What's gong on everybody?
Potato Jet here and I have officially been
a filmmaker, professionally, for over 10 years.
I think something came out of my mouth.
Am I super successful at it and a baller?
You bet your ass.
How else do you think I could afford these cameras
and my Lamborghini parked in the garage, huh?
And that is how you become YouTube's biggest douche bag
in 10 seconds.
No, I'm just kidding, guys, the Lamborghini
was a rental for a shoot, same with most of the gear,
it's all rentals.
Most camera rentals, it's usually you pay
for three days and you get a whole week
so if you need a camera for, like, say, three weeks,
you pay for nine days and you can have it for three weeks
so that's usually what happens.
So a project I'm working on needs a camera for five days
and we book it out for a week, we shoot for five days,
two days I get to exploit as much of these cameras
as I can for YouTube, show off, ya know.
You guys can tell by my broke ass apartment and,
like, Ikea furniture, that no, I don't have, like,
marble tabletops and all that stuff so I can't
even pretend to be a baller and, not to mention,
I don't know if you guys noticed,
this is literally the only corner of my apartment
that I've ever shown you guys because if I point
the camera any other direction, it looks worse.
I try to make this part look as nice as possible,
ya know, you can't put lipstick on a pig,
actually you can but it's still, it's a p...
Ten years ago is when filmmaking became my profession,
as in my main source of income.
Making videos was what was paying my rent,
what was paying my bills, for ice cream sandwiches,
all that stuff, paid for by making videos
and that was kind of like the dream.
Some of you may be like you've been doing it professionally
for 10 years, you look like you're 12.
Well that's called soft lighting.
If I were to do some more direct lighting, like this,
you'd see all the years of disappointment I've been through,
through my wrinkles and eye bags of sleepless nights.
It's not necessarily what a lot of you guys might think
of just like waking up, going to a big movie set
and working with famous actors and all that stuff.
Some of it can be, like, event coverage or ad campaigns
that companies are trying to run or, ya know,
social media bits that people are trying to do.
Obviously you don't have to make big huge movies
to make it in the video world.
When I was 16-ish is when I first started really looking
for some gigs to do on the side.
I would scrounge through Craigslist trying to get
whatever types of jobs I could do.
I posted ads on Craigslist saying I'll make a music video
for you for $150 and I put in my little demo reel
that I had at the time, it was a pretty bad reel but,
hey, it was a video, it had a couple of special effects
in there, it was just enough to impress people,
to pay me about 100 bucks for, like,
three or four days of work so.
And I was in high school, ya know, 150 bucks,
I was like whoa, I could do a lot of stuff with 150 bucks.
The first two years I was in Los Angeles,
I really had no idea what I was doing and I was trying
to make films and trying to figure out how to make it
as my main source of income but it takes a little bit
of time, it's not, like, a thing that you could immediately
just be like, "I wanna make videos as a profession"
unless you get hired at company.
There are companies out there that are looking for
a full-time videographer that they can employ
and have full-time in house which can immediately put you
into a full-time video creating position
but I wanted to go a little bit more for the freelance life
and that's just naturally the groove I fell into
because companies would give me, like, small projects
here and there and then I would just try to expand
that network, yeah, so for the first few years,
I would do all kinds of different side gigs
to try to make ends meet and I tried to get as much work
as I could on set, ya know, just to be part
of the whole video world but sometimes,
there are completely separate jobs.
I was on, like, Craigslist everyday looking for any sort
of cash and, yeah, a lot of people come here with
the mindset of I'm gonna go there and just unleash
my creative vision all over Hollywood but, at the same time,
you could only do that for so long before you get hungry
and you need to find some food.
Most of the careers, you know what you wanna do,
you study hard for, you enter at a entry level position
and then you move your way up and then you generally
can guess where you're gonna be
at a certain stage and time.
You don't really get any of that as
a independent video creator.
You can't really predict the future at all
so if you're, like, the type of person that likes
to know exactly what's gonna happen, this might just be
the wrong direction for you because it's pretty tough
unless, again, you get in with a company and you work
as a career and you can move up in, like, a media company
then that might be the way to go but as an independent,
you're literally gonna be the type that's like
I have no idea what's happening next week, I might be broke.
People message me telling me that they wanna do filmmaking
and making videos as a career but they're afraid
because it's all about who you know.
Is that true?
