 million dollars in contributions and grants.

Then in 2014, they got up to 765 million. By 2021, if Guidestar’s truly accurate in this area, they (Compassion) are now considered a church and thus their financials are no longer publically disclosed — and they’re probably pulling in closer to $1,000,000,000 now. Cowabunga.

Good for them.

But this is what you want to see:

Under expenses, they paid out 478 million dollars in grants and similar amounts, and look at that, they got it up to 513 million dollars in the year 2014.

The ole math teacher in me can’t resist, and I think it’s prudent for both us to pull out a calculator:

513/765 is about 67% or two-thirds. That’s a really strong ratio.

Again, that means for every dollar, about 67 cents is actually going into the programming that they exist for (not overhead or admin).

Now, there is nothing wrong with non-profits repurposing the dollars they receive to pay their people. There’s nothing wrong with that, and if you’re of the Bible persuasion, it is Biblically and fundamentally sound for people in a ministry to be paid for their work in the ministry. It is okay.

Some people decide not to live off the ministry - that’s okay too. That’s their prerogative. BUT… when I look at a non-profit, I want to know that they are giving. Because as I teach you, and everyone else, and I myself am learning, it is GOOD to be giving. I promise you - you cannot out-give God, so be giving.

If the whole faith thing isn’t your schtick, that’s fine. I guarantee you though, that even in the agnostic and atheist circles, most folks will agree it is good to be giving. I promise you that giving is a great attitude to have, and it will help you grow as a filmmaker and as a leader. You will be more understanding, more compassionate, etc.

Be giving. Compassion sees it as a core value, and I like that.

The bulk of their expenses (apart from grants) goes to salaries, which makes sense because they operate globally - from the Philippines to South America and everywhere in between. They gots to pay their people! They have a lot of people on payroll!

Are they able to balance their budget?

The last part in Part 1 is line 19: revenue less expenses. Yes, they balanced the budget in 2013, but in 2014, they ran a deficit… not unlike Uncle Sam. ;)

Back to the RH example, they cut it close in 2014, but they were able to balance the budget in 2014. They spend a lot of their money on overhead, and not even half of their revenue goes to salaries.

Caution: If a company does not balance their budget well (especially if it’s a smaller outfit), that could be a red flag.

Compassion pulls in 9-figures every year, and again, in 2014, it was to the tune of $700,000,000+.

There isn’t a movie (a single movie) that I know of that costs 750 million dollars to produce (Captain Jack Sparrow Part 4 as of today, even when not adjusted for inflation, holds the title for the most expensive movie ever made - random, right?). Can you imagine the leadership, vision, time, patience, wisdom (and _________________) that goes into a budget of that size?

For you and I, let’s be good stewards of the four and five-figure budgets so that we can be prepped and ready for the teams we’ll be leading down the road. We want to encourage our teams, support them, equip them, and then go and do the things we’re supposed to do with our films.

4. Part 7

Look to see how your non-profit is paying their top brass.

John Eldredge started (years ago before RH was RH) with this idea of “let’s do this ministry to teach men how to be better men, but let’s do it from a faith-based perspective.” So, he in a lot of ways is the top brass (CEO he is, yes).

He works 20 hours a week, at $100,000 a year. The other officers make more, but they put in more hours. Per hour, the top brass at RH (John) is paid the most. That’s the alpha system, right? It goes back a few millennia, and you should check it out sometime on any Netflix documentary where lions fight hippos for beach-front property.

In Part 7, you’ll also see how some of the board members work zero hours a week and are thus paid $0 a year. Some non-profit board members will report one hour a week, and they too get $0 for it. This is pretty common.

When you get to that level of leadership, it’s an honor - you are honored to share the wisdom you have with others. In fact, it’s expected. To him who has much, much is required. So you want to keep this in mind, that as you are progressing through the ranks, maturing, and managing larger budgets, more is expected of you, and maybe that looks like a board position somewhere.

Think about Ryan Connolly from Film Riot. He’s a judge on just about every microbudget/indie film contest these days.

5. Part 9

This is the complementary section to Part 7.

Line 5 is a mishmash of the guys in Part 7. Move along; these are not the droids you’re looking for.

Line 7 is where the common man’s wages are lumped. Both lines 5 and 7 are essential for understanding what they pay their people. Again, no one can work for free forever, barring some manna-from-heaven experience from the Almighty.

RH spends a lot of money on overhead, like IT (information tech). We’re talking 6-figures big. For them, it probably makes sense with all of the digital goods they dabble in, both on their site and with live applications at their retreats.

What?! You thought you could just hook up your home projector for 800 people sitting outside at some Rocky Mountain getaway? Pffft.

Again, you need to skim through Part 9 to better understand what your non-profit is willing to spend money on.

I hate to break it to you (if you haven’t noticed):

They can’t help but process their world through numbers, and admittedly, it’s hard not to when you’re trying to steer the ship.

This is why I always encourage you to hedge your bets in things that are not temporary. Numbers are finite - and temporary at best.

When you’re in their position (stewarding large crews and budgets), fight the urge to place dollar signs on people.

Don’t do it.

Value people over the numbers, respect them, and let it show. If you’re willing to value relationships and people over profits, risk your dreams and well-being for the people you are surrounded by, then you will get to the Christopher Nolan level of filmmaking (assuming you don’t quit - you bear a lot of responsibility in this journey).

When you’re approaching a non-profit CEO, CMO, or other person of influence, remember that they see you as an expense, and if you’re wondering which one, it’s line 12 in Part 9:

They may have the best intentions in the world and a heart of gold, but at the end of the day, you’re a subset of the ad budget. If there is literally no room in their ad budget (it’s zero or too dinky to hire you), then that tells you two things:

A. They don’t value video - don’t bother pitching them (you and I both know they should value video, with various reports every year and even going back to 2017 on how much internet traffic is video - i.e., the vast majority is video).

B. They already have an in-house video team or content creation team / strategy.

RH is not someone you want to solicit for video work. They won’t hire you; I know for a fact they create a lot of their own content.

Let’s look at Compassion again. I bet they have a massive ad budget. Ready for this?

6. Pitstop

Let’s see what Compassion pays (er, paid) their top brass.

First, you’ll note in Part 7 that these guys do have board members that get credit for being on the board, but they don’t make a cent. Some of their board members “work” one hour a week.

It may be less for all I know. It could be like when I was in the Air Force. Sometimes, you just can’t quote a job, like inspecting the Flux Capacitor, for anything less than half-an-hour. It was a computer code, a lower bound imposed on the job, even if it only took us 12 seconds to look it over and decide the darn thing was still fluxing. So we got credit for a half-hour of work for something that was pretty simple.

Do their board members invest 52 hours of work in a year for that non-profit? Maybe mental energy and time-in-person comes out to that much, or maybe it’s 12 total hours, and you can’t round down (to zero), so 52 it is!

The Compasion president/CEO logs 40 hours a week. He’s paid handsomely for it, but notice that it’s almost on par with what John Eldredge is bringing home (equivalent of a low $200,000 income). This guy from Compassion, Santiago, is the top-brass of a multinational non-profit that regularly sees revenues of $700,000,000+ and has a global impact on multitudes of children, and he takes a pretty modest salary when you compare it to John's.

Can you imagine the leadership that goes with an organization of this size?

Egad.

Santiago and Compassion have surrounded their workforce with equally skillful, competent leaders who also make six figures, but Santiago is (again, was?) the Big Dawg.

7. Part 9... again

Line 3 says how much they give away (er, gave away). For a non-profit of their size, that’s amazing, and it begs the question why the smaller non-profits don’t have the same attitude.

Line 7 says they spend a lot of money on paying their people, which, in their case (global presence) intuitively makes sense.

Line 12 is your friend.

In 2014, they spent 13 million on advertising. That’s almost 2% of their overall budget, and it’s ample room to tell you they care about video (and other branded content). They won’t often drop $2 million on a single video, but they also won’t go to a guy who’s only messing around with 3-figure shoots either. They’ll look to do 5+ figure budgets, and for unnamed guys like you and me, that’s a goal we must never shy away from but work towards with attention to detail, outstanding service, and unshakeable determination.

You can do this.

If you haven’t cracked a 4-figure budget, keep working. Don’t give up.

The gifts you’ve been given are meant to be multiplied and taken care of, that you might serve others and honor the Almighty.

There’s room for you, at any level of skill, to work with a non-profit.

Remember, if a non-profit asks you for free work, RUN.

FLEE!

A. They don’t value you.

B. They value their $ more than you.

C. People do not appreciate “free” when they ask for it (see the story of the Exodus, King Saul, Jesus, universal healthcare, primary education, take your pick) - your loudest complainers will always be the ones who pay whatever is “cheapest,” and free is as cheap as it gets.

D. It creates an expectation.

E. Your HVAC guy doesn’t work for free.

F. You won’t grow as a filmmaker (let’s unpack this).

But it’s for my reel…

Quit moping around! Practice your reel on your own time! Client work is the ONLY place (short of investors) where you can practice the business side of film, and you can’t do that “on your own time” like you can your editing, cinematography, directing, etc.

Klar?

Free work - when solicited - is not worth your time. You’re too valuable, and you have people that depend on you. Even if it’s a one-man shoot, you’ve got someone or something that depends on you to put food on the table, even if it’s just this guy at home:

The converse is not the same. If you want to volunteer your services to a non-profit because you agree with their mission, and you have the time / capital to work for them pro bono, then by all means, approach them!

Why is this different? Because you set the expectations when you volunteer your services - what you will and will not do and you can make those crystal clear in your initial offering. Bueno?

Look at Compassion’s mission statement:

Solid.

These guys do a lot of good for at-risk youths around the globe. So you start thinking, “Yeah, I like that. I’d like to cut a video together for them.” That’s how you need to rationalize these things. If you find a non-profit that you happen to agree with, it’s one thing to volunteer your services; it’s another to be asked to work for free. Remember, non-profits pay their people. Even some one-man-bands (one-man or one-woman non-profits do exist) pay themselves.

...

Recap: if you can’t get a form 990, and you really want to work with a non-profit, stop by, and ask for the form. Be tactful.

Can't find them on Guidestar? Try a simple Google search to see if they're brand spankin' new. 

Look to see if a non-profit balances the budget and if they themselves are giving. That’s something my wife and I look for every time we learn about a new charity.

And remember, Uncle Sam rarely balances the budget, so we can be forgiving of our favorite charities if they fall short a buck or two (okay, I'd say anything over 2% is bad) in a given year. This is why you should go the extra mile and look at several form 990’s for your favorite NP.

Okay!

You've made it this far. 

When I've been asked to lower my rates, I don't! Not without cutting out work!

DO NOT OFFER the same amount of work for anything less than what you are worth. Simply cut back the work. 

Did you use Guidestar? What did line 13 in Part 9 tell you? Comment below!

...

Original: 6/10/16; updated: 8/14/17, 8/21/21

BLUF: I raised $8,567 in 2017 - that amounts to over $9,400 in 2021 dollars given inflation. You can too with some elbow grease, little to no online following, and a decent idea or two, especially if you can’t just stash $1,000 away from your personal income every month for 10+ months (if you have that margin and the willingness to dig into your own income, skip this post).

For all my budding microbudget filmmakers and video producers, I say augment crowdfunding next time you need to raise $10k+, unless you're Chris Pratt, in which case you could easily crowdfund north of six figures.

Think about it.

How many times do you see that desperate Kickstarter campaign that's trying to raise $60,000 for somebody you've never heard of and they end up getting maybe $50 donated to it?

It's absurd to think that just because you open the cash register people are going to come and help you out.

Let me reframe it this way: when you are an unknown, which is most of us short of Morgan Freeman, is it easier to ask 40,000 people for help or 10?

And that 40,000 is not arbitrary: with a 1% conversion, if you could reach 40,000 people with the message of your movie or short film, then you could expect and hope for 400 people to support your campaign. The average crowdfunded donation is about 50 bucks per person so you would need to reach about 40,000 people to get 400 people to donate 50 bucks apiece to reach $20,000.

Or, you could ask 10 really close friends and family and other people to each chip in on average 2,000 bucks. Or 10 people to chip in $1,000 each to reach 10k.

People you trust.

People who trust you.

People who want to see you succeed, and are willing to support you if you show them that you're going to put in the hard work it takes to pull off a film of this caliber (that is, a 10k+ budget).

Whatever your budget is, work harder as though it is a bigger budget. I needed $14,713 at the end of the day, but I worked the whole time as though I was raising $25,000. Aim high. Aim low and you accomplish little. If you only need to raise $1,000, start here.

Note: It's much easier to convince a business they need a video than it is to convince others to support a microbudget film. A business has a 75% chance of seeing an ROI. Your film's backers have about a zero percent chance of a return. But that's okay, right? You're asking for an investment in YOU.

Disclaimer: Neither Microbudgeter (MBR) nor any of its officers/members can guarantee results. The responsibility lies with YOU and your team's efforts to raise funds. This article can only offer suggestions.

BONUS: Stick around after this whopper mega post (8k+ words) and I will show you the exact treatment that I gave to people, modeled after the WUNDERBAR Diego Contreras treatment that went a long way in raising the capital for this project Powers & Principalities.

1. Quiet Time

This looks different for everyone, but there's one thing that I know you must do or you will not do quiet time: you must treat this like an appointment every working day. And I would go one step further and say you need to be sure you are committing to quiet time at least six days a week.

Step 1: Read

I start off every morning reading from/listening to the Bible. I want to be a better leader, husband, and father, and there are so many good stories and so much wisdom to draw from in both the old and new testaments. So, I spend time in the Word to jumpstart the day.

This is a practice I do anyways, but when trying to do a five-figure story of this magnitude, I definitely need to stay rooted and grounded. If God puts a story on your heart, then you just need to go for it, and keep it before Him. One of the many ways we can continue to understand His love for others and how you can be a part of what He is doing it is to spend time in the Word.

Step 2: Learn

I listen to news, marketing strategies, sales training, bible history, etc. Speaking of pitching and raising funds, Grant Cardone is all about taking massive action when it comes to sales and running your business, and I've found that our films require massive attention and massive amounts of action.

If you are committed to doing something big with your film, then you need to learn from people who are committed to big dreams and don't play it safe. That's what I love about the world we live in now - there are plenty of gurus to learn from. 

Step 3: Walk

Every working day, I used to take a walk - nowadays, it’s usually 30 minutes of exercise. You should too. Leave your device at home. Use it as an opportunity to listen. To be quiet. And most importantly, to get a little movement in your body so that you're not standing or sitting all day. I can't begin to describe all the benefits there is in doing this. Go by yourself or take the dog or your toddler and a stroller. Anything that will allow you to listen and not gab with someone.

Step 4: Think

I have to give John Maxwell credit for this. Every day, you should take time to not accomplish tasks but to think. This is your big picture block. Do it. Again, you need to treat this like an appointment. You can't begin to grow or work on your creativity if you don't allow yourself time to just think. Write down at least two new ideas every day, write down your goals every day, and on top of that, do not compromise on this block.

2. Put a date on the calendar

This one's easy, at some point you just have to put a date on the calendar and commit. Honestly, I think this is the most important step after the first one. You can talk all day about doing your film, but until you have a date on the calendar and start telling people, "we are shooting on the 28th of October," or whatever date you end up shooting, it's just an idea. Having a date and sharing it with your people makes you accountable to them.

If you're considering doing any big project, especially one of this caliber, then this is probably not your first rodeo, so you can best gauge how long you are going to need to prepare. I think a good rule of thumb is, the larger the budget, more time should be spent in pre-production. If you are working with a super micro microbudget, then you will not spend as long as Peter Jackson did with the Lord Of The Rings trilogy before stepping into production.

3. Script that bad boy

Started writing? Good. You may not think this is essential to raising funds, but you're wrong. ANYTHING you can show to investors that communicates time and intentionality is a plus. That includes storyboards, and while optional to your directing, I recommend them (below).

Step 1: Scripting

I use Celtx for all of my scripting. Even the free version allows me to export PDFs, and it's super user-friendly in terms of its formatting. I have been using it now since 2011, and I don't plan on changing. Go ahead. Sign up. It takes five minutes to learn how to use it.

The key here is to just get the first draft done. Done is better than perfect, and you will have ample time to do revisions and get feedback from your trusted circle.

Step 2: Read-throughs

Which leads us to the next important step of this journey, and that is to have friends, family, distant acquaintances, and people that don't know you at all come and read this with you.

Don't just settle for friends and family - though you do need to ask if they want to read it. Send it to them! This is what I did to get my closest family and friends involved:

This is kind of like a cold email. Obviously these are the people that are closest to you, so it's not truly a cold email, but if you are just now introducing them to this idea, then it is a cold idea, and I recommend keeping the questions to a bare minimum: only one.

Then, when they said "yes," I sent them the script and only asked one more additional question (and I only sent the script to one non-reply out of my group - everyone else I waited for them to give me the green light):

If my closest friends and family sent back any kind of feedback, even if it was neutral, then I was able to decide who to send my pitch deck to (more on that below). I can't take credit for this refining process - it was influenced by an entrepreneur by the name of Bryan Harris.

Headsup: they (family/close friends) might sugarcoat the truth. Make sure you get strangers involved.

If your closest friends and family will go through this script and offer some kind of feedback, even if it's a nondescript "it's good," then they are much more likely to respond to the pitch deck that you send them with a handwritten note (more on that below).

Lastly, where possible, make sure you do a reading with actors, and another read-through with some/all of your crew. Make sure your best friend, if that's your spouse, great, reads your script with you. Someone who is not afraid to give you honest feedback and see the gaps for what they are - you need that person to read through this with you a handful of times.

There's nothing like doing a live reading with other actors and even non-actors. They will bring input to the table and you must be willing to receive it. It's natural to get defensive, but be slow to speak and quick to listen. Take notes. Be open to constructive criticism, always.

Step 3: (Optional) Storyboards

I'm going to borrow from my book, "The No Budget Guide To Filmmaking," for this part:

In my nearly 31 years, I’ve never heard of a director who didn’t use storyboards with the exception of two. If you can cite 24 different instances, give yourself a pat on the back. Personally, I only know two examples, and the second one I learned in October of 2015. There was a 2005 Hollywood film that had the distinction of being one of the last major theatrical releases to see life on the dying technology that is VHS (you youngin’s can’t appreciate VHS like us millennials, gen Xers, and baby boomers). I don’t recommend it though; the title is enough: A History Of Violence. The director pieced the whole movie together, allegedly, without storyboards. Stephen Spielberg pulled this off with the WWII film Saving Private Ryan. Can it be done? Yes. I did it too with my microbudget feature 12 Til Dusk.

Ever since shooting 12 Til Dusk, I have since used storyboards about 50% of the time. The reason is as I grow as a filmmaker, it forces me to be a better communicator. My team needs to know the vision, and seeing it is often helpful. But with our microbudget feature, I didn’t storyboard. If you’re shooting a short video for the office, do you need to storyboard? Probably not. I would say if your crew is more than 3, yes, you should as a rule of thumb.

4. Build your crew

Already have a crew? Great. Skip this section. 

Otherwise, if your crew is not 100% fully staffed, then all aboard! There's a more detailed, more in-depth look at just this part of producing: do's and don't's of building your crew.

Why does this matter in raising funds?

Twofold: 

1. It gives you an idea of crew budget.

2. They *might* know some people you should get your proposals in front of.

First, you need to vet references when you find a crew member. Facebook groups are a great place to find crew - you can also post jobs on StaffMeUp.

There's a fantastic book called Who: The A Method For Hiring by Geoff Smart that you should read because chances are you have limited experience with hiring people, even if they are working as independent contractors. It is INVALUABLE. 

Questions the book will have you consider include:

1. Rate your work on a scale of 1-10.

2. What were some low-points on your last gig?

3. What were the high-points on your last gig? 

Then, per the book's suggestions, you should ask a person's references these questions too (e.g. what was the low-point in working with her/him?).

These questions alone act as a screener. If people are too lazy to answer these, or if their references are AWOL, stop, do no collect GO.

Following the advice in this book led me to working with four totally new crew, and I thank them dearly for their time and energy on this project. More on the references in this section later.

Step 1: DP

You can't shoot a microbudget short film without a solid director of photography (DP). 

Justin is a fellow filmmaker in Las Vegas, and his YouTube channel is gaining steam with his After Effects tutorials and his short films. After working with him on a small business video ad, I asked if he would do DP work for this pilot. He said "yes."

It's simple really. He has the hard skills in spades, he goes above and beyond what's asked, and he has a great attitude →

Something profound he said in this video, which will always stick with me, is a very humble quality that I like about him, and it's this: as filmmakers we should be willing to help each other out as often as possible regardless of title or position.

Now only if more groups in life did this! 

If you don't already have a good relationship with a DP, consider finding one nearby and inviting him or her to lunch. Where possible, do video production with them, and make it look as cinematic as possible for a business in your backyard. It's an excellent way for you guys to work together before either of you sign up to do a longer project like a short film.

Step 2: Location Manager

Finding locations is hard. This post-9/11 culture we live in makes everyone scared of cameras, surveillance, etc. Thanks Patriot Act.

Outsource this bad boy. Can't? Try again. Really can't? Use AirBnb for houses if your own circle doesn't have the locations you need, if not the resources from your state's film commission website. Call everyone. Call 50 churches if you need a church. Call 100 Del Tacos if you must get that shot in the ball crawl. But I STRONGLY suggest you outsource this role.

I once spent a day and a half landing a house. ONE HOUSE. 

That was NOT working smarter.

This time around I hired a location manager, Kim. You should too. She was my second addition to the team. Without locations, you cannot shoot your film. Get this person onboard and spell out expectations. 

Tangential: speaking of expectations, this was my biggest learn during this whole shoot - make expectations crystal clear, including duties, deadlines, budgets, and more, and over-communicate every single one of these to every person on your crew. If you fail in any one of these areas, you can only blame yourself. Take responsibility for your film. It starts with you.

Step 3: Casting Director

My wife Shalom is the most amazing person. While she is very much a gifted leader, and I say that because of how much she cares for the people in her charge, she is also amazing at accomplishing the work that needs to be done behind the scenes. While neither of us are the best at administrative tasks, we can tackle them, same as you or Uncle Bob. With our microbudget feature that we shot in Utah in 2013, she showed that she has a flair for discerning who is a good fit for a role and who is not. We knew going into this pilot that I might be too subjective when it came to casting decisions, nor should I try to do everything myself. Invariably as a director, you will have oversight in a lot of different areas, and I encourage you to delegate even more than I did. I'm not perfect at delegating, but I'm growing. This was definitely one area I needed to delegate and hand the ball off. Throughout the whole process I had to remind myself that in order to do that, I needed to fully trust her decisions, and I absolutely did. She has wonderful intuition for onscreen talent.

If your production team has an email account, then set one up for your casting director or just set it up so that you can forward all mail to her personal mail and so that her personal mail can work as a user on behalf of the production account. That's what we did for Shalom's gmail so that she was deputized to correspond on behalf of the company slash production team.

I helped put casting calls on the local Facebook groups, and she went right to work at sorting and sifting through auditions and headshot submissions.

I recognize that for some of you, letting go of an important area of the production like this might be hard for you, but we have to grapple with this or we will never grow as filmmakers. I grapple daily with letting go. I'm under construction!

It's worth repeating: delegate casting. One, you can't do everything yourself. Two, you absolutely must be impartial, and if you have been in your town/area for any length of time doing films and videos, then you will already have a few people that you know from the acting community and vice versa. Be very clear, and be direct: I am not the casting director, and I am strictly focusing on directing this next film.

Even when you make that announcement, and even when you communicate that, you're still going to find some of your folks will reach out to you directly, people that have worked with you in the past. Be tactful, and be direct. You cannot please everyone, and if you think that you can, you will stunt your growth as a filmmaker. By handing off casting and refusing to make final decisions on this because you are going to trust your casting director, you are likely going to step on Actor John's or Actress Sally's toes. Be quick to show grace and love, but understand that you need to focus on directing (and producing if you must).

Step 4: AD

Make this a priority (Assistant Director) if you are working with large amounts of people. 

For Powers & Principalities, I had several scenes with dozens of people involved. I needed an AD - bad - and she (Ashley) was a lifesaver. This unedited shot (MOS), for example, wouldn't have been even remotely possible without her help:

The AD can handle a lot if she/he is a seasoned AD. Mine was, and I'm eternally grateful for all she brought to the table: 

1. Releases signed

2. Midnight runs for food

3. Time management

4. Ensure each dept. is ready to go (sound, camera, etc). 

5. Interacted with extras waiting around

6. Made sure I ate and had H20

7. A+ attitude (especially considering I dropped the ball and didn't complement her with a PA)

My AD was confident too - when I asked for raw feedback, she gave it, and I learned a whole lot which (like many items in this post) will be shared in future posts. 

Step 5: Sound

Don't forget sound. I knew from the get-go I would do ADR, and while I do value sound, I will take picture over sound any and every take if I must. 

Two reminders from this short film on working with a new sound guy:

1. Trust their judgment; also, remind them it's okay to step on your toes.

2. If they tell you the sound is awful, but you have to move on, reassure them it's on you. If they've advised, and if you ignore their advice, IT IS ON YOU.

I worked with a young man named Carlos, and much to my surprise, he came packing. Not just a boom/mic but also lav mics for lead actors. He also took wild tracks (pickup sounds) without being solicited. #OverDeliver

Step 6: PA's and Grips

I had two PA's I was in talks with, but I made excuses and didn't do the final due diligence to bring them onboard, and that's on me. Did our production suffer? No. Did it make life harder? Sometimes, and the fault lies with me, and it won't happen again. I told you, good, bad, or ugly, I will share it all in this journey because I want us microbudget filmmakers to grow in our leadership.

Grips - I was intro'd to an amazing man (Rad) who also served as a 1st AC/2nd AC/PA/all-around-great-guy. Not everyone will find such a hard-working, valued member on their team, but I pray you try nonetheless. He would strike the camera, lights, he'd slate, he'd grab this, Hollywood that (where you hold a bounce card/gel/etc. instead of securing it with a C-stand, C-47 or other contraption). 

My ole coworker Dale from the mega church we both worked at shot a microbudget feature in 2016, and he was able to refer me to Rad because Rad helped Dale out. So, for you, don't just rely on the web - talk to your circle and see who they know. I would have never met Rad if I hadn't asked Dale for help. We have not because we ask not.

Step 7: Send thank you notes

Each convo with a reference took me about 4-5 minutes. Very few were longwinded and went over. Most don't know you, and they're grateful to get on with their lives. At the end of each phone call (do NOT do this over email - you don't want manicured responses), ask each reference for their office address.

1. It's less creepy than asking for their home address (they likely don't know you).

2. It'll shock them that you want to send a thank-you note. They aren't expecting it, which ties back into item #1.

3. This is a small industry - make an impression now and don't quit (time is the one ingredient we can't skip in the journey from videos and short films to the next big-budget passion project (e.g. Interstellar - even Nolan had his start in short films before Memento). 

As mentioned earlier, shell out the $10 for a book of 20 stamps and send old-fashioned snail mail to thank your references. They didn't have to give up their time to chat with you just because you're some Joe Schmoe. While most phone convo's with them should last no more than 5 minutes, including the time you need to ask and double-check their office address, it's a small gesture that goes a long way to show appreciation. Snail mail > email + verbal thanks.

Not everyone will give you their address. Some references were so sheepish, they insisted on a thank-you email instead. One reference even sent me a thank-you note for my thank-you note!

5. Build an exhaustive pitch deck

I'm talking 20 pages and more. Use full color; include sections for the film, its edit, its cine work, budget, cast, crew, food - be thorough.

Print the pitch deck out.

Include a handwritten note for each recipient. Seal the note.

You must communicate that you're serious about this project. Email is super lazy these days, and sending a digital copy of your pitch deck to somebody is nowhere nearly as effective as sending a hardcopy with a personalized note, especially when you have kept these folks in the loop leading up to this moment (sharing the script with them, soliciting feedback, etc.). 

Step 1: Diego Contreras your treatment to the max

Diego was one of my last podcast interviews in 2016, and his post remains to this day (June 2017) the most popular post on this site because of his content upgrade, which is what I have modeled and have included my pitch for you at the end of this post. His aforementioned pitch deck is immersive, exhaustive, and very detail-oriented.

Want to shoot big motion pictures? Let's level up.

I used Google Slides to get my presentation going and then exported the whole slideshow as a .pdf, and that is your bonus if you stick around 'til the end. 

Don't want to build your own slide deck from scratch? Drag and drop and change up the text and pics on my pitch deck - this digital download is available in the store.

Step 2: FedEx

Remember Kinkos? If you're from this next generation (those after my millennial generation), you may not remember this company. Well, they're FedEx these days, and you can do everything small-business-related at a local FedEx. Print jobs, binder creations, canvas prints, posters, etc. While they offer a discount for larger purchases (I bought 4-5 of these comprehensive pitch deck print jobs), you can expect to drop about $20 or so on each print job if you want heavy paper stock, full-color printing and binding with a clear cover and black backing. They might even let you keep the quality-control print job on the house. They did for me. 

Step 3: USPS

Now you *can* mail these pitch decks right from the FedEx that you print them out at, but they charge big bucks. 

THE GOOD OLE USPS is an option, and if you bring a book and a positive attitude, you're set. Just remember, bring your own tape, bubble wrap, etc. They're more than happy to sell these goods to you, but if you have 'em, pack 'em with you.

Friendly reminder: include a personalized, sealed note for each investor you're sending this pitch deck to. Mail both to each person in one bundle. Follow up with them as needed to make sure the recipient a) received the package, and b) they're onboard. More on this in a little bit.

My note asked them to call me about supporting the project. I then had to follow up by phone, email, SMS, you name it for a few folks, no different than in the sales process I've learned over the past year in doing video production as a business. Be creative with your followups. Don't just send message after message asking for help. Vary it up.

7a. Fiscal sponsorship?

Your backers may not ask for this (I offered, but all declined), but it communicates that extra detail you're putting into this project.

Because film is still an art form, you may qualify to get your funds routed through a nonprofit interested in the arts in exchange for a cut, say 5% of the gross proceeds. They in turn are set up to possibly give your donors the benefit of a tax deduction. 

I wouldn't just go to any 501c3 off the streets. Find one geared towards film. Then do your homework to see if they are good stewards of the money they're given. If their income is pequeño, well, they'll either be really hungry to help you or they'll be so small and disorganized they can't help you. 

I heard about Filmmakers Collaborative through Seed&Spark, and while I followed the instructions to the letter, I never did hear back from them after my submission. I only have myself to blame - I only did three followups, all by email (big no-no). On the other hand, I did 8-10 followups with just one backer through snail mail, a contact form, email, phone, SMS, and Amazon (shipped a gift). Grant Cardone always says it takes several followups to "close a deal." He ain't lying. 

NOTE: If you're not doing sales training every working day, you need to start if you want to make it as a filmmaker.

Here's my attitude: what do you have to lose? If they don't require a fee upfront, submit your materials to them - you already crafted them in the previous steps. Email/mail them a copy and follow up!

7b. Send that pitch deck to your inner circle

Okay, back to your inner circle. As mentioned at the top of this post, this is where a chunk if not most of your funds will come from. Identify a core group of people. Start with

family → close friends → friends

Save acquaintances for crowdfunding. I'm hard on crowfunding, but it does have its purpose.

My circle was made up of 8 people who could impact this film. I sent 4 of them hardcopies of the super detailed pitch by mail.

Then I waited a few days before checking on them. 

Then I had phone calls with folks. Like I mentioned earlier, I followed up with one backer several times. Another, a few times less.

Yet another backer sent the pitch deck back to me after contributing - their idea.

Once fundraising started, four people contributed and accounted for 48% of the total budget.

That's an average of $1,778 per backer.

Powers & Principalities

I wager you won’t get big (per donor) results from crowdfunding unless you have a super unique campaign trailer with a big name attached to it (think 2015's Kung Fury) or you've already amassed a huge following (a la Pratt).

Immediately send those folks handwritten thank-you notes - at bare minimum. No excuses. Too lazy? Well, you won't raise $8,500 let alone $15k or more.

8. Send that pitch deck to grants/A-listers

Grants typically want dough. The massive list of filmmaking grants that nofilmschool.com publishes quarterly is a great reference point if you, like me, don't know who to go to or where the deuce to start.

The problem is... most are funded by Joe Q. Public and Uncle Bob.

If you and Uncle Bob both submit $50 as an "application fee" and so do 20, 100, or 200 other Uncle Bobs across the world, they've got an instant pool of $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000 to dole out by way of a "grant." They - the givers - get new email signups and backlinks to their site. That's internet gold there, mateys!

Microbudget Grants

There's another name for this "pooled" system, and if this type of microbudget "grant" wasn't so microbudget, it'd work on the same principles, probably using annuities to comp the bill: the lottery.

But, for all intents and purposes, at our level of microbudget filmmaking, this kind of "grant" is a glorified "raffle."

Now, I did submit the pitch deck to the Panavision program (in the aforementioned nofilmschool.com list) to see if they'd lend some nifty 50's or something. After all, what do you have to lose at this point? The information's already packaged - send it!

Did they roll out the red carpet with this super pitch?

Nein. Ende gut, alles gut.

But a good friend from my ole stomping grounds in (the new film capital) GA suggested looking into the Kevin Spacey Foundation. This was before his explosive downfall in 2017 - us commoners didn’t know what was about to see the light of day.

At the time, I thought, “Why not? I've seen Superman Returns. If they have grants of up to $10k, what's there to lose?”

This whole time, during this whole pre-production phase of Powers & Principalities, the one consistent word from the Big G was "courage."

So onward!

I sent the pitch deck to the KS Foundation, and weeks later I received the blanket email to bid "adieu" this time around - maybe next time kid. I'm not sure what happened.

If I truly wanted to make it work, I should have spent more time following up. Worse yet, I did not delegate this phase of pre-production.

Double fail, both of which are my fault. But, it’s better nothing came of it. I did principal photography in the spring of 2017; Spacey’s downfall happened months later.

See how easy that is? Assume responsibility. It's really easy, and you'll grow as a leader, which is a must if you and I are to level up as a filmmakers. Those who seek to save their lives will lose their lives. Start practicing ownership now.

An actor shows up late? You didn't over-communicate. Your fault.

I had students that learned slopes (Algebra) in one lesson. There were other kids who needed all of high school, college, and then a hundred lessons on slopes to understand what the heck they were. Some were lazy; some were super high-rep learners.

Be responsible: text, email, call, and send telegrams, instagram videos, billboard messages, and smoke signals if you have to.

Swallow your pride and practice these words right now: that's on me - sorry about that guys. 'Cause guess what? It is on you! You're running the ship Cap'n! Act like it! Keep people accountable and set expectations, but at the end of the day, remember it's your responsibility, especially when things go south. 

More time should be spent in pursuit of funds, and if you can, hand this part of producing off to a dedicated team member. You can't do everything by yourself, and you aren't equally skilled at everything. Let some stuff go. You have to at the 5+ figure level or your ship will sink. This film would never have worked if I hadn't involved six others in crucial roles that I am below average at (at best).

Learn: have a dedicated team member to find grants and own crowdfunding.

9. Use a separate checking account

Already have a video production business with a separate checking account? You're golden.

Want to launch your own video production business? You can - today.

If you truly want a business bank account, you'll need an EIN and articles of incorporation to bring to your bank/credit union. Click that link above on starting your video production business, and more information can be found there or in my book The No Budget Guide To Filmmaking, available in the MBR store.

Let's assume you already have this account. GREAT! Use this account to deposit/receive funds. 

You, my budding microbudget filmmaker, don't want to comingle funds! This - comingling - is where you use business funds for personal expenses, like groceries and your spouse's anniversary gift! Don't do it!

Go to your local credit union, and you can probably set up a business checking account for nothing and have zero maintenance fees.

10. Make it easy to receive funds

Use Paypal. Share your account and routing number if they (your close-knit backers) want to do a transfer.

I can't give that info out!

Yes, you can. Frank Abagnale isn't going to swoop in and steal your identity. This is your closest circle, remember? They're investing in you, not your short film (more on that in a minute).

Take checks. Someone wants to pay in Bitcoin? FIGURE IT OUT!

11a. Crowdfund to augment your fundraising

I originally was going to use Seed&Spark to crowdfund. I started working on the campaign, bit by bit, piece by piece, even before building the mega pitch deck.

What I didn't know was how their process worked. I thought I could hit publish and wait a day or two and then poof! I'd be live.

Now, I was flippant and decided I would hit my campaign goal at a dollar, and anything extra would be appreciated. After all, crowdfunding was never my sole strategy. It was always meant to be an add-on and a way to vet Seed&Spark. It was never a big deal since anything I put on their site could be used in the mega pitch deck and vice versa. Again, we have not because we ask not, right? So... I might as well launch!

I wrapped up the Seed&Spark campaign and hit submit. Not long after, I got an email from one of their guys, whom I'll call Frank:

Hi Jake,

Thank you so much for your submission! "Powers & Principalities" sounds like a really interesting project. 

My name is Frank Helmut. I look forward to working with you on getting this project launched. 

Can you please confirm your campaign goal as it will help me provide the best feedback possible? I'd just like to confirm that you are aware that you must raise at least 80% of your goal to receive your funds on our platform.

