Do what you want to get paid to do.

Advancing your film career is somewhat a balancing act. Nothing makes you an easier mark for exploitation quite like earnest ambition. Veterans of the industry will always tell you to never do any job for free but when you start selling your services for a living wage, if you haven't shot that exact video ten time before, the market seems to laugh at you. Or worse, the phone just never rings.

Here's the thing the veterans will never tell you. That is, if you let money be your guide you'll end up with clients driving your career.  I don't know about you but I don't want that.  You'll do the same shit over and over again.  Your work will suffer.  You'll loose out on jobs that really excite you.

So you gotta give them a little more than what they pay for.  You probably shouldn't go overboard on every project but if you see potential in a project, don't be afraid to go the extra mile.  They might be paying you $600 to do the job but if you can make it look like they're paying you $1200, you're doing the right thing.  So go ahead and rent the right camera for the job.  Offer to put in a little extra time.  They'll appreciate the effort and it'll pay off in the picture.

Make The Most Of The Opportunity

Clients ask me about business profiles all the time. I've done them for Yelp via SmartShoot and I've done them for friends who have businesses. The process is simple. I show up and film the business for a couple hours and then we shoot an interview.
The best business profiles are always for clients who make an effort to make the best of their opportunity to collaborate with me. I tell clients, much like you might practice for your piano lessons, you have to prepare for your video shoot!

So I have a list of tips for clients.

1) Know what you want to say in a video. This doesn't mean you should prepare a speech and rehearse it.  Honestly, I'd rather you didn't.  One of my favorite client interviews was for Jade Bistro near Tampa. The speaker is the owner's son and I love his interview because he knows exactly what he loves about his mother's cooking. When he says "my Mom makes it, so I know its awesome" I just want to hug him. Best story, ever.

2) Know what you want to show me. Don't just tell me about your business, show it to me. For McMahon and Absolute Home Comfort of Boston, that was pretty easy. I had the guys pretend to work on projects around their own homes. Check out the videos. I'm happy with the results.

3) Break free from the office. Here is a video I shot with Brody Willis. Its okay but not spectacular. Watch the video. Did you notice how the speaker is talking about driving in a car and looking for a gas station or coffee shop? And yet the visuals are stuck at the office, staring at the guy's phone. That's a problem. It might take a little more effort to jump in the car and scout out some locations but that's the difference between an okay video and a great video. Always be prepared to go the extra mile.

4) Get your friends and family involved. For the Image Care Electrolysis video, I asked the practitioners to bring in their friends and family.  One of the "clients" is actually a practitioner.  This option saves you money because you don't have to hire actors. And it avoids awkward client confidentiality issues.

Generally the last thing I tell clients before wrapping up the consultation is my philosophy for compensation. Basically, I don't want to shoot a video unless I know its going to turn out great. I tell them if I'm not proud enough to post the video to my website or show it to potential clients, I'm wasting my time. And I think they appreciate that because it tells them that their business is my business.

The Collaborative Process

Its important to get the client involved in the process.

If you've ever dabbled in the wedding industry, you know that the client has the most clairvoyant concerns after the fact. The same is true for other clients. Your job, as the filmmaker, is to coax those ideas out in the pre-production phase. And keep documentation of your plans so if you run into disagreement later, you have something to refer back to.

You can also multiply your efforts if you work together, which is tricky because they'll tell you they'd prefer to stand on the sidelines and let you do your thing. Small businesses are especially guilty of this. You'll have to convince them to do a little prep before the shoot. Have them bring in a friend or family member to model for you. Ask them to think of some projects they can show you.

Clients might be hesitant to open up to collaboration. After all, they're paying you to do a job. They expect you to come and go like a plumber. I like to tell them I'm like the piano teacher. If they don't put in the time to prepare, I can't guarantee results.

Spring/Summer 2013 Cinematography Reel from Joshua Guerci on Vimeo.

My reel, as humble as it is, would be impossible without the help of my clients. When you get them on board with the collaborative process, they might ask to reschedule. That's okay. It means they're starting to take your services seriously and they want to make the best of an opportunity to work with you.

Don't forget to be social!

When people think of marketing, the first examples that come to mind are typically television commercials, print advertisements and billboards. People don't often realize marketing is much more than getting the word out. For example, the Starbucks store layout is a major part of their branding. Apple's customer experience is also a marketing strategy. They discount the social and experiential aspects to marketing.

People fail at social media because they approach it in the way they might develop a traditional ad campaign. They use their twitter account like a psychic hypodermic needle, injecting their narrative into public consciousness. Young people and professional marketers make this same mistake: Mass tweets to people they don't know, blind Facebook invites, generic blog posts. It comes off as inauthentic. Worse, creepy. Its as though they missed the social aspect of social media. The connection part of the internet.

