- So let's talk about the 10 ways
that you're gonna be successful as a filmmaker or a creator.
(upbeat dance music)
Now these are important, and I
highly suggest you listen to all
of these different points because
I run into a lot of people out there
in the industry that do the complete opposite
of the different things that I'm gonna talk about here,
and they really suck to work with,
and they're people that I will never work with again,
and you'll understand why in a second.
One note before we get started on these 10 tips.
I originally shot this video intending
for people who are starting a production company
or who are freelancing.
However, these tips apply to being a creator in any way.
So some of it may sound more like
I'm talking about being on set and with a production,
but you can apply this to anything that you're doing.
If you're just doing YouTube or social media content,
the same tips apply, and if I'm talking
about being on set, I'm also talking
about creating your own content,
working with others, and all of that.
So guys, these tips are super important,
and make sure you don't discredit things
just because of the way that I'm talking about it,
'cause I put it in the context
of basically the production world,
but it works for YouTube, as well.
So the first thing is be prompt.
No matter what the situation is,
always be on top of your time,
always make sure you're ahead of everything.
Never show up to set late.
Never be late on emails.
Always be prompt, and that's something
that's key in the industry that will make you stand out.
If you're working with clients,
if you're working on productions,
and you're not on time or taking a week
to get back to emails, you're gonna lose
your clients and you're gonna lose any sort of connection.
Anyone who's late to set on our shoots,
we get rid of, because we don't wanna deal
with people that aren't on top of their (audio cuts out).
We wanna deal with people that are good and reliable.
Number two is be confident.
If you walk into a situation and you're nervous,
everyone around you is gonna feel that.
So if you're working with a client,
and maybe you're unsure about lighting
or the audio, you do not want to show it on your face.
You don't wanna talk about how
you're not sure if this is gonna work right.
Be confident.
Just own it, and you know what?
Everyone around you will think
that you know exactly what you're doing.
So always have confidence.
Always be on top of it.
Obviously know when you need to work
on things or learn something, but you need
to not show that you're nervous
or that you're unsure about something
on set because everyone around you will sense that.
Now, right along with this, don't be arrogant.
So don't be an (audio cuts out) on set.
Don't be like, it's my way or the highway.
You still have to be fluid.
You have to take advice from people.
You have to listen to other people.
You can't say it's my way or the highway.
As soon as you become an asshole,
people won't wanna work with you.
Clients will get upset.
They won't hire you again.
So you just gotta keep your cool,
be confident, not be arrogant.
Now, this next tip is something
that helped grow our company to where it is today.
It's allowed me to build the clients
that we have, and that is be the yes man or yes woman.
So you basically want to say yes
to everything when you're starting out.
Say yes, go for it, own it.
If it ends up being a bad shoot, you're gonna learn from it.
However, if you're doing something
like a freebie and it's a good shoot, guess what?
That might lead to some more work down the road.
So there's a lot of times where
we will take on a job, and we'll do
it for free just because it's A, practice
for us, and B, there might be a connection
down the road because someone's gonna be
really excited and say, I remember
I worked with this person a year ago
and they did a awesome job.
Well, they're gonna refer you if
someone's looking for a shooter in the future.
If you have the time, say yes,
just go for it, and do it as much as possible.
This next one I'm sure you guys have heard,
and that is fake it 'til you make it,
and I can't stress this enough.
Fake it 'till you make it, have that confidence,
and just go for it.
There was a shoot, when I was early
on in my career, where I got asked to be a dolly grip.
It was on a Fisher dolly.
I'd never touched a Fisher dolly before,
and sure enough, I said yes, and I said yep.
I understand this Dolly completely.
Let's just go for it.
And so I had a week before that shoot started.
What I did for that entire week was read the manual,
look online, found out all the information
I could about a Fisher dolly, which is a big piece
of hardware, and then when I got on set,
I had a crew of three or four under me
who were basically my assistants
to make this dolly work, and it ended
up being a shoot where we used the dolly
in almost every shot.
Now, when I showed up on set, I snuck
off to the side a little bit, played
around with it, and was like,
great, got this, and just went for it.
The director had no idea, the DP had no idea,
that I'd never touched a Fisher dolly before,
and they were so excited with the footage
that we were getting because I
just went for it and owned it.
So fake it 'til you make it because
you never know what opportunity
you'll miss out if you say no, I can't do something.