I also see that you've previously run crowdfunding campaigns. Can you let me know a bit about that experience, what you learned and anything you'd like to do differently? 

Below, you'll find some notes and videos on your Pitch Video, Wish List & Incentives, as well as some notes on Education & Outreach. 

Pitch Video:  

Your pitch video has a lot of really great energy and elements. However, I think it'd help if you provided me with some additional context about your project and its goals so that I can give you the strongest feedback possible.

Wish List

Right now, you have one item listed as $1. You want to ensure that the Wish List provides your audience with a solid, visual breakdown of what you'll be raising for. You should get as specific as possible in regards to equipment and locations in order to take advantage of our Loan feature. 

Feel free to take a look at the other campaigns on the site for some ideas. 

Incentives

You have some good incentives to start off with. 

I do recommend exploring a visual, shareable and more instant incentive at the $25 amount. $25 is the most common amount contributed and offering something visual is a great way to turn your supporters into amplifiers of your campaign.

Check out this video from our Crowdfunding to Build Independence Online Class: Creating-Incentives-for-Your-Audience

Education & Outreach

In case you haven't, we highly encourage you work through the Crowdfunding to Build Independence Handbook to make sure you're getting the most out of your crowdfunding campaign. Look closely at the audience building and outreachsections.

The number one thing that you can be doing right now is very targeted outreach- which means being able to answer the questions:

1. Who is Your Audience? 
2. Who is this Movie for? 
3. How do you get to them?
4. How big is your current network?

What do your other networks look like? Historically speaking 60-80% of people who will contribute to your campaign know you or know about the film already. How many people do you have a direct connection with who are interested in what you are doing and want to be a part of this.

The first 30% of your campaign needs to come in the first couple of days and this will come from your direct community and therefore there is a lot of direct outreach that needs to happen right now. Now is the time to write to people and personally let them know about the campaign and ask can you count on them in the first two days and for how much.

The reason that 30% is so important is that it tells the general public that there is momentum behind this project, that the people nearest to you are excited and trust you, and that there is a good chance this film will get completed. 

These emails should be short, visual and exciting and should entice people to join the journey and share with their community- even if they can only contribute $20.00.

If you have any questions, please let me know. We're here to help! And when you have a new version of your campaign ready for me to review, please let me know via this e-mail thread.

Thanks so much!

Best,

-Frank

Whoa! Crazy feedback there Frank!

I was surprised, so I went along with it:

Here's a video message: <inserted a YouTube link of me talking instead of typing out an email>

Thanks Frank,

P.s. I'm making changes. Please review tomorrow. Thanks monsieur!

Then I wrote him a day later after taking his advice to heart:

Frank,

all of my desired changes are in place. Thanks for the detailed feedback - let me know when it's live. 

#FrankForGovernor2018

Two days later, The Frank Strikes Back:

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for your response and video response. That's definitely been a first!

To confirm, your new campaign goal is $2,117?

Understanding that, I'm able to provide much stronger and detailed feedback. Take a look below:

Pitch Video:  

The Pitch Video as it stands does a good job of outlining the themes of the project and social importance, but we've found that audiences come to learn specific points about a project before deciding to contribute financially or follow. Take a look below:

The pitch video needs to be something that stands alone so that if someone were to only watch a 90 second video they would have all the information on the film and the filmmakers. It should open with footage from your film as the purpose of a pitch video is to "show and not tell" your audience what the film is going to look and feel like. 

Videos heavy on direct address to camera historically do not do as well. 

The quality and care that you take with the pitch video is what your audience will assume will be reflective of your finished film. 

The pitch video is a combination of WHO, WHAT & WHY.

WHO- you and the team are
WHAT- the project is
WHY- you're making it, why we should care, why you need the money and why right now. 
The WHO, WHAT, & WHY should happen as quickly as possible!

This all needs to happen in under 2 minutes. People will stop watching at 90 seconds so anything important needs to happen before that mark. 

Keep in mind: Who is the audience for this film? Who will this excite? Why will they get excited? The first 15 seconds of the video should SHOW them the stuff they're excited about FIRST.

I highly recommend watching this video first: Don't Make Another Boring Pitch Video

Wish List

Great breakdown! I'd encourage to get as specific as possible in regards to equipment and locations in order to take advantage of our Loan feature. 

Incentives

Appreciate your note on the incentives. Would you mind sending along a screenshot so I can pass that onto our tech team?

I also wanted to take this opportunity to reiterate the importance of getting that first 30% in the first 3 days of your campaign. Do you have commitments from people to contribute in the first 3 days? This will provide the necessary momentum to bring your campaign to the Green Light. 

Strangers will only begin to pay attention once momentum has grown through your work. There's a misconception that crowdfunding is a "if you build it they will come" event, when actually you will need to identify all the people you want to target, how you're going to reach them and what you're going to say ahead of time. 

Let me know if you have any questions. We're here to help!

Best, 

Frank

In other words, my campaign was on hold. I was toast. I threw in the white towel:

Frank, thanks.

I'm all for creating a super-niche community of filmmakers, and because I wouldn't adapt to their requirements, it's on me for not launching on their platform. 

See that? It's my fault - not theirs. They wanted Cold Stone. I was too cheap and wanted a half-gallon of vanilla from the freezer section. The courtship was over.

Pros: super curated community of filmmakers with built-in checks and balances to maximize your campaign with them.

Cons: not handy in a pinch, when you just need to hit the switch to "on" for your "OPEN" sign hanging above your checkout lane, which is what I needed to do.

With another failed relationship on the books, I called an audible. I used Indiegogo back in the spring of 2013 to raise a few bucks for my microbudget feature, and with their flexible funding (you can keep what you raise), I looked true north to my old point-of-sale system.

11b. Good ole Indiegogo

I won't do a detailed primer on setting up your campaign here. Just follow the questions and prompts. It's pretty user-friendly.

What I didn't know about Indiegogo is the instant publication. There is no review. Click submit and poof! You're live! It's the exact opposite of Seed&Spark.

My first Indiegogo pitch video was super basic because I knew my mega pitch was going to do the talking for me, which I strung out for the info sections on Indiegogo. I did this short pitch video for us visual learners only (some people don't read/can't read): 

From studying Grant Cardone, over-selling, I realize, is very a real thing. 

Don't do a 2-4 minute crowdfunding pitch video just because everyone else is. For decades, commercials have been 60 seconds or less. Crowdfunding is way newer. Follow the commercial pros; keep it to the bare minimum with more info (below) for those who need it. People drop off like dead flies after three or more seconds when it comes to video (especially on Facebook); darn the internet and all its shiny bells and whistles.

And for Pete's sake, get a Google Voice number and share that with people. It costs nothing, and it adds the peace of mind of being able to reach someone. Include that in your pitch video and in your description below it. A real business includes multiple points of contact for people that want it. Act like one. I had three or more folks call the office because a) I shared the number and you guessed, b) they wanted more info.

I set the Indiegogo goal high - much higher than what I needed because every shoot has wants. Ours was renting the Alexa mini for a top-notch picture. It was by no means necessary, but it was a goal nonetheless. 

12. Green Inbox

Credit has to go to our fellow microbudget filmmaker Christopher Shawn Shaw for telling me about this service "Green Inbox," henceforth Green Inbox, with no quotes or italics.

It's simple. At least… it was in 2017: hand them cash (starting at $29 give or take), and they will help you email everyone in your inbox in timed batches (so you don't hit too many spam triggers). It took the pain of sending a message to 500 people out of the equation. I did this process 2-3 times, once for my Facebook contacts and another for Gmail contacts.

Note: in 2021, they are rolling with a different model, and unless you’re crowdfunding a massive project, well…

Trick was - in 2017 - you needed to do some heavy lifting yourself: get $100 and 4 donors to back your campaign, and they'll be willing to put their bums on the line for you. Their "guarantee" was super simple and statistically, I'm sure it darn near always worked in their favor: you'll raise more money using our service than what you spend on it, if you meet our four basic guidelines (two of which are the $100/4 donors), effectively paying for the service and leaving you some leftovers. It was brilliant really, especially if you were using Indiegogo.

I blasted a lot of people in my inbox, especially friends and acquaintances. Many jumped in immediately - and they would have likely never heard of this campaign if I hadn't emailed them, and I wouldn't have emailed them if I hadn't used this service. 

I'll throw my email I sent folks in as a part of the bonus upgrade at the end of this post. It worked for me - adapt it as needed!

Note: I did not use Green Inbox for B2B relationships. I used the free version of woodpecker.co to reach out to everyone in my sales pipeline in Vegas. I offered the car, a half-eaten meatball sammich, and other bonuses to get them to do an advance to help fund this film.

I had zero bites; I'm always learning sales and pitching.  

Back to Green Inbox: in 2017, they would even guide you through the process of using Yahoo! to collect your Facebook contacts, import them into your Yahoo! inbox (do you still have one? It's almost as "retro" as an AOL email... hyuk hyuk), and then download that list of contacts/emails for use in your real inbox, whatever that might be.

13. Even when the going is slow... blast those updates

I knew I was asking people to invest in me. Indie films have such a small chance of recouping their budgets, and short films have a next-to-zero chance of recouping their budgets, so from the start, this pilot promo was always meant to be the most expensive business card I've ever paid for.

And I always pitched, even in my mega pitch deck, the investment was in me, not my story.

The end result wasn't and still isn't to recoup the money but to have a solid hook, a super-sized sledgehammer for when I do get in front of decision makers who can expand this story into a full-blown show.

Figure out what your goal is with your short film, and tell folks WHY they should invest in you.

And keep the updates consistent, keep them interesting, and use the platform where you get the most engagement. 

For me, it's my personal Facebook. Every Friday, I post a movie question, such as "What’s your favorite movie where the main character is a dad and a husband and he doesn’t compromise his family with his actions or inactions?" It always generates a lot of great feedback, and I pray it's a refreshing break from the avalanche of narcissistic posts we all get when we log in to Facebook.

Friday movie questions have been great for reconnecting with old names, and it's been great to be a part of such a community.

Don't post your next meal or what you're listening to or political rhetoric ('tis a stick o' dynamite regardless of your beliefs or lack of beliefs - if you must hold the dynamite, make it about film) or news blurbs. Go all in on film, and let your social media reflect that. Heck, if you made it this far in the post, there's a strong chance you're all in too.

Your personal posts should only reflect your filmmaking, and those posts should more often than not solicit engagement (questions are great to this end).

Identify your best platform, then make it interesting. Don't just do "Support my film" posts. Vary it up! Here's another I did - a byproduct of pre-production, a teaching moment:

If you don't vary it up, your outreach is lazy, boring, and people will unfollow you.

Even the Son of Man had His guy, His three, His 12, His followers, then His crowds and everyone else outside those groups. Aim for the followers/crowds, give (yes, give) them something they'll enjoy (such as a chance to share their opinion), and understand only your "12" and some followers will go deeper with you. Most won't show up. Of those that do show up, many of them just want fish and bread. Make it happen.

To blast attention on Powers & Principalities, I used my personal Facebook and (in 2017) the MBR Twitter with the help of a steady queue of posts, courtesy of a small, no-longer-in-existence tool called Jooicer (a poor man's Buffer). 

On day 1, I had one donor. After all the prep work, there was the temptation to retreat. That one percent was looking like a pipe dream.

Don't. Have courage. If you believe in your story, you'll go all in. Again, "Uncle G" Grant Cardone says to take massive action. I agree, and I didn't even take massive action, but I knew after listening to him retreating wasn't an option. 

A lot of times, people release a creation into the world, and when it fails to gain traction, people shut down. 

Crush that fear. God didn't give it to you. For example, I’ve pivoted my attention to Keenumbers - math for youngsters who love numbers - as of the 2nd half of 2020. It’s still in its infancy in 2021, but like the Chinese Bamboo tree’s exponential growth, time is required. (Les Brown talks about the tree around the 3:25 mark).

If you truly believe you're on a mission, then go with God. Burn the boats behind you if you must.

Think of it this way: if you fail to keep regularly posting, people will assume you're aren't sold on your own creation, so why should they care, if they've even seen/heard it? It's a crowded world out there.

Day 2 saw some pickup, and then silence. 

Don't panic. Keep posting. Do it for your crew, your talent, and your other backers. Do it because you have to tell your story.

By the end of the 14 days, it was time for production, and $1500 and some change was raised, before fees. And we smashed the 1% and managed to eek out about a 2.7% conversion:

That's money the film wouldn't have raised if I hadn't given people a shout and a way to checkout. Thanks Indiegogo for following the K.I.S.S. principle and a HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU BACKERS FOR MAKING THIS FILM POSSIBLE.

Learn: make the crowdfunding last through production (30 days) and keep posting. I didn't (settled for 14), so after production wrapped (two weeks after after the end of the Indiegogo campaign), I opened another round of Indiegogo.

I cut together another quick pitch video and opened the cart again. My thought process is that $50>0. 

The results were abysmal because I didn't water the second campaign. The second campaign needed even more attention to take root because like any normal distribution, there's a time for buzz and excitement for the next big, new shiny thing. 

My window, my best shot was in pre-production. Once the film's production was over, it simply needed even more attention than it did before to move the needle, which is why it's wise to have a committed team member to own this facet of producing. Don't be unwise like me in this area and try to cobble funds together yourself.

Think back to the last movie trailer you were anticipating. It was exciting! But, mere months after the film's premiere, and the trailer is nothing but a distant memory, possibly even the movie itself in your mind. Meanwhile, the pros are working every angle to reach a wide audience, all the way through the “home” release, which is becoming blurrier and blurrier these days. The rest of us are already looking forward to the next blockbuster.

14. The balance

So far, so good, ja? Only there was a balance in my case. Thankfully, I had about 30 people in all contribute to this film. I was pumped!  Still, I had to wrangle funds for the balance.

The film's budget was a lean $14,713. Thus, the balance of $6,000 and some change had to come from somewhere.

The balance is something you have to be creative with if you're in a similar situation. I hope and pray you all far surpass my funding, and let me know when you do below in the comments!

I sold my '07 Honda 234 cc bike for $1100 and made an owner investment. Ever since my boy was born, it was something I wanted to do (sell the bike that is). That brought the raised funds to almost $10k.

Final step: I wrote IOU's for everything I took out of Mary Samsonite's briefcase.

All levity aside, I don't like being a servant to debt. It has a purpose in the business world, but for yours truly, I try to avoid it. I was able to with this film, c/o of an owner investment. This film was my LLC’s project, and in many ways, its flagship project.

Lean on your circle. Be prepared for a balance.

15. Send thank you notes - again

We already talked about stamps. You can buy a pack of 100 blank notecards off Amazon for as little as 10 bucks. The value of the handwritten note in this day and age of all things instant gratification, well, you just can't put a price on it. Snail mail is not dead. Anybody who spouts this kind of nonsense about it being dead probably hasn't found a real, personalized letter/card in their mailbox in some time.

Cast, crew, and sponsors – you should send/hand them at the very least a thank you note. Yes, even if your handwriting is awful, make it handwritten. If it is truly atrocious, just say with a super big font:

THANKS!

And that'll do. Go shoot your film.

...

BONUS: Ready to raise some funds? In need of a blueprint to get the wheels turning? Have no clue what to say to your investors? Here's a .pdf that you can model, plus an email script you can use in reaching out to your contacts (followers/crowds).

This pitch deck will help you cover:

1. Premise

2. Cinematography

3. Editing

4. Music/Sound

5. Financing

6. Budget

7. Timeline for all phases of production

8. Crew Bios

9. Contact info

And if you want an editable pitch deck, there's a link at the front of the .pdf that'll take you to the store.

YOUR TURN. HOW MUCH DID YOU RAISE/ARE YOU GOING TO RAISE? COMMENT BELOW!

Original: 6/5/17. Updated 8/8/21.

It’s like John Oliver’s joke about a copy of “Mein Kampf” being in the Steve Jobs-trillion-dollar-company’s terms and conditions, the ones we always say we’ve read through. Likewise, we say we read contracts before we sign them… pfft.

I once had a gig in Vegas, and the contract was so in favor of the client, I was reluctant to go to work for the man. He wanted me to edit with some tight turnarounds, and if it’s anything I’ve learned (and you should too) is how to edit and edit quicker than a fly on a ham sammich. Time is money, speed is the new currency, production houses are competing with agencies and vice versa and people want content - fast. Gone are the days of TV ads costing millions of dollars dominating the advertising market and smaller firms/people having to use newspaper ads to get their stories out.

So, fellow video producer/budding filmmaker, buckle up. These are bumpy rides. And for the grammar police, this is my post, and I’ll butcher our sloppy English language any which way I want to - the most dense rather than the densest (thumbnail pic below).

BONUS: Stick around, after the show, for a copy of this boilerplate contract you can download and learn from. WARNING:Reminder: its use (or misuse) is your responsibility. I am not a good substitute for legal counsel; I’m from GA, and I taught math, so that’s two strikes right there. PROCEED WITH CAUTION - I’m not a lawyer and my legal counsel is worth $2 in Monopoly money. In fact, let's go ahead and slap the OPINION label on this post. This is an OPINION PIECE. Cheers.

1. Replace the title with your name.

2. Ditto the company name.

3. Use a different name other than “BOB” - use command+f (or control+f) to find and replace all instances of “BOB.”

4. Editor? Director? Audio Engineer?

5. Is it 10/11/20 - 10/15/20? Spell it out.

6. E.g. Spatula-Con.

In the first paragraph, Bob says if the IC is late, Bob can fire her/him.

In the second paragraph, Bob owns everything (i.e. all intellectual property) you come up with in this period of work you’re about to sign up for. I’ve seen this called a “total media buyout.” If you’re worried you’re going to get the idea for the flux capacitor while on the job, save it for a napkin at lunch and hide that sucker!

In the third paragraph, Bob is reasserting his claim to the throne. In other words, he owns you, your works he hired you for, your cat, your dog, your house, your car. It’s redundant in my mind, but then again, I’m not a lawyer. Didn’t you get the memo?

In the fourth paragraph, Uncle Bob spells out the goods: how much you’s getting paid, what’s the work day gonna be looking like, and when you’re getting paid. Net-45 seems pretty standard for a lotta A/V gigs, so plan your cash flow accordingly. If that means you’ll be living in a van down by the river to make ends meet, so be it. Your boilerplate may not make any mention of lunch. My version of Bob paid for lunch, and we ate at our station then got back to work (The convention was so hectic and busy, why eat anywhere else anyways? Casinos with convention centers are still casinos and are thus wired to keep people IN their labyrinths.).

In the fifth paragraph, Bob’s saying, “Look here bucko, if you steal my client, I’m gonna break your thumbs like Rocky Balboa.” So, don’t steal Bob’s client. Bob is your client. Leave it at that if you want to work for Bob on this gig or any future gigs.

In the sixth paragraph, it’s kinda fruitless if you’re coming in representing only yourself, but basically Bob is saying you’re responsible for your crew, if you yourself have a crew. In the context of my gig where I saw this boilerplate behemoth, I was rep’ing me and only yours truly, in which case this section is redundant, if not legalese overkill.

In the seventh paragraph, Bob is trying to waive his liability. After reading some Dave Ramsey (that’s an affiliate link for D.R.’s entrepreneurship book), I’m not certain a contractor or vendor or Uncle Bob can truly shirk 100% of their liability when you’re a subcontractor, no different than you can’t sell your soul to the devil. Can you be required to keep your own worker’s comp if you’re subcontracted to do some rigging at a big, televised golf tournament? You bet. You might even be required to provide proof of a general liability policy of a cool million or two. But can a contracting party really give up all their responsibility when it comes to hiring you, especially if you come to THEIR location? Seems like a gray area to me after reading the aforementioned book from the TN-based world champ of debt snowballs. Now, remember, fellow microbudgeters, ole Jake the film guy is a poor substitute for legal counsel, this piece is an opinion piece, and D.R. is the guy from the Monopoly game (monocle and all) in the flesh, so D.R. wins hands-down. Truth be told, I can’t imagine a worst-case scenario where you would want to take your contractor to court, but this is a fallen world and poop happens. Hopefully further down, there’s an arbitration clause (certainly for the CONTRACTOR’S sake). And yes, there is a typo in that paragraph. Wunderbar.

In the eighth paragraph, Bob asserts he is Mr. Burns-level of invincible, and while he’s at it, he’s laying claim to the moons of Endor, the throne of Gondor, and he’s the de facto wrangler of all the Night Furies. He’s more untouchable than Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, and Robert DeNiro combined. So, don’t even try.

In the ninth paragraph, Bob is the boss. Don’t argue.

In the tenth paragraph, Bob is still the boss, in case you get knocked out more times than Lex Luthor from the ill-fated Smallville - and can’t remember the preceding law, er, paragraph.

In the eleventh paragraph, Bob can pull the plug on this gig for virtually any reason (e.g. you as the IC show up three sheets to the wind). As Pat Benatar said, don’t you mess around, no, no, no!

In the twelfth paragraph, Bob needs you to do what you should already be doing - paying your share of taxes. As an IC, you ain’t working for the W2 powers, you’re working for yourself! Bob just wants to remind you in case that Lex Luthor-quality of getting knocked out in a fight rears its ugly head and you lose your bearing.

In the thirteenth paragraph, Bob rightly asserts you as the IC are responsible for your insurances. Should I do a post about this someday? Comment below.

In the fourteenth paragraph, Bob is getting redundant. You don’t work for Bob as Bob’s employee. ‘Nuff said.

In the fifteenth paragraph, Bob wants you to know unlike those infernal strands of Christmas lights wired in series, if one part of the contract goes bananas, the rest of the contract doesn’t fold with it.

Okay, time for an ad break. Want to skip the ad? Simple. Skip the blue box.

Obligatory Ad

It's from yours truly.

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If you think every child should have a quality math education, smash that subscribe button when you head on over to the channel HERE.

Back to the post.

In the sixteenth paragraph, Bob wants you to know you’ll throw down in Bob’s state if something goes south.

In the seventeenth paragraph, Bob wants you to, in the words of Lt. Dan, Get down… Shut up! Mum’s the word on the work you do, savvy?

In the eighteenth paragraph, Bob’s doubling down on the seventeenth paragraph.

In the nineteenth paragraph, Bob’s not okay with you subcontracting your subcontract.

In the final paragraph, Bob’s essentially shaking hands to close the deal before the signature.

Notice that Bob will sign as an officer of Bob’s company, not as the individual known as Bob. This is important in the world of contracts. Rather than expose himself to personal liability for a business deal, his business is responsible for this business deal. He’s a rep and he has a title (Owner, Director, etc.) to reinforce this distinction. Very important. Very wise.

All in all, of all the gigs I had in Vegas, this one was the most buttoned-up. Everything I pushed back on, the contractor turned me down. I like pushing back and am not afraid to do so when it’s necessary; I also like asking. The Good Book says we have not because we ask not. Take a cue from your kids and ask - for everything.

In any event, the contractor ended up being the most professional, most caring dude I ever worked a gig for. Lunches were covered out of his pocket, we always finished early and still got paid the guaranteed day rate, and he wasn’t abrasive. He was simply direct on what he wanted out of his editors (No, that font should be lower. No, let’s use this shot. Do we have a shot of this machine? Etc.), and I respect him for his approach to business, and that respect started with a good contract.

It reminds me of the illustration of a group of kids who were let outside to play every day in a fenced-in area. When the fence was removed for an overhaul, decision-makers and parents alike were concerned the kids would flee when they were let outside with their teachers. Quite the opposite happened; they huddled inside the usual area, afraid to venture beyond the old boundaries. It’s the same story with our parenting; our kids need boundaries, and they need to know where they stand.

This is what a good contract does for both parties - use ‘em. Any deal with hundreds of dollars (and certainly thousands) involved should have a rock-solid contract in place. If it ain’t present, you might be dealing with someone who is as slippery as an eel in an oil slick. Headsup!

BONUS

Want to study this boilerplate contract? Download a copy, the one used in this post, that you might learn from it by joining the newsletter below. Don’t worry - I won’t sell your info to the Jawas.

NEIN

Digital filmmaking. Video Production. Videography. All the same in my eyes. Now, I've talked to a lot of different people lately who think they need to get the glossy pamphlets, stacks of business cards, a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an Instagram account, and email newsletter service like MailChimp, and a business license and an EIN from the IRS just to get started with business. If you're into film and videography, do you think you want all of this nonsense just to start a video production business?

And of course, you don't need so much as 3 credit hours, let alone a whole degree in business.

At its core, business is just about meeting a need and serving people.

It's a lot like what Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Jesus, Oskar Schindler, MLK or countless others did, and I don't mean to over-spiritualize it, but meeting needs and serving people are Godly attributes.

If you absolutely love film and video and want to use either to tell amazing stories of hope, life, true freedom, and a myriad of other things that make this deep and abundant life so amazing, then in order to grow as a filmmaker, you're going to be working with a lot of different backgrounds. To grow as a filmmaker, you need to learn how to finance your projects. You also need to learn how to market your projects. You'll have to cast vision and lead people so that you can serve a story to an audience.

This makes you a businessman or a businesswoman.

For those of you who have the slightest inkling to take your gifts as a filmmaker or a video producer and use them to tell authentic stories of hope and create new connections, stick around. I have a bonus for you at the end on getting started (today, like right now) in landing a contract for a $555 job - bare minimum if you're brand new to client work. If you're seasoned, that floor is higher (e.g. $2,500+).

Let's get crackin'.

1. Buy business cards

This is the biggest rookie mistake that I made: getting biz cards and NOT asking to hand them out.

You don't need business cards right away, as in today - right now - but as soon as you start visiting places/people, it's nice to have dropped $15 for a stack of 1,000.

The older generation, as evidenced by the retired businesswomen and men at Score, believe you need a business card with your name, your phone number, and your email address.

There is a time and a place for a business card - at one point, I switched to using stickers (kind of like Casey Niestat, only I don't plaster them everywhere). At the very least, those suckers can seal an envelope. Then I decided I'd only give out cards if people ask. But cards for my show I'll always be working to develop, Powers & Principalities? I leave those just about everywhere.

Cash is tight and cash is crucial when it comes to starting a business, so don't blow your money in the early days on frivolous purchases, but $15? You can make that by selling x, y, or z on Craigslist. I once sold a graphic novel on Craigslist and met the dude at a Smith's - quick $15. Or maybe I traded for new duct tape. I can't recall. Anyhow, you're going to get food eventually anyways, so you might as well meet a Craigslist dude (or dudette) at a super public place like Smith's (Kroger if you're from the south).

Put a QR code on 'em. Don't worry about a logo (do that down the road). Golden rule here is to keep 'em simple.

OKAY, WHAT ELSE?

When you do invest in business cards, you can get a bundle of them for pretty cheap off of Vistaprint if you must. Do not go for the polished, glossy look or anything like that (people need to be able to write on 'em). Just get a simple business card with all of your information in the top left corner.

If you're up for a good SUV vs. a used Camry, try Moo.

And always give two when asked for one if you can swing it. Go two miles here Bub. Speaking of miles, then log your trips automatically with Quickbooks (well worth the yearly subscription: invoices, expense tracking, profit and loss statements, quarterly taxes calculations... if it makes your head swim, don't sweat it - once you're in business and grooving with clients, invest in this) so you can deduct the mileage later.

Now, the guys at Score harped on this time and time again. It's because in the Western World we read left to right so our eyes are naturally drawn to the top left corner of the business card. That's where your name, phone number, and email should be. Everything else is superfluous.

2. Don't buy a website - do this instead

When I talk about this mistake, know this, I made this mistake myself. In fact I've made all of these mistakes in this post.

When you're starting out and you decide that you want to open your "storefront online" so to speak, to let people know that you are taking your video services out into the community and you are willing to serve them, don't worry about a website right away.

Or YouTube.

This is borrowing from Cody Dulock, the director of content at the Filmsupply and episode 75 of the original Go Boldly podcast. He said when they are looking at a new artist, they want to see if they have a niche on their Vimeo.

If the portfolio is all over the map, they immediately assume the video producer doesn't know what he/she wants to do. I see this all the time on reddit with kids who slap together a reel. I did this too last year, under the guise of a visual reel. Needs updating? You betcha.

Don't be that guy!

If you do business videos, then those are what you should have a Vimeo page for. Even if it is only one video on a Vimeo page, go ahead and upload that one video.

If you want to go into the business of doing wedding videos, then just have a Vimeo page of wedding videos.

Don't like Vimeo?

Repetition: get a YouTube channel (free).

Or a Facebook page (free). 

Don't chase Instagram. At minimum, have a LinkedIn profile and a Facebook page. People need to find you. Have hour updates? Post on Facebook/LinkedIn. Have golden and/or proprietary knowledge? Build a blog as a marathon, not a sprint. Update it regularly. If you’re reading this now, it’s something I built over years - and updated over time. But don't worry about a blog right away. Focus on sales first.

When you are starting out, you are simply broke. So use the free real estate that's readily available.

TIME: 1-4 HRS.

OKAY, WHEN?

When you are ready to get a website, and by ready, I mean you have resources coming into the bank account to warrant buying a website, and because I use Squarespace - I'm not an affiliate for Squarespace - then I recommend using their dirt-cheapest option.

It's pretty simple. You can include your name, your contact info, and a link to your reel on Vimeo.

Don't nuke it. Use your name for the domain name: 

unclebob.com

You get a free domain through Squarespace anyways (you're welcome for the plug Squarespace).

Unless you are consistently creating content every week on your site, you don't need more than one page.

It's the same idea for a church or a mom and pop bakery. If your main business is offline, don't go overboard with pages that NO ONE will visit. The web is just too crowded. I've had to fight and claw with promotion and regular content to reach 1,000+ unique people a month.

Get a single page website when the money warrants it. Until then, stick with a free Vimeo page (treat it like a resume). Use one Vimeo account per type of video (business videos, short films, bat mitzvahs, etc.).

If you are lost in the sauce with Vimeo, here's my detailed guide to uploading videos to YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo.

3. Don't worry about incorporating right away

Now, the retirees at Score in downtown Las Vegas love to joke about how there are more lawyers in Vegas than in the entire country of Japan.

If you're a homeowner, they love to tease that when you wrong somebody, and you are not set up as an LLC or other type of corporation, then that person can come after everything:

Your dog, your car, your cat, your house, your wife, …

Hey, we live in a world where people sue over some crazy things.

Is God bigger than a lawsuit? Absolutely. Does that mean you'll be spared? 

This is where I'd cue the Joker's laugh when he first walked in on the mob bosses in The Dark Knight.

We are called to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves. So incorporating is not a bad idea, especially if you own a house.

That being said, when you are just starting out, you do not need to incorporate right away.

In fact, I think you could hold off for a while. Do business under your Social Security, look into your city business requirements, and see if even doing freelance work requires a business license. 

You do not need to get an EIN right away; you may not need to register with your state just to work as a sole proprietor. This means you are liable for everything and the business funds are the same as your personal checking account funds. They're one and the same if you're a sole proprietor, but don't get hung up on these terms right now.

TIME: 0 HRS.

OKAY, WHEN?

Once you start to get some traction, and if you want to protect your assets and separate yourself from the business, that's when it's time to incorporate. I know I've been doing looooooooooooooooooooonnnngonnnnnnnnnggggggggg posts lately, but I can't help you with that timing - only you can know when the time is right.

If you're making less than $10,000 as a video producer through freelancing, then it's up to you ultimately, but I don't think you need to incorporate. If you have a house and you made over $45,000 while freelancing as a video producer last year, you should give serious thought to incorporating. I'm neither a CPA nor an attorney though - you know, that standard, indemnifying legalese jargon.

An LLC is an easy way to get started, and it is a pass-thru entity, meaning you just report profits (or losses) on your personal income taxes. Makes no sense right now? Again, don't get hung up on it.

In the meantime, I'm going to borrow from The No Budget Guide To Filmmaking: The 30-Step Guide For Low-Budget Filmmakers, Church Video Production, And Other Artists Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

We live in a broken world that’s in need of grace; unfortunately, we have folks who would love nothing more than to sue you over split hairs.

But don’t panic.

You can set up an LLC with your spouse or other trustworthy person (or do a one-woman/one-man LLC). For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s fairly simple actually.

An LLC represents a limited liability company.

They are the easiest form of a business to launch outside of the sole proprietorship, which if you’re JUST starting out, isn’t a bad idea. HERE’S WHY. Yes, that’s me in the link, and yes, it’s offsite on LinkedIn.

Now, if you're making a serious run (again, services are piling up, you're in hot demand), hopefully you have a team in mind, and hopefully one of those teamsters is your closest confidant and best friend (if not your spouse), so it may be worth exploring the idea of incorporating as a multi-member LLC (fancy talk for “more than one person in the business”).

If you’re just running and gunning as a casual filmmaker slash video producer or you already have the parent blessing (i.e. protection) of a business or a nonprofit (e.g. a church), then all this business jargon is optional. Fast forward as needed.

Here's a breakdown of how setting up an LLC (loosely) works for a bootstrapping filmmaker slash video guy or gal.

Note: It's different for every state.

1. Apply for an EIN (done through the IRS website). This is free - don't fall for the gimmicky sites that try to sell this feature to you.

2. Draft up articles of organization. Find a mentor who is running a successful LLC, and ask to be walked through this portion if needed and ask for a copy to model. Docracy can probably help you get started too.

3. Google the business requirements. You might have to pay the Chamber of Commerce an in-person visit, but if your state is like Nevada, then your state has dumped a lot of infrastructure into their online portal so that you don’t have to burn gas to go bug a government John or Jane.

4. Go to the Business Office for your city and file for a home biz license, 'less of course you guys already have a dedicated office space to fire up your biz (different for every city). Again, this could be handled entirely online now that it's 2016, but then again you might live in Plovdiv, Wyoming.

5. Once all of this is done, you will need to open a biz checking account (which you can do at any bank or credit union - shop around) to make sure all the funds for your film/video biz are not in your personal account (or anyone's), but in their own dedicated space.

6. Bear in mind, by opening a biz, you are now a biz owner. That means taxes are involved at some point (which I'm always learning). The IRS has more to say on taxes than Arlo Guthrie did about Alice’s Restaurant, so you could look to start a solopreneur account with Quickbooks to get help with this area.

A lawsuit-hungry thespian, business owner, community leader, PA, etc. is more likely to hit a wall if you have an LLC running your production than if you're a regular ol' Joe Schmoe with a sole proprietorship (where personal & business funds coexist in the same account). 

Be wise as serpents - again, find a business mentor (check your own circle - I bet you know a business owner - supposedly there are 28 million small businesses in America, which figures to roughly 1/12 people you know run a business) in your community and start having lunch with that person, watch football together, develop a relationship.

These are the kinds of friends and influences you will need in your life to

a) have the guts to bootstrap and

b) grow.

TLDR: you don't need the business license right away. If you don't have any revenue coming in yet, you are probably a nobody like I was when I was starting out - or anytime I moved. So, focus on over-delivering for each client, and the revenue will start stacking up. Once you get the appropriate business license in your city, county, and/or state, you will still be able to deduct the expense when you file taxes that year, since it is a necessary and ordinary expense. It doesn't matter if you pick up the license in December. Focus on taking great care of your clients first, and then once you have revenue coming in, make sure you do right by the city, county, and/or state that you live in, not the other way around. The other way, getting the license first, is a classic symptom of being new and wanting so badly to have a title out the gate. That was me when I first started many moons ago in Salt Lake City. Don't be like young Jake the film guy. Don't chase artificial realities.

4. The basis of any business is sales - go find your first sale!

I talked a lot about this in the last few months or so. For any business, not just video production, getting that first $1,000 contract is a giant hurdle.

I know.

I'm a lot like Frank Abagnale (minus the criminal origins story) from the movie and book of the same name Catch Me If You Can. He was a real-life con artist who, after several run-ins with the law and a pretty mind-numbing prison sentence overseas, recanted his ways and joined forces with the folks trying to stop money fraud and has been that way ever since.

In his early days, he would masquerade as a pilot, as a lawyer, as a doctor, and just about anybody else that was a high-profile professional.

In his book, he often explained that he was only a few steps ahead of the game. Especially when he masqueraded as a professor at a university. He stayed about two weeks ahead of his students, if even that.

In a lot of ways, the things that I teach you guys, are milestones that we've hit in the not-too-distant past.

So when I say that you need to find clients to validate your idea of producing videos for celebration-of-life ceremonies or whatever it is you want to create videos for, you need to go and do it.

Just be specific. Write down who you want to make videos for. This step's important - you have to see your vision (what), second to your mission (why). 

Are you targeting businesses with 500+ employees and annual revenues that exceed the GDP of 150 sovereign nations? 

Is it auto shops downtown?

Write your niche down that you will serve with video work. 

Then find those clients, hustle, make connections, and remember: serve, serve, and then over-deliver.

The greatest leader to ever walk this earth, well, what kind of example did he set?

You can do this.

I think I've received mail at 19 different addresses since leaving mom and dad's house at 18 years of age. That includes short stints in places like Arkansas, Texas, California, or Afghanistan. Through it all, I've learned that you have to maintain your relationships. Certainly in the business world. Maintain your circle of associates because you never know who might just give you a call when they need a top-notch producer. (The reverse is true as well. You might be able to refer them to others.) I once worked with a young man who was/is doing work for some players on the national stage. And even though he had moved a couple of times, he still maintained his contacts and presumably still gets calls to do work for those guys. Proof is in the pudding: maintain your relationships. Find ways to serve and stay in touch. Rinse and repeat.