A friend once described it as soft marketing. The goal is to ease yourself into the conversation by listening to your audience and responding accordingly by providing a value add. Such as personal responses, compliments and thoughtful questions. Let them know a real person is on the other end of the tweet. The trick is to allow their curiosity to lead them to your product. And be available for them when they have questions.

When I released my Battle of the Buskers video series to accompany the contest hosted by Seattle Metropolitan monthly magazine, the first thing I did was send a link to each performer who participated in the event to let them know the video was up. I then re-tweeted their tweets. I kept an eye out for people commenting on YouTube or mentioning my video on Twitter. I engaged with those people. I sent an e-mail to the Pike Place Market staff, thanking them for their participation and included a video link. I posted links to blogs that embedded my video and I engaged with people who were talking about my buskers on Twitter.

Not that I can claim any credit to the following success but: Fox Q13 posted my video of Carly. Winner of the contest, she went on to New Day on K5 and Rolling Stone.

Further reading: I Will Never Hire A Social Media Expert And Neither Should You

Making Movies For Nothing

Sometimes when I am home watching Netflix, I think about how I would much rather be making movies than watching them. And as a young filmmaker, it's tough. The first temptation is to call up all your filmmaking buddies and say "come on! lets make a movie!" but that doesn't always work. Then you're just sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring.

Find things to go to. Seattle puts on a filmmaker happy hour. Local film forums often put on nights for local filmmakers to show their work. And of course, you should always keep an eye out for local films on Kickstarter and make a modest donation.

The most difficult thing to remember is that nobody owes you a spot on their film crew. Especially as you start to grow in experience and pride it is easy to forget that film crews come together with trust. Don't sweat the gigs that don't work out. Just keep your head up and look for the next opportunity.

Sometimes you have to learn to create opportunities for yourself. Don't worry if you don't have gear and you don't have money to rent gear. The most valuable asset in a filmmaker's toolbox is his ideas. If your ideas are sound and inspiring, the rest will fall into place.

My ideas start with the experience that I want to capture and share. For example, an early afternoon cocktail with one of Seattle's top bartenders. Or hanging out with the owner of Seattle's finest basque restaurant. Or taking a walk with a busker.

The next challenge is to find someone with gear but doesn't know what to do with it. It sounds easier than it really is to convince someone that the prospect of bringing your idea to fruition is better than watching Netflix.

Most importantly, you need to make people feel like not just anybody is qualified to help you and that you need them for their specific skills. It is imperative that you are authentic because people will know when you are just using them for their gear. You should watch their reels and talk to them about what they love about filmmaking. If you can't find some common ground of mutual appreciation, you probably shouldn't ask them to help you.

Lastly, if you're asking people to help you, a lot of people are going to say no. If you have some strategy to your alliance building, you can find mutual benefit. Cinematographers need beautiful subjects. Sound guys needs interesting situations to show off their skills. Gaffers also need practice overcoming situational challenges. There is a trick to selling ideas to people. They need to feel that you're giving them a genuine opportunity.

You can never really make movies for free. If you have a day job, you have to take time away from making money. If you hire a crew, you force them into making a similar decision. Also, don't forget the time of your subject but don't sell your idea short. I believe good ideas are as good as money and if you have a good idea for a video, the time and money part will fall into place.

Getting into show business

"Yeah, I'm a filmmaker. But it's not so glamorous as it sounds."

I've said that phrase to over 100 people this year and not a single one of them believed me. I think I really mean to tell them that filmmaking is a long journey. If you ask me if I am a filmmaker, I am sometimes tempted to say "I don't know. Ask me in 10 years if I'm still in the business."

As a production assistant at the bottom of the film industry, I encounter all shapes of gatekeepers. These are people who try to keep you out of the industry. Some of them appear to me in the form of demanding producers and assistant directors and some of them appear in the form of grizzled old film veterans with an axe to grind with everyone he's ever worked with. The trick is to keep a level head and not so much to defeat these foes but to soften the relationships and build friendships.

Oh, that's easier said than done!

The first thing you must learn is the inherit risks in the film industry. Every minute you invest in a project is a potential loss. You're not just betting on the quality of the film but also its ability to meet completion. Will anybody want to watch this picture? Will anybody bother to edit the picture together? These are all likely scenarios for every picture.

Field producers are under a lot of pressure from the studios and production companies to keep operations under a limited budget. They have a limited amount of resources with expectation to pull of a television show that works. They're looking for help. They don't want to quibble over nickles and dimes and often, the production assistants are asked to help fill in the gaps.

My recent experience with a reality television producer can be summed up as thus: he asked me if my car could carry a doorway dolly. When I said no and requested a truck, I was fired.

