ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

10 years, 7 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Many of your questions are 'How should I run my business?' in different forms, nobody can tell you for sure as how you chose to run it is what makes you more or less profitable than the next guy! There are no fixed answers beyond the statutory ones (setting up, running and being responsible for company, employment law, etc) - in business you have tremendous freedom to get it right or make costly errors. I've done plenty of both.

My personal thoughts about kit etc - rent it when you need it. Spielberg doesn't keep a couple of ARRI cameras and set of lenses at home, after all! It's easy to get fetishistic about kit, or defer jobs so 'I just need to get X then I can do Y'. You could have done Y anyway and rented. Kit depreciates and fails, make that someone else's problem and cost. The single biggest business tip I can offer is cash in the bank. Have a reserve - cashflow kills more small businesses than anything else, and it means you can pounce on opportunities.

Forget partnerships, the most efficient structure is benevolent dictatorship, failing that employer/employee or subcontractor. Equals quibble about decisions, owners just make them. No matter how good friends you are, how much you like someone's creative work, you don't want your living reliant on them, you have to have free choice of creative options.

10 years, 7 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

On top of all the above advice which you should really listen to, I can offer a few specifics. My company produces various projects for asset management and Investment banks in London. Its tough to break in as most either use a preferred supplier already or have in-house facilities. For example, Blackrock do all their own 'multi-media' in-house, with teams in London and New York. They have high end equipment and a TV style studio at their London Wall office. It's quiet staggering the investment they have made and the amount of full time staff they have. However, they do use freelancers from time to time on specific projects, like 3D animators for example.

That's not to say you can't break in. I did, but Ive been building relationships with them for about 7 years now. I found that the ones who did let me in the door in the early days wanted to see a showreel of work that matched their requirements. Without one you cant prove yourself. So maybe its better to start off with boutique style companies that you could do a couple of freebies or discounted to get a reel together. It's stiff competition from established production houses that charge a lot but also deliver high quality, reliability and consistency.

Most of the work will be web based probably and so you wont really need 4k capabilities. 1080 HD is fine, so it reduced the costs of the kit you either buy or rent. Maybe a specific project will want 4k, but I haven't had a client ask for or be willing to pay for it.

Hope some of that helps.

10 years, 7 months ago - Chris Milton

Hi Nick

Can I suggest a slightly different way to get the ball rolling?

Rather than seeking a client and then making them a video you should look into creating some generic videos and then attempting to sell them. For example, here is a company selling health and safety videos for corporate use: safety care.co.uk.

Many large and medium size companies use this type of video for new staff inductions and training sessions. You can film once and then sell many many copies. Obviously your enormous finance sector clients will have their own videos or go with established vendors but there are new companies springing up every day who need this type of content.

You can also offer to customise the videos with branding or company specific intros etc. Once the ball is rolling you can use your experience in this area to market your bespoke video solutions.

I'm not that active on the message boards but feel free to pm me if you want to chat about this.

10 years, 7 months ago - Glyn Carter

Be clear about what you want the company structure to achieve: one, all, some or none of the following might be: to earn you a living wage, to insulate you from ongoing losses, to be a legal vehicle for short films, to be a legal vehicle for one or more features, to be a structure to get loans or investment or crowdfunding, to be a structure for doing corporate / commercial videos.

Then look at the costs of achieving what you aim to achieve through it, over 2-3 years. Your salary, office costs, basic equipment (pc/mac, editing, printer) (Paddy is right about hiring gear, unless you will be shooting every week. But a dslr would be handy if only to practice with), accountant charges, insurance etc etc.

Then think about how much starting capital you need to set up, and how much income you need (and by when) to cover both the setup costs and ongoing costs. Do a cashflow forecast - you can download templates eg from banks. You might not need to make a profit, and you might not need to earn an income if you have the proverbial day-job, but you will need to cover costs somehow. Worst case is, you keep subsidising your own company from other earnings. Is this sustainable? What is the growth strategy (if any).

I'm making it sound more frightening than it is... it's okay for a business to be supported by its owner, but be clear what what exactly you're getting out of it, and the scale of the support needed. Short films won't make you money. A feature may, but probably won't - how much are you able to risk losing? Don't make yourself homeless! Commercial videos can be viable, but you then have to think about marketing and turnover.

10 years, 7 months ago - Nick Hilton

Hi guys, thanks for all the responses, they're very helpful.

@Paddy: I think I agree with you in terms of kit. I own a DSLR shooter kit which I basically don't use anymore as I've migrated most of my work to C100 which I bought for a corporate gig, but technically belongs to the company who paid for it. So I might upgrade my personal kit slightly and then rent when the job demands more.

@Glyn: I'm definitely going to focus on corporate stuff (or anything with decent money) to begin with, because I would like to make a secure company, first and foremost, before I could entertain the idea of shorts or features. But, even then, I think my focus will likely be on documentary and broadcast journalism.

@Lee: Thanks for the feedback, just what I was looking for. The reason I want to focus on financial services is that I independently scored quite a lucrative single gig with a company back in November. 3 or 4 similar jobs over the course of a year would be more than enough income for me (though, obviously, it would dilute if more people get involved). But, more than anything, that's convinced me that the money is there. I have quite a few contacts in financial services already, and I did a private screening a year or so ago of a feature I had made on a shoestring, and 90% of the audience were banking execs of various forms. Originally, the intention had been to potentially milk them as investors for another narrative or documentary feature, but I am hopeful that, having seen my work and knowing me personal, they might give me an in to get the ball rolling on some work. But you definitely raise a good point about in-house facilities. It's something I'll have to consider closely.

Thanks for all the responses, I really appreciate your careful and considered opinions.

10 years, 7 months ago - Nat Nollid

Hi, I was told a few years ago there is demand for such videos by a guy with contacts on a biz course but due to other work never pursued it. I am interested in collaborating and I own various film equipment that is not being utilized.Just re-joined SP after a long break so feel free to contact me for further chat, Nat