Thankfully Crazy Busy

The blog typically goes quiet when things get hectic. Since the last post was from late September, it's fair to say my spare time margin has been tight.

Thankfully, work has been wicked busy. I've been back and forth to Bentonville multiple times on Sam's Club and Walmart shoots. There have been a couple of NYC trips, a trip to very rural Montana to film at cattle ranches, a project in Tulsa, and then out to northeast Texas to film sheep and solar farms. The end of the year is coming in hot and I've already got four scheduled work trips in December. Thank goodness St. Anne the Wife puts up with the nonsense of me being on the road so much.

Family-wise, we've had Fall Break and today is the start of the Thanksgiving break. The boys have both been keeping Anne and me on our toes and destroying us in chess. We've been able to get out to several OU football games and a fancy date night thanks to some good friends who've been incredibly generous. Good grief that OU Alabama game was bonkers.

Most of my work lately has been straight-up bill-payers. That kind of work allows me to keep freelancing, but thankfully I've also been able to sneak in a couple of personal projects as well.

The world-famous Tony Li brought me in to help with the visuals for the 2025 Red Ribbon Gala with Tulsa Cares. I also got to spend a couple of days filming with Carolyn Ray out in Upstate New York. About 15 years ago, she hired me to do a video about her original hand-painted fabrics. She had me back recently to do a follow-up and I'm excited about what'll come of that project.

There's also how I've fallen in love with the fancy Inovativ Voyager cart I picked up recently. Originally I'd thrown some serious shade at those pricy carts, but I've seen the light and wished I'd have picked one up sooner.

Hopefully there won't be another huge gap between now and my next blog post, but again, I'm crazy thankful to be busy, especially considering how dry it's been.

On the Road Again

There's a good reason why it's been so quiet on my end these past seven weeks. 2024 was looking to be one of the worst years I've had in terms of work and finances, but luckily several jobs made it my way and helped put me back on track.

Starting that first week of August, I spent one day in Bentonville and two weeks in Orlando on a shoot with Walmart via Vista Productions. The last week of August I was in Indiana on a project with a scientific instrument company and working with clients from Boston and Quebec. The following week I was back in Bentonville with Vista, this time shooting content for a Sam's Club event.

Thankfully I've got a few more weeks of work booked and a couple other potential jobs on the horizon. There are also a few days in NYC for a Filmsupply event and the yearly NYC NAB show.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering other career options the past couple of years. It's been a weird time in this industry and long gone are those bloated pandemic-era production budgets and streamers trying to outspend each other in creating new content. Crazy thanks to the clients and connections recently that've gotten this freelancer back to work.

The Last Few Weeks

The last couple of months have had me bouncing around with work, summer stuff with the family, and other responsibilities, but I haven't put as much effort into this blog as I had been. Thankfully my health is somewhat back to normal after a couple months of a hot mess of dizziness and vertigo, so obviously that's preferred.

At the end of June, I was in Indiana with Vista Productions and DP Nathan Maulorico. It's the second year I've gotten to help shoot the International Thespian Festival at the University of Indiana Bloomington. We were filming on Sony Fx9s and Nathan's DZOFilm Catta Ace lens set. I'm still surprised and impressed with those lenses, especially given the price. I also got to spend a week on the SmallHD Ultra 5 monitor and that workhorse certainly won me over. Here's the recap video from that weeklong event:

I've also been wildly busy with responsibilities outside of working behind a camera. A few opportunities have opened up with consulting work given my MBA skillset. Hopefully, I'll be able to share more about those soon.

We'd been planning to buy an electric vehicle (EV) later this year, but an opportunity came up in late May that was hard to pass up. Given the current $7,500 federal EV tax credit and a 60-month 0.99% promotional APR, we were able to buy a 2024 Tesla Model Y. In doing all the math ahead of time given the trade-in value of Anne's 2018 Audi Q5, that wild 0.99% APR, the cost of gas vs. electricity, maintenance, insurance, an EV charger & installation, etc., I realized we'd be spending just slightly more per month with this new EV over the life of the 60 month financing period compared to what we were paying with her current car.

