5 Reasons Most Filmmakers Struggle In Their Career
Looking back on my filmmaking career, I thought about all the things that I struggled with and made a list of 5 that I think most of us can relate to.
Let me know in the comments how many of these five describe you.
Spending too much money and time on gear
One of the things that I’m guilty of and think most of us can relate to is spending a lot of our income on gear. Buying more gear seems like the clear path to leveling up and earning more.
On top of that, I would spend a lot of time watching videos on new gear or gear I couldn’t afford, instead of practicing and getting better with the gear I already had.
But this is not a good long-term plan. I know plenty of people that spend their entire career chasing gear and are still struggling to make a decent income 20 years later.
Things really change for me when I spend money and time on learning the business side of filmmaking and invested in learning marketing and sales and how to actually get clients that will pay me better rates.
It’s a hard mindset shift to make. Gear is tangible and knowledge is not. It’s so much easier to buy a 1000-dollar lens than to spend that on education. And I think there is a place for both.
Competing at the wrong level - fighting for scraps
Filmmaking is a very crowded field. Usually, at the lower levels, everyone is competing for the same gigs. But as soon as you level up, you’ll realize that it’s actually not as crowded as you think.
A thousand people will compete for $500 jobs. A hundred for $5000 jobs. But at the $25k jobs, the competition is really small. The key is to get there as quickly as possible by specializing in the top industry you make videos for and the type of videos you made.
Not learning anything related to the business side of filmmaking
I mention this a bit in the first point. Most filmmakers spend all the time they have either shooting or editing or learning how to be better shooters and editors.
When I shifted to learning the business side and set aside time each week, I realized there is a different path. I can actually hire the best shooters and editors if I can get the clients that can pay for it.
Not leveling up - staying stagnant
Once you start making a decent living as a freelancer or as a small production company, a lot of people just coast. They don’t pursue bigger projects. They get comfortable. This can really burn you out though.
I know plenty of freelancers that don’t like where they are because they’ve been there for a decade or two. You have to consistently try to get on bigger jobs, get better clients, raise your rate and keep moving up.
Doing everything themselves.
The biggest issue with freelance filmmaking is the idea that we have to do everything ourselves because no one is going to do it as well as us.
And in some cases, that may be true. But in most cases, it’s not. It’s only because we don’t want to give up control. I used to think I was a great editor. But the moment I finally found an editor that I trusted, I realized I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. So I’ve barely done any major editing for nearly a decade.
I’ve done the same thing with shooting, producing, and directing. It took a while to find the right people, but this finally gave me the biggest sense of relief. My income potential was no longer tied directly to my hourly rate.
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