→ Have absolutely zero portfolio? Be strategic about free work and gain some credibility! Here's how.

→ Need help cold-pitching clients? Read on amigos.

→ Never been to a networking event to forge new business relationships? Gotcha covered.

→ Want a site to try your hand at warm leads? Consider staffmeup.com for film/tv work (and some video work) and productionhub.com for video work (and some film/tv work).

→ Have no idea what to charge? Don't sweat it! Here's a whole how-to and if you need something to do the calculating for you to save time and pain, I've got a worksheet for you!

TIME: 6-12 HRS.

5. To ads or not to ads?

Don't worry about running ads right now. Is it something you can be learning about? Absolutely. It takes discipline and the willingness to jump in at some point, but it shouldn't even be on your peripherals at this point. It's an advanced part of the process, and I have a few steps I recommend here if that's you. Your best form of marketing is word of mouth. And also just asking people who need help. Have courage to tell people you are available, you're the best and… the humblest. Seriously. There's no reason to believe you are not the best if your skills are anywhere decent. You can also be humble and take the occasional gig where you're not in the captain's chair. It's OK to be Spock or Mr. Sulu on someone else's ship from time to time. That takes some humility. I'm still learning this myself.

TIME: 0 HRS.

...

Today, I’m giving you the 48-hour $555 challenge.

That's right.

If you tried the $1,000 video challenge and failed (I failed too at the time of its original publication), then, this challenge is for you. If you looked at the challenge and got scared, this smaller job is for you - or - if you are brand new here, this new challenge is for you.

Over the next 48 hours, I want you to find a client in your town who is willing to work with you and hire you for a $555 (or more) video job.

Keep it simple:

1 location (theirs), one on-screen talent (owner... CMO... shoot, anyone with a fancy title and Linkedin profile for that company/nonprofit/church), one 3-hour shoot, and one revision. That should be no more than an 18-hour job with customer service and post.

If you’re experienced and can add some value, charge more; charge a $2,500+ job. 

Get a conversation going and a contract signed. 

Bonus:

To help you get started, I’ve got couple of bonuses for you.

First, you're going to get a spreadsheet that will generate an email to break the ice.

Second, I'm going to show an email-finding tool that you can install right inside your Chrome browser, and then walk you through how you can use this bad boy.

Third, I'm going to show yet another email-hacking tool that you can use right inside your gmail to find piles of emails. All you need is the company name and the name of the individual, and you can usually find information. If it's a small outfit, you might be out of luck with this third tool, but if it's REI, you'll dig up some emails. 

Sound good? Look no further than the #009fec button below:

NEIN

Hey, I'm just tired of films like this one:

And I want to see YOU take your talents to the people that need to hear it the most that they're not worthless, they're not pieces of junk, and there is hope.

P.s. yep, that was by yours truly when I was finding my footing with video production.

Here's a parting thought: even if you will never step foot on a church campus, there are over 350,000 of 'em in America alone, and most of 'em are still learning how to use video - unfortunately, it's mostly this kinda Bantha fodder (above).

In other words, they need your vision. Desperately.

You don't have to agree with them. You can be staunchly atheistic, but still love video and be willing to give them a helping hand.

Think I'm nuts for that last idea? See the blue box below, or better yet, stop reading and get started with your video biz!

Bunny Trail: Chat With An Atheist

Bold Mail

How do I clear the cache in Adobe Premiere?

1. Boot up Premiere.

2. Look in the top left corner for the Premiere menu.

3. Navigate Premiere Pro -> Preferences -> Media

You should land here:

If you see that screen, then hit the big CLEAN button. Then hit "Okay" in the lower right-hand corner of this menu.

You take the kitchen trash out (or delegate it) so that the roaches don't open a resort, right? Do this every so often with your Adobe products. 

Original: May 20, 2016 - Revised: Feb 3, 2017 and then again on Feb 12, 2018 and then again on Feb 10, 2019… and then again on Jun 4, 2021.

I'm kidding. But if you want the nuts and bolts of this post, make a byproduct.

There. I said it for all you people who bounce after three seconds on the site.

For everyone else… A byproduct? What the deuce?!

How many times have you been retargeted by those ads on YouTube where people try to tell you about the keys to making passive income? Or the ads about pounds and pounds of toxic poop the average bear is carting around at any given time? Couple times, dozens of times, or more? Did you know you can hit the thumbs down button on the video by the way - at least sometimes? I’ve been doing it a lot lately. I’m so tired of getting ads for weight loss while still eating pizza by the boatload. In my 30s, that combination just isn’t a winning hand anymore, so when I am re-targeted by this ad or that kind of ad, I am greatly offended. After all, it was Sinbad who said that you will gain 15 pounds when you smell a bag of Oreos — at 35. He also said when you are 15 you can lose five pounds by eating a bag of Oreos. 

So, years ago, when I started my video production business (and if you are brand new, this is a good place to start), I didn’t know a thing about business. I did six days a week of 12-hour shifts thinking, well it worked in Afghanistan in the Air Force, it will probably work here. I had no idea that there are studies that suggest that we have diminishing returns after 55 hours in a workweek. I was bullheaded, strong-willed, and woefully unprepared. I dived in with a baby on the way and quit my job to do it all. I was scrambling to learn the business and run one. I knew enough about video production to be dangerous, but I had zero business acumen. I didn’t know how to follow up. I was terrible at closing. I didn’t know how to qualify or recognize a tire kicker. I couldn’t even convince people of the value of video though it was just as necessary as the brick and mortar locations the businesses were occupying. Heck, up until that point in time, I think the only sales I ever made were candy bars for my school’s <insert random fundraiser> when I was in elementary school.

And since I was so wet behind the ears, I didn’t know whom to follow or necessarily what to learn. It took me a lot of trial and error to learn whom to listen to and whom to ignore. I don't have everything ironed out, but I do have a few more white hairs on my chin than I did six years ago. And if you are thinking like a business, then you need to be thinking about how to leverage your time to make money. So, in this post, we’re going to discuss the simple things that are already at your peripherals that you can monetize: the things that are byproducts of your work. I.e. a “side” product to the main product or service you are creating.

When I was really green, I read older books like Bootstrapping Your Business and Rework by the guys over at 37 signals (affiliate links). They (the latter) made an excellent point that even that book, Rework, was a byproduct of their efforts to launch a project management tool. And yes, even though they are older reads, there are loads and loads of nuggets of wisdom in both of these books, so check them out at your library or on the Libby app.

Now let's talk about how you can make a byproduct of the work you are doing.

First, identify your niche. If you need help with that, I’ve got a post over here about it. 

Second, do an exhaustive inventory of every tool you are using. Whether it is software or hardware, you need to inventory everything. Here's a real practical example. When I got laid off, I was blessed to have several interviews. In nearly seven months of unemployment, I had I think a total of nine job offers. That means I turned down eight of them. And when it got down to the wire for knowing what was the best choice between two good choices, I had to do the ole pros and cons list. You might think you know what all the pros and cons are but until you start enumerating them, and seeing them for that matter, you won't really have an exhaustive list. I was absolutely stunned when I was able to develop a weighted metric to decide the full balance of pros and cons between these two jobs that it was coming down to. It was a landslide decision for one opportunity versus the other. But in the back of my mind, early on, they seemed like they were on equal footing. It just wasn't the case. I stared at it for hours and hours and tinkered with the variables to make sure I wasn't being inherently biased. I'm no stranger to math, having taught math for a while, and even more recently, using my math education, training, and teaching experience to create a YouTube channel for early childhood math. Needless to say, it wasn't my first rodeo, and no matter how many times I looked at it, it was a blowout. One job was clearly the forerunner over the other.

And so you must do the same painstaking detail work. List out everything that is an asset to you and then you'll start to see where there are processes or even products that are unique to what you do that you might be able to monetize. So, let's formalize this third point: start documenting your processes. In project management, there is a great deal of attention paid to documenting processes so that the company owns a process. In other words, it is dangerous for a company to be reliant on an indispensable superstar. A person may do everything for the sake of the company, but if they go home to be with the Almighty tomorrow, the company is hosed. So, PMI, the Project Management Institute, suggests that all companies document processes. If you are in a video production service business, then you should be documenting what you do exceptionally well. Smurfs are blue. Perhaps your niche involves taking user-generated content and making several virtual compilations, full of 2 x 2, 3 x 3, 6 x 6, maybe even 10 x 10 grids of user-generated content. Those kinds of templates would be super beneficial for anybody else looking for them, and the last time I checked, I didn’t see anything like this available. That’s a byproduct of the work that you’re doing that you could create for others. Think about that. User-generated content from a multitude of devices won’t always be in a widescreen format, let alone the same resolution as the next guy. So, if you have a template that solves a lot of the painstaking and manual labor in creating these grids in a robust editor like Adobe Premiere, that would be a fantastic byproduct for people in need of that item.

Perhaps you're a wedding videographer and you have come up with some lights that look wonderful outdoors with lush green environments or the golden hues of the setting sun. Perhaps you have lights that help work around the limitations of poor interior lighting for the dimly-lit receptions. Yes, you might not know how to make a lot of lemons right now, but if you have access to the Internet, you can figure this sort of thing out with time and persistence.

I’ve seen guys like Matti Haajpoja (sp?) create transitions and title packs for people to use. There’s no shortage of those with sites like Storyblocks and other video creator aggregators, but that doesn’t mean you can’t break into it. Ditto moving backgrounds. Everybody and their mom seem to offer moving backgrounds, but if it’s a byproduct of work you’re already doing, then what harm is there to post it on your website? And as the guys at 37 Signals said, this book is a byproduct. In other words, this post is a byproduct of my work in learning and growing in this journey of being a video producer and a budding filmmaker. You are learning a lot too, more often than not by trial and error, same as me, so start earmarking the different things that you are working on that could be monetized. Brownie points if it’s something unique. Seems like everybody and their mom have a course these days or an e-book. Can you make an interactive worksheet? Can you build a new tripod? Can you make the C-stand even greater? I would love it if somebody could develop a battery to power black magic cameras that would last all day. Or a dead cat/dead wombat that actually protects a blimp from gale-force winds. You know exactly what I'm talking about if you've done any kind of field recordings outside and the wind still cut through your fuzzy windshield and blimp.

As for me, I had a strong math background. It was a starting point when brand new to running a business. Note: I talk about the pain of not knowing what to charge at length here. When you are starting out, it’s next to impossible to know what your value is especially when prices for this trade of ours are all over the board. So, to help mitigate that, I rationalized that time - whether it was my own or my equipment time - could be monetized and every variable, if I counted properly, could give a good approximation. So, I developed a worksheet, a worksheet that takes all the pain away from figuring out what to charge once you run through all the different inputs. I’m proud to say it’s served dozens of filmmakers over the years since its inception in 2016. I’ve even heard from other budding filmmakers and video producers that it closely aligns with their ways of approximating the cost of a video project. All I simply did was apply some math and while tedious, it has paid dividends for myself and others.

That worksheet is a byproduct of my work. It doesn’t generate passive income but after all the many hours of creating the worksheet that benefits me and others who pick it up, setting it up for a new person is something that takes less than 10 minutes. Sure, there are always the occasional bouts of customer service, but by and large, it takes so little time in establishing a new worksheet for an individual. So, it doesn’t truly qualify as passive income, but it’s pretty close. And it exists because I needed something to help me when I had zero business knowledge. I still use it, and given some of the reviews on my website, it has benefited others.

I’ve made other products on my website available for purchase that are all byproducts of the work I've been doing anyways. Whether it’s a e-book or a pitch deck, I was already doing the work. And that's the great thing about video production - communications in general. The technology curve forces us to adopt new practices and technologies, so our learning curve is always going to climb upwards. Meaning, as you progress through your career, you will learn and experience new things that you can then turn around and teach others and/or monetize. 

CommenT BELOW

So what can you build? What will you build? A book, of course, or something else that's digital? Maybe even a physical product? What are you already using that helps document your processes or speed up your workflow? What will others benefit from it? Feel free to start with a test group, and then start incrementally raising your price to find what the market is going to pay for it. Lemme know how you fare.

So, if this is you, staring down the “come see me” email, do your best to exit with grace. If it already happened, hopefully, you left with dignity.

My fellow budding filmmakers, video producers, and everyone else who just can’t get enough punishment by visiting this blog, welcome. If you have been recently laid off or even terminated for any reason whatsoever, and if you absolutely want to find another job in the world of digital communications, particularly all things video, then you’re in the right place. This exhaustive guide will tell you what I did to weather the storm of unemployment in 2020 and serve as an inspiration for you to not quit. Don’t throw in the towel just because you are now faced with this seemingly insurmountable setback. No. You press on. You know what happens when you quit. You don’t know what happens when you don’t quit.

In this massive blog post that is clocking in around 5,000+ words, I’ll break everything down by the different components of your life. I’ll go above and beyond the standard shoptalk of sales, video production, Kathleen Kennedy’s vision for a galaxy far, far away, and non-linear editors not named iMovie. We will take a deep dive into what you need to do to stay afloat, not just financially, but physically and spiritually as well.

You’re already facing inclement weather if you are reading this post. Or, you see the squall headed your way. So, if you need the TL;DR version, here it goes: trust in the Almighty. Don’t quit. Buy my upcoming book.

If you really want to wade through this whopper of a post, dig your heels in, and I will be sure to share with you in the bonus section, a nifty tool to discern who is a legitimate businessman on the other end of that email and who isn’t. You might be wondering what kind of wisdom you can gain from such an insight, especially in a post like this, but I promise you, if you are looking for W2 work, you’re going to open yourself up to phishing attacks. Heads up.

I will also give you a template resume you can use in your job search. It’s a resume I stand by, and when coupled with some basic sales skills and the grace of the Almighty, you’ll start to stand out.

Punch it, Chewie.

Physical

Make sure during this time that you are still exercising. I didn’t exercise as frequently as I did when I was employed, though I still exercised weekly. Instead of exercising five times a week, I slacked off and started exercising about four times a week. Worse yet… My diet was absolutely horrible. I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life, so I added about 15 extra pounds. Not the good kind either. The hardest part about a food addiction (my number one addiction) is that you have to eat to survive. It is a necessity so you can’t cut it off completely. Some addictions can be defeated once total elimination is reached - not so with food. Total elimination of food results in death.

On the days that I did better than others (which were far and few between) during my unemployment, the My Fitness Pal App was a great way to track calories. In the past, I was able to lose over 20 pounds by having a clear goal in mind and being accountable by way of using this app on a daily basis. It has thousands if not hundreds of thousands of foods already added to its database with not just calorie breakdowns but also nutrient breakdowns. They say losing weight is 90% diet anyway, so this freemium tool goes a long way towards maintaining a good regimen.

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but you really have to be careful during this period. Just by being out of work, you will have less activity on a day-to-day basis. Even if you are an office drone, just the simple fact of getting up and going to your car and walking to your building and going upstairs to your office and reversing that process involves some mileage - especially if you don’t take the elevator everywhere. When you’re not working, you’re spending a lot more time in your home, so make it a point to get out more with family and/or friends to make up the difference. Don’t skimp on working out. Maintain some standards, amigos.

Make sure you take bathroom and water cooler breaks as you would during a normal workday. Have lunch breaks. You can’t just stare at a computer screen all day, even with a blue light filter.

Strive to have the same wake-up time every working day. And make sure that you are looking for jobs five to six days a week. You still need to have a Sabbath - if not on the Sabbath then at least on one day of the week. If you're a follower of Jesus, I’m going to say something controversial to 79 out of 80 of you: keep Saturday the Sabbath. For everybody else who’s on the fence about this Jesus guy or just completely disinterested in His life and His teachings, you should still take a day to rest. Here’s data to that end: the ROI on our work past 55 hours in a given workweek is negligible. I.e. rife with diminishing returns. OK, back on topic. The routine of getting up at the same time for the work of finding a job is essential. You don’t want to lose your discipline here. There’s a great temptation to do that, and you must resist it. I’m certainly not perfect in this area: my wake-up times were inconsistent when unemployed. But they improved. Towards the end, I landed the plane consistently around 8:00 AM. I stopped working by midnight, and most nights I read a hardcopy book so I wasn’t staring at a screen before I fell asleep. 

One more thing about the physical… Talk with your family and if you have enough of a financial windfall, you may want to consider footing the bill for your health benefits. You may have to cancel some health benefits. But as much as possible, keep - at the bare minimum - a gym pass. Many much more people a lots smarters than me (and more dedicated to the industry) will say that exercising several times a week is your best form of preventative MX/healthcare. 

I’d give myself a C- in this area. Cue Captain Christopher Pike.

Finances

In case you are a skimmer, trim the fat! Meaning, cut down all expenses. Only that which is necessary to survive. Maybe consider allocating the equivalent of 1% of your old paycheck (from your savings) towards morale but other than that, you have to pare down to the essentials. If you have some unused Visa points or what have you, you could put those towards a morale fund as well. You’re in for stormy weather potentially and you don’t know how long the season will last, so you have to be responsible with each penny. Have I made mistakes? You bet. My waistline chief among them. Will you? It’s possible, but I pray you will do the right thing with the money you manage.

Think about that. Have you ever been there when a family member passed on? They’re now in the grave, yet all their stuff remains. You may have inherited something, maybe even a financial asset. But the reality is all that stuff now goes to someone else. That means everything that we perceive as “owned” is just something for which we are really temporary managers. Whether we voluntarily hand it off to someone else or our death necessitates such a changing of the guard, the reality is everything we have in this life is temporary. We are just temporary managers. And if you acknowledge the Almighty as the ultimate provider, then you truly understand this concept of just being a manager of His resources.

Now here is the longer reading... Hopefully, you have been budgeting for a while. Hopefully, you prepared for a rainy day. Hopefully, you have built up 3-6 months of expenses to live off of and don’t just live paycheck to paycheck. If you haven’t, and you are still employed, make that a priority. I highly recommend Dave Ramsey in this regard. You can listen and/or read his content for free - all over the web. Pay off debt, save up a one-time emergency fund of about $1000, and get 3-6 months of living expenses saved up, not necessarily in that order. Those are his recommendations. 

If your last job wasn’t in a ministry of sorts, then chances are you are eligible to file for unemployment - if you were laid off. It’s unlikely you can collect unemployment benefits for any other reason but you never know. When the Care Act was passed in early 2020, or rather early-to-middle 2020, gig workers and church workers were given the ability to file for unemployment benefits. Churches don’t have to spring for unemployment insurance, so if you worked for a church under normal circumstances, you were hosed. But nowadays, maybe not?

You can’t assume your previous employer will pay out a severance either, so in case you are scanning, save! Prepare for a rainy day! We live in uncertain times, and it is unconscionable for you to not prepare for stormy weather if you have a family. If you’re living by yourself, or even if you have roommates but no people you are responsible for, I still encourage you to save for a rainy day. Don’t bank on Uncle Sam, your state, or your ex-employer. Take some responsibility for yourself!

If you are a veteran, talk to dav.org about any unclaimed veteran benefits you may have at this point. You will need all the help you can get. And even if you are not a veteran, talk to your church if you are attending one. Perhaps they run a food pantry ministry that can help with food, clothes, maybe even utilities, or rent. Check your local city for assistance programs - especially during the pandemic or whatever the next global event might be.

Make sure you are pitching people constantly, well before any possible termination. Whether you have been self-employed before or you are brand new to self-employment (FT or PT), this is a good guide to get your butt in gear so that you are actually getting yourself known. The occasional gig during this time goes a long way towards keeping the boat afloat.

Spiritual

If you’re not following Jesus, now‘s a good time to have a come-to-Jesus moment.

Let’s face it. You’re unemployed. You will feel as if you have lost a part of your identity. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but you will likely experience this. You are missing the camaraderie that manifests itself in the small breaks where you could connect with your coworkers on a deeper level than just the superficial. Sure, working on a project with someone can be rewarding, but so is getting to know about their family. And when you lose that because you’ve been laid off, you are going to find that no matter how much you love film and video, when you’re no longer actively working toward a mission every day, it can hit you like an Ivan Drago gut punch.

So make sure you aren't destroying your body, consuming porn (if this destructive habit is something you do under normal circumstances, I can imagine the addiction will only get worse during this time… Get help NOW), or feeding your spirit all the wrong stuff. You need to stay grounded in the Word. It may seem extreme for me to talk about some of these things, but the reality is you have now a big gaping hole. If you’re not loading up with the right stuff, you’re going to be consuming the wrong stuff. I don’t know how else to say it.

If you aren’t already reading a Bible daily, start doing it. Talk to God. He listens (except maybe unless you’ve been dishonoring your wife, but that’s perhaps a theological point beyond the scope of this guide). Keep saying them prayers and eating that there vitamins.

Make sure you are surrounding yourself with a group of fellow believers who will challenge you. People who will pray for you. People who will have your back during this season of transition.

In the Bible, there’s a proverb that says we should desire wisdom more than precious rubies or gold. That’s the Jake Keenum paraphrase. What you must be searching for during this time are wisdom and discernment. You’re going to make choices that will affect the short-term and potential long-term health of you and your family, so you need to be building that foundation on the Rock. Can’t say it more clearly: Jesus. Secondary to that, you need to be asking for boatloads of wisdom. You’ll need it. You may be making some of the toughest choices of your life during this journey.

When my grandmother passed away, I had to hit pause on everything. Friends. Appointments. Packing. Moving. Starting a new job with a great career path and salary and benefits, etc. I made it down to see my grandmother in her final hours on God’s green earth. She was comatose by the time I saw her, but I’m thankful I talked to her on the phone, albeit very briefly, two days before I saw her. It was quite the coda to 2020: she passed on December 31, 2020. At that point, I was faced with a choice: do I go to the northeast corner of the country to take a good job, or do I try with every fiber of my being to get down south as soon as possible to be as close as possible to my newly minted widower-grandfather of 90+ years of age? The choice was simple, but it sure wasn’t easy. I’d been losing sleep in the weeks leading up to my grandma‘s passing because of the impending change and the prospect of losing her - it all fused into one big whopper with fries. And then when she passed, it was ratcheted up to an 11. The unemployment had taken a toll on me, and the job prospect was there and available. After a lot of prayers, the fork-in-the-road decision didn’t get any clearer. God has an absolute sovereign rule, but He doesn’t always tell us to go left or right. Sometimes, He blesses us regardless of which choice we make. I had two good choices before me: find a way to move down south to be near my grandfather or move up north and put an end to my unemployment. Again, it was a simple decision, but it was not an easy one to make.

Without a solid spiritual grounding, I would have been a boat without a rudder. I’m a proud dad, a happily married man, and I’ve been to a war zone. I’ve shot a microbudget feature, and I’ve built this site to help you, my fellow filmmaker and video producer friends. But this? This was the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my life. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like, without godly counsel and God‘s Word in my life.

Others

With more time on your hands, there is a silver lining. You have more opportunities to spend time with your family. Don’t have a family? You have more time on your hands to catch up with friends.

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

I heard some really profound wisdom from an elderly person (named Doug) recently. He was reflecting on the final chapter of life - if you think of it in terms of thirds. None of his musings talked about his accomplishments but rather what kind of impact he will leave behind. Or the places he may never see again or the people that have already gone on before him from his high school graduating class. Every single one of his musings was grounded in the reality that his time was winding down and that it was incumbent on us in the first third or second third of life to seize those opportunities with family, friends, exploring, and all that good stuff. And you know what else? He said at 50 he thought he was still invincible, not realizing how quickly he would get to 70. By 70, he realized a profound number of truths, and it was startling how quickly they all bum-rushed him:

Will they tell me they're pulling the rest of my teeth the next time I go to the dentist?

Can I get all my gnarly misshapen toenails removed, before I get too old to clip them myself? Will insurance pay for it?

Why does Medicare not cover the same fairly-routine medicines as private insurance does? Am in effect I being put out to pasture as a Useless Eater? (The answer is yes.)

I still tend to wear blue or green shirts, because I like the way they contrast with my red hair. And then I remember... I haven't had red hair for about 15 years, and I never will again.

Each time I visit an out-of-the-way place, I wonder if that's the last time I'll ever see it.

I don’t want you to end up on your deathbed regretting working so hard that you wonder where all the time went. If you have been blessed with a family, cherish them. Use this time to forge new memories with them.

That means putting down the devices every day for whole stretches at a time to invest in the lives of those that mean the most to you. When you start working again, that time will be invariably scaled back.

I’m going to lump friends into this category too. It is true that when you are away from your blood family, you will form friendships that truly become like family. All to varying degrees of course. My wife is spectacular at maintaining her friendships. She grew up in Utah, but we have been out of Utah for a while now. Even so, she keeps up with some lifelong Utah friends on a regular basis. Sheer probability suggests she won’t see them very many more times in real life. I.e. in a non-virtual capacity. And whether that is implicitly understood or not, the fact remains, we now have more than at any other time in human history the ability to stay connected with those who mean the most to us. She is doing that, and she inspires me. Iron sharpens iron - that’s what the good book tells us. The more I think about this now with the changing world that we live in, the more I am encouraged to keep in touch with my friends.

Perhaps you don’t have that kind of consistent example in your life. Perhaps you’ve never had that kind of consistent behavior modeled in your life. My grandmother stayed in touch with me weekly or almost weekly, no matter where I was at. I’ve lived in so many states, and I've even deployed to a war zone. Even so, she made it a point to stay in my life, and I will take her example with me to the grave. I understand you may not have that kind of grandmother or any other person in your life that is regularly touching base with you. The fact remains, you have a Father in heaven who is always talking to you. So, you’re never truly alone. Because He took on the form of a lowly servant, a bondservant, to pay the price for our sins, you have the best example, the ultimate blueprint, of what taking responsibility looks like. So, I encourage you and me to always put in the effort, make the phone calls, send the emails, send the WUPHFs, place the holograms, etc. to stay in touch with those in our circles.

And be spontaneous. I needed to change the spark plugs on my wife’s SUV, and as I was driving home to start the task, my wife told me that her friends invited us over for dinner. We said “yes.” We’ve lost some things with our tools of instant communication. We’ve somehow made it normative to instantaneously and spontaneously interrupt someone’s day with a text message, but we feel like we have to ask permission and plan ahead to have somebody come over or talk with them on the phone for more than five minutes. So, add a little variety to your life. Be spontaneous. Ask people to come over that night. Ask people to join you at the zoo that afternoon. Pick up the phone and call a loved one and don’t preface it with, “Do you have a minute?” Just start listening. And talking. These moments reinforce our relationships, and they have worked for thousands of years. Don’t let technology disrupt a natural human rhythm that God created and gave to us that we might enjoy one another’s company.

Lastly, and this might sound silly, but it’s important. If you struggle with making sure you are spending intentional time with your family, then add it to your to-do list every day. For example, I do make it a point to play with my sons every day, and I mean quality play that’s undivided. Most days I do this. I need to set an example for them, and if I truly love them, this will be a natural extension of my care for them. But what I struggled with the most, was making sure I was teaching my oldest the value of work, and to a greater extent, the value of education. So, in 2020, I started writing it down on my to-do list. He needed to have his education five to six times a week, which was only about 10-15 minutes at a time where we would cover math and Spanish, and he needed to do work every non-Sabbath day that was age-appropriate. We want to associate work with the ability to earn an income, so we have a simple program for him to earn. He has chores that he does because he’s a part of the family, but he also has bonus chores that he can do so that he can earn. In 2021, he started to see the connection, and it will always require consistency from his parents.

Already that consistency has paid dividends. As of 2021, he can do basic multiplication, subtraction, he understands a little bit about negative numbers, and he can do halves and thirds. He’s way ahead of his peers because we have been consistent over time. I talk a lot about this in my newest book, which will be released in 2021: incrementally working six days a week - if we are doing a little bit over time - adds up to a whole lot more than nothing accomplished (or infrequent work) over the same amount of time.

Work

All right, here are the meat and potatoes of this post. My 2020 bout of unemployment taught me how you should always be pitching people. Running ads. Letting folks know you’re available for work. And I mean all of that before you ever hit that point where you’re between jobs. Even if it’s just a super side hustle, you need to have a few clients who know who you are, especially if you are an expatriate and now find yourself out of work in a town that is not home.

I got comfortable in my new role in Kansas City - too comfortable. I didn’t pursue client work as much as when I was self-employed. I had a few leads when I was let go, but not enough to sustain us. So, while I was looking for another job, I started pitching people, and before that running ads.

If nothing else, this is a skill we need to carry with us when we are pitching our visions/stories to financiers and executives, or even just financers at the microbudget level.

So, let’s break it down step-by-step what to do if you find yourself laid off due to the coronavirus, force reductions, an imperial cruiser in your solar system, or any other reason.

Step zero. Tell everybody in your contact book you’re unemployed. Put a bug in their ear. Immediately file for unemployment. Even if you are a church employee or other employee where unemployment insurance was not covered by your employer, with the coronavirus (or whatever the latest thing is by the time you read this post), there might be an exception with the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) - or whatever other legislation is trendy by the time you read this post. I.e. you never know what state the economy will be in or what programs are available, so check with your state’s labor website.

Step one. Take at most 10 days. You’re going to have a grieving period, so assume that you will need this. Take some time to regroup, rest, and breathe. It’s not the end of the world. Now, if you were living paycheck-to-paycheck, this option isn’t feasible for you. Skip this step; get back to work right away. Else, if you planned for a rainy day, and you find yourself now facing the storm head-on, take 10 days to regroup and readjust your plumb line.

Step two. Really this should be step “negative one.” Just like your LinkedIn profile, I recommend keeping an up-to-date resume at all times. You never know when you will need to use it. So, ideally, you update your resume at least twice a year if not quarterly. If you don’t, now is the time to make sure your resume looks sharp. Find different examples online, and be inspired. Years ago, a friend of mine - Jorge - had a keen eye for developing bullet points for a resume. He also had a keen eye for what looked good. He was just kind of a maverick that way. I have since tailored my resume in such a way that it reflects the style he showed me years ago. Of course, I’ve added to it since then, but the format is something fierce, and it has worked wonders for me.

Step three. Ideally, you have been semi-active on LinkedIn, because LinkedIn will, for the most part, be able to suggest jobs for you based on your profile. Just type in a city or a state that you want to work in, and LinkedIn will generate some results for you. In fact, I much prefer LinkedIn to Indeed or any of the other job sites. I use LinkedIn anyway, so with this natural extension of my profile into the job section of the platform, I don’t have to create a bunch of new login information on all these other sites. Indeed just feels sloppy to me, ditto Monster. But I won’t bludgeon those guys to death.

If you know you want to do church-type work, I recommend churchstaffing.com. Both of the ministerial roles I’ve had I found through that website. If you want to pursue federal work, I recommend USAjobs.gov. In fact, some of their postings will be on other sites, but ultimately you’ll have to go through USAjobs.gov just to apply. If you are a veteran, then you definitely need to start putting your resume out there even if you don’t really want to go work for Uncle Sam again. Veterans just have certain perks and benefits that make it a little easier to work in the system and get hired and be separated from other applicants, so why not try? If you’ve already served before, it’s really not that much of a stretch to pick a different federal agency or even the Department of Defense and serve again - but as a civilian. Food for thought.

Have multiple options going. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” certainly applies here. For example, I had several job offers, and I knew after weighing pros and cons, seeking godly counsel, and praying for wisdom, that I could turn down jobs at various junctures because I knew that there were other options on the table. You never know when something can go belly up or you have a family emergency and have to pivot.

This is where having several opportunities will be helpful for you. Again, you never know what will happen; you just don’t know when you will have to pivot on a dime, and if we are going to be directors, this nimbleness is a soft skill we certainly need with us on a set. We have to be able to act decisively at a moment's notice. While it may be tempting to take the first option that comes your way, I encourage you to be flexible. Again, if you didn’t prepare for a rainy day, you have to take what comes your way. If you did prepare, exercise wisdom and discernment when evaluating offers. My post on interviewing has more info on discerning whether a team/a job is a good fit.

Step four. If you are not a veteran of the US Armed Forces, skip this step. Do not collect GO, march straight to Step five. If you are a veteran, start digging through all your different veterans’ benefits as soon as possible. If you have G.I. Bill funds left over, fire them up. If you haven’t used a service like DAV or the VSO to help you start a claim, should you have any service-connected disabilities, and if you’d like to pursue compensation, that is something you are entitled to pursue, and those organizations can help. Having a hard time finding work? The VR&E program (formerly known as Voc Rehab or Vocational Rehab) can assist you in a myriad of ways if you have a service-connected disability that impacts your ability to find suitable work that interests you and doesn't aggravate your service-connected disabilities. But ultimately, the responsibility falls on you. Don’t just wait around and hope that Uncle Sam will swoop in like a phoenix and take care of you. Explore your VA options, and pursue whatever it is you are entitled to pursue. I haven’t substantiated this claim, but apparently the VA, according to that old trustworthy source of information, the Internet, used to strictly be an insurer during WWI. Or maybe it was World War II.

Suffice it to say, they are more than happy to let you live your life and not pursue your entitlements and benefits, should you have them. Chances are, you do, so hop on the computer, pick up the phone, or send a courier pigeon and get those things underway.

Step five. Even before you land that next opportunity, start scaling down. We’ve already talked about financially what that looks like, but I’m talking about physically now. Start packing and living partially out of a suitcase. Some opportunities will give you only a few weeks to get a movin’, and you want to front-load this operation as much as possible. If you’re a procrastinator, I just don’t see how you’re going to cut it as a director, so fight that bad habit and course-correct now before you are in the big leagues. I’m serious. I can’t imagine some high-powered executives, financiers, and studios being willing to sit around while procrastinator John Q. Public gets his ducks in a row. You don’t want to be that filmmaker where other people are thinking, “Gee, I wish so-and-so would ___________.” So, start packing now. If you have a spouse, chances are between the two of you, one of you loves playing Tetris. Put that person in charge of Tetris. You probably don’t even have to appoint ‘em. They’re probably ready to go! My wife loves consolidating, and she’s very good at organizing, so this part was a natural extension of her skill set when we started packing.

Step six. Keep applying. Just because you have a tentative offer, don’t hang your hat on it just yet. Advice on the web will tell you not to keep applying once you have the final offer, but you know your situation better than some nameless avatar does. You might be in a situation where you might have to juggle multiple offers. Make the best of it, be tactful, be respectful, eat your vitamins, and say your prayers. Also, make a pros-and-cons list, and don’t make another party feel like they are getting tossed around.

Three Choices

There are three trajectories you will follow during this time. The first one is ideal:

I.e. it is non-decreasing. That’s a term we learned in math. No valleys and at worst, no growth. You just keep marching on. Your discipline doesn’t tank. Your diet stays strong. You have no loss of momentum. You might even come out ahead with a new skill or another notch on your belt. I can imagine this is only a select pool of people that can confidently say this trajectory resembles their path.

The second trajectory is not good. I.e. it is decreasing. Remember when Khan took that massive spaceship - I’m talking the Benedict Cumberbatch Khan - and crashed right into the Starfleet headquarters in the second Star Trek movie from the newest iterations of Star Trek movies? Big massive crash there - obliterated buildings and people galore. Awful wreckage.

That’s this path. You start going down a dark hole, and you don’t ever climb out of it. I hope and pray that this does not become your story. I honestly believe you can mitigate this trajectory if you go through some of the items I outlined above, customize and develop a plan, and stick to it. This leads me to our final trajectory…

This last one has a valley. You’re going to have dark moments. You’re going to hit rock bottom. I pray it is not a literal rock bottom where you are homeless, broke, and jobless. If you have a family, this scenario is unconscionable. But you might have to hit a minimum. A low, the lowest of lows you can possibly hit before you start to bounce back. For me, I was punishing my body by eating junk food and things that were inflammatory for months as a coping mechanism from the job loss. Losing my grandmother is what kicked me into my recovery phase. Shortly thereafter, when my wife celebrated her birthday, I had my fill of gluttony, and I started eating clean - and doing it consistently.

You don’t need to have this dramatic “Dark Night of the Soul” moment in your unemployment. And mine really isn’t even that dramatic. If you are wrestling with an addiction, there’s a strong chance it’ll come rearing its ugly head during this time, so you have to safeguard your interests, your family, and ultimately you from yourself. Make a plan, gather the troops to keep you accountable in whatever area you have a weak spot, say your prayers, stay in the Word daily, and you can make it out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, for the Almighty is with you.

Your turn. Feel free to share a little bit of your story below in the comments because as a community of filmmakers, we need to encourage one another during the lean times - no different than when we are peer-reviewing our short films, our scripts, or anything else that we do when we put our hands to the plow.

Bonus

You’re going to see a detailed look at what you can do to help mitigate the phishing attempts that will land in your email box. I’m also going to include a modified copy of my resume, a format I am eternally grateful to my old friend Jorge for teaching me. Don’t plagiarize but learn the spirit of the action taken and the results the action produced. That’s what you are looking for, and make sure you keep the style of the resume sharp but direct. There are lots of fancier resumes, and you are certainly free to use them. But if you want one that works, and with a little bit of elbow grease, it can be tailored to the skill sets that God has given you, then this is a good place to start. It’s one tool, just like my pricing worksheet, that complements the ability to communicate, sell, and close people. This resume alone won’t land you a job, but just like Batman and his utility belt, it’s just one more item that’s going to help you when you are scouring Gotham for leads.