Monthly Costs
MONTHLY COSTS Audi Q5 (2018) Tesla Y (2024)
Maintenance $101.661 $25.002
Fuel $149.451 na
Electricity (kWh)3 na $30.00
Charger Cost4 na $38.13
Loan Payment $550.00 $700.00
Insurance $153.22 $163.22
Total $954.34 $956.35

1Based on actual 2020-24 monthly average
2Not sure I trust this estimate, but it's based on the July 2024 data at caredge.com/tesla/model-y
3Estimate based on $0.06/kWh

 

A few other things worth a quick mention:

We're in deep with FX's The Bear. It's such a great show and actually gets me excited about filmmaking. There's so much basic or boring or just bad TV out there, so anything that breaks out is just so exciting. Last night we finished season two and hope to start the newly released season three soon.

 

Just so you know, I'll get behind just about anything Donald Glover is involved in. Super excited about the Brando Stone & The New World trailer. The Childish Gambino world tour is opening in Oklahoma City this summer and I hope St. Anne the Wife and I get to go.

 

The trailer for the F1 movie with Brad Pitt came out yesterday. I've got such high hopes, but not quite holding my breath just yet.

 

There's good reason why Inside Out 2 has been killing it at the box office this summer. We saw it in the theater with the kiddos and it had me bawling multiple times. There's plenty to go into behind the business side of things and the value of theatrical vs. streaming releases, but the film itself is exceptional.

2024 Heartland Emmy Nominee (& Marketing Efforts)

Back in early July 2022 I got to work with the Cherokee Nation on a project about one of their citizens being awarded the Medal of Honor. I've already posted about that trip, but I did find out this past week that the project was nominated for a 2024 Heartland Emmy award.

From OsiyoTV's YouTube description:

A hero to countless people, Dwight Birdwell sees himself as just a former strawberry picker from Stilwell, Oklahoma. He is also the only Native American recipient of the Medal of Honor for his service in the Vietnam War. We hear his story of heroism and the selfless actions that led to him finally being awarded this prestigious honor.

It's been a hot minute and an entire graduate business degree since that shoot, but I'm still thankful for the opportunity and I look forward to the next one.

Normally I shy away from straight-up self-promotion, but that's probably not the most ideal marking strategy. I've also got mixed feelings when it comes to participating in awards like this. This is now my second Heartland Emmy nomination and I've got a handful of Telly Awards.

We're told those accolades look good on a resume and I'm sure those statuettes would look good on a shelf, but they should also come with some kind of asterisk saying you paid for the attention. If I were to have a local project I wanted to submit to the 2024 Heartland Emmys, the entry fee starts at $135 for the primary entrant, and then $85/person for names 2-6, and $135/person for names 7-12. That doesn't include the $65 yearly Heartland Chapter membership fee; Non-members' entry fees start at $235/person. If you get nominated, congrats, but then be ready to pay the $125/person early-bird ticket price to the awards gala. We're talking $450+ to be a member, one named person on an entry, and tickets for St. Anne the Wife and I to go to this year's Heartland Emmy Awards Gala. It's hard to look at that cost and not think about how else that money could've been spent, e.g., additional on-set production assistants, a month of health insurance for me and my two kids, 100+ cups of coffee, etc.

2023 Heartland Emmy Nomination

Cost Breakdown of
2024 Heartland Emmy Nomination
Entry Fee1 $135
Yearly Membership Fee2 $65
Gala Tickets (two tickets at $125ea.) $250
TOTAL $450

1 Fee for one name only
2 Heartland Chapter Yearly Membership Fee

This is where my business school nonsense starts to kick in and I'm reminded of my marketing and strategy classes.

A quick Google search would bring back the idea that a business-to-business (B2B) marketing budget should be around 5-10% of its yearly revenues. For example, if my yearly revenues are around $100k, that should have me budgeting $5-10k/year in my marketing. Suddenly that $450 doesn't feel so bad – roughly 0.45% of my yearly revenue and just 6% of a $7,500 yearly marketing budget – and it also includes a networking opportunity with some of my target audience and a fancy date with my wife. All that said, it's worth keeping an eye on whether or not your marketing efforts are actually working. I'd be hard-pressed to tell you one client relationship I've earned thanks to the awards I've won over the years.

Dang you business school for actually helping me do what I'd hoped you would.

So, Marketing huh?

It's been slow AF the last few weeks. The last few months. The last few years. It's been a rough few years thanks to covid interruptions, entertainment industry strikes, global economic uncertainly, etc., but just knowing that doesn't make it feel any better. If you're reading this and I've worked with you before or you're looking my direction as a potential vendor or crew member, know I'm crazy grateful for those I've been able to work with and look forward to more opportunities with you down the road.

