Don't start a video production company before watching this!
How to start a video production company?
When I started a video production company back in 2009, I wish I had someone to tell me what to do and what not to do so I can avoid a lot of headaches along the way.
So I wanted to make a video to help people that are starting a video production company or are in the early stages of running a video production company.
1. Freelancer vs. Business Owner
Do you want to create a company so you can do the work yourself and run it under a company name? Most freelancers that open a production company think this way and it's a really bad way to start if your goal is to have a real company. If your goal is to make 50-100k per year as a freelancer, it's completely ok to think this way. I know plenty of freelancers that do this and are completely happy. But they don't have a real production company. They have a job and the moment they stop working, they can't make any money.
You have to think of hiring other people to help you and take the workload off your hands. If you are producing, directing, shooting, editing, color correcting and sound mixing, and managing your client on most of your projects, you won't be able to create
a real business.
It's a really hard thing to take less profit when you can do it all yourself. But if you really want a production company, outsource some of the roles on each project.
This is the hardest lesson to learn and I still struggle with it to this day.
But if you are just starting out, it's easier to implement this from the start than try to implement it 10 years later when you feel burned out.
2. Niche down
Have a very clear focus on the type of videos you want to make. It's tempting to want to make every kind of video and take any project that comes your way. And it's ok to do that for a while. But to really have a sustainable company that can scale you
want to be very focused on the type of videos you make and the types of clients you want to have.
Don't take everything from events to commercials to short films to music videos. Specialized in a few things and become the best at those things.
3. Learn Marketing
It's all about marketing your business. That's why it's important to niche down because it makes it much easier to go after the right customers and clients.
Learn how to run Facebook ads, and learn google Adwords. Learn about KZread and Instagram.
Knowing how to get clients through these platforms will make it so much easier for you to expand and build a machine you can turn on or off.
If you keep getting clients through reputation and word of mouth, you'll hit a wall at some point.
4. Stop buying gear
When starting out, you'll want to have a decent kit for producing videos. But after that, stop spending all your profits on gear. It will never end. I know guys in the 60s that still to this day spend every dollar they make buying gear.
Rent when you need to and focus your profits on marketing and outsourcing, so you can keep growing. Unless a big part of your business is equipment rentals, there is no reason to keep buying gear. You can hire gaffers, DPs, and editors with their own kits.
5. Keep overhead down
You should try your best to keep your monthly costs down when running a production company.
Some things like accounting and business insurance shouldn't be skipped. But having a studio or employees on salary can be minimized. You can hire freelancers for a lot of the tasks that most production companies do.
The only production companies that I know that went out of business had massive overhead costs every month. if they lost one client, they couldn't keep up with their expenses and had to lay people off.
6. Diversity of your clients
If you took my advice and learned marketing and advertising, you can focus on getting several clients that keep coming back.
A lot of production companies have 1 or 2 major clients. When that client leaves, it destroyed their business.
So if that sounds like you and most of your money as a freelancer or production company comes from 1 or 2 clients, learn how to get more clients without hurting your relationships with your existing clients.
Thanks so much for watching. Please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to this channel for easy-to-follow filmmaking videos.
If you want to go from a freelancer to a video production company and learn the business side of filmmaking, watch this training.
www.filmmaking...
0:00 Introduction
0:42 FREELANCER VS. BUSINESS OWNER
2:12 PICK A NICHE
5:25 STOP BUYING GEAR
7:11 KEEP OVERHEAD COST DOWN
8:56 DIVERSITY CLIENT BASE
Пікірлер: 67
If you want to go from a freelancer to a video production company and learn the business side of filmmaking, watch this training. www.filmmakingmentor.com/Video_Production_Accelerator_Opt_In
Man, I cannot believe I am just seeing this video. The good part is it’s the first Monday of 2023.!! This is my calling card for the rest of the year. Thank you so much for creating this. It is extremely motivating and inspiring.
You are amazing man. I started this year during Covid with a livestream business and decking out a basic kit and I made mistakes already. I went to school for advertising and law but it took this video to re ground me in reality. I am subscribed for life. Thank you thank you thank you.
I just started my own production company this year.im super glqd to come acroos your video!thank you so much!
Appreciate your advice. I had bad GAS so had to pump the breaks
what u is shared makes sense for all kind of Business. Accumulating inventory is the last thing a business owner should do. By the time you realize the cost, you are almost out of the game ...Thanks mate..
Thanks a lot for the valuable advice
Great advice many thanks. Focus on marketing, yes..