Was that a messed up situation? Of course! But its not unusual for producers to delegate responsibility (and cost) to production assistants because, if for no other reason, there are production assistants out there desperate enough to do it.

I don't think these overworked producers set out to take advantage of the crew. Expectations are high for everyone from the top down and its not unusual for a production to expect even the lowly assistants to share in some of the risk. As they say, shit rolls downhill.

The second kind of gatekeeper is the seasoned veteran filmmaker. They offer words of warning to young filmmakers, not to let producers walk all over them. These guys who earn their stripes and hold indispensable positions on the crew are quick to forget that one's dignity is a privilege in the film industry, that they too once had to swallow their pride to get into show business.

The number one benefit of being a production assistant is the opportunity to make yourself useful. Simply fulfilling your duties and doing what you are told is not good enough. You have to pickup the slack where no other person could possibly do the job as well as you. You need to make yourself invaluable. And the most difficult thing for a production assistant to learn is that having this opportunity is a privilege.

Is being a filmmaker a glamorous job? I guess it depends on how you define glamorous. Is it an uphill fight, both ways? Yes. Is it by all means impossible to break into the business? Yes. And once you're in, is it one of the most exhilarating and rewarding things you can do? Absolutely. Its glamorous. And just as anything that's worth while, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication and sacrifice to get in.

Edit: Since writing this blog post, I sent a message to that producer and told him that I was sorry for not seeing things his way. He responded that he appreciated my note and that he would give me a call if he needed any help.

Smith & Winston

This is my first student film for Brooks Institute. I am mostly happy with how it turned out. I was not the director. There are some small things I would do differently but before I get into that, let me point out that not every good idea was my own and not every bad idea was presented by someone else. This was a group effort and every decision was made as a group.

Now, first you must watch the film.



I annoyed by two background lights. The white light on the piano is too intense and should be filtered down with some scrims and maybe extra diffusion. We couldn't really fit a flag back there without risk of the c-stand being in every shot so mostly I'm happy the c-stand we did put back there wasn't more obvious. Also, the blue light on the bricks is both too intense and too blue. Lastly, our professor pointed out that the light should have been lifted up to cast down more like a street lamp.

I wish we had spent more time on the reverse shot of Winston, the man in blue. This is most my fault because art department was my duty. I love how Winston is shot for the 'toast' shot but I wish there was something in the background such as a poster or something.

I don't know why we have a jump cut at the end there. Maybe we didn't get enough coverage. Maybe the shot of Brittany rushing over with the bar mop didn't look very good. Maybe we needed a close up of Winston walking out the back door. Whatever happened, we needed another shot.

Never dress a girl in black if you want to see her. Someone warned me against doing this and I did not follow their advice because I am a dumb dumb dumb boy. To be honest, I did not have a lot of options. I wish I had a faded black because I could have gotten away with that. The red dress may have worked. I don't know.


Over all, I'm pretty happy with my group and I think we will work together again on future assignments.

filmmakers with blogs

i don't understand why so few seattle film makers are putting together blogs. every time i meet a film maker, i ask about their blog and they look at me like i'm crazy. they say they don't have enough time.

i found Jeven's blog today. looks like he was up in seattle recently and he made a music video for fun:



he has two feature films in the hopper. the scripts are: steven king's cain rose up and 1-800-Suicide by Michael Lamio. he's just as busy as anybody i've met in seattle and yet he has a blog. two or three entries a month.

now, to find some local seattle film makers with blogs. i want to see what people are doing in this town!

edit: i met a girl at the northwest film forum the other day who calls herself purple. she was with her dad and they were looking for someone who could help them cast a film.

tommy dean movies

tommy dean is a singer songwriter who lives in the seattle and tacoma area. his life is a work of art full of adventure and mystery. he invites his audience to live vicariously through his music. some of his stories are true and some of his stories are outright lies.

if my movie seems overly romantic and idealized, it is because it was my first documentary film. like my subject, i am trying to find myself as an artist. it is a labour of manifesting my dreams.

tommy dean show (38:41) from Joshua Guerci on Vimeo.

this second film is an hour long. much of the innocent magic has dissapeared and the result is a much more gritty and real dipiction of my subject. as a film maker, i feel that i play the role of a selective mirror. i must find a balance between what the audience would like to see and what the subject himself wants to see.

further, it is a challenge to balance between scenes of idealizing my subject and showing off his grubby parts. too much of one thing will ruin the sauce.

tommy dean & friends (1:07:14) from Joshua Guerci on Vimeo.

if you would like a physical copy of these movies, please leave a comment below. you can see some outtakes on my youtube channel and send me a message there. if you would like to share this movie with a friend, i would be happy to send you a copy of the dvd in the mail.

i am an independent filmmaker living in seattle and i would love to do another project like this, to expand upon what i did right and practice some of the lessons i learned first time around.