With very few (or no) alterations from one resume to the other, out of 100+ applications, I ended my search with nine job offers and what very well could have been the 10th job after, and I declined all of ‘em but one. Having a clear, organized, and digestible resume is essential. When you join the newsletter below, you’ll get all these bonuses and the sporadic email from me. I won’t sell your email to Jawa traders, so your information is safe.

Smash that button to get in on all the action.

NEIN

But what about video producers who are thinking they want to be gainfully employed by someone? I.e. you're someone's W2 problem. You pay half of FICA. You're paid for time-in-chair (e.g. 8-5, M-F) or even as an on-call video producer (but W2 nonetheless). What about these video producers who dream of telling stories of hope on the big screen or the little screen? 

I don't mean to neglect this segment of video production. Truth of the matter is, all of us video producers have a fair shot of making it onto someone's team. And by that, I mean work with a few bright minds as their employee. Yep, we all want to be the next Nolan, but until then, we must work for clients or a company or both.

In this post, I'm going to outline some of the hard lessons I've learned in my past experience of shopping around at other companies/groups. I'm going to give you a tested (not theoretical) approach to navigating interviews and using your God-given senses to know if they're interested in you and if they're a good fit for you.

Bonus: Stick around, after the show, for a free performance by Limozeeeeeeen. Actually, I'll send you pt. 2 of a list of quality questions to ask an employer that I've learned and adapted to our world, questions I learned from people who are much wiser than I am (e.g. Patrick Lencioni). And just as useful, I'll give you the script I've learned to ask about the SALARY question, when you should pop the question, and how to handle any push back, plus YOUR RIGHTS as a worker and what you're not required to divulge. 

Step 0: Homework

Do your homework. Study up on the person you're interviewing with, and study, study, study. Where to study?

1. Their website

Do they have a video embedded somewhere on their website? If so, that's their welcome mat. Ask what they'd do differently with that video to make it a 10/10. 

If they don't have a video embedded on their site (and not in a blog post but an actual landing page), this is a problem to be solved and one you can come out swinging with. 

2. Their social media pages

Particularly the 2nd biggest search engine in the world - YouTube. Facebook as well. Might as well check Instagram while you're at it.

Look for these areas of improvement:

• are their videos maximized for web engagement (call-to-actions, links to their site, etc.)?

• are the videos properly color-corrected?

• are shots colored consistently or do their color temperatures vary wildly in the same scene?

• do they sound okay or could they use some EQ?

• do they answer questions on their social media pages (each question unanswered is a chance for furthering the brand by doing a video FAQ response)?

• what’s the retention rate on their videos which are shorter than 15 seconds/longer than 15 seconds?

• what platform is their most engaged?

• which platform has ads running on it?

Think through any technical issue you notice and write it down. Chances are, to get to the point they need YOU as a F/T, W2 employee, they've had to cobble together videos from multiple vendors or even current staff who are generalists and not specialists. If so, there will be plenty of problems you can solve.

3. If they're a non-profit, study their form 990's

I talk a great deal about these in the context of doing video production for a non-profit HERE and why you should study the form 990's before pitching an NPO. The same concept applies here, but rather than a 1-off job (or jobs), you're pitching yourself to work for the NPO. In either case, study the form 990's that are available and see where their dollars go (and check that above post from yours truly to get the nitty gritty as a video producer).

4. Review sites

These include:

• Yelp

• Facebook

• Google (Reviews)

• Glassdoor

• Indeed

I particularly want to emphasize the need to research glassdoor.com and then indeed.com for employee reviews and any salary information others might have shared. Glassdoor cares about bulletproofing their site from tampering, but I'm sure it happens anyways. Still, I find they're the S&P 500 of company review aggregators. 

If past employees (plural, not singular) are airing out dirty laundry on Yelp, Facebook, or Google (Maps/Reviews), RRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN! Do not collect go!

5. Misc

I also recommend studying up on sites like salary.com to see if what you want to earn with ole Uncle Bob is a fair market value for the location Uncle Bob is in.

Additionally, go to sites like payscale.com, nerdwallet.com, expatistan.com, and bestplaces.net to see what the cost of living is in that city (if moving to another city or even state) will do to your finances. I've used all four and use all four any time I'm even remotely curious what living in Austin, TX looks like vs. Casper, WY. Of course, the easiest way to get all four in one place is to type

"cost of living" "NAME OF CITY"

into Google. You should see all four sites in the top five results for the city in question.

Additionally, see what pops up in the news for that company/NPO/church on Google. Limit your search to the last year and go from there.

Lastly, check the yearly weather if moving to another locale. You may be like me and loathe humidity, so working in Sarasota, FL would be about as bad an idea as Dr. Seuss' infamous cat babysitting your niños.

Step 1: The First Interview

Now that you've done your home work, come out swinging.

I.e. regardless of how that first question is phrased, come out of the gate ready to storm the beaches of Normandy with an M1-Garand. Tell them all you're going to do to take their video content to the next level - and be excited about it. 

But Jake, it's an HR rep in the first interview.

That's okay. It shows you're eager, forward-thinking, and you care about solving their problems. Don't be super esoteric, but do let them in on what and how you're going to elevate their videos, and do it in the first question.

Think of the ole timer who you casually meet and ask about their time in Vietnam and then they take that platform and run to town with it. 15 minutes later, the MC at the event finally speaks up, effectively ending the ole timer's monologue that started with Vietnam and ended with the elevators going inside the Biltmore ca. 1890.

Learn from the ole timer - use the first question as a launch pad and SEGUE if you must to come out swinging. 

If you don't sell yourself here, you only have yourself to blame. Your job is to convince the HR rep or decision-maker you're the cat for the job. No one else will do it for you.

Be sure in every question, you relate it back to SOLVING problems for their team. Even the ole trap opening line from an interviewer: tell me about yourself.

>>Imagine our favorite fishy general from a distant galaxy chiming in here!<<

I won't spend lots of time here how to navigate their questions. There are so many resources out there from people with far more wisdom than me.

But I will recommend the following for my fellow microbudget filmmakers and video producers:

1. Be yourself - even if that's a zany persona like Tony Horton. No need to waste time if they're a bunch of stiffs and they won't pursue your candidacy any further because you're full of life and they're about as exciting as termites in a Georgia home.

2. Be enthusiastic. Introverts, you can do this. You don't have to be Tony Horton, but don't sound like you're in a stupor either. Show them you're excited; try smiling and standing. Your voice is fuller when you stand, and smiling will naturally translate, even across a telephone.

3. Share real weaknesses (and what you're doing about them) when they're asked for. Don't cop out here like a Dragonball Z episode that milks powering-up for 2.5 episodes. For example, I always say I struggle with information recall when information is shared audibly -- but I take notes! And I tell them I'm allergic to long meetings that could be summarized in five minutes or by an email.

4. When they ask for strengths, opt for character traits vs. competencies. As my favorite Canadian pastor Carey Nieuwhof says, competency gets you in the door, character keeps you there.

When you've navigated the gauntlet of their questions, then ask how much time you have to run your questions by them. If they say "I've got x minutes," then pick and choose, and make sure the salary question is one of them (included in the bonus at the end of the post).

Pro Tip: if the interview is less than 30 mins, I’m convinced the job ain't happening. If the interview stretches well past the 30-minute mark, you’re probably going to be a top contender. Anecdotal observation? Perhaps. But I bet there’s some sort of statistical measure that supports this observation.

Without further dawdling, these are questions I've battle-tested over the years (with my favorites marked with 😎🤚🎥 - at bare minimum, I would ask at lease these earmarked ones, especially if it’s a 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, or 6-1 interview… yes, 6 interviewers to 1 interviewee… it’s real, and I’ve had one):

1. What do you love most about working with the team*? 😎🤚🎥

2. How would you describe the vision of the company/NPO/church - where it’s headed?

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years (yes, ask this to the interviewer - if they say "I don't know..." you should be leery)? 😎🤚🎥

4. How will success be measured for your video producers (or public affairs officer or communication director or video director, etc.)?

5. What separated the good from the great in previous video producers?

6. Is this role a new video producer slot? If not, why did the person before me leave?

7. Who would I be working for? What’s the hierarchy for a vp (video producer)?

8. Do you want the team to be a leader in the video space**?

9. Who do you consider major competitors?

10. What do you love about the culture (I recommend asking this later from #1 so you don't get as much regurgitation)?

11. How would you score the team on living up to its core values? What’s the one thing you’re working to improve?

12. What’s the staff turnover rate, and how is the team working to reduce it? Or, my absolute favorite, can you talk about your turnover in the last two years and do you expect turnover in the next 12 months? ##See below the asterisks## 😎🤚🎥

13. When was the last time the team did something fun together for the sake of building unity and morale? Where was it and what was it? (If their answer includes anything about weekly team meetings, BE WARNED. A weekly meeting is a chore, not a morale-building event. Some decision-makers and influencers are blind to this fact and assume it’s good for morale. I realize remote work and pandemic-related lockdowns has put a lid on a lot of in-person activities, but if the interviewer comes back with this kind of answer, you might want to run for the hills. I’ve turned down a job simply based on this being the employer’s answer. Life’s too short to be at a soul-crushing job. I’d rather be broke as a joke and under-employed than fully employed and miserable.)

14. >>>IF YOU CAN (there might be valid reasons not to, and no, fear is not an acceptable reason), ASK THE SALARY QUESTION before the two wrap questions -- details are below in the bonus section — again, I’ll also provide a reason (or 20) NOT to ask this question<<<

15. Have I answered all your questions or are there hesitations about my qualifications? 😎🤚🎥

16. EXTRA (for the courageous only (i.e. takes action despite any fear - it is not the absence of fear)) question I learned from Uncle G: "How much of what I've told you do you believe?" Another variation is "Do you believe half of what I've told you?" An easier one to process is “Are there any hesitations about my qualifications at this point”? 😎🤚🎥

17. What’s the timeline for next steps? 😎🤚🎥

*Most folks are unprepared for this question (and the culture question), so expect long answers with no roadmap... show grace, they might not be used to these solid questions.

**Remember their answer here because if you're brought in on probation or as a temp 1099 worker to vet the working relationship, and if they try to pay you less than what you'd earn as a salaried producer with them (which means you have to look at their monthly checks they'd be cutting to you -- GROSS, not net -- and add another 10-20% for benefits), then their words and their actions don't line up and they truly don't want to be leaders. It's the classic example of Dave Ramsey sitting in on a board meeting at a church. Guy gets up, "Children are our most important ministry here!" Dave Ramsey disagrees, "Really? Their ministry makes up less than 3% of your overall budget."

##This usually makes employers a little nervous; be optimistic and smile when you ask. By asking the part 2 of the question (i.e. and how is the team working to reduce it?), you're effectively putting a positive spin on the question. If the numbers are high, I'd be wary of joining their team.

Step 2: The Second Interview (And Subsequent Ones That Are Also Not In-Person)

These loaded questions are available below, in the bonus section.

With this interview, you can bet you'll be chatting with a decision-maker, if not the decision-maker. The first interview is usually with an HR person or other influencer. Sometimes, the first interview is with your would-be-boss, but that's less common than Halo sequels. 

If you haven't already, this second interview will likely be via video (e.g. Zoom), so bust out your interview special. As with all interviews where you are SEEN, you need to wear a suit. It doesn't matter if you're applying to work with a church, NPO, or an office environment where everyone is dressed like it's Silicon Valley and the CEO is 24-years-old. WEAR A SUIT/BUSINESS ATTIRE. Ladies, you’re free to go the suit route, but know with business attire, you have a broader ranger of acceptable attire here than guys. When in doubt, look at what the head honchos are wearing in their staff pictures and/or wear a SUIT/BUSINESS ATTIRE.

Possible EXCEPTIONS include contemporary churches where nobody wears a suit. In that case, a respectable pair of pants and a clean button-down shirt. Ladies, think business casual. Well, that’s guys here as well: business casual.

In case you spaced out on me, always, always, always dress up for your interviews, whether real or virtual.

I once was in a round of interviews where a group of us were testing all at once for this job. Two or three people showed up in t-shirts and shorts, and the company didn't mince words. They spent a good 10 minutes letting the entire group know how unprofessional we were (in the Chair Force "boot camp," if one person messed up, it was the whole group who was responsible... say "team" anyone?). 

While we're at it, a few common sense housekeeping items that might not be so common sense, and I'm saddened by the fact I even have to spell 'em out if this second (or first) interview is via video:

1. Be in a well-lit area. Turn on your Kino if you must.

2. Be in a quiet area. Don't interview outside. Don't have a dog yapping at a rabbit in the background. Make sure the niños are taken care of and won't interrupt your interview.

3. Don't hold your phone. Interview via your laptop/desktop or have your phone clamped down on a stable surface. There's a fair chance your interviewer won't like fetching dramamine because you failed to get a grip on your camera wobble.

4. Be patient. Good teams fire fast and hire slow. For example, I once interviewed with a team for 3 months before they were going to bring me out for the in-person interview.

5. If you haven't already asked the "how much of what I've told you do you believe" question from the first interview, you need to ask it here. For example, I failed to ask this in my 2nd interview once, and the guy cheerfully said the next step would be a video chat with several of their team players. Guess what happened next? Nothing. That's my fault - not theirs. I failed to discover he didn't buy what I was selling.

Whether your interview is virtual or in-person, this next nugget is a good reminder. My generation - level up! My son's generation - learn from your great-grandparents' generation when it comes to relationships: show respect, take responsibility always, and show up 15m early to all appts. 

Step 3: The In-Person Interview

You'll likely be meeting with several people in shifts. Singles, pairs, groups even. Smile often and do everything we talked about earlier, and for each *new* person you interview with, recycle questions from this post and the bonus section.

Put in your absolute best effort and remember to sell everyone you meet with on what problems you're going to solve for them. Be an active voice there, not a hypothetical one; it's an assumption close in action - you're working for them, and you're going to solve x, y, and z. 

Even if you make it this far, you still might not make it (or, you might decline). For example, I once had an out-of-state interview carousel with several people, and weeks later, when I was back home, the head honcho said they were hiring locally. I.e. I did not close them on me being the right guy -- the fact they were hiring locally was simply one objection. As Grant Cardone says, the unspoken objection is the one true objection.

How to prepare: before the in-person interview, check the social media profiles of the people on the team. If they love their job and their team, it will bleed over to their profiles. They'll have personal posts of their work, they'll be wearing company shirts all the time, and the evidence of them being "bought-in" will be staggering.

I once had a leader in my place of work who only posted the company’s posts. Okay, he’d do the occasional post of family life, but by and large, his Facebook was an echo chamber for the company. He bought a house to boot - he didn’t rent. He was BOUGHT in, through and through.

If you see this "bought-in" behavior in only a few of the key influencers and decision-makers, well, I have a theory (and pardon the ole math teacher in me, but a theory is just that - a hypothesis) this means the ship is going down or is rudderless. So far, I haven't been wrong, and I’ve been on teams that are one or both. 

For example, I once interviewed for a video producer job out of state, and before I left, I checked up on all the key peoples' social media profiles. I then interviewed with 6 people in person, and of those 6, all but one interview were fairly formal to some degree or another. That part's irrelevant, but I what I found fascinating as I talked with these folks is how I'd ask the question of where they wanted to be in 5 years. Guess what their response was, without fail?

I don't know.

Guess which of these folks showed off some company swag or just "having fun" pics from being "on the job" on their social media profiles?

ZERO.

Fast forward a few years later, and not a single person from the interview carousel was left with the company, as best as I could surmise from their digital footprints and the company’s footprints.

Again, a theory is just that - an unproven conjecture. Take from it what you will.

I'm leery of a team without a clear road map - aren't you?

BONUS

Are you looking for more help with the interview process? 

First, read.

Second, practice.

Third, have courage. Be like Daniel in the Lion's Den - take action despite any fear that may come your way and kick that fear to the curb while you're at it.

The more interviews you do, the more confidence you’ll gain and the practice of pitching is invaluable as always. Over time, you’ll land your stories and know which ones to use as evidence when answering questions about your capacity.

This bonus upgrade contains questions you should ask in the 2nd interview, and it includes the salary conversation (and how to handle complaints/objections -- and your rights as a worker) you should be having in the very first interview. After all, there's no need to waste anyone's time if they can't afford to bring you onboard.

Items in the bonus section include:

• How to negotiate salary and understand what cards are on the table

• Is it legal to ask about my past salary?

• Help! They asked about salary! How do I respond?

• Worker’s Comp? Not necessarily! What do you do if you get hurt?

• What if you get laid off? What then?

• Learn the difference between tax-exempt and non-exempt.

• VETERANS: The IRS has a gift for you to approach your employer with because they probably don’t know about it, and even if they do, you’ll want to be as sellable as possible.

By getting this bonus material, you'll be added to the Bold Nation newsletter. I don't sell your email to anyone, as I've spent 3+ years building this community, and I will continue to do so for as long as I have breath in my lungs. Emails generally go out a few times a month, and every now and again, I'll send an offer your way. For the most part, it's just valuable information for us microbudget filmmakers as we learn to hone our craft (the business side of it), that we might tell stories of hope to billions.

Hit that big blue button below to get in on all the action. 

Then comment below: what is your favorite question to ask an employer?

NEIN

Original: Aug 26, 2018. Updated Oct 15, 2019, Oct 30, 2020.

Fellow budding filmmakers and video producers, I know your pain when it comes to price-sensitive shoppers in need of video production. I also know speed is a currency in this new digital economy. You don't want to waste the client's time or yours when it comes to quoting your services. 

Our work in videos is extremely mathematical (as far the time goes), right down to the time spent color-grading and backing up footage in the cloud. After this post and its sequel post, I fully intend to equip you with the know-how to compute your quotes at the drop of a hat. 

Bonus: stick around... after the show... FOR A FREE... performance... by Limozeen... or simply for a couple of information-packed webinar replays on this very topic of "What The Deuce Do I Charge For My Video Services." I'll also share some actual quotes for client work that's itemized so you learn how to better communicate the value you bring.

Super Important Disclaimer: live, A/V work is a little slower to quote. There are many variables and parties involved (I'm finding), so offering a client who is in need of live video production (for example, a conference) is anything but an instant process. But if it's pre-recorded, traditional video production, knock yourself out with this guide and blow their hair back with a super speedy quote.

That's right. Instant quotes. No more headaches. No more guess work. 

Video people ask this all the time - how much should I charge?

Clients ask this all the time - how much does it cost to make a video?

They are two sides of the same coin muchacho.

You need to be filling out your checklist when your client is talking with you on the phone. What better way than to have a calculator do it for you?

The biggest problem facing videographers, video producers, and budding filmmakers is the lack of unity. We are one-man-bands, and we all aspire to be auteurs.

And because we do this thing called film and video on the side - OR as a full-time living - we don't all charge the same.

Especially when the global market keeps driving down the prices on digital goods and services. 

Don't despair. There are plenty of people who need you. Before I get started, let's segue.

0. Why You Need To Pound Out An Exact Quote And Not Waste Time

The Problem:

We don't have a uniform bar to reference for:

• weddings

• crowdfunding videos

• strictly animated videos

• corporate videos

• slideshows

• visual-fx work

and so on, so forth.

When it comes to searching for answers on "how much does a video cost," the front-page answers on Google are vague and very surface-level (like this one).

Thankfully, there is a growing movement (thanks to content marketing) towards longer, more in-depth blog posts. 

Which is good.

We need more intentionality in this area. Really. If we're going to stop and talk to someone on a forum, INVEST in that person. That's discipling. If we're going to teach something, we should teach it and not just give the one-page Chilton's Manual answer.

That means our videos are here to stay, especially with the tools at our disposal. And the demand for quality stories that go deeper will grow, just like the rest of content marketing. 

The best will be longer, richer, and way more engaging than the ole "quick 2-minute video" humdrum.

Have you seen "Making A Murderer" on Netflix?

Don't let the title scare you - give the docu-series a whirl if you're a student of film. 

It is a shining example of longer content, and like longform blog posts, it will be the new norm for stories: deeper, longer, and absolutely detailed.

It's sink or swim champ. Supply and demand.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. We need a uniform bar to gauge how to price our services as video producers.

Background:

I can't tell you how many jobs I've lost in the initial phone call. Or the initial conversation.

I haven't even mentioned the price (you should either always do that in the first convo - more on that later), and after what seems like a great conversation, they vanish. Or after mentioning the price, you spend an hour with the person covering everything from baseball to the Tet Offensive (I talk more about spotting these folks - tirekickers - HERE), and then they still disappear, despite your creative followups. 

Poof. It's your fault for losing the deal (not theirs), but it's still a tough pill to swallow. 

I asked this question (sort of) in the podcasts (linked below when I mention Elevation Church). It's the embarrassing pitch moment.

For example, I once submitted a video proposal to a big-ish group. They didn't have detailed how-to videos, and the ones they did have lacked a direct, human presence to guide viewers.

It was unsolicited, but I put a lot of thought into the proposal. I hand-crafted a solid 90-second demo, found the right person, and sent them the email.

I didn't ask for money. I only asked to see if they were interested in a series of short videos like the custom demo I made for them. 

I spent a good 4 or more hours on that one proposal; I've spent upwards of 12 hours on other kinds of proposals. I've spent many more hours in the followups with the unsold.

When the would-be client emailed me back, they sent this response (click to expand):

It missed the boat entirely. And I should have followed up with them until one of us died (advice from Uncle G). My fault for throwing in the white towel too soon (start practicing total responsibility now my fellow filmmakers).

And I know you can relate.

A lot of lazy salesmen will send a lazy email and hope for a bite. It's just as bad as a cold-calling with NO information ahead of time (of which I am guilty of doing in the past).

When you don't know someone, go out of the way to show them how much you can be of service. 

Didn't Jesus, the ultimate example of a servant leader, walk the earth with this m.o. in his back pocket? He went out of his way for people. Same be can said of a lot of great leaders in history - Esther, MLK Jr., Mother Teresa, Gandhi, et. al.

(Note: sometimes Jesus dodged people too - it went both ways.)

You also need to stop selling yourself short. You can be super service-oriented, but at the start of the relationship, you also need to get your quote to your client as fast as humanly possible (i.e. before they hang up).

The Why:

Here are five quick reasons why you need to pound out exact quotes right away:

1. You need to eat.

2. Your family needs to eat too (even if it's just you and your pup Jax). Heck, you might want to take them to a movie once a year.

3. You de-value the playground for everyone else by insisting on doing free work.

4. Jon Acuff agrees.

5. Cheap begets cheap. Why have your client invest in something that will fail? Hook them up with someone that will last years.

Now, is the Almighty bigger than the laws of supply and demand?

ABSOLUTELY.

Does that mean God will step in and stop video production (and related fields) from going belly-up? 

I don't believe God will necessarily step in and salvage any career field because He's the ultimate provider, not 21st-century W2/1099-work.  

Look at Upwork if you don't believe me. Pick any digital service and you will find it for pennies on the dollar through Upwork. 

Look at the semiconductor industry. 

Jobs and entire career fields do not last forever, and without over-spiritualizing the matter, neither will video.

Take a gander at VR/360 video that's coming online. It's a baby right now, but 15, 25 years from now, traditional film will be radically different than what it is now. 

50 years from now, film will be a cute novelty and looked on just like we do silent films now.

In the meantime, while you are still shooting traditional video, you need to be sharp as a tack and on your game. 

Nothing turns a customer away like a lack of assertiveness, especially if you hem and haw around the price.

Let's study some of the video production costs you're not thinking through. Do your homework, know your costs, margin, and communicate price and value in the first call; don't settle for less than what your time and skill are worth.

Note: don't ever give a client an hourly rate (with anything in life, not just video). They will default to "no."

1. Price Your Pre-Production.

Preamble:

Your client will likely want one of three things:

• Production only (which includes Pre-Production of course)

• Post-production only

• All three phases of making a video/film

The bulk of your costs will come in the production phase (pre-production as well), and it's always good to gain more experience with directing. Call up your Uncle Bob if you have to for extra help and take every paying gig where you can get real-world experience on set - and haggling with clients. 

James Cameron said we have to work on negotiating our budgets and our fees as directors. 

For you, the one-woman or one-man-band, that's your cost and your gross profit. 

It's no different when you talk to Steve's Upholstery, Inc. downtown. He's the big studio exec and you're the storyteller. 

Keep pitching.

And pitch again. 

For example, I spent collectively over 30-40 hours sending 11 different video pitches in the first part of 2016. 

They weren't super outlandish, but they would command a deeper involvement than just a one-and-done small business ad.

Which is why they required more time and attention to detail. 

One of them made it to the discussion table. 

Was it a gamble? Absolutely.

Some folks won't respond, even after three e-mails (leave some breathing room for this - Reply is a good service for this that I'm just now testing out). Some won't pick up the phone. Some ignore faxes. Most folks would rather trust someone they've met in person (so get out in your community!) vs. someone who is presently faceless and exists only as an email or voicemail.

Regardless, be willing to invest in people, same as your parents, teachers, coaches, the Almighty, Uncle Sam (maybe) et. al. invest in you.

And with video, you can't just talk shop. You have to SHOW what you want to do in your pitch.

It also helps to have an admin help you find these leads. 

Broke as a joke? Go to Upwork and hire a VA (virtual admin) to find leads for you and email them for you as well.   

You can easily do it with a fixed price and count it as an expense.

Okay, down to the nitty gritty.

Costs:

Write down your list of everything you need to do in the pre-production phase with your client. 

Ready for this? 

What do you have? 

You - the student of film (I'm one too) - probably came up with a list like this one:

• Scripting

• Location scouting

• Storyboarding

• Casting

Is that fair? 

What about insurance costs for any gear rentals?

Or the gas you'll spend location scouting and meeting with your client?

Or how about the time you'll spend emailing and calling your client to make sure this project is going to work?

Or the piles and piles of hours just trying to get in front of a big client and then following up with them. And following up some more. It's okay - it's natural, and you should approach this facet like a servant, but it takes time; do you account for it? 

Because there are truly three phases to making a video, you need to be able to ask for a deposit at each of the three intervals - OR - you can ask for half up front and the other half at the end. Or help them with financing so you can get paid in one fell swoop (*ahem* Paypal's no money down, no payments for 6 months). 

The reality is with payment processors like Square, Stripe, or Paypal, you're going to absorb some transaction fees (typically , so you might want to give serious thought to asking for half up front and half later. 

Here they are (domestic sales):

• Stripe: 30 cents plus 2.9% of the amount

• Paypal: 30 cents plus 2.9% of the amount

And Square is all kinds of crazy (Paypal too truth be told):

Bottom line: these guys all have the same rates.

But don't do that processing fee nonsense in the first conversation. You WILL scare them away. In fact, don't bring it up at all. If your client pays with anything other than a virtual currency, cash, or check, you can expect comparable if not exact industry fees, so budget them in. 

Speaking of budgeting, plan your closing ratio. This takes time, and it's dependent on a myriad of factors, including your skills as a saleperson. So be proactive: account for time prospecting, account for time following up prospects, and account for time converting prospects into clients. I recommend a simple, free CRM that integrates right inside of your gmail to do this called Streak. Heck, even keeping notes on your Google Calendar is better than nothing.

By budgeting time spent with your clients (each prospect needs 5 to 12 points of contact for the majority of deals according to Grant Cardone, linked earlier), you can make up the difference because you're going to have people that jump ship after the first conversation. Like Mr. Sinatra said, "that's life." 

Price yourself like a business - not a freelancer. You'll be out of business in the latter camp. No physical overhead? Your time is your overhead in the early days.

Don't operate with the mindset you'll always be a one-person band. We want to grow as a filmmakers, so treat your video productions as a business with employees you'll have one day (or already have). Flat rates are key, and you have to price yourself like a business (> freelancer rates). 

2. Price Your Production.

Your client needs to see where your hours are going. 

Production involves a handful of items -

• actors

• crew

• you

• food

• travel time

• gas

• insurance (one-offs, not your regular overhead)

• gear rentals

• location costs

• time spent packing up gear from HQ and unpacking back at HQ

• and of course payment processing (Stripe, Paypal, Square, etc.)

Do you have a system for this?

Do you know what to put on your invoice if you have a 90-second video for a nonprofit of 50 employees with a 12-day turnaround and Music Bed licensing costs, voiceover work, and merchant processing fees?

I don't either. That's why I built the calculator (see the end of the post) to do it for me. 

Dad always said "do it yourself or hire someone else to do it."

This tool is somewhere between the two. 

In time, I'll have it built for clients to use if they want, but never to replace real human connection. Human relationships - community - are how God wired us, and they're absolutely fundamental to providing goods or services to people.

Back to these costs.

Think about your crew. A good sound guy can cost up to $1,000/day (12-hour shoot). A solid DP can run more. 

And how many locations you need for this shoot - can you really do multiple setups across 4 locations in a day? Not if you're directing at everyone of them.

Are you a part of an incorporated business? If so, do you have a tool besides the old-fashioned pen and paper to log your mileage?

Do you even know what the new mileage rate is for 2018? 2019? 2020?

In 2018, it was $0.54.5 or less confusingly, 54.5 cents. 58 cents in 2019. 57.5 cents in 2020.

That’s up from 2017's 53.5 cents.

Do you really want to add up all of these over the phone, even if you know the locations? 

Of course not. Your client certainly doesn't want to wait around for you to multiply 54 cents by 9.7 and 8.2.

Get an average going. Understand that most shoots are going to be within a set radius of your HQ.

For me, most shoots are going to be within a 13-mile radius. Is that always true? Of course not. It's a good average though because of where I am at in Las Vegas.

What about your actors? Do you know what rate you'll be paying them for a short film? In Vegas, $12.50/hour is standard for an extra. 

Steer clear of SAG contracts until you have a team and some critical mass. You need a seasoned pro to navigate those. 

SAG-eligible is okay though - I've worked with those before. 

This story was circulated in one of the Christian film groups on Facebook by Donald James Parker: 

Do you have a similar story?

If not, don't let it be you.

I realize 99% of us will be shooting short videos and even then, most client work won't involve SAG actors. But every now and again, you get that itch to level up or you go shoot a microbudget feature. 

It happens.

3. Price Your Post-Production.

This is where you stand to gain the best margin from your work. 

You might have to outsource music or subscribe to a service that allows a flat, yearly rate for music in your projects (even commercial projects). 

Like Artlist. These guys are newer when it comes to music licensing, but they are building up their library and I wouldn't be surprised if they give The Music Bed a run for their money. 

The ole YouTube audio library and the FMA (Free Music Archive) will only get you so far; if you're able to attribute the artist (for example, in your own projects), then the FMA is a great place to check out. 

That's how I found Ryan Little.

Another biggie is color-correcting and color-grading.

Round-tripping with DaVinci Resolve (DVR) is okay, but it burns through your time and your computer's crunching power.

I know Premiere Pro CC allows you to color RAW files natively inside the editor - can the same be said of the Final Cut products or Avid? Comment below.

You have to account for the time spent on each file. If you can color-correct a clip in 2-3 minutes, and you have 60 seconds of footage or about 17 clips, that's time you need to account for.

Plus the time to load DVR. 

And the time to export the colored clips.

Are you able to compute those nuances in a matter of seconds? 

It's only one hill in the long laundry list of post-production services.

Without scaring my client with the 20+ itemized services that go into post-production (some of them are just too esoteric anyways), here are the costs I list for my folks:

We can further consolidate these editing/post-production costs for the client's sake:

1. Editing

2. Visual fx

3. Voiceover

4. Sound mixing

5. DVD/Blu-Ray authoring

6. Support

Do you know how much you're charging for editing? For that matter, are you lickety-split fast? 

You owe it to yourself and your client to complete a job as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality (especially on the audio end, which includes a lil noise reduction, EQing, compressing/limiting/expanding, and deessing). 

I.e. work without distractions. 

If you're a chrome user, install this free plugin Strict Workflow. Or use the virtual Tomato Timer to get the same schedule, only without the blockers.

My productivity has doubled or tripled in the last month. I kid you not. And you can too with the Pomodoro Technique - here's a detailed guide.

If you're laser-focused on your editing, then you can quote a fair and equitable price for your work. 

Honestly, editing and the other items are easy. You can see those jobs with clarity. 

But are you taking into account the time you will spend emailing, on the phone, or on Skype to smooth over the final product?

This is the support I listed above. 

Your time is limited to 24 hours in a day, same as Elon Musk's. 

If you're authoring a DVD, are you taking into account the time it takes to ship it? Shipping costs? The wear and tear it places on your burner to create two copies? 

Here in this modern area, DVDs are still hanging around (thanks Redbox - but I hear they are pushing their streaming service), but they too will fade away. 

What about finding music? Do you have the funds in place if it's a crowdfunding video?

What if it's a corporate video for a company with 200 employees and they're sinking advertising costs into promoting their video?

Do you know how much your music bed track will cost?

Put up your right hand. 

If you don't price your service right, you will never be the next Christopher Nolan.

I mean it.

Learning how to negotiate allows you to work with larger teams and larger budgets to carry out larger visions. I myself am still learning how to negotiate. Thankfully, I found a virtual mentor in this area through Grant Cardone, and his program quadrupled my company's revenue in 2016, and it afforded me the skills and confidence to land and work on 5-figure productions. If you want to invest in yourself and grow as a filmmaker, let me know, and I'll get you two connected.

Whether that's filmmaking or planting churches or starting a Fortune 500 company, you have to be able to count the beans and count enough of them to put bread on the table for you and your folks. 

Oh, I just want to make videos for church. 

That's fine. Look at what the guys at Elevation are able to do. They are impacting the world by bringing excellence to faith-based videos in a way that scarcely anyone else is - so don't settle or limit yourself.

James Cameron put it this way: 

Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as director. Now you're a director. Everything after that you're just negotiating your budget and your fee.

We are called to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

If you have a family, you have to provide for them. 

You can provide a service for someone while still putting food on the table.

...

If you're tired of underselling yourself, there's a tool I made for me first and foremost, but also for you to give clients a quick, precise, and pain-free quote.

The few tools for calculating video production services that are online are okay at best.

I think a huge reason for that is because they were probably made by a developer or someone that doesn't actually operate as a one-man-band (and thus really know every cost/hour that goes into a project).

They have no idea how much time you spend dealing with "no" just to get a single "yes."

They don't understand how much time is tied up in the computer when it comes to exporting and backing up files in the cloud.

They haven't done the heavy lifting to figure out what the music bed charges a church with 102 employees on staff.

But I made a tool.

You're tired of losing bids and underbidding yourself and we are too.

This tool will not only spit out exact quotes for any project, but it will also list your expenses, man-hours, and profit margins so you're not living off Kraft singles and bleached bread all week.

And you can share all of that information with your client in a ready-to-print invoice.

Pre-production and production services only?

This tool has you covered.

Check out the Instant Quotes Calculator

It's really simple. If you're a one-man band (in video production), you have to quote your client fairly, but if your work is REALLY good, then you need to be able account for that. 

On the fly.

And in the first conversation.

Of course you have to gather a few facts first. 

Runtime. Locations. Talent. Etc.

What about other variables? 

Company size? Type of organization? Expected audience size? Project type and music licensing? Time spent on the phone? Skype? Email? Time spent in-person?!?

If you're a production company, you have way more overhead, and THIS TOOL will NOT be enough for you. You have:

• employees

• a plethora of insurances to deal with

• payroll taxes

• and a monthly rent, among other expenses that the home-based indie videographer and next-gen Christopher Nolans do not have

Your operating expenses > the solo-preneur's operating expenses.

If you're a solo-preneur slash filmmaking hustler that can work with a crew (or work by herself or himself), then this tool is for YOU.

It's your job to educate your clients. When you can give them a detailed reason for your price, that communicates attention to detail, and they will appreciate it.

Price yourself the right way. Pay your actors. Pay your crew. Cover your expenses. Feed your family, and keep working towards telling amazing stories of life change.

How does it work?

You'll only need to put in a few basic pieces of information, most of which you can ask the prospect in the first conversation. 

In a handful of questions, you can have a quote right then and there for them instead of dumbly guessing and getting what amounts to $4.11 per hour in the long run. 

This tool will do all of the crunching for you that also covers:

• what to charge for your time in searching for music
• costs of music if licensed through the music bed, no matter what kind of video you're shooting (corporate, crowdfunding, church, etc.)
• the time you spend color-correcting/grading
• the time spent backing up footage to the cloud
• location scouting
• food
• voiceover
• visual fx: basic & advanced (e.g. rotoscoping)
• facebook ads
• travel costs/mileage
• travel worksheet for flights, per diem, hotels, etc.
• time spent prospecting
• time spent selling
• time spent closing

and lots more.

You'll simply add in your hourly wage, answer a handful of questions about your client, and then pull the lever and watch the 7's line up.

Hey, this is Vegas baby. 

Bonus Time

I promised I'd share some itemized quotes. Not only that, I'll give you access to two webinar replays of this exact topic: "What the deuce do I charge?!" To get in on the action, just join the Bold Nation newsletter by clicking the big blue button. Don't worry - your info won't be farmed out to marketers, and mail goes out about once a week.