This past week I've been thinking quite a bit about marketing. My Instagram feed has been flooded lately with sponsored ads from photographers, cinematographers, and production companies. While I'm not here to dump on other creatives trying to claw their way into our attention, I'm certainly not the target audience for what I've been getting – unless it's a Machiavellian attempt by Meta to get me to spend my own money to advertise on their platform.

The professor my Strategic Management class this past week mentioned that "You can have the best product [or service] in the market, but if you're not spending any money on marketing, there's a direct correlation to not selling any products [or services].” As a small business, I don't have a set percentage of my revenue I'm spending on marketing, but there's no reason I shouldn't be considering it.

Right now my obvious marketing efforts include my website which I can put an actual dollar amount to, as well as the networking events I attend and my public facing social media accounts, both of which are much harder to account for. Those social media accounts are free to have, but I do go through financial resources in producing some of the content. There is some strategy involved with what, how, and when I post, but not to the extent of an actual marketing plan. There's also these blog posts, but considering my website traffic, let's just admit they're more of a welcomed distraction from doing actual work that'd advance my professional life and increase my revenues.

Back when I first got started as a cinematographer, demo reels were where it's at. I've still got a handful of my 2006 demo reels on burned DVDs. Pretty sure the only one of those demos that actually got sent out was when I applied for a video producer job at Life.Church at the time. Never got that job BTW. My current demo is the same one I've had since 2018 and made up primarily of personal work. There's footage from a couple paid gigs buried in there, but it's just over 10% of the total edit. I do a great deal of "talking head" type shoots, but that kind of footage doesn't seem to add anything to a demo. For that kind of nonsense, I've got a dedicated page of screen grabs and details that I send out to clients. I know my demo reel should be updated with more recent content, but it's hard to look at the last few year's worth of work without being impossibly critical knowing how slow things have been due circumstances out of my control.

You'd need to speak to someone who's regularly hiring new DPs and cam ops, but I couldn't tell you the last time I seriously paid attention to someone's demo reel let alone sit through the entire thing, especially if it's longer than 60 seconds. I've hired DPs and cam ops over the years for different projects, but it's mostly via connections I already have as well as referrals from the network I've developed. Those connections lead me to that individual's website and at least their Instagram account if I'm not already aware of their work.

Lately I have been more interested in other types of marketing material. One idea is putting out a printed promo of some kind. Possibly something like a photo zine of my still photos and frame grabs from my motion work that'd get sent out to select agencies and creatives. I've been following aPhotoEditor for years and love seeing the photographer promos that get sent in and shared. Can't say I've seen a ton of cinematographers do something like that, but it could be an option. Honestly I'd never heard of zines till I got started on my rubber stamp project a few years back. If you're interested, I've started a YouTube playlist with some references in putting one together.

There's also the idea of a YouTube series that's been bouncing around in my head now for weeks. There's still quite a bit I'd want to flesh out before doing a show, so that's certainly a long ways out if it were to ever happen. I do already have bits and pieces that I'd include in something like that, so it's not completely out of reach. It'd be partly a marketing effort seeing as how it'd showcase the kinds of work I do, but I'm hesitant to be the center of attention like so much of the YouTube content out there; surely there's ways around that.

Can We Talk About YouTube?

This past week or so I've been trying to justify the last 500+ days of my life and my shiny new student loans. In March I'll be a self-proclaimed creative with an actual master's degree in business and instead of being productive and furthering my professional life, I've been digging into YouTube and trying to smash together the creative work I do and some of what I've learned in business school.

No question, I spend far more time consuming video content on YouTube compared any other the other streaming platform (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, etc.). We've got an antenna connected to our TV to get the basic channels and it's been at least a decade since we've had any kind of cable subscription.

According to November 2023 Nielsen data, streaming made up more than 36% of the total TV usage with YouTube alone claiming 9%. Having been around before the internet was a thing as well as essentially growing up with it, seeing traditional network TV be eclipsed by streaming is bonkers.


There's also the ginormous advertising revenue YouTube brings in. Back in August I'd posted an MSNBC video here on this blog that went on about changes in TV viewing and advertising revenues amongst some of the social platforms and traditional media outlets. In 2022, YouTube brought in $29.2 billion in ad revenues, completely dwarfing their competition.

