What got you here, isn't going to get you there. Ep84

This week is about the steps to go from freelance independent filmmaker to running your own show and building a sustainable career.  Because what got you started isn't the same as what's going to get you to the next level.

Dig in and start listening to learn more of the things they don't teach you at film school and how to produce a successful independent film.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

What got you here isn't gonna get you there. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking all about indie filmmaking and how to build a long-term sustainable career. When you first start out, you might feel like you are well on the way. You have been to film school or you've done some courses, you might have a short film under your belt, and you've worked on a few projects for other people, so you're starting to rack up quite a bit of experience. And maybe you're already creating your first feature film or documentary. This is stage one on your filmmaking journey as you head towards a long-term sustainable career. Welcome to the Moonshine Moonshot Podcast. I'm your host, Sue Collins, and if you've landed here, it means you're wanting to find out more about how to make filmmaking a sustainable career. And you're also curious about how to make meaningful work that fills your cup. You're ready to learn how to make movies that matter, build a sustainable career, and have a positive impact on your audiences. So you are in the right place. Filmmaking has so many parts, and I'm sharing what I've learned over the past 15 years producing impact films that reach their intended audience and support real-world change. So let's get started. And I've got to warn you because it's very easy to get stuck at stage one. And it's probably why you're actually listening in here today to figure out what they didn't teach you at film school to get you to that next level. You may have aspirations to produce your own work. You may even have produced perhaps a few documentaries already, or maybe a commissioned work through a broadcaster or a project you've put together in and around your other freelance work, but you're still making your living predominantly by working freelance for other projects, films, or maybe you're working in a production company. And stage one is where I see people get stuck and stay there or eventually pursue other interests or you know, things like becoming a videographer. And you know, that's cool too. But if you're a filmmaker and you want to work long term as a filmmaker, then I want to help you reach your goals and do more than just work on other people's projects in order to sustain yourself. I want you to run your own show. You're ready to go to the next stage, which I call stage two, which is when you are a self-sufficient producer of your own work. And in stage two, you'll be developing your own projects, raising finance, hiring crew, managing the budgets, and answering to investors, and basically responsible for the delivery of your projects, but also paying your own way. In other words, you're responsible for paying yourself from the work that you are producing. You'll likely own some gear and ideally have more than one project going at any given time. The cycle really is that you have one or two projects in early development, one in production, and ideally one in release. And once you've built that cycle, that's what you need to generate to keep things going. Multiple projects in various stages. And I guess the bigger that your company gets, the more project that you have in all these various different stages. Oh, I was just looking for a place where I could learn everything I need to know to make an amazing film that changes the world. It's such a shame that that place doesn't exist. Oh what? Hang on. It does. Oh, if you're looking for inspiration, ideas, tools, and ways to learn how to make movies that matter, head to Moonshine Communications Academy over at Instagram and all your problems will be solved.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Warning, results may vary depending on the questions, and success is not guaranteed. Always read the label.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

But what got you through stage one is not going to get you to that stage two. Stage one is laying the foundations, it's building the networks, building your experience, growing your base, and helping you work out what sort of filmmaker you are and what sort of projects you want to create. It's working with others on their projects and learning as much as you can. And as I said before, stage one is where I see a lot of people get stuck or choose to stay. Because definitely stage two is harder and more challenging, and it probably isn't for everyone. But if stage two is where you're heading, then you need to figure out how to go from stage one into stage two because it's not a natural progression. You have to do things differently, approach filmmaking in a different way. Because essentially you'll be running a small business. You're not going to be a freelancer anymore. So here's a technique that you could try to help get your thinking around going from stage one to stage two. I would suggest create a list of all the skills that you currently have. Which area are you specialized in? You know, is it directing, cinematography? Are you a really passionate development officer? Are you post-production editing, writing proposals, pitching, production management? List out all of the areas that you have skills. Then look at the role you'd need to step into in order to take the leap into stage two and start sustainably producing your own work. So what areas do you need to grow yourself in? Do you have a mentor or do you know someone doing the type of work that you are aspiring to do? What are their skills? How do they approach their work? What can you learn from them? What other skills do you need to strengthen? Do you know how to run budgets or basic bookkeeping? Have you hired crew or have you hired staff before? Have you done script writing or proposal writing? Sales. Now this is a big one because sales is actually raising finance. So when you're pitching, that's sales. So take a look at the whole filmmaking journey from ideation to delivery and have a think about where you could develop your skills and grow your competence. Then next, make a list of the type of work you want to create over the next few years. Is it fiction or factual? TV broadcast, feature film, documentaries, what genre most interests you, is it nature or history, biopics, health, politics or human rights? Really go deep and think about the work that you would most want to produce and what you'd need in order to get a project off the ground. And you can go back over all the podcasts, there's 84 of them so far in this series on the Moonshine Moon Shop because I talk about these things right across the whole series. So you'll be able to find loads of information. And I am definitely not suggesting that you need to know how to do all of these things before you get started. Most of these things that you don't already know, you're gonna learn on the way. But it's understanding what you still need to learn and being open to the idea that you still need to learn more, and then getting some ideas on how you'll approach that learning. That's what's gonna get you a step ahead. It's going to get you thinking like a producer, like a business owner, and a filmmaker with a long career ahead of them. So just remember what got you started is not what's gonna get you to the next level. You're gonna have to do things differently. Studying and working on other people's projects can only take you so far. Eventually, you're going to need to launch yourself into stage two if you want to run your own show. So once you've answered all of these questions that I've just asked about what skills you still need to develop and you've analyzed how other people are running their show and you have a solid idea on the type of work that you want to produce, you can make a plan for your next steps. What do you need to do to get from freelancer to business owner slash filmmaker? Look, I can go way deeper into all of this if you are interested. So just send me a DM over at Instagram. I'm at Moonshine Communications Academy on Insta. And you can ask me any questions or let me know any topics you want me to dive into, and I will do my best to answer all of your questions in upcoming episodes if they're not quick to answer just in a DM on Instagram. I'm heading to Sydney for the rest of this week to film for Conquering Skin Cancer, a new project we've got in production here. So I will be back next week with some updates on how that project's coming along and more on how to build your career as a documentary filmmaker or an independent filmmaker. So thanks so much for joining me this week, and I look forward to talking to you more next week. Thank you for joining me today and every week here on the Moonshine Moonshot Podcast. If you're wanting a deeper dive into the topics being discussed on the show, then I would encourage you to head over to Moonshine Communications Academy.com and sign up for the weekly drop of moonshine via your email. Being on our newsletter community means we can support your filmmaking journey in a more tailored way as well as keeping you up to date with the resources we share on how to make movies that matter, and so much more that we deliver inside your inbox every single week. So head over to Moonshine CommunicationsAcademy.com and at the bottom of the homepage you'll see a little box to add your email address, and as a thank you for signing up, we'll also send you a bonus ebook to support your messaging. So voila, you'll be on the way to receive all the best content weekly.