NEIN

Coming Attraction

I know how discouraging it can be to create a video, a blog post, or other content only to have the crickets sing its praises. 

You have to ask for help with promoting it. I'm sure Ghandi did. Mandela? Yep. Princess Diana? Yar. Jesus said it too: ASK.

In this post, I talk about how you can approach strangers and ask them for help with sharing your content. Shucks, I do it with this shindig.

After all, if you're like me and you want to share the message of hope we have in Jesus in non-cheesy media, we have to ask for help. That starts with the Almighty, then other people; don't be an island Captain Sparrow.

CTA

WHAT WAS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING PITCH MOMENT? COMMENT BELOW!

Originally published 2.16.16. Edited 12.10.16. Updated 12.30.17, 07.07.19, 09.02.20

I've been so inspired lately by these examples of going above and beyond with customer service. This is what all of us need to strive for in our film and video productions, and I will give you a hint. Not a single one of these examples is too hard to duplicate. In fact, you can start doing them right now.

Example 1: Justin

Justin is a filmmaker in Las Vegas that is just brimming with talent. I've mentioned this before in the newsletter, and I will mention it here: go watch any video on his YouTube channel, and you will see the makings of the next Spielberg. I don't say that about everybody. I often joke about people being the next president, but I rarely ever say someone is the next Spielberg. Go ahead and subscribe if you find his videos enjoyable. Just like every subscription here to the newsletter helps to grow this mission, every YT subscriber helps a fellow filmmaker.

I hired Justin to do camera work on a recent ad. It was a day-long shoot, and apart from a few brief interactions before, we had never spent more than an hour or two together.

• He showed up on time

• He never once complained

• He offered suggestions when we faced obstacles (he wasn't just a Yes Man)

• He helped with lighting, grip work, and occasionally sound

• He helped clean up at the end of the day and even washed the dishes at our location - I didn't ask him to do it, he just started washing the dishes

That last one especially got me. Will I hire him again? Absolutely. Between his talent as a filmmaker and his attitude as a budding businessman, I guarantee we will watch his feature stories on the big screen and/or VOD platforms. In fact, if you haven't already, I highly recommend you watch his finest short film to date, Angora Road (contains wartime violence and language).

Example 2: Lois

Mom and Dad attend a small Methodist Church in North Carolina. The pastor's wife, Lois, gladly hosted me and my wife when we were 3 months pregnant with our son.

Sure, you say. It's a small church and your parents attend the church. Well, the buck doesn't stop there kiddo. As of this writing, I stayed with them almost 2 years ago, and yet, they have followed up with handwritten cards, gifts for my baby boy, and emails wondering why we didn't come visit them this past holiday season.

I was blown away by this. I've never met a couple that does this - in any form of ministry.

I remarked how cool this was to my mom, and she said that most businesses are concerned with profits and not people's well-being.

I don't know how you can quantify that, and while it may be true, it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, if you look at all of your favorite examples of leaders (make no mistake, a director has to be a leader), and you will see that the best examples are those who genuinely care for others.

Example 3: Michelle

I honestly can't remember the name of the lady repping the nonprofit that we supported, but I will use the name Michelle for the time being. A lot of nonprofits will gladly receive your donations and never so much as say thank you except once a year when they give you your tax statement. However, Michelle did something that I've never seen a non-profit do before: she called my wife and left a voicemail.

She then followed up the phone call with an email. And she reassured us that if we have any questions or concerns, that we can reach her at her direct line and such and such email. And given the response, I believe her.

Example 4: Jane

Chef Jane Lee runs a gluten free bakery here in Las Vegas, but they can serve anyone anywhere. They can tackle any allergy, not just gluten, and I had the honor meeting them first through my church 2 years ago.

Since then, I have gotten to know Miss Jane and her staff and now I'm thankful to say they are my client.

Get this.

They were my client and yet they still, in almost every interaction, looked for ways to send me home with something extra. It could be their signature popcorn, cookies, or even just asking about my wife's birthday (smart upsell), but they always looked for that extra way to go above and beyond. And they did this even before they were my client.

Example 5: Elizabeth

This lady goes above and beyond... and you wouldn't believe it at first, but she's a gov't employee. Local gov't, but gov't nonetheless. As any adult who's ever served in the military, been to the DMV, or just lived outside of a cocoon knows, gov't employees move at a different pace. It typically goes like this, from fastest to slowest:

• The Rock

• Michael Shannon

• ...

• Small business owner

• Non-profit founder

• Church leader

• Kid selling lemonade

• ...

• Flash flash hundred yard dash

• Gov't Employee

• Galapagos Tortoise

• Newborn baby

But Elizabeth doesn't let the trope define her work or her customer service. We went to the library one time, and even though the magnets weren't scheduled to be out for the kids, she pulled them out for my son. Another time, we went looking for "Pete The Cat" books. See, they weren't in the usual spot, and I didn't ask for help, but she overheard my conversation with my wife. She went looking in another section (unsolicited) - presto! There's Pete. 

Me: Thank you!

E: You're welcome!

Minutes later, she comes back with three other books for my wife and gives a short pitch why my son might like these books as well as his trusty Pete The Cat books. My wife thanked her, and she came back a little later with one more suggestion for an interactive book a two-year-old boy would like.

And the proof was in the pudding. She had a young adult sidekick - as a volunteer. What youngin' volunteers to work in a library? Great leadership attracts followers, regardless of pay. 

Regardless of your industry, over-deliver and be a servant, especially if you want to be the next Nolan or Scorsese. If you're not doing film or video production, and you just so happen to be here, I encourage you to go above and beyond even if 99% of your team moves and acts like a gov't employee.

Example 6: Jonathan Moeller

Here's a fellow who also went above and beyond. My wife and I went to HI to renew our vows for our 5-year anniversary. She found a local photographer Jonathan, did the homework, and it wasn't even like we had to roll the dice. His work spoke for itself, and his reviews were glowing. We knew we'd hire him. What we didn't know was what degree of customer service he'd bring.

He showed up early.

He voluntarily stayed an hour late to capture more photos as the sun was setting.

He had the best attitude ever (like Justin Melson levels - example uno), and because he stayed late, I started going through the proofs and thinking, dang, we gotta bump up our package to the next level to properly pay this man for his hard work (and of course we wanted mored edited photos at the end of the day). 

He then over-communicates with my wife during the editing process. When I was a terd about the white balance on one photo, he didn't give me lip service. When he sent the edited photos, he also gave us a complimentary video slideshow that also had some short video bursts he recorded in between shots without us knowing. 

To top it all off, he gave us complimentary hard copies of our 5 favorite photos. AND... he sent web-ready files and print-ready files of our edited photos on a thumb drive with his logo (smart move Jonathan). 

Above and beyond? Beyond extraordinary. It's no wonder he stays so busy.

Example 7: Neighbors

We have neighbors who suggested getting earplugs for everybody on our next flight. Well, when my son was 1, he was full of energy. We flew east in 2016, so we took our neighbors’ advice and bought a bulk pack of squishy earplugs for the people on the flight with us. A handful of people received the earplugs as a gift, and one of the attendants later said that in all of her years of working for airlines, she had never seen anybody do that.

Fast forward to our Hotel Christmas Night, and the folks in the adjoining room sounded like they were having a pretty good get-together. I didn't want my little boy to keep them up, so I went over and knocked on the door and offered earplugs to them. I explained that I have a 1-year-old son, and sure, they were confused at first, but they soon realized that it could be a long night for them, so they received the gift.

The next morning, as I'm going to the car, the veteran dad tells me that was the slickest way he'd ever been told to keep it quiet. He said it was the least confrontational, and also the most thoughtful way to ask somebody to be quiet. I assured him I wasn't doing it to get their family to quiet down but that we were acting on good counsel; I thought it was the right thing to do to offer the same courtesy to our neighbors, same as the folks on our flight.

My neighbors down the road are onto something. And as you'll notice with all of these examples, these are not really hard things to do.

Example 8: Josh

During the lockdown in spring of 2020, our anniversary was coming up and our options were limited. Understandably. It's the new normal when you’re in lockdown - limited options. Nonetheless, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for creative ideas. Just a few days before our 8th anniversary, it hit me... Why don't I hire a local musician to come and play one of the songs that has helped shape our engagement and subsequent marriage? I'm sure you know this one.

I made the post on a local Facebook group with quite literally 15,000 members. That's half the population of my town at the time of this 8th anniversary. I get two responses. Gentleman A says he'll charge 40 bucks to do one song. That's fair. A professional musician - as I learned later - costs between $200 and $300 per hour, and sometimes, it's less but with a minimum of a 3-hour booking and different increments for any add’l time. It's kind of like a photographer's rate. And the more skilled the musicians are, the more expensive the set goes. Coming from video production, I can appreciate that and I assume you will too.

Josh comes along and says he'll do the set or rather the song that I asked for and map out an entire hour of music - he didn’t know it by heart but he’d learn it; he also wanted to know what kind of muzak I would like to fill up an hour? I assured him nothing vulgar and certainly not Disturbed’s “Down With The Sickness.” He was going to set up in my driveway and take social distancing very seriously. He said he wanted to bring his amp and guitar and mic and mic stand. Could I run an extension cord for him? Absolutely, Josh. Be glad to.

His communications were timely. He over-promised and it was a dirt cheap price - and even he discounted it. I don't recommend discounting a price, and I went back later and paid him far more than what he was asking for because I want him to have confidence - just as I do for you my fellow filmmaker, to charge what you are worth. I talk about that extensively HERE.

At the very end of the set, when my wife asked to hear our song again, even though his hour was up, he kindly obliged. My amateur guitar playing dictates that I'm done by about 6 songs - then I’m KO’d. He rocked out for an hour and then came back with the same song that he opened with and it was just as good. I was thoroughly impressed.

Oh, and I bet you kind of already figured this out, but he showed up early. He also accepted Venmo, making paying him easy, and I haven't found an example of his caliber of customer service since the fellow mentioned above, Jonathan. Fantastico, Josh. Fantastico.

The fact of the matter is, so many of us, myself included, settle for just enough.

It's a terrible attitude, especially when you thumb through Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John you can see how we've been given the example of the perfect servant leader who always went above and beyond.

So if you're willing to take an extra 5 minutes, spend an extra 5 bucks, or engage an extra 5 people, you will find that it's really easy to show your clients (and even your prospects) how much you care & how willing you are to serve.

Now if you just finished a video job, then it is your job as a budding filmmaker to close out the job. I'm going to show you a few simple things that you can do right now to bring the job to a close and make sure you are over-delivering when it comes to your clients and your video production.

As with anything that involves customer service, you should not be looking for quick and easy.

Philip Bloom even said this, you should treat every job as though it were a big-ticket job. Show up, work hard, over-deliver, and always have a good attitude.

So what do you do when you finalize your edit and your client has the final copy in hand?

You go through these steps, and then you read the Bold Mail mail call at the end of the post.

Step 1: archive your video

I've talked about this a number of times before, but it is worth repeating. I recommend archiving all of the color-graded copies of each video file, every sound file, and of course every draft of the final video that you worked on for your client.

Keep the project files to yourself. 

I'm not an affiliate for Amazon Cloud, but their cloud service is by far my favorite one to use because it offers unlimited space for you to back up your footage (or not - unlimited discontinued in 2017).

If you have a high-speed internet service in your house or your office, then you're golden.

I have a list of other cloud services that you can check out right here.

Step 2: send your client a notice of completion

Short of a paper napkin, you can literally send them back the contract that you guys first signed with a simple statement that says the job is finished and no further revisions or work will be done.

Sign and date it, and ask your client to sign and date it as well.

Can you get by without this step?

Yes.

But I've learned the hard way that over-communicating is good, and this is a simple way to over-communicate and make sure that you and your client are on the same page; I highly recommend including this step.

Step 3: ask for a review

This is really important and I'm afraid most of us are too sheepish about doing this.

You need to ask for a review. Good or bad, accept the review. And if you really want to develop a culture of transparency (professionally) for yourself and/or your company, you should include the negative reviews.

XXX Church is a pioneer in this. On their website, they have the best of the best of both their positive reviews and their negative reviews. They call it love mail and hate mail. But you catch my drift.

Because I want to build a culture of transparency (since I'm all about sharing the good news through media that's not cheesy and doesn't blow chunks), I decided to ask all of my folks to leave a review on Google.

This could be a two-edged sword, but I'm willing to give it a go because I do want to have transparency in our business. If people are dissatisfied with us for a legitimate reason, other people should know about that.

Not everybody will do this step for you, even if you are patient and persistent. But keep trying. Ask for a review and take as much of the work out of the equation for them if you have to.

Step 4: ask for referrals

I learned recently that we should ask for referrals even when people tell us no, please don't email me again, or no, take a hike, or whatever the case may be.

Make it a part of your repertoire, no different than charging your batteries, formatting your cards, balancing the books, or cleaning your inbox.

In fact, ask for 2 referrals. Be confident in your God-given abilities and make the ask.

Remember - we're to have faith like a child. What are children really good at? Asking.

God didn't give you a spirit of fear, and if you're following Christ, you've been ransomed from fear, so the last part of the question is do you really believe in your God-given skills and abilities? Do you really believe that you have a God-given story to tell the world that will point people to hope and unconditional love?

If so, then what do you have to lose by asking for a referral? Make it a part of your practice.

Trust me, and this is true for any business or organization, what other people have to say about you and are willing to say about you, is your best go-to when you are selling yourself to new clients.

Step 5: leave your client a review

Wait, didn't I just tell you to ask them for a review?

Yes.

And you should take the initiative and do the same for them.

Now whether you buy into this idea of following Jesus or not, this is where I encourage you to follow the simple principle that you should encourage and build one another up.

Especially if you want to be a filmmaker, you want to build up the people around you, and that includes the clients that are acting as your mini producers.

Do they have a shop on Google? Leave them a Google review. If it is Yelp, then leave them a Yelp review.

Did you do work for a consultant that doesn't have a presence on Google or Yelp? Find them on LinkedIn, ask to connect with them, and then leave them a recommendation.

Look for ways to give digital referrals. Not only does it strengthen your relationship with them, it blesses their work, and ultimately creates a bridge back to your work too.

In the movie A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe, Russell Crowe plays John Nash, the eccentric math genius who ends up winning a Nobel Peace Prize in the field of Economics because of his mathematical theory that says the best result comes from doing what's best for the group and yourself. And you already know what the Good Book says about doing good for others.

Step 6: send a thank you note

Everybody writes and receives emails these days. And as I'm learning from Grant Cardone, you don't want to die in obscurity. So stand out from the pack.

Send a video message and a handwritten thank-you note.

Send your client a gift for their children.

If it's a really big job, you can do all the above and then offer to take them out to lunch 2 weeks later so that you can review with them what worked well for them and what could have been better.

I promise you - producers and directors have this kind of conversation all of the time, so get your reps in now and get used to the idea that it is a partnership when you make a video or a film for someone downtown.

At the very least, send a handwritten thank-you note just to say thanks, and say something encouraging about their leadership or their work ethic. Again, we are called to build and encourage one another up, and you don't have to be cheesy or super Christian or anything ridiculous, you just need to say something simple to the effect of, Bob, you have a lot of passion for family law, and I can tell just how much you care about each of your clients. Don't ever lose sight of that and thank you for serving our community.

Easy right?

Step 7: talk to their marketing guru

Business is still done with face-to-face interactions, no different than raising large amounts of money for a movie.

If your client is not the chief marketing officer or the head of marketing or whatever title they might use, then find out who that person is - let's say it's Uncle Bob. Ask your client to talk with Uncle Bob. Break the ice, and do it fast.

Offering to take them for lunch is a good way to do it. Chances are Uncle Bob knows more opportunities than you could even wrap your head around without your brain exploding, so talk to him and talk about how you can complement his work.

As with everything in life, make it about others and not yourself. If you're really good at your video skills, then I promise you that marketing officer would like to know you and will likely invest in that relationship, but you need to be proactive about it.

Did I mention everybody likes it when they are offered a free lunch? Jump on that train.

Step 8: nurture the relationship

In the months that follow, it's up to both of you to pursue the relationship.

Go out of your way to send them an email once a month just to share useful and helpful information. Perhaps there's an article that you found that lies somewhere in the intersection of your industry and their industry and you can share it with them especially if it has to do with the benefits of video marketing. :-)

If you already have a newsletter, you can offer to add them to your newsletter so that they can stay in touch.

Just like the ultimate servant leader showed us, we should be looking for ways to serve our clients and value their needs above our own. And then you should take that attitude with you into the store, the bank, your mom and pop diner, in your home, and anywhere else you go in your community.

Don't just over-deliver with clients; make it a part of your daily life.

...

Need help with this idea of leaving reviews? Or encouraging someone daily? Who are you looking to regularly to grow as a leader? As a filmmaker? Who are you investing into? I've got all of this and more in a printable 90-day .pdf journal, and it's yours to use and kick your customer service out of sloppy laziness and into high-gear serving.

NEIN

What do you need to do right now for that last client that you worked for? Comment below!

Bold Mail:

Original: August 2016; updated Jan 14, 2017, Feb 5, 2018, Jul 5, 2020

You need to be "everywhere" and you definitely need to be networking. More on that in a bit.

Here’s one way to “get out there": pseudo-free work. From here on out, if I say "free work," I mean it's virtually free. You're going to ask for gas money essentially: a deposit of $15 or thereabout to cover gas there and back, even if you're volunteering for a NPO. In fact, don't call it volunteering. Tell them you want to complete a world-class video to bring more donors through their doors, and it will only cost $15 to cover transportation.

It's like giving away a book but charging for shipping & handling.

Try it. Skin in the game is important. You want your would-be client to value your work.

Let's continue shall we?

Free work is a two-edged sword though.

Think about college tuition. College is something that you have to pay for here in America, and there is an argument to be said that because you or someone (conditionally) is paying for you to go to college, there is some incentive to show up and apply yourself. The argument is we value the things that we exchange goods and services for, or money as the case may be. So if you offer to do your work, and it doesn't have to be video production, it can be any craft or discipline, and if you agree to do it for free, there is a strong chance that the benefactee will not respect the work you are doing or the product you are giving them. Because of this, when a nonprofit asks you to do work for free, I highly recommend that you run for the hills. It de-values our industry. You have to eat too. Your plumber doesn't work for free. All of these and more from author Jon Acuff → listen/watch here.

Having said that, it's another story to volunteer your time for a nonprofit. Nonprofits do not measure their success by the bottom line but rather if they are creating impact for the mission for which they were created. So find a nonprofit in your backyard that jives with you and go serve them.

If you want to be a filmmaker, you have to get out and meet people. You have to go share your skill set and your vision with others. And when you’re a unknown, it’s incumbent on you to break the ice! Here are several steps to build that kind of relationship from scratch. And just because you call and email, you won't necessarily get a response on the first few tries. So if you stick around, I've got one simple technique to increase your chances by 10-20% that you'll hear back from your prospect after the first contact. It's so simple, it's easily overlooked, but it is worth the extra five minutes. Hang tight.

1. Call regularly.

All my life, I have been terrified of the phone. I'm still afraid of the phone, and there is at least one phone call every time I cold call that goes horribly wrong because I fumble my words, I get caught off guard handling an objection, or whatever the case may be, but I know how to repress that fear now because with anything that's unknown, frequency and practice go a long way.

When you call someone for the first time, aka the infamous cold call, one of the few things will happen:

A. Answering machine - you need to have your pitch rehearsed especially because you're trying to volunteer your services to an organization when they don't know who the heck you are.

For example...

Hi John, this is Uncle Bob. I took a look at your site and your Facebook page, and I know that you can reach 150% more donors with a video. I want to do one for you - FREE. I don't want to waste your time, so here is a quick question: if I could even get even 50% more donors for you in the next 90 days, would that be worth a three-minute conversation?  Give me a call at 702-543-5433.

B. Admin - these are the gatekeepers and you will not get through to the decision-maker if you are not treating the gatekeeper like the President of the United States. Do you remember from the Thor movies Idris Elba as the gatekeeper to all of Thor’s realm? Think of that picture here. You aren’t getting through if you don't show some basic customs and courtesies. Always leave a message, ask them to write down your name and number and your call to action. Is it call me back when you have 3 minutes because I would like to do a free video? Or is it what’s the biggest reason for not doing a video yet to promote your mission?

C. You manage to get the decision maker on the phone -  be to the point, explain that you're calling because of... and then give them the quick pitch. Reinforce the fact several times that it is a free video and you want to support their mission. Use the word mission because it's extremely powerful. Use it often. At this point, one of three things will happen:

Case 1: they hang up on you.

Alright, cool. It'll put some chest hair on you. Don't take it personally. They are constantly bombarded with other people vying for their attention. Follow up with them at a later date.

Most people don't want to be rude. I've had many people be quick to get off the phone, but I've only had one person hang up on me ('twas a for-profit, B2B call, not a nonprofit cold call), even when I'm prospecting them for business and it is a cold call and yes it does interrupt their day. The reality is, some people are just grumpy, and they will hang up on you. Be like the one-year-old who smiles and tries again.

Case 2: they're interested but they don't have time right now.

Ask to schedule a 5-to-10-minute conversation at a later time, and confirm the time. I learned this one from Grant Cardone, and it has saved me a lot of frustration. Always ask at the end of the call if there's any reason why they could not make that appointment. Thus far, when I have used this lock close, as Grant calls it, I have never had the person I was calling or meeting in person cancel. It's worth the extra 20 seconds to double check or confirm while you still have them. Do it.

Case 3: they're interested & they have time.

Boom.

Spend no more than 5 to 10 minutes planning when you can meet them in person. If you're doing something really short and simple, you can meet them in person and shoot the video for them in the same meeting. This is typically what I do, but I hardly ever get the decision maker on the phone with a few minutes to spare in the first phone call. Even though it is a nonprofit, it usually will take me several follow-up attempts to land this conversation, and if I am trying to sell them my service (in the case of a for-profit followup), it can take even longer. Persistence is the key here.

And how do you persist?

Call frequently. Use funny accents (Sean Connery, William Wallace, Jimmy Stewart, be creative…), share valuable information, and just be interested in the person you are trying to reach.

If you really want to help a nonprofit, and they have no other basis for knowing you, and it is truly a cold introduction, then you need to increase the amount of contacts you make. Commit to calling one to two times a week, for example, in addition to…

2. Send emails with valuable information.

The things that you read should be clipped to your Evernote or saved somewhere (aText for example) so that you can pull them up and share with people at the drop of a hat. I keep a running list of articles that I think are useful in the business-to-business relationships that I maintain. I share them frequently, as well as fantastisch examples of amazing ads that I can share with people through YouTube or Facebook. You should be keeping a running dossier of this sort of stuff too!

3. Send video messages.

The person you want to go work for doesn't know you, so one way to disarm the unknown is to send a video message of yourself. Inherently, we don't like talking to a little camera, though some do, but I believe the vast majority of us don't. The willingness to step in front of a camera and talk to it speaks volumes about who you are to your would-be client. Make no mistake, just because you are volunteering to do free work for this nonprofit, that does not mean that you should treat them as anything less than a client. Serve them with excellence from start to finish.

Oh, and I should mention, I got a face-to-face appointment with a whole team once because I sent a video message. It helped me stand out from all of the other sales pitches that this owner was getting on a daily basis. It wasn't a nonprofit, but the verdict remains the same: video messages are a win.

4. Confirm the appointment within 24 hours of the appt.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but I have made this rookie mistake more than I care to admit. Call that day and make sure everything is golden. Don't text. Don't email. Don't settle for anything less than getting them on the phone and confirming the appointment. Life happens. People get sick. Show grace, and when the appointment is set, make sure you show up 15 minutes early. Leave the house so that you are going to be there 15 minutes early. If you are on time, then as they say in the military, you're late.

I remember this one time I was going to meet with a prospect (it was not an NPO), and truth be told, I was an even bigger rookie than I am now, and my guts were all twisted up. Needless to say, I had to pull over to relieve myself. Thankfully it's an urban town (i.e. I wasn't in the middle of nowhere), but the point of the story is you always want to have a time buffer. Because of that incident, I ended up being right on time, well, at least I thought I was on time. For unrelated reasons which I took full responsibility for, it turns out I was a whole hour late. If even you are on time or a whole hour late, you need to own it, not make excuses, and apologize and asked to be fired.

Even after I asked to be fired, the prospect still graciously met with me, and she had real problems in the company. My biggest mistake was I tried to sell the wrong service instead of the one she wanted, and since I wasn't very persistent back then, I stopped following up with the prospect when she said to take a hike after the 5th or 6th point of contact.

My loss = some other video production team’s win.

Bring a book. Turn on your data. Be early and wait (hurry up and wait as Uncle Sam would say). The last two NPO’s that I did pro bono work for I showed up 30 mins early to a) avoid setbacks b) get set up so we could roll once the meeting started. They were both shocked, but thankful. I was too. Better to be early and read a book (every director should read this book before hiring their next & newest 1099- or W2-crewmember) than be late and be unprofessional.

5. Bring your camera.

When you finally get some face-to-face time with the head honcho or the founder or whoever at the nonprofit, bring your camera and bring your mic. You can do all of this as a one-man band and still do a quality product, you'll just have to capture audio separately from video if you want to be fully engaged. Or better yet, bring someone else along.

But be ready to roll.

Chances are because it's a nonprofit there is someone in that organization that would die for that organization because nonprofits are mission-focused and not bottom-line-focused. There's going to be somebody that will be full of energy and passion and that's the person you want driving the video.

I did a piece for our local zoo once upon a time and the principal decision-maker did not end up being the person that drove the narration for their video. The decision-maker smartly chose someone with a really outgoing personality who absolutely loves their organization while he (head honcho) could continue to operate at the 30,000-foot level. Great leadership and brilliant execution on his part: know your limitations and delegate to the superstars. When my wife watched the first draft, she was blown away by the level of excitement and passion that you could hear loud and clear in the lady’s voice.

So come ready to roll. Just because it's the first meeting doesn't mean you should slack off. Show up like it's a real shoot because it is to Uncle Bob, head owner of Bob’s NPO of Nevada, and so it better be a real shoot to you.

When all is said and done, ask if they know of anybody that is in need of your service. We have not because we ask not. Ask for a review & referral. Send a thank you note.

6. Invest in a good sales program

I promise you - to do video production right as a service, you need to understand business-to-business (B2B) sales. 

I use and recommend Grant Cardone's sales training materials, as evidenced earlier in this post. Start with his free material on YouTube, then move into the ace audiobook or hardcopy book "The Closer's Survival Guide" and train every day.

Michael Jordan practiced so hard, the games were "easier" than his practices (my paraphrase).

Be like that with sales. I practice sales training six days a week. You should too if you want to pitch bold, amazing stories of hope or life-change one day to a studio, producer, or reputable production company.

7. Be consistent in your presentations

Colors matter. 

Branding matters. 

What you wear in a business meeting or networking event matters.

Be consistent. You don't need to drop massive money on an image overhaul or branding campaign. Pick a few colors that are complementary to start at Adobe's Color Wheel, pick a font you like, and wear clothes that embody the color scheme you picked.

Focus on one social media channel really well (e.g. YouTube). Go a mile deep with it. Put your best content there. Be frequent. Your *ace* social media channel is a free digital billboard. Treat it well.

Bonus:

Alright, time to get cracking. For those of you who are in the trenches and are trying to get out of obscurity, this one simple hack I learned the hard way will keep you in front of people and get responses from them much quicker. In fact, I've seen 10 - 20% of new prospects reach out to me after a cold introduction just because of this one simple addition (with Business to Business relationships, and it's much higher for NPO's).

Join the newsletter to download this vital step:

NEIN

Your turn. What have you done to jumpstart a new relationship?

Original post: 02/11/17; edited 03/04/18, 06/01/20


 

Bonus: Stick around after the show for bonus material on setting up and running your Facebook reach ads!

First, the WHY. Here’s a video that explains the WHY. Then, we’ll get into the trends.

Trend # 1

The first trend I’ve noticed is that your seconds matter. You've got about 13 seconds before you lose 2/3 of your audience. It is an exponential (or is it?) drop-off.

At about the one-minute mark, you might be lucky to still have up to 20% of your audience left. I see less than 10% consistently.

Granted, it's a fool's errand to say my video will appeal to everyone! That's just not true. Jesus' message of an upside-down kingdom where we are to love our enemies did not resonate with everyone. In fact, He had a very small following and by modern standards, would have a laughable church size if he was pastoring a mega church or what have you. The fact of the matter is you're going to get, like the Pareto Principle says, 80% of your results from 20% of your efforts. It's no different here. Your core audience will stick with you through the video, but the majority of people will fall by the wayside after 13 seconds. There are just too many other shiny bells on the internet to stick around, and Facebook is such a stop-and-go entity for moving pictures. 

Optional:

If you want to nerd out with me for a second, you'll have to recall I was a math teacher before I was ever Jake the film guy. We often exaggerate "exponential growth" and even sometimes probably mistakenly attribute something with rapid growth as exponential growth. The reality is an inverse function has more accelerated growth than an exponential curve does, and while I'm not about to bust out some kind of weird curve-fitting analysis super majiggy a bobber thingy, I suspect that this kind of drop-off in viewership - as precipitous as it is - might even be more pronounced than exponential.

See? Optional.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to drill down a point here, one that I shout from the rooftops to my co-workers and now you, my viewers and readers: you have to keep your videos short on Facebook. Longer videos can be put on YouTube because they are the second biggest search engine. A livestream video on Facebook might be more successful in terms of audience retention, but if it is a pre-produced video, the metrics are in: short = win. Long = fail. 

Again, this is with pre-produced content. A live video will have a different reach, audience retention, the whole nine yards. You need to play around with it and see what kinds of video you're going to be sharing live (easy example of a regular live video: church services) and do it several times to really see what kind of data you're dealing with.

Here’s a live video’s average watch time from one of our church services:

I believe with my whole heart, from what I see at my church and with this content, that you have less than 13 seconds to get your point across. That means if you're cutting a short film trailer and you want to share a blurb on Facebook, it needs to be in the vein of the old Vine videos: short. People just don't have any attention span on Facebook. It's a different venue. I'll say it until I'm blue in the face: a theater carries with it an expectation of sitting still for about 2 hours. A sitcom traditionally holds us for about 30 minutes. A Sunday morning worship service might run anywhere from an hour to two hours or more. Facebook, is no different than any other venue, and their videos are best consumed when they're 13 seconds or less. The drop-off from 13 seconds to 60 seconds isn't as pronounced, but then again at that point, you've already lost two-thirds or more of your audience. Heads up! 

Trend # 2

Notice that Facebook audiences are getting older and older.

Consistently, the vast majority of the content you create on Facebook will be consumed by the 35-and-up crowd. If you ask an eighteen-year-old about a 35-year-old, I promise you that 18-year-old thinks the 35-year-old is ancient. It's no different with technology. I'm fast approaching 35 myself, and I was one of the early adopters of Facebook when it was only open to college students.

That has changed.

The attention of college students is elsewhere, places like Instagram and Tik Tok. Nowadays it's your older Millennials, Gen Xers, and everybody's favorite generation, the Boomers that are dominating Facebook. Younger people moved on some time ago. Bear that in mind when you are putting a video or film clip or any other kind of moving picture onto Facebook. Your audience may or may not be there.

As a special mention, there is research that is suggesting that the 35-and-up crowd is now migrating to Snapchat as well. It's no longer just for the kids anymore which explains why Tik Tok came thundering out of the recesses of social media obscurity to capture the attention of the teenagers and 20-something-year-olds. There must be something about being 35 and older that makes us slow and probably the most resistant to technological changes. Again, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm quickly getting there so I might as well lump myself into that group. I say that willfully because when I was first talking with my team about adopting Tik Tok to share the Gospel, it occurred to me that I was feeling resistant to learning a new platform. The moment that becomes our mindset, we are as good as dead and outdated if not extinct like the ole dinosaurs pre-Jurassic Park. Telling stories will never go out of style, but our methods of sharing stories will continue to evolve over time and we can't afford to be fixated on one medium. 

Trend # 3

The third trend I'm noticing is that it can be anywhere from a 2:1 to a 3:1 ratio of women to men that consume content on Facebook.

I'm not saying that guys aren’t on Facebook. I'm not saying that guys do not engage with content on Facebook. But what I am saying is that you will have to bear in mind that your video or short film or film clip or whatever it is you share on Facebook will most likely resonate with ladies. Keep that in mind when tailoring your message. It's neither good nor bad, except maybe that us guys are just too disinterested to show that we appreciate the content by interacting with it. Good on you ladies! As a companion piece to this, I'm seeing similar metrics can exist on Instagram.

Perhaps it's something at the DNA or molecular level about us guys: we connect over task and less over conversation. Obviously that's not true for all guys nor is it true to say that all ladies connect over conversation. But by and large, in my experience, most guys connect over tasks which is why social media might be, as the name “social” suggests, something that us guys aren't too good at. By 5:00 pm, we've used up most of our words, or we’ve retreated to the nothing box, as Mark Gungor calls it.. So, again I say, “good on you ladies!” 

Trend # 4

Video consistently beats out other types of content on Facebook.

So, if you want to do a plug for your crowdfunding campaign, if you want to share a trailer, if you want to do anything that gets attention on Facebook, it needs to be a video clip, and then you need to go back to the first trend that I mentioned above. Don't settle for a link, a picture, or just naked text. Go with video. If you absolutely can't create a video on your smartphone because it's broken or maybe you don't have a smartphone, then the next best bet is a picture. Rarely will a picture beat out a video. I've seen it once in the time that I've been tracking Facebook metrics. Video metrics tell us that watching moving pictures is the new form of reading. 150 years ago, that was how people learned and that's how people were entertained by and large. It was the cheapest, most viable form of mass communication. Video is now that new Titan. However many years from now, something else will replace video, probably an immersive experience like augmented reality or virtual reality or something that isn't even on the books yet. 

Trend # 5

The last trend that I'm seeing is that you want to be posting between 3 pm and 7 pm for your time zone, especially if your messaging is super local/regional.

A good example of this would be our church. We create a lot of content that impacts our local slice of the Kansas City metro. We are not big like Saddleback or Elevation where our content is reaching masses around the world. Chances are, the automotive shop you are cutting a video for is in the same boat. They don't need to post that video at 9 am. They need to post it at 3 - 7 pm in their time zone. You have diminishing returns past 7 pm, and it's a slow climb to that peak hour around 3 or 4 pm, so you might as well use the scheduling feature within the Creator Studio to maximize your views.

There's no excuse to just throw a video out there and hope for the best. The old saying from Field of Dreams - if you build it, he will come - is not applicable here. You need to be intentional about when you share your video. The biggest studios do the same with their movies. They fight and bicker with one another about when to launch a movie. They know it's unwise to launch a Star Wars movie on August 5th when everybody goes back to school. And after what happened to poor Ron Howard and the Solo movie in the Star Wars universe, they will probably be reluctant to release anymore origin stories, especially on after one of their bigger tentpole Star Wars movies. Or, it'll end up in their digital $5 bucket, Disney+. You may scoff at this idea, but I think the $5 DVD bin at Walmart has evolved and is taking on less ostensible appearances in the forms of the Netflix, Amazon Prime, or now Disney+ libraries. In any event, to stay on track here, scheduling matters!  As far as I can tell, you can schedule however far out in advance you want, so there is no excuse to not do it. 

What other data-driven trend have you observed? I wanna know below!

Wrap - er, soapbox

Ultimately I want to tell stories of hope that point people to Jesus, the hope of the world, and if you are a follower of Jesus as well, welcome. If not, you're still welcome here. I will be blunt with other followers of Jesus, and I'm doing it out of love because the time is growing short. The kingdom of darkness is committed to distorting our beliefs as much as possible. We can't afford to be idle benchwarmers, not when we've been given the time, talent, and perhaps even the wherewithal to go and record stories, be they fictional or non-fictional. I hope you will partner with the King of Kings when you pick up that camera. I hope you will be a good steward of your time and not digest things that are harmful to your soul. I hope and pray you will not be complicit in the sex trafficking industry by partaking in porn. I hope and pray that you will continue to be submissive to the authorities appointed over you and trust in the Lord's timing and provision for your stories to be realized. I pray that you will not let envy rot your bones but that you will be content with the truth of the Gospel in your life. I'm done with my soap box. I'll see you next time.

Bonus

Need a primer on setting up Facebook Ads? Let’s break it down by sections:

• Video Views Ads (all of us need to know this one, at bare minimum)

• Reach Ads

Originally published: December 2, 2019. Updated May 24, 2020.

Not-so-easy?

That's right.

If you want to blast hundreds of emails and get zero response, march on drummer boy. 

If you want to send fewer emails, land quality clients and 

• learn leadership

• get a better grip on budgeting

• cast vision

• fine-tune your pitching

• did I mention practice your craft in the real world?

• and get paid without racing to the bottom

then here's a detailed approach you can start right now in your video production. Everyone wants to be the next Hitchcock or the next Kubrick, but that doesn't come on a silver platter. 

If you want to tell stories of hope, charter schools in South Carolina, love, the life and times of Martin Van Buren, forgiveness, _________________, you need to beef up your sweat equity!

