- Hey guys.
Brian Hunt here with you for another video.
This is the first video in a series of videos
where I'm going to be talking about things
that I've learned and things that I do over my career
that have helped me get work
and ways to keep getting work
and keep being self-employed
and being a full time video creator and filmmaker.
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So this first video is my number one tip
and my number one tip is very simple.
It is just, don't be an asshole.
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Okay.
Don't be an asshole.
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It's a very simple thing that I've learned
and that I have used throughout my years,
working in the industry.
And it is something
that I've seen other people not use
and not act that way,
which has caused difficulties.
So it's very simple.
The logic around this don't be an asshole.
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Okay.
So the first thing of this
is that people like to work with people
they like to be around you know,
especially in jobs like this,
when you're on set
and you have a lot of people
and you have long hard days,
you like to be with people you like to be around
and you typically hire people or keep hiring people,
or you keep getting hired by people
that like you being around
and you keep hiring people when you're doing jobs
that you like to have around.
And I would say that being likable,
being somebody that does a good job,
being somebody that is nice for other people to be around
and people enjoy being around trumps talent every time.
Okay.
Talent can do amazing things.
There's amazing talented people out there.
I have worked with some amazingly talented people.
I've worked with some amazingly talented people
that are also assholes
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Or they're just,
they know they're amazingly talented.
They want you to know that,
and they don't want to hear anything from anybody.
And you know, it is just not a great way to work.
Those people might still continue getting work
just because of their talent level.
And people might see through that.
But I know for in cases for a lot of people
where they say I've heard it
from colleagues and the people worked be like,
that person is amazing,
they do great work
but I can't be with them all day on a job.
It's just,
they they're too much of an asshole.
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So where I see this happen quite a bit
and they're not being really an asshole
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it's just more sometimes they're being very stuck up
or they're kind of being more of a know-it-all.
And that would be a lot of times with people
that are just coming out of film school
or people trying to get into the industry,
people that just think they know everything
and they don't really know their place on set.
So when you're on set,
when you're working with other people,
when you've been hired to work with other people,
there are certain things that you can talk about or suggest
and certain things that maybe you should not.
Now I work with a crew a lot of times,
or a lot of good friends of mine
that are also my crew members.
Again, we like working with people
that we like to be with
but we have a little bit of a different way
of doing a lot of stuff
that we kind of share a lot of hats.
I'm okay with my producer that I do a lot of work with.
Who also works as a director sometimes
who also shoots with me sometimes
and vice versa for projects I'm doing.
We're cool with kind of making suggestions
and saying things maybe you know,
have you thought about this angle for shooting this?
Have you thought about using this for this job?
And we work with a lot of you know,
there's a lot of great energy that way,
and that's pretty rare a lot of times
in the film industry.
If you're going out as a PA you know,
you shouldn't be making suggestions to the DP
or to the lead grip and stuff.
You know, I'm saying that you can try
to be very tactful on the way you're doing stuff.
I would really just sit back
and just try to learn as a production assistant.
Even myself going out as
a director of photography on jobs,
a lot of times,
not a lot of times
but there has been definitely situations
where I don't agree or don't really see
what the director's thinking
or why he wants to shoot something a certain way.
I can make a suggestion to them
and depending on our relationship
but I do not want to talk to them in a tone
where I'm saying like,
you're wrong I'm right.
And if you don't do it this way,
you're an idiot.
I mean,
that's the way some people talk
and that will not get you back on a job again.
People will not like you speaking to them that way.
And there's a definitely an etiquette of way
and a hierarchy the way that you want to suggest things
and kind of move things forward or to do things.
There's been a lot of times
where I've bitten my tongue
and just kind of done the work.
And that has helped me to get other work.
Okay.
If you really want to be totally creative in control,
then you need to go and do your own projects
and hire your own crew and be your own director.
And until you get to that point,
you need to just be a good person,
listen and do a good job
and work as hard as you can.
Working hard, being nice,
not being an asshole
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will get you far ahead.
Another the situation with people I found,
young especially at a film school and stuff,
you know, they'll come to me and I'll say,
I might know some of these people
and I'll say,
Hey, do you want to come out on a job
as a production assistant?
And they'll say to me,
no, I want to be a director.
I'm not coming out to work as a production assistant,
which I will often reply to
well, how many jobs are you doing as a director?
They might say I'm not doing any yet,
but I'm waiting for that job to come.
It's like,
they don't want to come on set
to work at something lower
than they should be at already.
They're not willing to work themselves up.
They're kind of,
are they being asshole?
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They're being stupid.
They're not thinking about things.
So just go out there.
You can learn from everybody.
You can learn from people you think
that you are better than
that you have more knowledge than.
I mean, there is some very experienced DPs
that I've done work with.
That had be an amazing.
I think some younger people might look at them
and think like you know,
their style, the way that they shoot is so old,
and they've you know.
but these people have tons and tons.
You know, these guys have like probably 20 30 years
of working in production
and they can teach you so much things.
And if you're nice to people
and you're not an asshole.
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And you open up to people
and you start getting relationships with people
and you start them talking to you more
and hire you more.
That's when you can have these conversations
outside of set
or on your breaks
and stuff like that onset sometimes too.
When you have these relationships
where you can start asking them questions,
when you can start sending the messages
on Facebook and say hey.
Pick their brains,
ask them why they're using certain things.
What they suggest on this.
What's their thoughts on this?
Send them some of your work so they can critique it.
That is really building relationships.
And you're only going to build a relationships
with people that are higher up in the industry,
if you're not an asshole.
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So I'm going to have a bunch more videos
on topics like this
coming out over the next few weeks.
So please subscribe to the channel.
Hit that notification bell to get notified
next time I upload a video.
Please like this video if you like it,
and please leave me a comment.
Let me know your experience with this.
What are your thoughts?
What are those number one thing
that you think is out there for getting work
in the film and video landscape.
We'll see you guys on the next one.
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