Just own it and go for it.
The next is learn from your mistakes.
You're gonna make mistakes, just realize
that you are going to make mistakes in this industry.
You're gonna mess up, and it's gonna happen,
but what you don't wanna do is make that mistake again.
So always learn from your mistakes.
If you did something wrong, if something failed
on a shoot, just figure out why
it failed or why you made that mistake,
and just learn from it so you don't do
that again in the future.
We have made so many mistakes in
our career, in our growing our business, but you know what?
It's made our company stronger.
It's given us the ability to go
after these high-budget clients
and know that we're not gonna get screwed
or that we're not going to have an issue on set
because we've already made all
these issues and we've learned from 'em.
And the next point goes right along with that,
and that is don't be afraid to make mistakes.
If you don't make mistakes, you don't learn.
So all these kinda play together.
Say yes, go for it.
If you make a mistake, learn from it,
but just don't be afraid to make mistakes.
So you gotta take risks and you gotta
just go for it sometimes.
And yes, you're gonna make mistakes.
You're gonna piss people off.
It happens, but you'll learn and
you'll become a better creator and filmmaker out of it.
So like I was saying with that dolly production,
I spent a whole week just researching
and reading up on the manual on this dolly,
which that brings me to the next point,
which is do your homework.
If you don't fully understand something,
the internet is full of information.
Just start digging, do your homework.
Don't just wait 'til the last minute
to figure something out.
If you have a production coming up
and you don't know a lot about the client,
you don't know a lot about the place
you're shooting or the gear you're using,
research everything.
Do some digging.
See who it is that you're working with.
See if you could figure out some information
about the people that are in the production.
If you're working with a new audio guy,
you're working with a new lighting guy,
do some research, do your homework,
see who they are, see who they've worked with.
You just need to be the most informed
that you can be when you approach set
because it will all come into play eventually.
You don't wanna walk on set and
just not have any understanding
of who's around you, what's going on,
the situation, the camera gear, the lighting gear.
You gotta know what you're working with.
And the next bit plays on that,
and that is never stop learning.
Never think that you are the master
at everything when it comes to filmmaking.
You gotta keep learning.
I'm always looking for new courses
or new videos to watch that will improve
my skills, and you know what?
I learn stuff all the time.
Everyone has a different approach
to filmmaking, and using cameras,
and just doing things in general,
and the more that you are out there,
exploring what it is that other people are doing,
you'll learn, and you'll be able
to create better content yourself.
Learn from others.
Look what's out there.
There's so much information on the web.
And my last tip is something that is tough
if you're caught in the moment,
but that is don't get angry on set.
Don't get angry with clients.
You need to keep a cool, level head
and be business-like about everything.
If something goes wrong, people get
very emotional in this industry.
If you're working with a client
and something goes down with the camera,
you might have the client screaming at you.
If something happens and the audio goes down
or the camera goes down, I've had clients
that get so pissed off they start screaming
at you, and you know what?
You have to keep a level head.
At the end of the day, if you are the cool person
on set and you're the one running the show,
everyone else will vibe off it,
even if people are pissed off.
You need to keep yourself as cool as possible.
Don't bring emotions into it, 'cause
as soon as you bring emotions into
your business, that's when things go wrong.
So things will happen.
It's Murphy's law.
It always happens in film production.
It's never an easy thing as a whole.
Sometimes you'll have good shoots,
but a lot of times, you'll have bad shoots
where just stuff goes wrong.
It's just life.
It's the way it goes.
Try to keep emotions out of it
and try to just have a level head
with what it is that you're doing.
If you need to step away, collect
yourself, come back, and just deal
with the situations, and learn
from it because that's how
you'll have better productions in the future.
All right, guys, and that is it.
If you're new here to this channel,
make sure you hit that Subscribe button,
and if you're watching this at the time
of its release, I'm actually in Ecuador right now,
climbing the two tallest peaks in Ecuador.
This was a video that I found on one
of my hard drives and I'd never released it,
so I thought this would be a great time
to put it out there, and I'd love
to hear what you guys think about
these 10 tips, so leave a comment down below,
and when I'm back in service, I'll check it out.
Also guys, make sure you head over
to the creatorfilmschool.com.
That is where I have all of my courses
about being a creator or a filmmaker, and guys, that's it.
I'll see you on the next one.