Step 1: Hire a VA (virtual assistant) on Upwork to find emails

Pay a flat rate always! You can pay $10-20 to find 50 emails, names, products/services, and company URLs. Store it in a Google Sheet.

Here’s a detailed guide on using Upwork for this end, plus there’s a Google Sheet for storing all of this info you'll acquire that you can use.

Tell your VA NOT to find emails to

1. Pawn shops

2. Churches & non-profits (note: if you really want to work with non-profits, be sure to check out Guidestar first)

3. Chains like Mickey D's or Pep Boys

4. Adult entertainment

5. Money services

6. Jewelry stores

7. Clubs

8. Golf clubs especially

9. Media companies/photographers

10. Anything else you want to add

Step 2. Email each person on your list

This is where people could get lazy and become slackers:

Send a personal email to each person.

Do not use Reply or other automated services like Reply until you are firmly established in your town as THE VIDEO GUY. 

I made the mistake of using Reply too soon, and it netted responses, but zero contracts. I'm not THE VIDEO GUY in Vegas, so...

Quality over quantity here gang. #LessonLearned

Jeff Goins said it really well: "Remember: No bureaucracy until you reach 1000 customers. Answer every email. Show up as much as you can. Be relentlessly helpful."

Record a quick video introducing yourself (keep it less than 30-seconds - these guys you are pitching are busy) - remember, it’s a cold email, and you have to break the ice quick. Use Screencastify for this (freemium service that works like a champ, even on the free side of things).

Send them another video in the same email as well, one that is REALLY GOOD and mirrors the personality of the company you are pitching. They need to see themselves in the video you are thinking of for them and they need know if it can solve a problem of theirs (need more customers, need more sales, etc.). 

Before you hit send, make sure you spell check. 

If you can't spell check (or are too lazy [which is worse] to do it), what does that communicate to your client if you're supposed to be managing a 4-5-figure budget of theirs?

Send that bad boy either at the end of the work day or early in the morning (your owner, CEO, CMO, etc. all probably start their work day ahead of the rest of the workers). 

Shoot, Mondays and Fridays are usually Moondays or "It's-The-Weekend" days, and you may be better off using an auto-scheduler like Boomerang to send cold pitches Tues-Thurs. 

Or stick to trial and error.

If they respond, it's either "No thanks," or...

Then it's up to you to SHOW UP.

But if you get no response...

Step 3: Star each email you send

Use a CRM tool (a tool for managing client relationships - I'm just now learning Streak) or use a simple system to know who to follow-up with: star each email you send and follow up!

1. This is one way to make sure you have an easy index of which emails to follow up on.

2. If they don’t answer, send a second email no sooner than 3 days later. 4-5 days later or longer are better.

3. Repeat step 2 if necessary for a third and final email.

4. Don’t nuke it. You can use the emails below in the bonus section to get you started with the follow up emails.

5. You will run into people who are bitter, tactless, mean-spirited, or some combination of the above. That's just life. Expect it, show grace (ALWAYS), and move on. Need a pick-me-up? Watch this video.

Here's a #5 that I got recently:

I only emailed Pete twice, and the second email was days after the first, asking if his help-wanted ad was already filled (they needed a trailer cut together for a series). Plus, to truly qualify as spam, my message needed to be at least one of the following:

• irrelevant

• inappropriate

• sent to a large number of people

Pete, and guys like you, you are always welcome at my home. My wife makes a mean enchilada pasta - it's a standing offer.

I used my churchfilms.com email address when I reached out to Pete, which is why he blew up. The word church is a painful one for some people. I was in a band once, and my lead guitarist was staunchly atheistic. We got along famously though, and there was this one time I even remember seeing him add to a thread that Jesus seemed like a honorable dude. He couldn't stand church or religion, but Jesus was an honorable dude. 

How we choose to communicate our thoughts and words is indeed powerful, and that's another reason you should send a video of yourself to break the ice. It's disarming (usually - I sent a video intro to Pete, and he was still livid), and you need that since 

• cold calls require lots of training and practice to be effective and if you’re a 1-man video band (Grant Cardone has a team to handle marketing, customer service, product delivery, etc. - you probably don’t), I don’t recommend ‘em

• emails are super impersonal and easily ignored when unsolicited

Step 4: Get someone on the phone

1. Offer a flat rate in the first phone call after asking a few questions. Do NOT beat around the bush for a second phone call to do this. Don’t waste your time or theirs! NEVER DO HOURLY RATES.

   → We have a calculator that solves the perennial problem of "What do I charge?" It can generate an instant quote for 99% of video production jobs. It saves hours of frustration, it generates ready-to-print invoices, and it allows you to quote what your time is worth with ease.

2. Try to meet in person on your second point of contact if the price doesn’t blow their hair back. Lunch is a great way to break the ice and get to talking about hopes, dreams, families, and just connect as human beings. This step is important. We prefer to do business with people we trust - not just faceless internet entities.

3. If it's a larger project, come ready with a detailed pitch. Don't know where to start? Check out the post with Diego Contreras - he offered up his pitch for you to learn from, and this fellow is someone who has pitched and directed BIG projects for GE. 

Oh, in case you skimmed (which is the vast majority of readers), here's a big, red summary of what you need from this section -

Step 5: Sign the contract

1. Don’t nuke this one either, but before any work begins, make sure the contract is signed.

2. Things to include in your contract:

   1. Delivery dates

   2. Watermarks until payments are made

   3. Method of payments

   4. Arbitration clause

   5. A clear correlation with your invoice which has line items for every little thing you will (and will not) do in their video that’s not super esoteric

      → For example, don’t mention “rotoscoping” on your invoice when “visual effects” works just fine - your client doesn’t care - they just want a good story that will double their sales or book 20 more clients.

   6. How many revisions you will do

If you want a solid contract that includes all of the above, you can build your own or use ours.

Step 6: Go make an amazing video

1. Push yourself. Over-deliver. Give it your best, but also be flexible - learn to compromise (in life, in marriage, and in film/video) - as you want to tell *their* vision. Don’t internalize feedback/criticism too much and strive to find that middle ground between their ideas and your ideas. Remember, they are hiring you for your skill set and your share of the vision. Come prepared, but be open to their ideas.

2. Offer (scratch that, GIVE) indefinite cloud storage of the completed video and color-graded files and audio. Find a way to over-deliver in your customer service.

Step 7: Send the original contract back

1. The final step when the video is done is to send the contract back (you can use Cuda Sign for this part, just like in step 5) and have them agree that the work is done, no further revisions will be made, and their payment has been made in full.

2. Include space for both of you to sign and date to “close out” the job. I learned this from my Air Force days, and if it's one thing the Chair Force motor pool is good at is paperwork.

3. OR — if you’re paid your balance, that in effect closes out the job.

4. Here’s what else you should do when the video is wrapped.

Alright, now you're ready to get your butt in gear and find some people to go serve!

To get started on your journey, here are a couple of bonus items for you:

1. A template generator that you can plug and play the basic email info, like name, email, business, type of client, etc.

2. A swipe file of emails you can use to follow up without being spammy!

3. This entire strategy outline, as a printable checklist.

To get in on all of the wholesome, 100% GF goodness, download your bonuses here:

NEIN

Which stage are you stuck on? Comment below!

Original: July 15, 2016; updated Aug 1, 2017; Nov 4, 2018; Apr 24, 2020

Question is… what the heck do you do when you’re trying to land those jobs/gigs? What about what NOT to do?

If we’re going to lead larger crews one day and tell stories of hope to millions and billions, we gotta always be training. Always be pitching. Always be trying. Got a job already? Great! Pitch producers for their time so you can learn from them. 5 minutes on a phone with even a talent agent will do wonders for your morale.

Don’t have a film/video job yet? Keep creating. Keep learning. You’ll get there, if you don’t quit.

In between film and video work? Gotcha covered.

Until then, here are some brutally honest learns I’ve picked up along the way. I’m no David Fincher, but I’ve been a microbudget filmmaker for several years now, and I’ve had more misfires than the Millennium Falcon’s Hyperdrive in The Empire Strikes Back. Let’s dive in with the do’s.

DO:

1. Leave Your Card Everywhere

I have two sets of business cards. One is awful-looking. I wasn’t smelling the roses when I had these made on a thin card stock. They were made with Vista Print and they look like it.

I used to leave this one almost everywhere. When I’d go to the gas station, I’d leave my card. When I’d get groceries, I’d leave my card. I had (and probably still have) piles of them, and if all I need is to get my name and contact info out there, this kinda card is better than nothing.

I’m committed to my family, my future crews, and I’m committed to sharing the message of hope through film and video in non-cheesy ways. If we don’t speak up, no one will hear we’re ready to roll cameras.

My other cards are from Moo. If Vista Print is where you take your kids for their first car, a Geo Metro, then Moo is where you go when you need a solid SUV.

These I give to people when I have a film/video opportunity. The cards simply say I’m in digital film/video, and my contact information is below my “title.”

Don’t bother calling the 702 number. I ain’t in Vegas no more.

Back to the cards… They’re thick – about four times thicker than a standard card, and they don’t feel cheap. I chose rounded squares because I want to stand out. The guys at Moo even sent an extra 30 cards with my first order of 100. Great customer service? I’m coming back! You want to go with Moo? Here's an affiliate link - it won't cost you a dime. Instead, this link will give you 20% off your first order and I'll get a small credit on their site. It's a win for both of us.

If you’re looking for a Cadillac, then you go to the guys who print metal business cards. I think they fire up a forge and pound out your cards with Thor’s hammer, one at a time, a la a Dark Ages blacksmithing.

If you’re brand new to offering your video production skills as a service, never fear. There’s a whole how-to right here.

But Jake the film guy, how does this help me find work?

Whether you have a job or not this very moment in film/video, leave your card everywhere. Businesses, whether chock full of employees or just a business of one (you), die because of obscurity.

2. Make Your Branding Consistent

I started out with a really bad-looking design when the earlier iteration of this site was launched as churchfilms.com.

Egad. Talk about Windows 95 clip-art.

I’m by no means a great graphic designer, but the newer look is serviceable and what’s more, it’s leaps and bound beyond the original “look.”

I have this icon everywhere online - even my personal Facebook and Linkedin. You should be doing the same too. Choose colors that are balanced, meaningful, and pick something you’re not embarrassed to plaster everywhere.

3. Make Your Contact Info Readily Available

Obviously, you want your contact info on the left margin of your business cards, if not the top-left corner.

But make sure this is true on your social media, your website, heck, even the shirts you wear.

I almost wear the same shirt every day.

On the back, it’s got the old URL. For example, my gym was giving out their branded shirts like Halloween candy, and it hit me shortly after hitting my one-year mark in business that I was advertising for them. If I don’t believe in my abilities as a video producer, wearing their guano makes sense.

BUT I DO B’LIEVE in my abilities, so I picked this very simple shirt to wear, and I wear it almost every day. I have a tank and a hoodie version as well for the seasonal changes. I want to encourage people and in the old days, refer them to my ole site.

Where else can you make your contact info readily available? I haven’t gone the car decals/wrap route, but that doesn’t mean you can’t.

4. Customize Your Pitch

So many lazy sales people blast out nameless emails. Don’t be that gal or guy. Find out the decision-maker you’re looking to connect with, and if it’s a W2 job, learn who the other influencers are by name too. I’m willing to bet half or more of all applications fail to address the decision-maker.

If you’re not sure how to find this kind of information, study up my fellow microbudgeter.

5. Always Know What You’re Doing In Your Followups

I once made a followup call to a decision-maker, fully expecting to have to leave a voicemail. I knew EXACTLY what I was going to say in the vm, but guess what, against all odds, the decision-maker answered the phone.

I was a deer-in-the-headlights.

I stumbled my way through the conversation and hung-up on myself before he could offer his salutation. If ever I was in the top 10% for the gig, I was in the bottom 10% by the end of my chat, and I knew, and I knew he knew I knew it.

Click.

Hard lesson, but a necessary one.

6.  Creatively Persist With Your Followups

I talked about this in another post, but it’s worth repeating here.

a. Frequency – develop a schedule and commit to following up. One and done doesn’t exist when trying to get attention. I was invited to a breakfast with a producer because I committed to the work of following up. One email, one phone call, one of anything is NOT ENOUGH.

b. Vary it up – don’t just call and ask for “a status update.” You’ll be in the trash heap before long. Instead, use email, fax (can do for free within reason), Amazon, hand-delivered messages, showing up at their place of business, call up a radio DJ and ask for a shout-out, leave a Facebook comment, etc.

c. Be creative – send a snail mail invitation to a movie. Send a loaf of bread and say you’d “LOAF to do business with them.” Send a William Shatner e-card and say “hi.”

7. Train Every Working Day

Even with proper training every working day, you’re bound to have problems like I did in the 5th point. Tires blow out every now and again, even if your car is well-maintained.

But that’s no excuse to go to the gym and work out once for three hours and call it good.

Train your brain. Rehearse your pitches. Stay alert. Stay ready. Discipline isn’t kind to those on the weak sauce.

8. Know Your Pitches

I’ve got a 15, 30, and 60-second pitch for my video production services. I’ve got a pitch for Powers & Principalities. Just like I have to train (sales/marketing) every working day, I need to be able to rattle off my pitches – with energy – at the drop of a hat.

At the same time, don’t show up to a party and only talk about yourself. Meaning, if you’re in a place to pitch your services or your film, say what is necessary, ask great questions, and try to close the deal. Don’t take it as an excuse to deliver a 5-minute monologue without checking in with your audience. It was the same with teaching. Talk, ask questions, get feedback and engage your crowd. Every pitch should end with opportunities to close the deal and second to that, give more information if needed.

9. Appreciate Your Failures

Learn to bounce back, amigos:

DON’T:

1. Do Work Without An Agreement

I made a colossal mistake in a W2 job application once. During the interview, I was asked if I’d do a project for the team. It’s natural in our line of work; after all, a coach doesn’t want to hear how well you can tackle. He wants to see you tackle.

If a project is for fun, if it’s not going to be used by the group you’re looking to get in with, then by all means, go for it, but still write up an agreement stating YOUR WORK WILL NOT BE USED.

If it is going to be used, discuss payment up front. Don’t be afraid to blow the deal. Remember, there are 7 billion other people on Earth.

I didn’t discuss payment up front. Blunder.

As the interview process got down to the negotiation table, I learned of final revisions to be made before the video would be live in the group. I.e. used in their world. So, like any electrical contractor would do, I sent my invoice for the work rendered. I gave them a fair market value, shaved off hours from the total bill, and it was very comparable to what it would have cost them to have me in that role, working for that amount of time (remember, your “cost” to an employer is at least 1.2x what your salary is… meaning if your salary is $60,000, your employer actually spends $72,000 or more on you every year).

They pushed back.

Rightly so – I didn’t have a written agreement. I lost the job opportunity, but I wasn’t afraid to lose the deal. I was more concerned I didn’t approach the project with a written agreement. We agreed on a sum for almost half what I billed them because I didn’t have an agreement.

Guess whose fault it was? Mine.

Give a potential opportunity 2-4 hours of “work” if it’ll allow them to see what you can do and beyond that, get a written agreement your work

a. won’t be used for commercial purposes,

and/or

b. will be compensated to the tune of x dollars.

If you’re lost in the sauce when it comes to video production contracts, get a solid template for FREE to save yourself from these kinds of dilemmas.

Then use the darn thing.

2. Shotgun Everyone

Don’t make a template and blast everyone with the same template. Remember, customize your pitch.

In addition to customizing, you’ll want to go a mile deep with 5-15 different people. Applying for a W2 job? Pick a handful and follow up ‘til the job is closed. Don’t blast out your resume to 100 different groups: I guarantee you’ll get ZERO bites. Learn about a few different organizations, set yourself apart from the other weak-sauce applications they’re fielding, and smoke that first conversation with facts. Show ‘em you did your homework. You can only do that when you go a mile deep with a handful of groups.

This principle is true even with one-off jobs like the ones you can find at staffmeup.com. You don’t want to blast 50 different editing jobs. Pick 5, learn who the decision-makers are, and go all-in.

Everyone can submit a resume. But you’re not everyone, and it’s your job to show them.

3. Get Obsessed With Gear

Gear changes all the time. The GH4 made a big splash in 2014, then Panasonic made a few smaller derivatives, and then they released the GH5. They’ll be on the GHX 3000 in 5 years. It’s a vicious cycle, and technology always changes. Pick gear that will last a solid 6+ years (entirely possible) and farm out the bigger jobs that require the bigger guns. If you want to be a director or producer, you won’t be running cameras forever. Get used to finding and working with a DP. A great DP keeps all her or his own gear relevant anyways OR know what’s relevant.

If you’re a DP, you probably already have a great C300 package or something similar, or you (or the production) will rent a Red or Alexa package anyways. So, don’t bother with the newest mirrorless camera. Get better at using the gear you have like Sir Simon Cade. That kid is still using a Rebel T2i, and he’s jolly good at it.

In case I haven’t beat a dead horse yet, gear doesn’t find you the next job; it may be a tool on the next job, but YOU are the reason you’ll get the next job – your technical competence is important, but your ability to sell your skills, over-deliver, show up ahead of time, stay late, work hard, and contribute are far more valuable.

For example, I once had a subcontractor who could easily deliver all the technical requirements of the job (and did), but I didn’t over-communicate expectations. I was at fault for not going the extra mile, and as a result, I sweated the deadlines, heard a lot of excuses, and I nearly paid for it with losses. Even though I’m responsible to over-communicate expectations, the experience was awful and you can bet I’m not hiring the sub again.

4. Go Into Piles Of Debt

Every big business leverages debt to grow their business. I too have used debt at various points in my business, but obviously not on the scale of Coca-Cola. Dave Ramsey will tell you to never get into debt (except possibly for a house), but Dave Ramsey also doesn’t coach you on building a video production business or a feature-length film. Use some debt (like Paypal credit) to finance purchases as needed and then be an adult and pay it off. Don’t fall into the previous trap of going gear-frenzy, financing $45,000 worth of gear, and then failing to make a single ad for a client. Savvy?

5. Show Up Late

15 minutes early is on-time. Showing up on-time is late. This isn’t just for military folks. In the business world, the person who shows up late (or later) doesn’t care (or doesn’t care as much).

Once I was nervous enough I had to pull over at a gas station and relieve myself. The stop cost me and I ended up being late. I owned the tardiness, but I was still late, and I set a bad first impression. Guess who didn’t land the job?

My friend Terry routinely shows up a half-hour ahead of when he’s needed. I bet he hasn’t been late for an appointment in decades. Smart man.

6. Point The Finger

Biggest drawback of any leader or public figure (next to a scandal that closes down their business and destroys their livelihood, not to mention the livelihoods of all who worked for ‘em)? Failure to take responsibility.

Don’t make up excuses. Don’t blame Uncle Bob. Just don’t. You’re at fault, always. Accept it now. When poop hits the fan, you’re at fault. When your subcontractor shows up late, it’s your fault for not over-communicating.

I have a super-simplified formula below for what it takes to be a filmmaker on the international level like Nolan or Scorsese, and responsibility is a huge component of it. Start practicing now, with your family, with your team at work, with your customer service rep at Verizon, and with the guy ringing up your groceries at the store.

7. Give Up Trying… Unless…

a. You absolutely blow it. Sometimes you just know there’s no going back. Count your losses, learn from your mistakes and press on.

b. You get zero communication from the other party. You can only follow up so long. I pick someone new to pitch only after getting ZERO responses to about 14 varied, consistent and creative ways of following up. If I really want to work for Uncle Bob on a project, Uncle Bob’s going to hear some straight-laced, some zany, and some creative followups over the course of 16-26 weeks (about 14 contacts in all… and the timeline is super compressed as needed). If I can’t budge Uncle Bob in that time frame, the gig’s already over and I failed to be loud enough. There’s 7 billion other people in the world – move along.

Grant Cardone believes in following up ‘til you die. Grant Cardone also has an army of people that make up his businesses. ‘Til we get there, sometimes, you just have to know your side of the Mason-Dixon line.

c. You get a cease-and-desist letter. I only have one to my name. I’m not a bully, but I believe in following up because I believe I’m better than my competitors, and I believe I’m meant to learn how to pitch big ideas that’ll require lots of guts. I don’t take option a. or b. lightly, and I’m bound to get another cease-and-desist in my lifetime. It’s a slap on the wrist; if you get one, smile, nod, and move along (they’re not the droids you’re looking for).

8. Quit Praying

There’s a story of this guy named Daniel from centuries ago who lived as an outsider of sorts. He wasn’t alone either; a lot of his countrymen were exiles too. He made it a point to pray for his host nation… and himself. He prayed regularly too, even when the long arm of the law was on the hunt for folks like Daniel who were bent on praying.

I encourage you to keep praying. There’s a lot at play when we pray, even when we don’t see fruit immediately. There are a lot of moving parts in the world, both seen and unseen, and when the answers are “no” or non-descript, see it as a chance to get some grit in you.

Grit & responsibility & creativity & problem-solving = a butt-kicking filmmaker.

9. Quit Exercising

Don’t let your temple go to waste and don’t trash it. A healthy body is essential for filmmaking. ‘Nuff said.

Bonus Time:

If you’re serious about film/video, and if you know you’re capable of leading others on a film set, and if your ambitions are bigger than “I want to make a movie,” then I hope and pray (every day) you’ll dig your heels in. Grit is something we all need in this business, much more than the latest tech. I’m convinced responsibility is equally important, but I already said as much in the formula.

On that note, when you join the Bold Nation newsletter below, you’ll get instant access to the first two chapters of my second book, Nobody Told Me There Was Mustard On This Sandwich: Take Responsibility At All Levels Of Filmmaking. Plus, I’ll send you a copy of a one-page resume I’ve used that’s as polished as can be with clear cause-and-effect relationships for every job description. Furthermore, you’ll have a link to this post’s video if you’re of the visual-learning persuasion (you don’t like reading!?). Last but not least, I’ll even send you a bonus video, one I created specifically for a pitch. Mimic it, tear it up, whatever you gotta do.

Recap: when you join the Bold Nation newsletter, you’ll get immediate access to

• The first two chapters of “Nobody Told Me There Was Mustard On This Sandwich”

• A film/video resume you can mimic

• A video of this post’s content

• An actual pitch video I sent and got a response to it

Ready? Click that big button below. I don’t sell your information or blow up your inbox with spam; mail goes out about once a week.

NEIN

Your Turn - What Is The Biggest DO NOT In Your Playbook? Comment below!

Original: 11/13/17; updated 2/23/20

To stay in front of your prospect, as a budding microbudget filmmaker, you need to flex your creativity because you're obscure. You and I don't exist. There are 45,000+ businesses in your backyard. You and I are blips. Savvy? 

How can you serve them with a creative, visual masterpiece if you yourself can’t commit to serving them, which means following up with them, and engaging them through multiple, creative channels? Video producers and filmmakers - be creative! Don’t be a slacker McFly!

Upgrade: 15 creative followups not enough for you? I put together a list of 15 more for you when you sign up for the Bold Nation Newsletter below!

0. Skype?

This one's easy, if not irrelevant in 2020 since video calls are normalized across the board now, but you still have to be creative. Doesn't matter if it's for your day job or for doing this sort of work on the side (the kind of work that even brings you here). Do not be lazy, and do not be one-dimensional and only use the phone. Use Skype as a vehicle for both text messages, pictures, videos, and audio messages. Don't use it routinely though because it's still not as widely used as other means of communication. Ask yourself, honestly, how often do you use Skype?

I use this one sporadically to vary things up, but I have yet to get a response from anybody using Skype, so the jury is still out on it. 

How do I find someone on Skype?

Here:

I sometimes start these messages off with a Scottish accent. How will you start yours?

You could play the sound of a spinning reel and say, "John, that's the sound of your short film ad playing - I've got front row seats for you, best in the house. Hey, it's Uncle Bob from UB Productions. Give me a call 702-000-0000 and let's get the show started!"

Persistent. Memorable. Consistent. Breaking ground Copernicus - consider it done. 

1. Facebook Messenger

Here's an easy one. You don't even have to be super creative. Facebook Messenger. Heck, use the “WAVE” option. I see this time and time again, it is the new text messaging; it is the new email. People love getting a Facebook message. With well over a billion users, it's a fair bet that the person you want to get a hold of is on Facebook. The problem is, if you are not connected to them, you won't be able to get their attention right away. It will go to their other inbox, but it will go to their inbox. I would not include any kind of links. You don't want to be disregarded as spam.

But... When you do get them to reciprocate, then you can forward them anything from inside your messenger inbox, and you are good to go with any form of multimedia you want to send their way. 

But how to get ‘em to reciprocate? Send a friend request. It’s worked most every time for me.

2. Video Message - SMS

If you don't have their mobile phone number, this won't do you any good. But let's assume you have their email and you do get a response from them. If you haven't had personal contact with this person, and for that matter, you don't have their business card, then their cell phone number might be in their signature block.

Might. So look!

Send them a video message. Send them something to break down the barriers to let them know that you are there to serve them - and that you're a human. Again creativity and consistency are keys in this arena.

3. Video Message - Email

I like to start off outreach and prospecting with a personalized video message (there's a free service for this - unlisted, personalized videos - that integrates with your YouTube account) that I can send by email. My sales mentor Grant Cardone (more on that below) believes in calling as the first point of contact, and even though his group has studied this and found that only 2% of sales are made during that first phone call, he still believes it's a strong way to open up the dialogue because of its quickness.

He's a millionaire. Jake is not. 

I admit it freely: I still wrestle with making calls, so cold calls are something I really have to man up to do. I much prefer to introduce myself through other means, and I would rather even show up in person unannounced then do a cold call, so my old approach was to call them on the 4th or 5th point of contact so that it was a slightly warmer interruption instead of just being a part of that 98% of unwelcome solicitations. I now follow Grant's advice and couple emails with calls and vice versa. 

I've either had no reaction to video messages or warm reactions. #Wunderbar.

4. Audio Message - Email

This one has worked well for me. It's like leaving a message for somebody, without clogging their voicemail, and giving them the flexibility to check it at any time in their email. I've received either no response or warm responses to audio messages. If you're on a Mac, just right-click QuickTime and you can do a new audio recording right there that you can then attach as a file directly inside of your mail program.

5. Cookies

Send them a cookie (learned this one from Grant Cardone - a recurring mentor in this post).

Go to Amazon and shell out some bucks to get your prospect some cookies and include a note that simply says you want to take a bite out of their business.

I have had zero negative responses from this. Come on guys, they're cookies!

If anything, when using it as a part of my followup, it has softened relationships that started off with

Go away, we do not need your services, we're good.

to

Let's set something up next month.

Again, a great attitude and creativity go a long way with this process. Persistence as well - you need that as well as the initiative and the grit that go with being a filmmaker. And while we're on the subject, you might as well include the need to take responsibility for yourself. Always do that.

I can't take credit for this - Again, I subscribe to Grant Cardone’s methods, and it wasn't until this summer that I followed him because it took me 12+ painful months to realize that sales or rather closing (and overcoming objections) are my biggest weaknesses in starting a business.

I was a math teacher in my 20's. I amassed over 1,000 hours of instruction in secondary school and college classes. I'm fine with teaching (selling). I'm fine with problem-solving. My weaknesses were and to a lesser degree still are (now that I'm addressing them) handling objections and closing.

What areas are you struggling in? Prospecting? Selling? Closing? Motivation? Finding financing for your clients' productions? Grant's got something (and then some) for every area you will face as a filmmaker a) finding work and b) financing work.  

And he makes a good point, and that is that everyone is a sales person, even ministers and even receptionists and especially filmmakers.

So it goes without saying, if you want to be a director of a big-budget feature that's going to reach millions of people with the message of hope, you better learn to be a better salesman. A man much wiser than me (you don't know him) once told me as I was starting my business that the difference between a mega church here in Vegas and Joel Osteen's mega church is simply that Joel Osteen is a better salesman.

Yes, that's simplifying a lot, but there's truth to that. Think of your favorite filmmakers - they are better at sales than you and I are.

Fact.

6. Bday Card

I'm sure somebody thought of this before me, but it just hit me one day when I was going through some of the birthday cards that we had left over to send people that I could send a prospect a birthday card and invite them to a phone call or an in-person visit or coffee or whatever with the birthday card.

The reality is you and me have a birthday at some point this year and so does your prospect.

So send her a birthday card and tell her that it's her birthday at some point so she and her team might as well celebrate with a short film ad.

Try it. Let me know when you did.

7. Goofy Email

I can't take credit for this general idea, and it's up to you to formulate how you want to do it (I came up with the third point, but again, the general idea is not mine).

This is what I do after I've reached out to somebody 6 or 7 or 8 times and I've gotten zero responses from them:

I haven't heard back from you, so I have to assume:

1. You just hired a service that can create quality videos and funnels to get folks to pick up the phone and call _________________.

2. You're interested, but you're super swamped.

3. You found out they're remaking Highlander without Sean Connery, and you can't bring yourself to watch or read anything on a screen ever again.

Please let me know!

I highly recommend that you don't just plagiarize mine - share your personality.Tailor it to your personality and if possible, that of your prospects.

I've gotten some good responses to this email. One guy said I had a good sense of humor. Another guy said it's kind of a mixture of 1 and 2, and that's why he hadn't responded.

The point of this email is to show that you're a real person and not just some robot or some telemarketer that has a quota to fill. If you've really been going through the followup process, and if you are committed to serving that person because you know you have a service that's truly going to benefit them, then be a real person. Share photos of you and your family at Thanksgiving; ask how their Thanksgiving went; ask what their favorite drama is (you are after all a budding filmmaker).

Treat them like you would any other person in your close circle and that is like a friend. This is an email that works to that end.

8. Ask questions about their movies/shows

Well I already spoiled this one in #7, but I do love asking questions about the movies that people like to watch. The sky's the limit here.

You don't always want to ask to do business with them. 

If every point of contact is an offer to serve them, you're one dimensional. 

I've come up with a few questions, and I make it a point to reach out to my personal network on Facebook every Friday night with these kinds of questions. It's been a great way to stay in touch, and Facebook has decided that it favors questions (over other posts) on my profile.

But isn't that kind of lifelike?

Questions are great because you are asking someone to open up and share their hopes, dreams, their opinions, etc. Questions are a great way to further relationships.

So I ask these questions to my prospects. When I ask Uncle Bob what his favorite drama is or what's Anna Maria's favorite movie where the main character always assumes responsibility for herself, it's not entirely outside of the wheelhouse of followup for a budding filmmaker like you or me; it's not like you're asking if they like Fox, CNN, or BBC better. You's talking movies and you in the movie bizness!

9. Tickets

If you're going to a movie or to watch your local sports team, offer to get them a ticket to go with you. It's an offer, so chances are they probably won't take you up on it (they may be busy, not interested, or they may not want to do business with you yet), but again this is an opportunity to connect with somebody as a human being. You can't put a price tag on that, and if we're called to love our neighbors as ourselves, you should be inviting those that are hard to love to these events with you (ahem... challenging prospects).

Try this in your personal life, and it will be even more natural in your prospecting. I personally want to invite more people to our events and gatherings, people that may not even have the best relationship with us (or no relationship with us). That's what love does. I'm pretty sure the King wants us to open up our doors and throw parties for people that no one else will, so I'm letting you off the hook when I say invite your prospects to your gatherings.

Besides, if you want to be a filmmaker, then you're in the business of filmmaking past the usual 9-5.

10. Lunch

Everybody's got to eat, and if you're buying, you might just get a face-to-face meeting with them. Be careful here though: if you're new to the sales cycle, then your prospect may be able to sniff that out and take you for a ride just because they know they can get a free lunch out of it.

It happened to me, and I'm okay with it because of the comments in #9. Approach it with an attitude of honoring others, but be mindful while you're at it. Your bank account is finite after all; you've got folks that depend on you, and you want to tell stories of hope that will impact billions - so use discernment with "free" lunch. Most folks won't accept the lunch offer, but for those that do, be discerning about serving them and their company. Grant Cardone says treat the buyer like a buyer, always. 

11. Singing E Card

Also borrowed this idea from Grant. It's so simple really.

Because of the spam laws, you can't just send business proposals or even invite people to do business through the singing card services.

I know. I tried once.

You would think common sense would have told me not to do it, but I tried anyways, and they flat-out do not allow it.

Rightly so.

It's the same reason why you can't send the $1 sample/first month's subscription to the Dollar Shave Club to a client and say hey, let's cut to the competition. Businesses don't want their operations being abused and manipulated by stubborn sales and marketing people.

Having said that, you can easily send a singing e-card to a prospect on a holiday, or other special occasion. Or you can use any of those questions from that list I mentioned earlier to spark conversation. Just make sure you are using these singing e cards to connect with them as a person.

Prospect/client has an anniversary? Send them a card.

New baby in the family? Send a card.

Relationships, whether business, family, friends, or any other category that you so wish to consider, all require time and there is no shortcutting time in a relationship. Some relationships are quicker to get going than others but the fact remains that they all require time. There's no bypassing it. Keep that in the back of your mind as you send a singing e-card to someone.

Remember, if they've got a place that they go to every day for work, and if they have a business line and a business email, then they are there to do business. Why else do they show up to work?

So do business with 'em, and as you do that, treat them like you would your own family. Your family has a birthday? You congratulate them. Do likewise for thy prospects/clients.

P.s. non-affiliate link for this service: I use these guys.

12. Phone - Leave A Goofy Message On An Off Day

This isn't necessarily conventional advice because it's always better to get in front of somebody, but if no one answers then you must leave a message. You always need to leave a message no matter what (Grant's advice), but if no one is around, you could leave a creative message on an off-day. Use their first name, quickly summarize what you can do for them, and be creative here: invite them to coffee or lunch. With an accent. Singing. Like Ron Burgundy. Be your real self, be professional of course, but be memorable.

My favorite right now is to leave a message as Sean Connery, interested in coming out of retirement for their short film, provided there's an air-conditioned trailer in the Vegas heat with free wifi. 

13. Show Up With Some Food

I’ve done this a few times. The boss wouldn’t see me on one occasion, on a few others, the boss was too shy to have what I brought (or they couldn’t, in the case of caffeine). But every time I’ve brought something, I’ve always been able to leave it with their folks. Even the receptionist could be an influencer - treat folks with respect, ja?!

Now, I’m from the south. I grew up in metro-Atl for the first 21 years of my life, so it’s engrained in my DNA to show up with food. It’s cultural, and if you’re going to be snacking, you best be sharing.

When you do these productions for clients in your backyard, then you need to set aside a few bucks (i.e. budget them in) so you can drop a dime on a coffee for the next 20 prospects/clients - savvy? I don’t want to even think about it - neither should you. I hardwired it into the Instant Quotes Calculator so that when you’re quoting projects, you’re already prepping for those next 20 meetings.

14. Show Up With Your Camera In Hand, Rigged Out

I’ve yet to actually do this. If you do it before me, comment below and let me know how it goes.

I showed up to two different prospects’ locations after really trying to get in front of them, and I had the camera ready to go. The first one I biffed by not bringing it inside, and the second one, I made the rookie mistake of not calling ahead. If I had, I would have known they were locking up 20 minutes before I rolled up.

Theory is this: show up, offer to do a 15-second bumper with them. Traditional is okay here - it’s the act of service, and it’s an offer. It doesn’t mean you are doing it; it’s an offer. They may pass. But service is key here. So show up and serve.

I have a great client here, and while we were ironing out the details and paperwork on a narrative short film ad, they were in a local, non-monetary contest. The only benefit would be exposure, and this company is actively pursuing co-ops downtown to bring jobs and housing to a rundown area. Win win.

They needed votes, and I hope in these situations, you’ll do the same and take some initiative. If we’re to help our prospects/clients with financing (assume responsibility), then the sky’s the limit. Pick up your camera, shoot a short, 15-second pitch with the owner (who else is more invested in the business than the head honcho?), and give them that bumper. I did it without a contract in place for future work. Give without expecting; ready for this word again? Serve.

15. Leave A Review

This is my favorite, and it really only works with people you’ve done business with, from something as simple as you bought gourmet popcorn from them to they came to your house and did an asbestos inspection. If you’ve done business with them, leave a review. You have Google, Facebook, Yelp, Bing, and Home Advisor (if that’s relevant to your client) that you can leave reviews on for your client. Do it. Don’t ask for their business in the review. One, you can get flagged. Two, it’s spammy. Three, it’s an opportunity to give back and honor their employees. Yes, you can name-drop the cashier that you interacted with - especially if they demonstrated exceptional service. In fact, you should. It builds them up (we’re called to), and it lets their boss know what their people are up to. You - the consumer - are the best evaluator. The added benefit of this extra service is it continues the dialogue you have with your prospect/client. When the work is done with the client, you should review their business too.

...

Get to it. Write down your goals and put them somewhere you can see them when you're working. 

Then go serve. Have a purpose when reaching out to your folks, and do the work. 

Fight your fear. 

Pick up the phone. 

Send an SMS.

Show up in person.

Email. 

Persist. 

Eat your vitamins.

Say a prayer.

BONUS: I put together a list of 15 more creative followups to use. 

You want to reach millions with the message of hope? You can't load up your Netflix queue if you want to tell stories on Netflix. So, hit that there button below to be added to the list and get some extra followups to use in your arsenal.