This is my perspective from someone that's still
working at it, I still have a long way to go.
We have all kinds of projects here and there
and some are in entertainment, some are in reality,
some of them are in documentary, commercial, marketing,
pretty big range of stuff and almost every single project,
it came from somebody I knew.
The other day we were looking at all the clients we have
and all the people we work with and almost all of it
sourced all the way back up to just a couple people.
I've never really put much focus into growing
the network as fast as possible or going to, like,
meet and greets and all that stuff.
Whenever I would get a job, I would just focus
on doing the best job I could making sure that
they know I care about the project.
Being reliable, being on time, doing what you say
you're gonna do is a huge one and just being,
like, a trustable person.
And from that, they tell a few people and then you work
with them and then they tell a few people
and it all branches out like that.
I've made friends that were just good people
and they have no connection to the film industry
but they have friends and some of them I've met
at a party, some of them I've met through family.
One of them I've met through just doing normal errands,
like, stuff that you wouldn't expect to be opportunity
but you just get to know somebody and talk to them
and then they're like, hey you wanna try working
on this little thing together and that turns into
a bigger thing and then they introduce you
to their friends and it just keeps growing exponentially.
So, yeah, in that sense, it is about who you know,
like, I'm about to go to a meeting that I'm probably
gonna run late for because I'm recording this video
but the people we're meeting with
are pretty high level people, they're important people
that I would have died to have this meeting back in the day
but they just call me now because they know me
and these connections didn't just happen.
It started off, like, seven years ago where we had
a friend that was working at a company and they were like,
you wanna do this little project for us,
we just need someone to get it done with,
it's not a special project and, yeah, at the time,
we were like, yeah, sure, why not?
It's a small project but, hey, like, at the time,
we didn't have anything better to do
so I did all these little project here and there,
like, couple hundred dollars here,
couple hundred dollars there and that's kinda around
the time when I was able to just say, like,
hey, I made enough projects this month to pay
all my bills and I didn't completely quit everything else
I was doing but at least I was able to make
a majority of my living through making videos
and that's all I really wanted to do.
I started off doing little projects
with their marketing team, eventually we started
working with the marketing manager, the marketing manager
really liked us, director of marketing, with their VP's
and then now the CEO and it just grew
from something really, really small.
To me, it wasn't like I'm gonna do whatever I can
to get to the top.
I was literally just trying to focus on doing
the best work I can and kind of going beyond
what they asked for and making them so happy
with the work that they kind of refer us
to the next project.
And so you're at the top of this company but then people
that you worked with in that company, they eventually quit
and then they start working at new companies
and they bring you on as a small player in their company
and then you can, eventually you get enough people
that wanna call you and they like working with you so.
Another reason why this is important,
because Los Angeles, oh my god, there's so many
shady people here and don't get me wrong,
there are lots of great, great people but ugh,
people are hungry and desperate and it is not
super pleasant all the time.
They would literally lie to your face to try
to get something out of you, people try to take advantage
of each other, like I said, a lot of people don't do
what they say they're gonna do.
There's so many empty promises that people tell you
to your face and luckily, I grew up in a city
and around a family and friends that are honest
and they basically do what they say they're gonna do
so, you know, when I first moved here
and everyone was promising all these things,
they're like, hey, if you do this for me,
we'll make sure that, ya know, you'll be working
on this kind of project soon enough and, ya know,
they just don't follow through with that kind
of stuff and if you live in Los Angeles long enough,
you know that you meet some shady, shady people
and a lot of them come off as very genuine and smart
and you're like, oh I trust this guy and then you find out
they've been lying to you this whole time
or they promised all these things to you
and then they don't deliver on them and I don't know
if they are intentionally promising you things
that they know they can't get you or if they think
they can get it for you and then it doesn't follow through
and they're like oh well.
You gotta be prepared to deal with a lot of bull (beep).
I'm sure there's people like that, ya know,
generally everywhere across the world but here at least,
it just feels like there's a huge dense amount of people
that are like that and you cannot spend much time here
without encountering those people so with all that in mind,
I think it's all about who you know actually starts
to become a good thing because you trust the people
that you know and it's hard, it's much harder than it sounds
to filter the people you wanna work with
and you don't wanna work with and so, yeah, a lot of it
is about who you know because if I am gonna call somebody
to help me on a project, I'm gonna call the person I know
because I know they're gonna show up,
I know they're gonna do good work, I know they're not
gonna flip out and stab my back or anything weird like that.