Great advice here. Opened my mind to getting monthly payments from clients. almost like a subscription model.
Thank you for the insight. It definitely is helpful.
Very useful tips, thank you! 🙏
Great advice! Would love to see more content like this.
Very helpful advice. Read through the video description as well and made me think about how I'm working and what I need to reconsider. Thank you 💚
Great advice. Thank you. Subscribed!
Pretty awesome advice thanks!
Been on the fence about starting a production company for awhile now but since coming across your video I think I will give it a shot. Thank you for the info.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this.
@Filmmakingmentor
3 жыл бұрын
Welcome
Thank you for the great advice
Great video! thank you so much for sharing!
Fantastic advice! I’m glad I watched your video before starting.
Thank you so informative
This is awesome advice, I’ve got my video production company and these tips will defo be of great use to my progression
I'm just now thinking and brainstorming
So much value in this video. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much.
Gah! Was just about to start a video production company. I guess 10min wont make too much difference….
Very helpful
Thank you so much, can you talk more about renting an office space, like something small to put your editing workstation and gear I already own.
Good Advice.😌
Thanks sir by wTching ur vdo i dont regret i never bought gear as i am hardworkinf self funded production and i produce my own film only
I realy want to thank you for this , I a'm about 6 month in this jop " wedding videos " in and i was thinking about that topic exactly , thank you
This is what i needed
Fantastic advice here!!!
spitting facts.
spot on my friend....
Amazing content you are providing great insight.
Hi, thanks for this helpful video. Could make a video that breaks down how production companies get paid? A little confused how that works and the process of paying clientele/cast/production team while also making your own money.
@Filmmakingmentor
3 жыл бұрын
Sure. I’ll add it to my list
Great simple tips.
This is a really helpful video. I checked out your channel because of this video. I would absolutely love to see more content like this and about how to run a video production company Aka the boring stuff no one want to hear lol but it’s need thankyou
@Filmmakingmentor
3 жыл бұрын
Thank you and you got it. I have a list of video topics like this one to get to.
Thank you.
Great advice man! I’d love to see more marketing videos.
Good informative video sir..S2 Studios sharma india
Thank you for this :)
do you think running the company as a business owner and occasionally directing some of the bigger projects is doable?
@Filmmakingmentor
3 жыл бұрын
Yea for sure. I still manage to do something like that
Very helpful 👍
If I'm starting, I'm definitely would need gear. Thus far I got camera, two lenses and a strong tripod. I'm looking to get a monitor. However, to film a movie I definitely would rent some equipment. Right now I'm low on budget.
Thank you so much. I’m 25, divorced and on a different life path trying to understand Film as a business. I’m currently in school aspiring to be a producer. I have the intellect I just need the info to put things into action and this definitely helped. Is real estate a good revenue to put into this company? I’ve been having a little doubts here and there because people are saying I’m undecided in my life goals, so am I wrong to think I need a way to fund my business? Like I said I’m a student so i can’t work full time, but I do have another income. I see people start their business early and freelance to the point they make themselves broke.
Great video! What i will have to do is stop buying gear and start learning marketing :) Dang :D:D:D
you can expense the gear from the taxes
@Filmmakingmentor
3 жыл бұрын
According to my accountant, business purchases such as gear are a tax write off
This is great
This was very helpful! Even with only 6 tips/suggestions, they were very valuable and helpful. Glad I tuned in...hope to hear more content from you bro
Who pays for short films? Can you talk more about it? Short Films are an art form but sadly you cant make a living from it. Or do you mean commercial short films? Like an advertising with a story?
@Filmmakingmentor
2 жыл бұрын
Yea that’s what I meant. Short films that are branded. It’s a subtle form of advertising but it’s more creative than commercials
Great video man! So would you reccomend a CRM for your a video production company
@Filmmakingmentor
2 жыл бұрын
Any method of organizing client or potential client conversations is important. I wouldn’t use a CRM until email or slack becomes too unorganized though.
@JordanFord
2 жыл бұрын
@@Filmmakingmentor is there anything you would recommend other than a crm ?
TWA Flight 800 - What Really Happened. Make a movie out of it.
Short films for companies, they pay a lot of money for that... Bro where you live?
@Filmmakingmentor
2 жыл бұрын
I live in Chicago. But I’ve traveled to lots of places for this kind of work
Wow you talk about a lot of important talking points in the video production industry! We like what you talk about, keep going. Anytime you are in Scottsdale reach out. If you'd like, message us @dmakproductions on IG and we can connect. You kill it!
Hi Saj, i need your personal contact for business inquiries.