Secrets to Making Money With Media Production: Powerful Tactics Exposed for Earning Big Profits With Media Production

1

Introduction

Setting Up the Big Idea

So, here’s the big idea for this book. You can make money with media production, and it’s easier than you think! You can even make money before and during attendance at a college-level film/video program or dedicated film school. This book will show you the secrets, gained through almost two decades of real-world experience, to do just that.

What Is Media Production?

I use the term media production as a broad term that covers a lot of different facets of motion-based media production. These areas include (but are not limited to):

•Feature Films

•TV shows

•Documentary Films

•Commercials

•Music Videos/EPK/Live Concerts

•Marketing/Promo Videos

•Brand Films

•Corporate Videos

•News

•Online Web Series

•Training Videos

•Video Magazines

•Special Interest Video Products

What This Book Isn’t

The purpose of this book is NOT to teach you the craft of media production. You’ll find plenty of training online and at amazing film/video/media programs at colleges and universities across the country for that. Whether you go through a program or teach yourself the trade, learning the craft is paramount. Without that training and experience, you don’t have anything upon which to base your future earning potential. So, however you have to, go get that experience. But it’s not a catch-22, you really can start in this industry with zero experience … it’s called being a Production Assistant (PA). It’s the bottom rung of the ladder, but it pays better than most no-experience-required jobs to be had in the United States.

What This Book Is

What we WILL go over here is how to actually make MONEY with your newfound and continuously improving mad media production skills (the business of the media business). For reasons that remain a total mystery to me, it seems that many media programs don’t really go into that aspect very much. This book fills that void. And that’s not just a film/video program short-fall … many (dare I say, most) degree-based, college-level programs of ALL disciplines teach you the craft or knowledge of the profession, but VERY little time/energy/effort is spent to inform you of the opportunities that exist in said profession, or how to make money with said professional skills once finished with school. And they DEFINITELY don’t teach you how to make money in said profession BEFORE you even enter their college-level program. I’ll teach you everything you need to know right here.

Roadmap/Outline of the Book

In this book, we’ll go over everything you’ll need to know to start making money in this profession … including plans that take into consideration your season of life (before, during, or after college). We’ll cover the ins and outs of various working scenarios, how to get paid on time, what you’ll need to bring to the table to increase your value and ultimately make a great living in this industry. You will hear me mention a few things multiple times, due to the fact that some of you will jump ahead into a chapter that looks more appealing to you and your season of life. For those of you who DO read this book cover-to-cover, you’ll just be even more ahead by the ingraining of this important information into your innermost psyche.

Apply and It Works

When you do these things, you’ll be making money very soon. It’s really not rocket science or brain surgery. With even a limited skillset, you’ll be able to generate income, even before you start college … but only if you want to! If you think you’re not able to generate income, you’ve been either deceived by a nay-sayer or are simply uninformed. Nobody told me I couldn’t make money from Day 1 … so I went out and made money from Day 1. And I never looked back.

Chapter 2

My Story

Set Some Context

While I’m sure you didn’t get this book just to read up about yours truly (though I’d be flattered if you did), I do feel it’s important for you to understand where I’m coming from when I tell you these secrets. I’m the living proof of putting these secrets into play successfully. I’ve also learned a LOT along to way—a whole lot. So you’ll even get the added benefit of the lessons I learned from UHN (that’s the University of Hard Knocks, the collegiate level of the school of hard knocks). There are many things I did right. And there are many things that I’d recommend you do differently or sooner to maximize your success and income is this world of media production that we so dearly love.

Credits/Accomplishments

Even before I started a four-year film/video program, I was shooting videos and getting paid. It wasn’t illustrious, but it paid … and paid WAY better than any other wage-earner job that could be had as a teenager just out of high school. I shot private events (including weddings, yes, those … more on that later) as a freelance camera operator for many years while in my early years of college. This led to corporate shoots, which led to broadcast shoots for TV shows (on TNN and MTV) by my sophomore year of college. By the time I reached the end of my four-year college program, I was running my own production company and regularly being called to shoot for various national TV programs. Within the first few years of graduation (four years was enough for me, thank you!), I had racked up some serious street-cred, having shot for shows on A&E, The History Channel, BBC, MTV, TLC, and Style Network, and having shot on projects with Aerosmith and Eric Clapton. And these were shooting gigs, not just PA (Production Assistant) work!

My Hope and Intentions

I want to help you succeed, make progress, and make money, all at the same time. And I want you to see how easy it can be for you to do this at every season of life, even if you didn’t even go to a film school!

Chapter 3

Basic Skills and Characteristics

What you’ll find in this chapter is seemingly basic stuff that could apply to any industry, as well as some very industry-specific tactics and ropes that you must know to make money in this industry. They’re not really secrets, but for whatever reason, nobody tells you these things! It’s ALL relevant and VERY necessary to your success in the media production industry, and you can begin applying it today.

Integrity

First up, Integrity. It is crucial that you possess integrity! You can still make money without integrity, but I’d highly NON-recommend it. When you maintain a high level of integrity in all that you do, you will be much better off. This includes making moral and ethical decisions on a daily basis. Don’t ever turn off your internal integrity filter for a second just to make a couple of bucks. It will be the most worthless bucks you’ll ever make. I don’t care if your rent is past due and you have been eating ramen noodles for two weeks straight, just don’t go there. Blessing and reward lies on the other side of living with integrity.