And once you have it happen to you a couple times,
you'll be like, wow, I don't really trust anybody
and you'll start calling the people you know as well.
But people hear that, they go aw,
it's all about who you know and then they look at that
and they go, ugh, well I don't know anybody,
there's no way I could make it in which is definitely not
something that should stop you because part of pursuing it
is getting to know these people and opening up
your network, that's just all part of the process.
So, yeah, they usually are looking for people
that are very talented and have that creative vision
and that eye that they want but, at the same time,
they don't wanna work with a douche bag.
They have to deal with you.
They are gonna start a relationship with you.
They don't wanna hire somebody that they hate working with.
They have to enjoy working with you and you have
to enjoy working with them, it's a two way relationship.
Another thing to keep in mind is that us filmmakers,
we see a lot of things that normal people don't.
For example, if you see a certain shot and you're like
oh, the color grading on that was a little bit weird,
that shot was a little bit out of focus
or that gimbal movement was a little bit rough,
ya know, we see all that stuff because we have
this trained eye to see all that stuff but most of the time,
people that are hiring us, they don't really have
that trained eye, they don't really know
what they're looking at, they just know if they like it
or not so when it comes to getting hired,
I think it's better to have a good reel
and being awesome to work with than having
a slightly better one and being a total jerk.
There's always these stories of these directors
being complete assholes and I think some people
are like, oh you're kind of allowed to be an asshole.
If you're James Cameron, sure.
I'm not saying be fake and be super friendly
but just make sure to keep in mind, like,
am I being easy to work with, do people feel like they
can collaborate with me or am I just being a (beep) Nazi?
Another skill I think is kind of underrated
is the ability to stay calm in
a really stressful environment.
If you've ever put together a production
with actors and a lighting team and a camera team
and all that stuff, it's stressful.
You're always short on time, a lot of people aren't doing
what they're supposed to be doing.
Certain expectations haven't been met and it's just like,
you feel like the end of the world is happening,
you start sweating and everyone's like, you okay,
you need some water?
Your first big production, you're probably not gonna
be able to sleep the night before.
There's always gonna be something that can go wrong
and you have to be able to just kind of handle that.
The first, like, four or five projects
that I made, I was so stressed out
and I was so nervous, I wasn't even focused
on the creativity of the project I was creating,
I was just so stressed out about the logistics
and if everything was gonna work out right
and what's gonna happen if I make this product
and the client doesn't like it.
A lot of times there's a lot of money on the line
and if you screw up then, you know,
you just feel like you're gonna destroy everything
and I think the most important thing
is to be able to just, like, handle it and just be able
to still keep a creative mind even though there's all these
things that could possibly go wrong, the weather can be bad.
Having a clear mind is great for your thought process
while you're on set, you're gonna make better decisions
when you're on set but, not only that,
but everybody feels your stress.
If you are the one in charge of a production,
everybody is looking to you for direction
and if you're stressed out and you're always panicking
about how behind schedule you are
and what shots to get, everybody stresses out.
That's gonna cause clients to not have so much trust in you,
it's gonna cause your crew to be, like,
oh (beep) everything's going wrong.
You just wanna stay calm and just know,
it's like okay this is the best I can do right now,
we're gonna work with what we have and it's not gonna be
a problem and you have to be willing to do that
at any time because production is chaotic
and, finally, you're gonna meet a lot of people
that are tryin' to do the same things as you.
One thing to keep in mind is that they are not competitors.
So, for example, let's say you have a red dragon camera,
right, and then you meet another guy that has also
the red dragon camera with, let's say, the same lenses
and you guys shoot similar types of stuff.
You guys aren't competition, keep that person in mind
Because you will definitely get calls where you're like,
hey, we need like four red dragon cameras for this shoot
and we want all the cameras to match so, of course,
you know who to call.
You should always be thinking about everybody as a teammate.
Sure, there's a lot of small videos that you can make
on your own, like this YouTube video.
I got a little camera standing, recording me,
put it in the computer, edit it myself and upload it, easy.
To go from this video to the next level video,
it doesn't just mean two times more work
to make it a two times better video,
it's like 10 times more work to make it twice as good.
Every little incremental step and increase
in production value, or whatever,
means exponential more work, exponential more money.