NEIN

P.s. I don't sell your information. From time to time, I'll send you offers which helps keep this site running, but it's mostly a weekly letter with updates, news, and specials geared towards you, the budding filmmaker. 

What’s a creative followup you love!? Share below for the benefit of your fellow microbudgeters!

Original post: Dec 7, 2016; updated Dec 11, 2017, Feb 16, 2020

But I’m putting the cart before the horse. Why the deuce do we care about Facebook ads? Because as a video producer/budding filmmaker, we need to understand the deep dive on video metrics. Just as importantly, we need to be able to know how to take an end product, a video, or a trailer and know how to get eyeballs on it, see if people are interested. Now at this level, we are already wearing multiple hats. We often produce, direct, write, and edit our own stories. Sometimes we will have somebody else shoot the darn thing. Hopefully we can also get somebody to do sound. A grip is always nice. A casting director is sublime, and that’s definitely one I don’t think you should try to do yourself. But, if Alfred Hitchcock was so successful in part because he knew a little bit about every job on a film set, then I want you to consider that Facebook ads, for better or worse, are a part of your film set. A film will often spend its weight in gold on marketing. In other words, a film’s budget or greater is spent on marketing the darn thing. That’s why you’ll often hear that a film needs to make twice its budget for it to break even, at minimum.

If you pour any amount of time into a video, a short film, or a feature film, then you definitely need to put some marketing muscle behind it. As you and I grow and learn to lead and cast big visions, then this is something we will be able to hand off. But in the meantime, we need to know how the nuts and bolts of the system works. Facebook isn’t going away anytime soon. They still have over 1 billion active monthly users and they’re not slowing down like the ill-fated Myspace.

Note: these are my opinions. This post is a not a guarantee of results. Your ads may perform better or worse than my own - the responsibility is yours, amigos.

All instructions are given from a desktop. If you are on mobile device and that’s all you have couch cushion money for, sorry there, Bucko. You need to try to hop onto a desktop.

First things first, in the top right corner hit the drop-down arrow and then go down several slots to find the section called manage ads.

Step two, you want to select your account name; if you have multiple account names, click the one that shows up, and then pivot under the drop-down menu in the top left corner to find the account name associated with the page that you want to run the ad on. Apparently, you can do ads from your personal account. I had no idea until 2019 this was possible. It’s also entirely possible I’m not reading too clearly between the lines.

In any event, let’s assume that you’re under the right ad manager account for your page. Look for that green button that says Create on the far left. Click that button, and then since we’re going to be talking about video views, the next thing you’ll want to do is in the middle column under consideration, you’ll want to look for the icon with the camera. That’s your golden ticket, Charlie Bucket.

Once you’ve clicked it, scroll down and give the campaign a name, and then I would honestly do a split test. I always, always do a split test, even if it’s just men versus women. By default, the split-test option will be off, so hit the toggle switch to “on.”

Before I go any further, let me explain something. If I don’t spell an action out, if I don’t describe an action, then just ignore it for now. I don’t know everything there is to know about Facebook ads. I am a work in progress, and I will always tell you what I’m learning, whether that’s good, bad, or ugly. Most of the time, it is a protracted process just to set up one ad on Facebook, and I am by no means an expert with this tool. I’m little more qualified than Marty was when he jumped in the DeLorean and hit 88mph for the first time.

If you haven’t already created an audience, you’ll want to create a new audience. First thing I would do is decide where you want your ad to be showing. If it is a video sure enough and you are trying to get video views, it stands to reason you still probably have a specific area that you want to use for that video (E.g. the Salt Lake City metro). If it’s a short film, you could go broad because you’re gonna be looking for a very specific kind of audience beyond geography. But if it’s something else, then the video is probably going to be local or regional. Let’s assume it’s local and let’s say it’s Las Vegas for this example. Delete the default location of the “United States” for those of us who are stateside and replace it with “Las Vegas, Nevada.”

The next step is to decide what ages you want to see your ad. Same with gender. I pretty much always say all genders but as I rambled about earlier, I’ll sometimes do a split test of men versus women. If your ad is going to be in a different language other than your country’s native language, then it might be worth specifying that in the next field under languages.

The next part is where you can have a lot of fun; if you’ve never learned about Venn diagrams before, here’s a quick crash course lesson: when you add more than one qualifying characteristic to an audience, you are widening the pool. To narrow the pool, you need to identify common characteristics with each set. So, let’s say your client is selling ugly Thanksgiving sweaters to kiddos, and they are trying to reach parents who have kids between the ages of zero and 12 in Las Vegas, where it’s hot 15 months out of the year and sweaters have about a 5-day shelf life in Sin City. I would add those demographics: parents with kids 0 to 12 mos., 1 to 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 8, 9 to 12.

Each of those definitions or rather each of those characteristics makes the pool bigger. After all, you’re saying I want to reach people that fit inside any of these buckets. Now to refine those buckets, you want to use the two options beneath your “add demographics, interests or behaviors” search field: exclude people or narrow audience. 

You probably won’t use the exclude people feature too often. I’m sure you can find an occasion to use it, but in my experience, you can just as easily narrow an audience by specifying some additional behaviors. Perhaps you know you want to reach parents who like Thanksgiving. So, now you’re not just looking at parents of kids between the ages of zero and 12, but now you’re looking for parents in Las Vegas with kids between the ages of zero and 12 and they, the parents, must like Thanksgiving. That’s DIFFERENT than a pool of LV parents and LV people who like Thanksgiving. Rather, your refined pool is made up of LV parents WHO LIKE Thanksgiving.

You can narrow the field further by indicating or specifying that the parent also likes half eaten meatball sandwiches. Well, I tried, but that’s not an “interest” on Facebook, but good ole PB&J sammiches are, not that they’re related to ugly Thanksgiving sweaters (hey, anything’s possible… a niche is a niche).

If you already know ahead of time that you don’t want people who already like your page to see the video, then I would go to the next option where it says Connections. I would exclude people who like your page. If your page is ginormous, you could (instead) make use of the fact that you want people who like your page to see this ad since organic reach is next to bantha fodder these days.

I would use Facebook‘s Automatic Placements feature. That way, they’ll put it on their network of Zuck’s partners/subsidies/bros/card-carrying union members (ya know, the usual), like Instagram. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to run the ad on Instagram for the sake of getting video views. So far, I’ve had zero problems with the Automatic Placements.

Moving on down to the budget and schedule section, you’ll see two bigger options for what kind of optimization you want to entertain: ThruPlay and 2-Second Continuous Video Views. The former is geared for finding, on Facebook‘s behalf, people/viewers who are more likely to sit through a 15-second ad (or shorter) than those who bounce after just a couple of seconds. The 2-second continuous video views option is one you should consider split testing against the ThruPlay feature. The title of that latter optimization strategy is rather self-explanatory, so I won’t spell it out for you, Charlie Brown.

The next section is the Cost Control. This one is huge. Like Trump yuuuuuge (no, I didn’t vote for the guy, and yes, I need to get better about praying for leaders). Like Google Ads, you have a bid strategy at your disposal where you recognize that you are in an auction for peoples’ virtual real estate, and you want to only bid so much for a view. Type in what you’re willing to pay for whatever it is you selected above: the Thruplay or the 2-Second Continuous Video Views. I would start your ad early and start with a penny. I would increase by no more than a penny, 24 hours later if I’m not seeing any traction. If I’m really pressed for time, I’ll start with three cents. Let’s assume we’re going the ThruPlay route.

There’s a blue section underneath the cost control and on a desktop, it’s kind of discreet because they didn’t make it bold. It says, Show Additional Bid Strategies. This one is MUY IMPORTANTE.

Click that drop down and select the right option, amigo. That’s what I talked about earlier where you set a limit for how much you’re willing to bid for your ad to be shown. This is the part that’s like Google Ads: you can bid for your ads to appear to the right people. Do it.

Underneath that you’ll want to figure out when you get charged. This is something also that you might want to consider as a part of your split testing. Impression versus the ThruPlay. That impression is just a counter of how many times your ad is served to someone. Think of it as when an ad pops up on a user’s device or screen. It was served to them, whether they interacted with it or watched it or not. I don’t have enough data here to recommend one over the other, so go with the one they suggest when you’re starting out, and if you have spare coins in your piggy bank, do a split-test with ThruPlays calling the shots.

When it talks about the Scheduling/Delivery Type, I would just leave that alone. I wouldn’t even bother.

Next, you’ll want to set a daily budget. For example, you can start with five bucks and then pick a start and end date or let your ad run continuously. I don’t recommend the latter; I recommend having a start and end date in mind, especially if it’s your first time setting up an ad. You don’t want to keep getting billed for something that you forgot to maintain and keep a vigilant eye on.

Look for the blue Continue button in the corner.

You’re almost done. At the top, make sure you have the correct page that you want selected as well as the Instagram account that is connected to your brand, film, business, etc.

Scroll down below and under the Media section, you’ll want to upload your video. Again, if it is a ThruPlay ad that you are setting up, your video should be less than 15 seconds. Recommended anyways. It could be longer.

With Facebook, I have seen this countless times. You are lucky if people finish your entire video regardless of whether it’s organic or paid traffic. After 13 seconds, you might be lucky enough to still have a third of your people still watching the video. As I may have mentioned before, it’s an exponential drop off, so you definitely want to aim for less than 15 seconds. I see this at work, I see this with microbudgeter.com videos on Facebook. It’s probably a bell curve somewhere, lurking in the shadows that we are doomed to lose 67% of our audience by the 13-second mark on Zuck’s digital real estate/data mining platform. Headsup!

Note: you can find these analytics in your Creator Studio under “Insights” (available to a Facebook page).

Further down below you will see options for viewing the ad on the different mediums (mobile, desktop, courier pigeon, the usual). I’m gonna start with the desktop newsfeed and let you fill in the blanks on the other ones, such as what it looks like on the mobile newsfeed or Instagram.

First, you’ll want to check the box that says Add a website URL. Then, you’ll want to add a headline, and you’ll want to add a description. You might as well. As far as best practices go, just be yourself. Don’t try to sound like somebody you’re not.

Under the Call to Action drop down menu, pick something like Learn More or Watch More or even Get Quote. That could easily be applicable to you if you are running a video production business.

Further down, if you have a Facebook pixel set up, that’s great. That’s something that you can embed on your website so that you can actually have a two-way street to understand the traffic that’s going to your website from this ad and then further down the road be able to send more ads to the people that saw your ad originally and went to your website. It’s a whole process called retargeting that I’ve never gotten into (not yet), so in this journey of learning filmmaking, I have to circle back to it. When I do, I’ll share what I’m learning, good, bad, or ugly. But, I do have the pixel on my website, and there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to figure out how to retarget folks. I’m going to punt on that one.

Punt.

When it’s all said and done, navigate to the green Confirm button in the lower right hand corner. Presto. You’re live. Say a prayer, eat your vitamins, and keep a close watch on the ad’s performance.

Almost done…

If you need to go back and adjust your Bid cap, you’ll have to select your ad sets together. It’s an option when you’re in the editing feature of the ad sets on a desktop where you go down to the bottom and tell it that you would like to edit both ad sets. From there, you’ll be able to adjust the Bid cap because you’ll be watching it like a hawk to know if one cent is sufficient and if not, then you’ll bump it up to two cents. I.e. if you’re not getting any data on the back end of this ad, then you know that you’re not relevant in the auction with only a penny, so try two pennies. Rinse and repeat.

Bonus

This is really dense stuff, so if you need additional help, join the newsletter, and I'll share a walkthrough video of me actually setting this all up so that you have something that's current for the end of 2019 heading into 2020. Facebook is a constantly evolving platform, and it's no different for their ads, but this should be beneficial to learn from well into 2020. If you're feeling lost in the sauce, if you want some extra hand-holding, if you need to be able to go and pause and learn at your own pace, there's no shame in that. Hit that big blue button below, and I promise I won't farm your email out to the Wookies.

NEIN

Found this useful? Let me know what you’re seeing in the Impression vs. ThruPlay battle below.

If we spend a lot of time on a video or even just a little bit of time on a video, we do want to get out of obscurity and we do want that video to find its audience. After all, how are we going to tell stories of the hope we have in in the Almighty if nobody knows about our abilities to tell those stories? Short of a God-sized blueprint and/or miracle, at some point, we have to face the music and pitch our ideas and raise funds. Yes, the Almighty can provide all the resources we need. There's no doubt of that. But, we always get opportunities to join the King in His story, and it's on us to obey when those invites come. He doesn't force us. A quick read-through of the good book makes it abundantly clear that we have free will. I know that probably makes my Calvinist friends cringe, but God still loves ‘em.

…

TL;DR? Here’s that version, Mr. Reader’s Digest:

Video. Hope. Filmmaking. The Almighty.

1. YouTube

2. Facebook

3. LinkedIn

4. Twitter

5. Instagram

6. Anchor

7. Your blog

8. No Vimeo?

9. Tik Tok?

Video. Hope. Filmmaking. The Almighty. Subscribe.

…

Else, let’s count, shall we?

Place 1. Tube of You.

Obviously, we will want to put our video on YouTube. If it is a short film, perhaps we have a channel dedicated just to our short films. Maybe we have a separate channel for our educational content. Or, be a bum like me and have both short films and educational content on one channel. Yep, that was me. Nowadays, I focus on one type of content: math videos for kids who love numbers. YouTube is still the second biggest search engine behind only its parent company Google, and 50 bazillian hours are watched every single day on YouTube. It is a juggernaut that can’t be stopped, not by Cable, not by Deadpool, nor any other cat headed its way.

It has, all levity aside, over two billion active users every month. We cannot afford to pass up YouTube. Our video needs to live there first and foremost. Don't be like me and wait around forever. It doesn't matter how poor the quality is. Consistency is needed to get started. We can level up your production value later. Going back to Grant Cardone, he says we have to be frequent before we can become great.

The guys over at Video Influencers, Sean Cannell (now more associated with his own media company, Think Media) and Benji Travis consistently harp on consistency as being huge for starting out. Oddly enough, only Sean is consistently still creating the educational content. Benji’s still doing family style vlogging, but their joint venture is all but over.

And even if we're not just starting out but we're somewhat established, that consistency still matters. Think about it through the lens of the relationships that we cherish most: we don't just do a bunch of work on those relationships in the beginning. We consistently nurture them. A wife, a husband, kids, parents, etc. They all require consistent TLC. Solomon fell out of love with the Almighty, yet he had a divine encounter and a mega ultra whopper of a blessing from Him. Even so, he stopped trying.

YouTube is no different. Do, there is no try.

Place 2. Fbook.

Facebook is still a behemoth despite of all the problems it’s gotten itself into these days (stock crashing, data breaches, Libra, etc.). It still boasts well north of a gazillion users, and it might not be slowing down anytime soon unlike the ill-fated Myspace. Haha. Myspace.

With Facebook, we don't really have a great way to search videos like we do on YouTube, but the older generations (Old Millennials, Gen X’ers, and Boomers) - and I see this constantly at work - love Facebook. Pretty much everybody born before 1987 treats it like an email service or a text messaging service: it's a place to get messages from people. That's why Messenger has been so hugely popular. It's not just because people can call, but it's got the wow factor that emails did back in the mid-90’s. It’s got the dopamine hit that we crave, same as when we got a text message in the 2000’s, back when text messages were not unlimited. Facebook Messenger works over Wi-Fi and we can call/text/video people, and so people are addicted to that red notification. That's the biggest strength the platform has going for it. It allows us to incorporate GIF’s and other multimedia on Messenger, and as long as we have internet access and a device, it's free. They are very much a telecommunications giant (and perhaps financial disrupter - see that link up top about Libra) lurking around in the rafters, unlike Myspace which was just a novelty act when it had its moment in the sun.

With Facebook video, and especially now with a page, meaning not a personal profile, but a page being able to schedule videos ahead of time, we can do a lot of the same things that you can do on YouTube. From the outside looking in though, there are a lotta options to contend with when you hit the upload button.

YouTube is first and foremost a video aggregator. Facebook is first and foremost a telecommunications giant. They are different games serving different audiences with some overlap, but it's worth taking some time to learn how to upload (or more powerfully, schedule) a video to your Facebook page (and possibly learn about dumping ads on video views). Create a short blurb for the Facebook page, again not a personal profile but the page page, although we should have a personal profile too (if we’re going to run a business page), and then in that video, direct people to go to the original YouTube video.

Facebook will crush the organic reach of that post of an outbound link. They don't want people leaving their platform, no different than YouTube isn't too keen on us leaving their platform. They want us to keep binging. Facebook does not want to send any more TLC to YouTube. Nonetheless, for the people that are consuming our information or entertainment, it's not a bad idea to let the search giant that is YouTube post the full-length video (and Facebook just gets a teaser). The people that want that information won't be lazy and they’ll go fish out the content when they need it.

It's not the focus of this post to give pros and cons of each platform, but I will say this about Facebook as I'm thinking about what makes its video offerings different from YouTube: the simplicity of the analytics for Facebook. That's what I enjoy most about Facebook video over YouTube video, just in this regard, and that is the data. The layout is just much cleaner and not as dense. YouTube has more than I and the average bear ever need in terms of metrics. Facebook offers the essentials, particularly a more direct route to audience retention. YouTube has that stat buried in each video - frustrating.

As a side note: we can do live video to both YouTube and Facebook, even from a phone or from a more powerful intermediary like Wirecast. I once went to a church where the weekly broadcast was pushed through Wirecast onto Facebook, and only about once a quarter did we have something beyond our control happen where Facebook did not receive our stream. We did not stream to YouTube, so I can't speak about its effectiveness (Wirecast, that is) other than it’s got YouTube built-in as a streaming option, so do the due diligence and give YouTube a look before settling on Facebook. 

Place 3. LinkedIn.

LinkedIn has evolved over the years from being just a place for jobs and digital business cards to being a full-blown social media platform, and it is my second favorite these days. I love it because of the culture it inherently has of being very businesslike, but at the same time, it’s a place to share video and text, pictures, and not a bunch of tasteless jokes or cat videos that clog up the arteries. Upload a snippet of your video to LinkedIn with its native ability to upload videos, use relevant hashtags - including your local metro area - and then point people back to watch the full video on your YouTube channel. 

Place 4. Jack Dorsey’s Ole House.

You can upload snippets of your video to Twitter, and while I am by no means an expert on Twitter, I can see that it is still alive. People are still using it. As best as I can tell, it's kind of like a microblogging platform. I'm not the first person to use that term, and I won't be the last. Whether it's 120 characters or 240 characters or screenshots of longer thoughts, or even if it’s several ideas that are chained together, it is indeed a little miniature place to blog. That being said, you can take a .mp4 video that is a short clip of your main video and share that bad boy on Twitter. You can use hashtags on Twitter. You can include the link to the main video. You can do all of these things and a bag o’ chips that you would do on Facebook, so why not? Just make sure you respond to peoples’ comments on any platform, not just Twitter. That bit of advice that I've also learned from Gary Vaynerchuk is valid on any platform. Respond to people. Said differently, and this is a page from the Good Book, to whom much is given, much is required.

Place 5. Instagramma Jamma.

Take the short version of your video and share it on Instagram as well. Of course, you can use hashtags. You best use local hashtags too; if your nexus is in Las Vegas, then use the #LasVegas hashtag. That's one way to put down some more roots into your digital community, so do it!

Instagram TV allows you to host longer videos than the default Instagram limits, and that's something that you can explore if you so desire. Instagram, like its parent Facebook, is lacking the search capabilities that YouTube has built into their platform. This is a reason why you can encourage your followers on Instagram to go and watch the main video on YouTube. You really only get one outbound link and that's your profile link, so you could use a third-party app like Linktree to basically treat the one outbound link as a tree trunk that can then direct a follower to the branch they need to climb.

Perhaps that “one link” is the video, perhaps it's your landing page, perhaps it's a contact form, or even a place to go shop / donate. In any event, I'm still learning Instagram, and I should have mentioned this in the preceding paragraph, but I'm distancing myself from Twitter. For what I'm doing for you, my fellow microbudget filmmaker and video producer, I don't know that Twitter is where I need to be spending my time. Beyond posting a clip that points to a larger video, I don’t spend a lot of time on Twitter. I am spending some time commenting on peoples’ content on Instagram. I'm doing that five times a day, six days a week. 30 comments a week, total. It’s not much, and it pales in comparison to what Gary Vaynerchuk recommends which is to do it 180 times, no that's not correct; he says, “90 times a day.” He says to give your two cents, 90 times a day which is what he calls affectionately the 180 rule. I don't have time for that with my full-time job, my family, and my side hustle, et. al. ‘cause I can't run on four to six hours of sleep like he was pulling 10 years ago when he was making a name for himself on Twitter. But the strategy is valid, it's sincere, and I will take 30 somethings in a week's time than zero efforts. You should too. I've been timing it lately. It takes between 5 and 10 minutes, and it’s consistently closer to 10 minutes if I'm being honest, to leave five remarks on five different posts on Instagram and five different comments on five different posts on LinkedIn. I have a couple of hashtags that I'm following, like #videoproduction or #KansasCity, and I want to continue to contribute to those hashtags by reaching out. It blesses them, and it helps me get out of obscurity. 

Place 6. Anchor.

Anchor is a free resource to post audio. The app itself seems a little cumbersome to me, but you can certainly take the audio from your video and delete the music from it. If you're using a resource like Soundstripe or Artlist (both affiliate links), you are not licensed to use the audio in a podcast setting, not their audio, so you might as well just remove the music bed from your video by muting that track and then exporting a .mp3 or .wav file. Typically, I do a .mp3 file because they're smaller than a .wav file.

But I'm putting the cart before the horse. The beauty of Anchor is that it will distribute your content to all of the major podcasting platforms and then even some ones that I've never heard of outside of Anchor. Certainly iTunes or rather the new version of Apple Music and Apple Podcasts or whichever it really is and Spotify (which now owns Anchor). Anchor is easy to use, it doesn't take long to get set up, and they are doing the hard work of distributing your audio for you. You've already made the video, so why not push the audio onto the platforms where people consume audio? As of publishing time of this post, I have zero listeners. I’m okay with that because I’m committed to the long haul. You should be too. However, I do use Anchor for my church, and while it’s a slow grind there as well, we do get anywhere from seven to a dozen listeners with every piece of audio we push.

12 > 0, amigos.

Place 7. Web Log.

Just like you should link to your blog from your video on YouTube, you might as well embed your YouTube video on your blog where it is relevant. If you did a video post about the five reasons why you should get osseus surgery before you quit your job and live in a van down by the river, then you need to go to that same video and link it to the blog post and embed that video in the blog post. It's the perfect union of video, text, and SEO. No prenups. No justice of the peace. Enough said.

Place 8. No Vimeo?

I say skip Vimeo. No matter how much juice I have or how few applications I have running, I find Vimeo is slower than Christmas. It’s slower than Donkey Kong from Mario Kart for Super Nintendo. It’s slower than a DMV. It’s slower than a blue-haired lady in a 1978 Ford Thunderbird. It’s slower than a Luftschiff powered by packing peanuts. It’s good for one thing and one thing only: it's a place to download a video file. Their native player is so sluggish, I can't stand Vimeo for watching videos. I see them more as a donkey. A donkey like Dropbox, Google drive, pCloud (affiliate link in the picture below), or even OneDrive which is Microsoft's attempt at cloud storage.

Because Vimeo buffers their videos so slowly, it's just a pain in the butt. Beyond having the option to let viewers download videos, the one other silver lining they have going for them is that you won't find any pre-roll or mid-roll ads in their videos. YouTube, well, you know how they are with their ads. Vimeo is taking a different approach by creating different levels of membership. The most basic package is free and doesn't offer a lot of wiggle room to upload videos, but it might be manageable and worth an email signup.

Place 9. Pin Tok.

Should you repurpose your video on Pinterest or Tik Tok? I couldn't tell you. I haven't used Pinterest in years and I have yet to look at Tik Tok (looks like they’re in the doo-doo too, but what social media platform isn’t at some point or another?). I don't know if there is a reason to use those two platforms, but if you have dabbled with video on either of them, I am all ears! Comment below. After all, this is a community that I am building for the sake of us microbudget filmmakers and video producers that we might leverage our time, talent, and treasure for the glory of God, and I hope to be able to create something that outlives me and isn't dependent on me but rather exists as a resource for followers of Jesus who happen to love to tell visual stories. To that end, if we're going to encourage, equip, and empower other filmmakers who love Jesus, it takes a village (or an army, if you could have asked Orson Welles), so leave your two cents below about Pinterest and/or Tik Tok. Are they worth pursuing for the sake of video, and if so, why? What are their best practices?

Bonus

If you are a video producer, I've got a super mega list of topics you can go through on getting your video production business going. Whether it is a side hustle or a full-time means of self-employment, you can take your God-given talents and use them to go and serve others. This guy is almost like an a-to-z guide on everything you need to get started with a video business. It uses the posts from this site and LinkedIn but they are categorized in a way that makes it sequential, starting with how to start your business and then teaching you everything I'm learning, whether good, bad, and/or ugly: sales, prospecting, contracts, customer service, identifying bad prospects, knowing what to charge, etc.

Get a guide. Save yourself from herniating headaches and wasted dollars. Don’t go it alone. Subscribe with your email (which I handle 1000x more carefully than Major “King” Kong riding an atom bomb) and get instant access to the list:

NEIN

Using another platform that deserves an honorable mention? What do you like BEST about it?

Want to grow? Delegate.

I struggle with it. Chances are you do too if you're here. I don't mean it as a slight against us; it's a reality check: we need to level up, and we'll never reach millions with stories of hope if all we do are the "I shot this over the weekend with a Sigma 18-35 mm" types of videos. I've been hard on them lately - I don't see myself letting up anytime soon, so buckle up.

Today, we're going to look at a simple, easy-to-follow-along blueprint for working with a Casting Director (henceforth "CD") and expectations and processes you should have (and vice versa as well).

BONUS: Near the end, I'll share a release/work agreement you can use and modify for your actors. It's not at the end of the post because I'm trying something different today.

Step 1: Find A CD

My wife has served as a CD twice now - and wonderfully I might add. Of course, I'm biased because she's my wife, but objectively, I know the actors always appreciate her sincerity, her time, and her warmth. I've heard as much.

Neither of us are crazy about administrative tasks like data entry and emails, but we'll do 'em when it's called for. What my wife does do magnificently is talk to people and observe whether they're really a good fit for a role. She's way more observant of actors and actresses and their misfires in big budget tentpole movies than I am, and she's no different on the microbudget scene.

Me? I'm too subjective. You shouldn't cast your own film for this very reason - plus you have to delegate. I hope with enough repetition (even out loud), you'll get the need for delegating - I hope I do too. 

I highly recommend brushing up on ways to vet (i.e. see if you two will work well as a team) your CD. I wrote up my strategy for finding crew on Powers & Principalities, and you can see it here in the example of my Assistant Director.

My wife describes herself as an ambivert, someone with qualities of an extrovert and an introvert, a middle-of-the-road need to be with people to recharge and also to retreat from people to recharge. A CD who is either an extrovert or an ambivert helps in the long run. If your s.o. (or potential CD) isn't too fond of people, this will likely not be a good fit.

Expectations: be thankful. Be receptive. Don't let your CD be cold and unresponsive. When actors aren't going to hack it, smile, offer encouragement about something, shake their hand and look them in the eye and say thanks. Basic customs and courtesies - I see these get thrown out all the time in the microbudget film world as though we're big shots. We're not! It's great that we're in film, and even if we were leading big budget Holllywood films, we still need to treat people with respect.

I once saw a microbudget feature in the audition stage for local actors. I sat in on the audition because if it's one thing this director is fantastic at is promoting. He knows how to build excitement and build hype. Heck, I bought into it too for a stretch, and that's why I showed up to sit behind the table as an observer with the other key positions.

At the audition, the director was less than warm, didn't really address people by their first name, and he hardly said a word to people at the end of their auditions.

"Thanks, here's the door. Next." 

He surrounded himself with influencers and decision makers across two folding tables as if to create a moat between himself and the actor. I wish him well 'cause in the end, the film was completed, but like my microbudget feature, it didn't really go anywhere. He went back to his day job and hasn't touched film since, to the best of my knowledge.

We've all been there. Don't live there. Grow up and love your neighbor as yourself. Make sure your CD is on board with this - showing love, grace, and yes, affirmation; even the most painful, awkward auditions deserve a word of encouragement.

Step 2: Post Casting Calls

I helped with this and blasted Facebook. If you're in Casper, WY, you're doomed. If you're just about anywhere else near a big city, you'll be fine. 

Don't use Craigslist. You get what free gets you on CL - *shudders*.

At least with the book of Faces, it's a billion-plus user database with rich, anti-spam features that are improving all the time.

Get plugged into your local Facebook groups. Don't just show up out of the blue. Start liking, commenting, and making yourself a part of the group months before you need to make a withdrawal. Commercial director Jarod Hogan, formerly of Elevation Church, said it really well: make more deposits than withdrawals.

When it's time to post your casting call, be abundantly clear what you're looking for:

1. I highly recommend starting with the name of the project followed by its logline. If it's outside someone's wheelhouse of acceptable projects, they ought to know. I had an actor express interest because they thought it was faith-based. I don't like the "faith-based" tag because it severely limits the film's audience, and it boxes you in. I have characters of faith, no faith, and everything in between in this story - Powers & Principalities - of angels and demons, and if my main character, a withdrawn veteran says d*** once or twice, it's true to her life. Nonetheless, I take responsibility for creating the illusion this was faith-based because it involves angels & demons, and when the actor caught wind of the mild swearing, they said "deuces."

2. Include whether the project is union or non-union. Most of microbudget filmmakers only dabble in non-union, so go with that.

3. Paid or non-paid - be upfront!

4. Even though I was posting in a Las Vegas film group, I can't assume everyone knew I was shooting in my town. Make it clear!

5. Dates - even days with no times are better than nothing.

6. Give them a link to visit for more instructions and sides. Just one link. Remember the lion tamer principle here.

7. Turn off comments - trust me, you don't want lazy bones jones actors commenting on the post. Everything should be in #5 above, and if they can't follow simple directions ("Click here for more..."), you don't want 'em. They're not the droids you're looking for.

8. I recommend having a dedicated email for this glut of actors you'll get. I simply set up forwarding for our info@ch... address for my lady, and set it up so she could reply as info@ch... as well right inside the comfort of her gmail. Because I won't profess to know everything about every mail program, I recommend digging into your email's help articles if you want to do this. Or, just set up a unique gmail: unclebobmoviecasting@gmail.com and call it a day. Bueno?

Step 3: Video Auditions

On your landing page, include some of if not all of the exact same primer material on your Facebook post. First, this consistency reassures them they're in the right place. Second, as teaching math taught me, people come in all shapes and sizes when it comes to learning/following instructions. Some folks are simply high-rep learners and the extra repetition is not wasted on them.

Notice how on the left of the screen, I have generic photo off pexels.com. I recommend doing the same for two reasons:

1. You want a high-quality photo, not some janky iphone photo you took with poor white balancing, poor exposure, etc.

2. You only need an aesthetic here, so pick one that matches the tonality of your film.

Don't get hung up on photos here. You haven't shot your story yet, so don't sweat the details.

At the bottom of the page, I had instructions.

Make it as direct and as painless as possible. Tell them in the final instruction to send it here. 

Now build here. I recommend using this free code generator to build out the here they'll be sending their unlisted links to. Here's what it looks like:

Then hit the "generate mailto link" button and you're ready to drop in a web-savvy hyperlink for your actors to pull up their default email program and start composing an email to you.

Copy and paste the bottom field on your landing page. It's quick and easy, and this way they don't have to rummage around for your email or what to say. Keep it uniform for everyone's sake - it makes filtering your emails so much easier if every audition has the same subject.

Make it super basic: tell actors their phone works, use a basic background like their apartment wall. Spell that out - some people will ask otherwise. Here's what a shortened version from our leading lady, Kamiko looked like:

Headsup: some extras will still click this link and send their headshot without changing up the default email body text (e.g. "here's my video audition:").

You're probably thinking, "I'll just have one link for actors to click and one separate link for extras."

Yeah, I tried that. No bueno.

I personally would rather (lion tamer principle) give everyone one link than two because - please allow me to qualify this - after 1,000 hours of teaching math, I know one thing - any sequence of instructions is bound to confuse and mix up a handful of people. When you're casting for 10 actors and dozens of extras, you can bet you're going to confuse some people. Minimize the confusion: use ONE link.

Step 4: In-Person Auditions

I recommend finding a day on the weekend to host auditions. I also recommend reserving a space at your local library. Do you want strangers pouncing on your house?

I'm all for showing love to the broken, the hurt, and the lost - we are wired for relationship after all. I'm not okay with having my home invaded by folks who might be out to kill, steal, and destroy. It's a diverse world we live in after all.

We paid a small sum, about $40 to rent a conference room at our local library for 90 minutes. It was perfect. 

Bring a third person to help in a PA manner. My mistake with auditions this time around was not having a third person to help with odds and ends. If it's your DP or someone who can comfortably hit record on the recorder and the camera (you can use your phone after all), that's even better because that frees you up to talk with your actors and really study their performance, alongside your CD.

Make sure your CD is completely free to watch and listen. That's their job. Don't have them fetch people or make coffee runs. They need to zero in on what they're there for.

Auditions always go both ways in terms of timeliness. Some people will be super early, others will be late. Those that don't show and invent half-hearted excuses, well, it's your call as to whether to extend a second chance to them. Mercy triumphs over judgment, ja? 

With Powers & Principalities, I had several folks tell us well in advance they couldn't make the weekend auditions. We reached out to the handful (three, I think) and asked for alternative arrangements. Two were done by Skype, another was at a Starbucks. Since the scene was rather calm, I had no problem reading through lines at a Starbucks over a cup of joe, and the actor didn't mind either.

Important: you brought a CD onboard, paid or otherwise. They've read the script by now. They're familiar with the vision. They know what to look for. Give them full authority. Their decisions are final. Communicate the following to them: I'm an influencer, but you are the decision maker. I asked you to do this because I trust your judgment.

This part will stretch you. Good. Delegate and don't second-guess them.

Step 5: ADR (optional)

This is theory. I've not done this yet, but it occurred to me, if I'm doing ADR for a project, and if I know I'm doing ADR before we ever start production, I want to test this out during auditions. 

I knew from the start I was doing ADR to control the sound, but I didn't realize it 'til well after the film's wrap I could've tested the waters during the auditions. It may not have changed my wife's choices, but it would have been beneficial to all parties to know if extra prep is required for the ADR.

I have fantastic actors who nail it on location, but when it comes to ADR, it's my responsibility to make sure they are as successful as possible. In the future, I will have ADR footage ready for them at their audition to see how they fare. Specifically, I'll be looking with my CD to see if:

1. Do the actors understand timing? I've noticed even novice musicians really do ADR well - it helps when you have actors who are creative in a number of ways, and while music isn't the only discipline that translates well, its rhythms are helpful.

2. Are they are consistent from take to take?

3. Can they give varied deliveries as needed (bonus or wild tracks)?

4. Can they copy nuances like inflection?

5. How's their breath control?

6. How harsh do their consonants like c, k, and p sound? Think words like pizza and cactus. Even with a pop filter, these words can sound like they're being recorded by a condenser mic (I use and recommend the Rode mic kit → affiliate link).

7. Last but not least, are they wooden in their performance? Without another actor opposite them, and with limited movement (it's up close and personal with a condenser mic), can their voice cut through and sound authentic? Think voice acting is easy? It's not. So much communication is non-verbal anyways, so when you're forced to only use your voice, it's tough.

Better yet, from here on out, I'll have actors do a line with some gestures, inflection and nuance, then have them ADR said line on the spot right afterwards. Give it a try and let me know in the comments what the results are like.

Step 6: Get Understudies

One of the expectations you should leave with your CD is to pick understudies for your most critical roles. 

Both with my microbudget feature and this pilot promo, our original antagonists ultimately couldn't be a part of the film. The people who did fill the roles worked out beautifully, and I can't imagine a world without them. They were absolutely phenomenal, and we wouldn't have had the joy of working with them if we didn't commit to having backups (not to mention the films would have stalled in the worst way possible).

With every role, is it possible to have an understudy? If it's a short film, don't make excuses. Find backups. If it's a microbudget feature, you should at bare minimum have understudies for your protagonist and antagonist.

Step 7: Contracts

As promised, this is what you'll get when you sign up for the Bold Nation newsletter:

Not interested in email? No worries, here's a quick primer on what you should include: 

1. Image release

2. Audio release

3. Liability statement

4. ADR?

5. How long their part in the project is?

6. Payment - when, how much, and how will they get their funds

7. Not an employee → make sure they understand this as well as...

8. Not guaranteed future work

9. Email and phone → super basic right? Easy to forget and kick yourself later for not asking. Keep it centralized.

Step 8: Communication

This last step is where the long, hard work begins.

Use Mailchimp for the long updates that go to everyone. You'll get crowds, mild interest, serious interest, and committed, probably in that order.

At least once every two weeks, let them know what's going on. Nobody likes to be left hanging.

And of course, have your CD send personalized emails to those further along in your funnel.