Communication

Next up, Communication. For whatever it is that you’re going to be doing, this applies. DO what you say you’re going to do (that’s an integrity characteristic, too), and SAY what you’re going to do (never assume it’s already known). Don’t leave the person who’s paying you to do stuff in the dark about what you’re doing. And once you’ve done it, tell the person for whom you’re working that you’ve done it, otherwise they’ll never really know and will have to come to you to ask. If they don’t know that you did it, they’ll have to check up on you, which is more work for them. So, do yourself a favor and talk to people. This is huge. The secret is out of the bag. Do it and you’ll be two steps ahead of your (former) competition in the industry.

Attitude

Attitude is everything. No, I’m not talking about having an attitude by which you go about your day-to-day. You’re not a rock star, and nobody likes working with a jerk. What I AM talking about is having a good, positive attitude. So, have a good one, be joyful always. This one secret will keep you working more than anything else. People hire people who know what they’re doing AND have a great attitude (i.e., a diligent worker, easy to work with, confident, trustworthy, a pleasure to be around). Some people you work with may not have the best of attitudes. Don’t be negatively influenced by this. Their not-so-great attitude is (most likely) not about you. So, keep your attitude positive and don’t let anyone else rain on your parade. If you’re not naturally outgoing (I’m not), you’ll have to step outside of your comfort zone (frequently) to be confident and friendly with co-workers or clients that you’ll be interacting with daily.

Speaking Skills

Speaking Skills … use them or perish. I really don’t mean to sound like your parents probably did when you were growing up, but speak up, don’t mumble, look people in the eye when you talk, and strike up a conversation (when appropriate). Don’t just sit around waiting for someone to talk to you. Genuinely be interested in others, ask them questions, be inquisitive (but know your setting and the appropriateness of your curiosity).

Appearance

Appearance is important. If your brain surgeon came into the examination room wearing a T-shirt, cargo pants, and flip flops, you’d probably be very concerned with the expertise possessed by this supposed expert. You’d question his or her ability, simply based on appearance. It’s a fact of life. So, in the media-production industry, just like any other industry, you must balance looking the part with being true to yourself and having a personal style. If you’re on the crew side, the person hiring you will often dictate what your attire should be given the working scenario for which you’re being hired. Sometime cargo pants and a T-shirt is perfectly fine (though flip-flops are never fine … you need to be able to run, if needed). Sometimes, you might be asked for no shorts. Sometimes jeans aren’t even acceptable (khakis and a polo-style shirt might be in order). If it hasn’t been dictated to you, just ask. And please, keep your clothes and yourself clean. If you’re in college or around college age (i.e., early twenties) and mom is not there to wash your clothes anymore, you really need to take ownership in that area of life. I’ve had interns working for me who literally had a funk about them. So, we had to address that. It wasn’t fun for us, and I’m sure it wasn’t fun for the individual either. The situation was corrected, and a better, more hirable individual was created, one who will go on down the road and make more money simply due to that fact that they cleaned up their act (literally).

How you look brings about negative or positive effects for you—that’s just a fact. If you’re looking clean and in good order, then you’re presumed to be more trustworthy and of more value. If your hair is a mess, your shoes are dirty, or if you roll up in a very dirty car, people can’t help but subconsciously alter their impression of you as an individual. I’m not all about putting on a show for the man. What I’m saying is that you need to keep yourself together internally, and your external appearance should reflect that. When you don’t have the external appearance in check, people will often view that as an indicator of your internal condition. Would I trust someone with a job or task who shows up to my shoot in a filthy car, wearing inappropriate clothing for my shoot, who has a bit of an aroma about him/her, who’s hair style looks like they just woke up? Not likely. I wouldn’t care if you were a GENIUS at what you do, that’s simply not going to work for me and my world, which revolves around doing what I love and making a good living at the same time. I’d rather hire someone who has their stuff together, and might be a few steps below genius, every day of the week. When you work as crew or on-staff for a production company, you are representing them on that shoot. The person paying the production company sees you as a part of the production company. That end client likely doesn’t know whether you’re freelance or on-staff. To them it doesn’t matter. So, represent well for the person paying you, and you’ll be working a lot more than if you choose to not represent well.

This should go without saying, but please shower regularly. Seriously—and you know who you are (I hope!). Working in this industry often means working in close quarters for sometimes very long hours. The last thing you want to do is start off a long, close-quarters day with a prior day’s worth (or more!) of work still lingering on your body. Do NOT douse yourself with cologne or perfume to cover up the funk. I like smelling extra nice when appropriate, but when you’re in close-quarters for long hours, your fancy cologne could be highly irritating to others on the crew (or your client). So, just be fresh and clean, nothing more, nothing less.

Production Etiquette On-Set

How your handle yourself in the production industry is a learned trait that has nuances which vary depending on the production and on your position within the production. When you’re on the bottom rung, don’t get in the way of the train. Don’t chat it up with the hot models while you’re supposed to be doing your job. Don’t ask others about their day-rates (unless you do really know them personally, like going-out-for-a-beer-after-the-shoot know them, if you’re of appropriate age). Always