Anyways if you could take away one thing from this video,
make sure that you do what you say you're gonna do
because that is so huge.
As soon as someone says hey, they're gonna do it
and then they don't do it, I immediately lose
a certain level of trust for this person.
If I say I'm gonna do a project for a certain amount
of time and money, like, I do everything I can
to make sure it stays within that region.
People always go, like, oh it took longer
than we expected and that does happen sometimes.
Ya know, a lot of times, you know, it's like even
if it's a few days late, it's not a huge deal
but I think it's important to go that extra mile
to make sure you get it done when you say
you're gonna get it done even if it's super inconvenient,
even if you have to stay up all night.
And also, be on time.
Being on time to a meeting means that you care.
If you show up late, you're kinda just like,
oh, well, yeah, I'm here, what do you want?
Which reminds me, I gotta get to a meeting right now
and congrats to the Removu's giveaway winners,
Caden and Jennifer, Removu's coming at ya,
hope you guys make some awesome stuff with it
but, Caden, I don't really know how
to get a hold of you to give this to you
but you did tell me what school you go to.
(phone rings on speakers)
How may I help you?
Would you be able to get a hold of a Caden Sanderson?
School is out.
Oh, it's already out, oh wow,
early summer vacation, how nice.
Caden, how am I supposed to get a hold of you?
How am I supposed to send you this free camera?
Do you not want this free camera?
I'm gonna give it to somebody else
if you don't respond to me.
Anyways, it looks like I'm getting to my destination early,
obviously, I care about my job and clients and projects
so that is why I keep getting called.
And one of the biggest things we hear is,
sorry we're late, there was a lot of traffic.
It's like, dude, you live in Los Angeles,
you deal with traffic every single day,
why wouldn't you leave early enough
to account for that traffic because you know
it's gonna happen, as a matter of fact,
if there wasn't traffic, that would be really weird.
You could blame it on anything that's not traffic,
it'll be a more valid reason.
My house got hit by an asteroid and I had to repair
the roof on it, obviously I didn't have enough time
to repair the whole roof but I put a tarp over it,
a bunch of bricks to surround it, just so that
it doesn't leak in in case there's a sudden rain storm so,
sorry, that's why I'm a little bit late.
And finally, I think it's also important
to have a personal life.
You don't wanna be the person that literally just goofs off
all day and doesn't get any work done,
you need to get your work done but on your free time,
I would say, do things that you enjoy and make sure
you don't waste time by just sitting.
I met a lot of my friends through just doin'
fun activities and those friends ended up
becoming connections and people that I can trust
so that's more valuable than a lot of things
that you can get from just working.
I just got back from a backpacking trip,
which was super refreshing.
Backpacking's awesome because it's literally just putting
everything aside, you just pack your bare, bare essentials
of what you need to survive, it just puts life
back into perspective on, ya know,
how unimportant a lot of things are.
And this lady is just in my way.
Oh man, she's just crossing the street, look at this.
Look at this lady, I'm, like, talking all this crap
about her even though I'm filming myself while driving.
This is not good.
And also if you have, like, a special interest,
that's kind of a niche, you can potentially target them
and say, hey I do video and I'm really into this niche
that you guys serve, let's collaborate.
I like motorcycles so I cold emailed a company
that I really like and they made, like,
after market parts for my Triumph motorcycle
and I emailed them and I was like, hey,
here's my reel and I'd be really interested
to work with you guys because I really like
what you guys do and I feel like I could provide
something valuable to your guys' brand.
I wasn't really expecting any sort of response
but I get a call the next day and it was from
the CEO of the company and he was just like,
hey man I like your work and we have this thing
coming up and this might be perfect timing
for you to hop on this project with us
and that, bam, just a cold email, just started like that
but you can't just go around just cold emailing
a bunch of people, you need, first of all, a reel,
a demo reel and keep those demo reels short.
The biggest issue I see with most people's reels
is that they try to showcase everything they've done before.
Don't showcase everything, just show a few
of the best things.
Let's see if I can parallel park
and film myself at the same time.
Oh my god, that was a perfect parallel park.
Okay so this is my attempt at getting a decent thumbnail
for this video, here we go, camera's not even on but,
ya know, it looks convincing, right?
I mean, based off this picture, you clicked this video,
ya know, so it must have done a pretty good job
at making you think that the camera was on.