Keep your CD in a constant loop with your actors and onscreen talent 'til production begins. They bear a lot of responsibility in plugging people in. Make sure they're aware of it.

My wife (on Powers & Principalities) stayed in touch with folks all the way through, and was responsible for communicating

• times

• locations

• wardrobe

• parking

• release info

• payment info

• and more

and she did it with aplomb.

Empower your CD. Trust your CD. Delegate. I'm not the only one depending on you to do this; your stories depend on it. 

Wrap.

...

Your turn: What was the biggest learn for you working with a CD? comment below!

Original: June 26, 2017; updated July 3, 2019

Unless you're a budding filmmaker in Casper, WY, you'll have a big city near-ish to you. And that big city is rife with people who need video production. And this year is yet another new year where even more businesses and brands will have to net attention with video.

Forget weddings, birthdays, and music videos - go for the businesses right in your backyard by pitching your services as a video producer. It'll put some grit in you as you level up as a filmmaker.

And after an experiment in December (of 2017), I found the best conversions were by meeting people in person. Call it networking. Call it a meetup. Call it a shindig - I don't care. Get out, make new friends, be a servant leader. 

Don't be shy fellow microbudget filmmaker; brush up on your pitching skills, smile big, and make a big, bold claim. Meetups are not for the timid. Go in ready to serve and stand out in a noisy world. If you're a half-decent producer/filmmaker, you owe it to those businesses to win their business and do butt-kicking videos for them.

Go with God; keep creating. 

If you're brand new to starting a video production business on the side or full-time, you can start right here, right this weekend. Get a leg up here.

If you have no idea how to cold pitch clients, get started here.

If you're brave (BOLD NATION - that's you) and not one to invent excuses, get off the couch and go meet some new people. I'll show you in this post that for our line of video production, if you're still a speck in the sea of production companies, your BEST bet for meeting new clients is in person.

That's right. People are much more receptive to someone they met in-person and had a 5-minute conversation with vs. a cold call interrupting their work day.

Real live events - networking events - can produce more leads than cold calling and cold emailing combined if you're not on the first page of google for your video production services. 

Fuel up, Broseph Smith.

Bonus: for those in need of little more help, I've got pitches you can sample below plus a Google Sheet that will track your followups, both cold emails, cold calls, and meetups then compare your appointment and closing ratios. 

1. Networking

In a world... where... there are 7 billion people (think dramatic movie trailer voice guy).

Yep. This is a world of 7+ billion people.

But I'm an introvert...

God didn't create you to be the last lady or last man on earth (not at this moment anyways... you're reading this which means you likely have internet so the apocalypse probably hasn't started). 

So... stop making up excuses. Yes, people can be draining, and on this side of Heaven, we're all imperfect, inhospitable, cruel, and terds on occasion. We can also be helpful, supportive, resourceful, and inventive, and it's for the latter reasons I plead with you:

GET OFF YOUR COUCH AND GO MEET SOME FOLKS

Will you get butterflies? Probably. That middle-school-dance tension never really goes away in a big crowd of people you don't know when you're going to be front-and-center for a stretch, but it does get easier with time. 

Below, here are additional steps you need to commit to and a mindset I pray you adopt as you venture out in the world.

2. Practice Your Pitch

Most networking events give you and everyone else a little slot to introduce yourself. Seize the opportunity amigo: know your pitch.

After a few years in business, I've gained a little more confidence with warming up a crowd. 

Side note: I was a teacher (math) before I did video full-time, so I'm thankful to have acquired about 1,000 hours of classroom instruction. I'm more comfortable in front of a crowd because of my teaching, plus I love people, and they don't drain me. If you have zero public speaking experience, and if you're a total introvert, then your battle is harder, but not impossible. All things are possible with the King.

I practice almost every working day without fail my 30 and 60-second pitches, which you can study and tear it up on your own below in the bonus section.

I start with a bold claim:

I'm Jake the film guy, and I'm the best video producer this side of the Mississippi; I'm also the most humble...

Sometimes I'll use other adjectives like "most handsome video producer" or "most persistent video producer," but for the most part I keep it simple. I smile big, I deepen my voice, and I make eye contact. People always laugh because it's such an absurd claim.

But that's the point. Absurdist humor works wonders in front of a cold crowd (cold meaning you have zero relationship to them). You don't have to leverage gossip, conflict, or controversy (especially if you're an ambassador of peace - c'mon man!); you can use outlandish claims to be memorable and grab attention.

Figure out what you're going to say and pretend you're Martin Scorcese - you've got years of wisdom and experience. Would you be timid in front of that crowd that just met you face-to-face? No.

I also make the pitch about them.

This one's easy. A lotta rank-and-file newbs show up and ramble about where they came from, how many years they made flapjacks, and then what they're excited about doing in ____________.

Me, me, me. Heck, newbs might as well grab a booster seat, a bib, and a bowl of mac-and-cheese.

It's not hard folks - talk about *them*, and what their buyers need:

• information

• engagement

• something disarming

• to know who they are buying from

• visual information for the majority of the world that are visual learners

• something that saves time - a 3,000-word blog post takes way longer than a 5-minute video you can consume at ludicrous speed

Then conclude with a call-to-action (CTA):

When you're ready to commit to doing your own videos, I have a guide and video you can check out at [site name].

Or...

When you're ready to reach your buyers and you need a quality video, something you can be proud of and not embarrassed to share like a wobbly iPhone video, give ME a call.

You can be outlandish at the beginning to grab attention; you should be assertive at the end for those who want more info. You can do both without being a terd or being from the me, me, me crowd.

3. Find Places To Network

I recommend considering meetup.com.

Step 1: Creating a profile is free.

Step 2: Then pick a handful of business-y groups. Again, if you're out in Minot, North Dakota, good luck finding any kind of gathering other than snow bears and womp rats.

Step 3: Commit to showing up at as many gatherings as possible. 

Step 4: Add the meetups to your favorite calendar. They already support a number of the biggin's. 

Step 5: Add a catchy blurb under your profile pic for each group/event you're attending.

Step 6: Show up. There's this central tendency I've noticed in life that in any live event (especially those that are "free"), at least a third of the guests who say they're coming won't. Next time you throw a party, watch this tendency. It applies to meetups as well. 24 people might be RSVP'd to attend, but 16 or less will show up. Don't be a slacker like the guys and gals who have trouble honoring their word; show up.

Note: Meetup.com has an internal messaging system, so if you ever have any questions, feel free to message your meetup's organizer. Perhaps you met someone at a meetup and lost their card or didn't get their card to begin with? Find their profile attached to the meetup you attended and send them a message.

I also recommend Facebook.

Facebook groups, specifically - find people throwing gatherings and show up!

Step 1: Type in "[your town] networking" into the search field.

Step 2: Facebook groups - in my experience - have great engagement at the beginning and then level off in later weeks, months, and years. Look for BIG networking groups. 

Step 3: Click the join button. I was approved right away for the biggest group in my town when I originally published this (Las Vegas).

Step 4: Others may require a screener question or two. The networking group for Las Vegas veterans asked me screeners like:

1. What branch were you in?

2. Are the Marines a part of the Navy?

3. Favorite duty station?

Anybody could google these questions if they were stumped, but I get what they're trying to do.

Step 5: Find an event. Commit. Go serve someone.

I'm personally not a fan of these groups on Facebook. They all turn into self-promoting billboards (which I do half the time when given the chance as well - guilty as charged).

That's probably a reason meetup.com was created. 

I don't recommend Craigslist.

Craigslist is just so shady... ew.

I SUGGEST LOOKING INTO your Chamber Of Commerce.

If you live in a big city or near one... but if you're in a small town, well, see what community centers are around. 

I myself have never joined my Chamber Of Commerce. It's my fault entirely for being complacent and not pulling the trigger, simple as that, but it is an established resource with space to meet clients occasionally and find new folks to rock their world with video. If you’re already a part of a CoC group, let me know in the comments what’s been the best part of being a member; I might catch up to you.

4. Show Up Ready To Serve

I went to my first few meetups with dollar signs over peoples' heads. 

WRONG attitude.

MLK Jr. approached racism and racial violence with non-violence. Ditto Gandhi. WWII POW survivor Louis Zamperini went back to the Japanese camp where he was held and forgave his jailors. I'm sure you can think of a number of "upside-down" responses from great leaders and examples from history. Personally, I like Jesus' approach - He said he came to serve and not be served, which was totally backwards to his followers and admirers who thought for sure Jesus was going to take an office or lead an uprising and deliver Jerusalem from its Roman rulers.

I challenge you to go to an event with a servant's mindset. It's backwards from everyone else's mindset going to the event, and that's precisely why you should do it:

a. You'll find ways to give without expecting anything in return.

b. You'll build trust.

c. Do the first two in order, and I guarantee you'll find some clients.

For example, I started sharing helpful guides with people. Especially when a lot of folks are attending this event just like you or me - no overhead, no employees, no room for videos or so they think. That's why I made the guide on how to shoot with your phone.

I give away free advice and information when people ask, and even if they don't, I try to leave them with a quick pro tip. 

5. Followup Is Key

Just like everything in the business world (or relationship-building), follow up with the folks you have conversations with. People will gladly hand you their cards at these events - that's an open door to pursue a dialogue with them and see if there are ways you can both exchange value.

Bonus points for those who personalize a message or call each person you meet at the event, not just those you "mingled" with.

In December of 2017, I went to four meetups. Of the dozens of people I interacted with, only two beat me to the followup. The rest didn't even initiate a followup, and I'm not bitter at all. I mention it to illustrate a point; I'm guessing it'll be similar for you. If the average bear shows up at these events thinking 

a. me first

b. call me

c. how much can I get from this relationship?

And if you're doing the exact opposite of those, you'll build new relationships quickly.

6. Invite People

I started doing this with the folks I meet at meetups and see at repeat meetups or would like to see again. I simply invite them to a meetup I'm going to. 

So far, one person came out and was glad I reached out to him:

Relationships take time, but they are worth every ounce of energy. God wired us for relationships, and since the sales cycles on video productions tend to take longer, relationship-building is especially important. 

Don't be a slacker McFly! Get out there!

Pro Tip: for every half-hour you have to drive to get to the meetup, plan to be 15 minutes early. If the event is an hour away, that means you need to leave as if you'll get there 30 minutes early. If it's 5 minutes away, still plan to show up 15 minutes early. Here are several good reasons why:

1. You could face a traffic delay

2. Networking events are about socializing, so you'll want to arrive early and stay late - no different than showing up for a project you're hired to do

3. I hinted at this in the post on hiring subcontractors - your impression of a subcontractor is influenced by the way they handle time (Are they early? Do they stay late?)

CTA

Go to a dozen meetups and comment below when you've done it - how many people have you been able to serve?

Bonus

I won't spam ya or sell your info, but I will blow up your inbox about once a week with info and occasional offers. Want to be a part of a growing movement to tell (non-cheesy) stories of hope through film and video? You're in the right place; hit the blue button and join the Bold Nation.

In today's bonus, you'll get

• pitches you can model

• a Google Sheet with appointment, closing, and meetup information so you can track how effective your outbound marketing online vs. in-person

• a... brand... new CAR!

The last part's a joke.

Ready? Blue button time.

NEIN

Originally published Jan 15, 2018. Updated April 23, 2019.

It requires:

• No Kickstarter - we'll cover a different platform.

• No story (initially).

AND the only fee you might see (3%) is a credit card fee if your sponsor uses a credit card and the customary 5% fee you'd see on a crowdfunding site, but we'll cover all of that.

Otherwise, it's your team and the funding you need for your short film.

Oh, and you can do it in less than 3 weeks if you're a bootstrapper. 

In the spirit of all the great 90's kids' shows, let's raise $1,000 for your short film!

1. Pray

This is a given, right? It's so overlooked though. 

But Jake the film guy, I don’t pray. In fact, I’m outta here. I don’t care for this religious crap.

No worries amigos, you’re welcome here any time. Everything I share here is for my fellow microbudget filmmakers, and if you’re a believer too, that’s cool. If not, no worries. Jesus was the kind of guy who loved hanging out with people, regardless of their background. I want to be like that, and this journey of learning how to create a TV show? Well, it’s all here for you to learn from, whether the journey be good, bad, and/or ugly. My faith colors everything I do, and anyone is welcome here regardless of their faith. No Bible-thumping, no altar calls, just a guy who wants to see non-cheesy stories of hope reach billions of people — and his microbudget filmmaking blog. That’s what you can expect here.

Okay, back to the post.

I have to remind myself, even when blogging that I can invite my King to guide my words and give me His creativity. 

Do the same before your next shoot.

2. Find a cause

Lost in the sauce for what story to tell?

Me too (even right now as I write this post). That's why this is step 2.

For example, I can remember this moment super clearly. 

I know guys that openly struggle with a porn addiction. I also know there are guys that won't admit they struggle with a porn addiction. Last June, this really weighed on my heart. 

I was driving to the gym one blustery Vegas summer day, and the idea was shared with me: why not do something about porn addiction through film? 

I didn't even ask - the idea was dumped in my lap. 

Note: God's always speaking to you. Carve out time every day (treat it like a business appointment) to listen. Nothing else - just listen.

I'm getting better about this quiet time with the Almighty, and it's time you have to fight for, just like quality time with your spouse and your kids.

Now, if you have a Godly cause, then go for it (cf the parable of the talents). Don't wait around for a bolt of lightning. Ask for guidance, and make steps if the Holy Spirit doesn't tap the brakes. 

2.5 Land a gig

I talk a lot about this in my business-y posts. Try this one on for size or this one if you’re new to video production as a paid service you’ll do for others.

The idea is simple. Find a client with a problem. SOLVE their problem with a buttkicking video that’d make William Wallace proud. Charge more than a grand, and if you need help figuring out what exactly to charge, start with this post or use my calculator.

Then after your costs in creating the video, take that dough and make your short film. Or… raise funds. Which we talk about… now.

3. Shoot a quick explainer video

Mine was about 3-4 minutes long - keep yours shorter. 1 minute is good, but I challenge you to be creative: shoot for 30 seconds. I also talk about WHY you should aim for this in the post on raising $8,567 for your short film, and in detail below this image:

On Facebook, most people get through about 20% of one of my videos, and the same is probably true of you and your videos if you dig into the analytics.

Don't waste your viewer's time or yours.

I'm serious. You need to dig into your analytics on Facebook (or YouTube or Vimeo) and really soak that up. 

Most people will not finish a short video online. Period. Keep ads and other promotional videos under 30 seconds where possible (i.e. online). 

Theaters show full-length movies. 

Televisions run 30 and 60-minute programs.

Churches like 1-to-2-minute videos.

Your phone, tablet and computer are used for quick bursts of information. 

I will always harp on this. You have to understand your audience online. 

For a stranger to you or your idea, a 30-second commercial is a block of time they've been programmed to since the 60's or thereabout when TV ads scaled back to 30 seconds from 60 seconds. 

That hasn't changed much, and your online user knows it. 

If you're promoting something, do what the big boys (Coca Cola, Apple, any car company, etc.) do - get it out in 30 seconds tops. 

Note: YouTube may have better retention rates than Facebook simply because YouTube is home to only one thing unlike Facebook which wants to be a one-stop-shop for life.

4. Start an Indiegogo campaign

This post used to say "Tilt" campaign, as pictured above. These guys were great. They didn't keep any of the money if you were raising it for a short film.

And to say thanks, they would even send you a pair of sunglasses when it was all said and done. 

That alone was worth using Tilt for (I lost mine - sad panda). 

RIP Tilt (formerly tilt.com). You're still around, but with the Airbnb takeover, you're... not the same. :(

Honestly, if you have a big audience and a big budget, try Kickstarter. For most of us microbudget filmmakers, we have little to no audience, so I don't advise using them.

For a $1,000 budget, that's as much as $100 that you could lose just to processing fees instead of $30.

That's $70 you could spend on advertising and reach 7,000 views on Facebook. 

7,000 views could mean 1,400 people hear they are loved, valued, and there is a God who is head-over-heels crazy about them. Or 7,000 views could mean 70 new email signups. Or 500 new page likes.

See what a difference platforms make?

So you do what everyone does in the business world - add on the fees and let people know for Pete's sake. Be transparent! Break down where each dollar is going.

Step 1: settle on a platform. I recommend Indiegogo because of their flexible funding which allows you to keep what you raise, even if you don't meet your goal.

Step 2: Add 10% to what you want to raise.

This is an overestimate as most merchants (Visa, Paypal, etc.) are all pretty competitive and charge 2.9% + .30 per transaction (USD) these days (2018). The exact math behind this approach (i.e. accounting for the per transaction fee of thirty cents) involves a scarier looking formula than the basic one I'll have you crank out right now, and beyond being ugly, it's unnecessary.

For the sake of illustration, let's say you do need to raise an even $1,000.

It's not enough to say, "I'm going to add 10% and I'm done!"

If you take 10% of $1,000 and add it back to the grand, you have $1,100. But if you plan on losing 10% of your total funds to fees and charges, then netting 90% of your $1,100 is $1,100 - $110 = $990. No bueno muchacho.

Rather, you need $1,000 to be 90% of what you need to raise.

Middle school math wasn't entirely useless after all amigos: $1,000 divided by 90% gives you $1,111.11.

Recap: Regardless of your goal, divide it by 90% or 0.90 and that new number is your real goal. If you reach it, you'll have enough for your film after fees.

5. Video message your closest friends and family members

This part takes time. Intentionality is key.

Facebook messaging 20 people the same message is spammy, and your friends and family know the difference and will wonder why you as a friend spammed them. 

I used to do this. Guess how many people responded? ...Exactly.

Be genuine. Set aside time for each person with a custom message. This is where most people quit, get lame, and become chumps (as my Video Fruit’s Bryan Harris says).

Now, you're not a chump. In fact, God values you unlike anyone else does on His green earth.

I quote Bryan because unfortunately, in these situations, people do get lazy. DON'T. Do the work.

If this step scares the daylights out of you, don't worry, I've got a sample you can reference below to get started.

Direct people with ONE link only to your crowdfunding landing page and let it do the heavy lifting.

DON'T do what I used to do and bombard people with multiple call-to-actions. Remember the Lion Tamer principle.

6. Publicly thank them on social media

You can't keep telling people about your campaign. It's spammy. Here's a great example of a guy who spammed several filmmaker boards on Facebook.

Don't do this.

First of all, you will never get 100% market penetration. Second of all, would you walk into a party and make that same announcement as soon as you walked in?

Instead, show behind-the-scenes screenshots. VLOG about the campaign. Thank people on social media. Ask questions. Solicit input and opinions about possible color grades.

This is indirect advertisement of the campaign. Be indirect. 

Being direct is okay, but when that's all you do, that's when people write you off, blacklist your emails, and stop inviting you over for Superbowl Sunday.

Build the newsletter. We failed back in December of 2015 when we launched a project called EML to first build the Bold Nation newsletter, and it showed. 

That should be your biggest focus - not likes on Facebook. 

Don't do this either. It's wasted energy.

But why? I love Facebook and it's great for...

Facebook engagement rates for brands, companies, churches, etc. are awful unless you put paid advertising behind your posts (even then there are no guarantees).

Yep. Organic traffic for your Facebook (page) posts are awful (again, not a personal account). 

You can use social media to thank your donors, share updates, encourage others, and create links to your blog posts, videos, etc. 

But don't treat any social media platform as a sub for a newsletter. Rookie mistake # 1 made by yours truly.

7. Start pre-production

Funded?

Congrats! You made it.

If you're fully funded, then write your story. Or find one to match your topic. 

Pairing up with a talented writer is a good move, and it's one I will eventually use with the next (Spirit-led) short film, feature film, or mini-series.

I committed back in Feb of 2016 to shoot the next film with God's direction and input. Whether that took me down a Darren Wilson-esque trail or a meticulous battle plan, I decided to trust Him. Powers & Principalities, my series-to-be, I believe is a step in the right direction.

I'm tired of working for me and thinking I know better, so going forward, the Almighty is the Admiral of this ship. 

For you, think of this step like you're testing the market for a new business product (story) before you spend loads of cash on inventory (the finished film).

That is, if your cause is Spirit-filled, if it's validated by backers, then cobble the story together and start pre-production.

DO NOT do it the other way around unless told to. 

8. Send hand-written thank-you notes to your backers

Even if it's a 5-dollar pledge, send them a hand-written thank you note.

I learned this from the greatest school teacher slash marketer to have ever walked the other side of the Mighty Missipp: Ron Clark. 

He propelled his small-town, underfunded secondary math class to the White House, a spot on Oprah, and a national platform in a matter of a year or two, if not months. 

All because he was persistent (he made the asks), and he lead of group of youngsters to be thankful for even the little things, even $5 donations to better their school.

He runs his academy in my hometown of Atlanta. These guys are bold, and I love what they do for education.

Hey, I was a math teacher, don'tcha know? 

... 

BONUS: To help you get started and get off the couch, here's what I'm going to do for you.

I'm going to give you a peek at a low-res video I would create for each person; take a gander and make your own custom video for each friend and family member you reach out to.

If you can't ask them for help, how will you ask strangers?

I've also got a swipe file for you if you're running out of ideas on what to shoot. It's a list of topics, themes, causes, and more that are begging for quality, faith-inspired stories that are authentic, well-produced, and absolutely NOT CHEESY.

Deal?

Original: March 11, 2016; updated June 12, 2017 and July 10, 2017, Oct 27, 2018

BOLD MAIL

Jesse (episode 71 forthcoming) asked - 

1. What projects attract you the most?

2. And what project has been your favorite in the past?

1. I love a quality story with great characters (Back To The Future, Tombstone, Les Mis (1998), Braveheart, etc.).

I absolutely love The Foremost and would love to be a part of that kind of experience if it too preaches the Good News (those guys are great, and I was fortunate to chat with their leader Peter Craig sometime last year in 2015 - carve out 44 minutes and pray for more films like this one).

Down the road, when Church Films expands, we will have original programming, just like Netflix or Amazon, and there are ideas in the works.

Note: If you have original material that's yours, keep us in mind as we gain the critical mass to license quality (not cheesy, ham-fisted propaganda) faith-inspired stories.

2. The best project to date hasn't been shot yet - sorry for the copout answer Jesse. 

If you have q's about anything, send 'em!

This technique (or rather, set of techniques) works if you are trying to find new video clients to cold pitch, it works if you need to find the HR director for E! because you want to take that editor job from StaffMeUp, it works if you are trying to find new guests for your podcast, and it works if you are trying to find your 93-year-old grandmother who got an email address way back when Windows 95 was King but she never used it ‘til now because your wife's cousin found a way to make the current OS look like 95..

These techniques are easy, but they are not always quick when you do several of them at once to find one person’s email.

Bury your lip service, don’t make up excuses, and go make Jack Canfield proud.

Total time to find an email: 1-5 mins

Note: the best way to land clients is still by word of mouth and second to that is by meeting people face-to-face. The third runner-up is cold email and cold calls.

Okay, let's dive into the first three.

0. Contactout

FREE service… for a time.

They say you get a 100 uses every 2 days (more than plenty). 

Sign up, head over to LinkedIn (if you need help finding an exact person or title on LinkedIn, read up here), and hit the little arrow in the top-right corner.

Sometimes there's a bonus phone #.

Most times there is an email that is still functional. It's an email tied to their LinkedIn account. Click the email and you will copy it to your clipboard. 

Presto.

This tool was my favorite in 2017 for finding emails.

Headsup: even though your credits reset every two days in theory, in practice, they do not. My credits didn't reset for days, even weeks. Don't panic. Use the tool as is - it's really too good to be true… until…

They randomly decide you’re out of free credits. Cue the Charlie Brown Christmas sad jingle for yours truly. Still, for the newer microbudget filmmaker, give it a whirl!

1. Email Hunter

I've talked about Email Hunter before.

Head on over to their site; sign up to get 153 searches every month.

Well, it’s 150. I don’t know how Google Docs thought I said 153, but it’s learning... as am I on how to work with gDocs voice dictation.

The Chrome extension works wonders 2. There it goes again. The Chrome extension works wonders too.

It no longer integrates with LinkedIn to find people's emails. Bantha fodder.

Back in the day, for example, if I wanted to reach out to an architecture firm, I would look to find the firm on LinkedIn, and then I would look for somebody with a marketing title.

Still relevant today: not every business uses the title of chief marketing officer, but there is always somebody that is at the top of the food chain when it comes to marketing - head of marketing, director of marketing, marketing director... know what I mean Vern?

Whoever that turkey is, that's the person you want to pitch! Like it or not, whoever wears this hat at your client’s business is your boss… possibly.

Videos fall under marketing. If you’re pitching a non-profit, here’s how to find out exactly how much your non-profit spends on marketing. It’s public information, so read up!

Email Hunter assigns a reliability rating:

If the check mark is not green, don't worry what the percent is. Chances are, when the check mark is not green, you have a bogus email. Which is why I love...

2. MailTester.com

This site is very simple. Plug in the email address, and if it is legitimate, then you will get green across the board.

Warning: while a great tool, it can be as slow as Christmas.

If the email you feed it is simply a bad email, you will get a red notification.

Mail tester is pretty religious about giving you a red email handle if the email doesn't exist. If they return with something about being unable to verify the email because the server doesn't allow it, then you might actually be ok.

You might not. 

It's Vegas baby.

Recap: red means you’re outta cards hombre. Any other color could possibly maybe hopefully potentially mean good news and green means you’re golden.

When Mail Tester fails me…

3. Rapportive

This plugin is free as well. If you use Gmail, then you are good to go.

How it works is simple: if the email that you enter into your new composition is associated with the person you are trying to email, and if it’s the email they use with their LinkedIn profile, then their LinkedIn profile summary will show up in your right sidebar.

Now, a lot of people do not understand the converse.

If their LinkedIn profile does not show up in your right side bar, that doesn't mean that email is bad.

For example, if I have two nickels, then I have $0.10. But the converse, which says that if I have $0.10, then I have 2 nickels, is simply not always true.

Savvy?

Don’t panic if their Linkedin profile doesn’t show up in your Gmail. Just try another tool on this list.

Together with Mailtester, the Rapportive plugin works beautifully.

…

Now that you’ve got their email, it’s time to message them. I wrote up a detailed plan with sample pitches you can peruse here. Don’t be lazy with that email. Have a clear plan, treat them with respect, and personalize your pitch. 

Personalization and outstanding service win over laziness and lukewarm attitudes every time.

Video production is tough. Filmmaking is tough. If you’re not okay with the thought of getting 100 no’s and 250 no-replies to get a YES, then you better stick to your day job.

I jumped in head first last summer, and I didn’t know a thing about business, marketing, or how to run a one-man LLC. But I’d rather dive in than learn from a textbook forever. Film and business are full-contact sports bucko; get in the game.

If you’re tough, if you have grit in spades, and if your faith is where it belongs, don’t quit. Keep praying, don’t quit (check out Luke 18).

Supposedly less than 1% of indie films make it. Don’t give up.

The global market is driving down the going rates for editors, assistant editors, associate producers - you name it. Even big networks like E, Discovery, and Fox are all looking to get the most bang for their buck.

When you get to that point in your life where you are making the hiring decisions, remember, cheap begets cheap.

At this point, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “gee, I ain’t gonna spend no time on this…”

That’s fair. That’s why there is Upwork, and there’s a detailed writeup on hiring someone through Upwork here. There are people who will do this for you, and you can pay them to get the email monkey off your back. Be prepared to teach them though - these tools are not in your everyday high school or college education, but even those three tools should get you where you need to go. 

Need more? 

If you’re ready to get started, here’s the full rundown on all 8 techniques that I sometimes use and so can you!

NEIN

Which of these tools works best for you? Comment below!

Original post: July 29, 2016; updated July 24, 2017, Oct 21, 2018

That's right. When it comes to niches, 3d animation is not a bad route to go. If you've ever dabbled in animation for your clients, you'll notice you're one of a thousand fishes in the sea who can do 2d animation. 

Ditto live-action video ever since 2008's Canon 5d Mk II and YouTube a few years before it.

But 3d animation? It's a skill few possess and even fewer are great at. I have zero skills in 3d animation beyond what After Effects can natively do. But I know how to pitch, I know how to lead a small video production, and I know how to over-communicate. Don't let the barriers to entry keep you away. Find a talented artist and be a heckuva producer.

Not interested in 3d? Niche down 'til it hurts fellow filmmakers, and I'll see you on the next post (or video).

After a long hard look at the 80/20 rule in my work as a video producer, I'm gonna niche down even more with 3d animation (and A/R) for businesses. I encourage you to examine where 80% of your work is coming from (live video? commercials? weddings?) and cut out the 20%.

If you're a buyer, don't panic - this guide will be written to accommodate your perspective and your needs too.

Soup to nuts, here's the ultimate guide to set the work process straight for both parties; you won't find a funnier, better-looking guide this side of the Mississippi. You'll get your money's worth on this one, and if not, I have a 7-day refund period because your success is my mission.

BONUS: if you join the Bold Nation newsletter below, I'll send you all 8 steps in one nifty .pdf. This post contains the first 5.

Now, there is lots of room for collaboration in 3d projects,  and communication is key. In fact, it's step zero in this process.

0. Communicate. Over-communicate. Then check in again with something funny.

Communicate 'til all bases are covered. Check.

Then go back and over-communicate. When we were in basic training at Lackland AFB, we couldn't hear what instructions were being relayed to the group up front. I was always in the back because I was a road guard (bright vest and all), so I often asked for the student leaders or the row in front of me to repeat the instructions because I often couldn't hear them. I was only looking out for myself all those many moons ago, but I knew from my time teaching math that if one person had the question, sure enough, someone else was thinking it. The worst questions (and the only dumb questions) in life are those left unsaid. And make no mistake, even after the sale, your client will have piles of questions - this is good.

I mentioned math, so it's not a bunny trail to mention it here again. Math is a very visual language. Repetition is a plus for students, and it's an even greater plus for high-rep learners. Math, not unlike animation, has a lot of moving parts, and it can get nitty-gritty or downright esoteric. Both are visual languages for communicating ideas; both have lots of potential to go sideways in a hurry. Your job as the developer is to be a teacher. Teach your client about the different methods or ideas you'll be running. Ask clarifying questions and don't rest on your laurels 'til you know they can give the 411 to their 6-year-old with ease. 

What about something funny? We do this in speech - we have to break up the monotony of our voice with a percussion or a joke or something every 90 seconds or so. Do the same with your communications. Don't just check in for updates, and don't just send only updates. Send a card when their anniversary is on the 'rizon. Send a picture of a loaf of bread and tell 'em you LOAF working on this project with them. Keep it light, and keep it coming. 

1. Get on the phone

I know some buyers are reluctant to get on the phone just as some sellers are scared of the phone. But with 3d animation, there are just too many variables to communicate only by email. The first chat should be to set an appointment to get on the phone (if not a meeting in person or a Skype/Facetime/Messenger/Zoom/Myspace call) to allow fluid conversation.  

Buyer's responsibility: commit to a 10-minute conversation on the phone. Share your vision, expectations, and ask questions. Email or a service like Slack, Trello, or Asana is okay for future communications because 3d is detail-heavy, and we all know long email chains are a pain in the rear. On my last gig, I had email chains as long as 70 emails or so. My fault? 100% my fault and not afraid to admit it - I'll be guiding all parties to Asana or Trello in the future.

Developer's responsibility: be a servant. Remember the first rule of selling is agreement. Make sure - even if the product is the wrong service for the buyer - you leave them with something. Heck, you could point them to this guide or the guide on why people need video. If you can't sell someone on your service as an animator, at least give them something of value to maintain a healthy line so that (as Uncle G says), you might be able to do business with them in the future. People buy from people they trust, so build a relationship now and nurture it. 

2. Negotiate

This isn't just closing the deal and signing the dotted line. Figure out what each party needs and get everything in writing. Talk about timelines. Talk about quality (photorealistic or not-as-detailed). Figure out who is developing the script. Who is recording the narration? What does the music sound like? Do you want a fly-by? Cross-sectional views? Is the animation team going to have 5 machines working around the clock? Will you have to send renders to a farm? Discuss, discuss, discuss, and put everything you promise in writing (typed, unless your handwriting is a sans-serif font that's pre-installed on MS Word).

Buyer's responsibility: 3d animation takes time - make sure you're clear about your deadlines. Don't try to haggle the animator for pennies. The market value for 3d is about as 1-1 as you can get with video services; i.e. you truly get what you pay for and "quality" is still a competitive advantage in 3d animation, unlike with live-action video production these days.

Developer's responsibility: Everything you mention in an email that'll you do for the buyer should be lifted (copy and paste job) into your contract on the blank space before both parties sign. Make sure you pony up on your contracts and sign as an officer of your company (if you have one) rather than just regular ole you. Leave room for them to do the same as well. Don't sign as yourself (opens you up to liability) - sign as an officer of your company. Not sure whether to incorporate or not? Read on amigos.

3. Assets

I'm sure you have a few videos in mind. I'm sure you've seen 3d animations that made you think, "Gee, I'd like that." Keep a running doc of these samples. And start building your library of shared materials. This goes for both parties - buyers and developers. You need to be able to communicate freely with one another without getting bogged down in the esoteric details of 3d animation. 

Buyer's responsibility: this goes with any animation - have a folder prepped for your developer that has a simple word doc or an .rtf file with branding guidelines (yes, spell them out) as well as any detailed notes you'd like. Be to sure to include logos and vector art in your folder as well that may or may not be needed. Include 'em anyways! Color, looks, styles - even if "flat" - will be helpful resources for your animation team.

Developer's responsibility: ask 'til you're blue in the face for materials you need, and don't settle 'til you get them. You're doing both parties a disservice if you think now's the time to be modest (as if you were modest or reserved about landing the gig!) about your needs to get the project rolling. Also, get a project management tool up and running for your buyer (Asana, Trello, etc.) and walk them through it so there are no surprises. You don't want 70+ email threads in your inbox. Your buyer needs a centralized place to communicate and get updates, so start 'em early. If you can, sit down and walk them through it during the negotiation before they sign. Once they sign, thank them and get out of there - you have work to do!

4. Time

This is a biggie. Bad time management is a killer on a film set, and it's no bueno in your video production services. 3d animation has so many moving parts, so many places for error or slow rendering that both parties need to be fully aware of the time involved. 

Buyer's responsibility: be prepared for some massive sticker shock if it's a rush job. Don't assume a video like this one below is an easy, $3,000 video.

For that matter, don't tell your service provider you want a video like this aforementioned one at all, unless you're a big blue whale in the world of business and can drop $75,000 or more. 

Let's bring you back down to earth; a $2,000 video will look more like this one:

3d animation isn't something you can start and pivot easily with, especially when you have a deadline. Of course, it's on the both of you to over-communicate during pre-production, but once production starts, it takes time, and the amount of detail you want blows up the costs significantly. If you can find a cat in another part of the world who will remotely do your 3d animation for pennies on the dollar, more power to you. 

Developer's responsibility: first things first, a few preliminary items that work in tandem BEFORE the close.

A. Be as transparent as you can be about pricing. Heck, go to other places on the web to see what the pricing looks like. Join other company newsletters if you must to get the pricing. It'll help you be competitive in the marketplace. 

Also, don't assume that time and detail are the only items that cause the costs to soar. Explain very clearly which processes and the number of machines and people will be involved in this 3d animation. Build value for your selling price and go for it - ask for the sale.

B. Once the pricing is clear, communicate how long this will take, then multiply that number by 1.5. 

What if the render farms crap out?

What if you forgot about your anniversary trip coming up?

What if you internet provider goes AWOL in your hour of need (true story - definitely happened to me, and I didn't have a solid plan B)?

Exactly why you should multiply the time by 1.5, then give that number to your client.

E.g. if you know the job will take 2 weeks to complete, tell your client it will take 3 weeks. Earlier in the sale, before the client signs, make sure this is spelled out and be sure to include a safety net such as "expected delivery date is _____________". Back to the 3-week example, if you close on the 1st of June, your work agreement should say something to the tune of "expected final delivery is June 22nd." 

Make sure your client understands they have to stay in the communication loop. I've seen some work agreements with "restart" fees in the costs - meaning, if the client goes AWOL on you for a month (for example), then it will cost $200 to restart the project. I haven't done this (ever, but I'm willing to try), so if you have already, comment below on the results. 

Now that we've backed up and covered material that should have been shared in the earlier section on negotiations, let's talk about time here. 

It will bite you - in the worst way possible - in 3d animation if you're not prepared. It's time-consuming with 2d-animation. It's even more time-consuming with 3d. Remember back in 2002 when you had to use "Windows Movie Maker" to edit your mini-DV clips after their protracted conversion to digital? If you were too young for that, just know this, 3d, even today, takes oodles of time to render. It's data-heavy, and your client (unless they have previous film/video experience) operates with the mindset "Oh, it's a quick, 30-second video." 

So, I don't recommend the usual 3 cuts (2 revisions), and you're done. Because a lot is on the line, I think Uncle Ben would counsel all the young Peter Parkers to think and act differently with keeping the client in the loop with 3d animation. Rather than shoot over a first draft and hope for the best, send over everything, every working day or every other working day. Specifically, I recommend the Scrum approach when it comes to time. Which leads us to the next step...

...

Bonus

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