So why bring any of this up?

After the boys went to sleep on Christmas Eve, Anne and I wound up watching some old videos of us on my YouTube channel. Before each video started, we'd have to sit through one or two ads on the work I'd created and I'm certainly not seeing any of that revenue. YouTube is a free service and I know they cover their expenses and make a profit from advertising dollars, but dang I'd have liked to pocket even a sliver of that ad revenue.

Right now my YouTube channel is swimming in old videos from 2006 till 2013 when the cool kids left for Vimeo. The golden age of that video platform is way gone, but somehow I'm still paying them $59.95/yr for a Vimeo Plus membership.

If you've been paying attention, you'll know there's some independent YouTube channels bringing in some outrageous revenues. There's a financial YouTuber I watch with 833k subscribers who laid out his numbers and revenue streams recently. That video sent me down a rabbit hole of similar ones from other independent creators: the productivity dude with 5.1m subscribers and the millions he earned in 2022; a music composer with a PhD and 4.71k subscribers; this dude talking about how much money his wife's fitness channel makes.

In considering what it takes to get monetized on YouTube, it's something like 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the last 365 days. Currently I've only got 310 subscribers and 120 public watch hours. Needless to say, if I'm ever wanting to see a dime from those ads in front of my videos, I've got quite a hike ahead. That said, I'm not opposed to the idea.

I'm clear-eyed enough to know this isn't a "get rich quick" thing, regardless of what the YouTube algorithm has fed me. Turns out there's also business models built around buying monetized channels, but from what I've read it sounds like a bad idea. There's so much information available on how to get started doing this nonsense, and plenty of it has got to be just hot steamy trash. Thursday I spent 45+ minutes listening to two art YouTubers – of course that's a thing – with their aptly named "How to Avoid the Artist to Content Creator Pipeline on YouTube."

Surely the world doesn't need another YouTube channel, let alone one with my face plastered all over it. Considering how long it takes me to write a single blog post, would I actually have the bandwidth to keep feeding the YouTube beast? Being on the tail end of my MBA and the 1,600+ hours of studying I've logged since fall 2022, what I know now still seems incredibly small compared to what I know I don't know.

Still, I like the idea of sharing some of the conversations I get to have with people who are much smarter and more interesting than I am. I'm also a fan of attending film festivals as a networking opportunity, but questioning the value of paying film submission fees when instead I could post my project online and use that festival submission budget on a promotional campaign.

Staying self-employed, providing for my family, and helping others are still the main goals. The fact that I've been able to make a living in part due to passive income streams seems like a magic trick compared to the alternative. The tremendous time and effort I've dumped into business school was meant to be a long-term investment instead of simply buying more gear I'd end up replacing a few years later. Surely I can position some of what I've learned in a way that legitimately helps others, covers my expenses, and turns a profit.

Surely the world needs more of this kind of nonsense though:

 

UPDATE: March 2, 2024

The fact that our six-year-old could barely leave the room as I'm writing this because there's an image of MrBeast on my screen is telling.

Wisecrack is one of the YouTube channels I've followed for quite a while and recently they released a video titled MrBeast and the Toxic Culture of YouTube. It's a long watch and goes deep – it's a philosophy channel after all – but certainly worth your time considering this post. The video goes into depth about a recent Times article, "In the Belly of MrBeast" written by Belinda Luscombe.

One quote from the Times article that I don't remember from the Wisecrack video but is wildly alarming goes into how much time this dude is spending on set.

It all requires an enormous amount of time and effort, especially for someone with a finely tuned need for quality control. Donaldson has 15-hour filming days 20 to 25 times a month and devotes the other days to Feastables. But he’s always been a guy willing to knuckle down if he thinks the payoff will be there.

20 to 25 15-hour filming days a month. For anyone working in production, that's insane and not at all healthy let alone sustainable. It's certainly not an example to follow.

More importantly, there's this line that should raise some major red flags:

“These algorithms are poisonous to humanity. They prioritize addictive, isolated experiences over ethical social design, all just for ads,” he says. “It’s not MrBeast I have a problem with. It’s platforms which encourage someone like me to study a retention graph so I can make the next video more addicting."

I'd mentioned my six-year-old earlier. That 40lb house fire thinks this YouTuber hung the moon. "He helps people." He went on to tell me in detail about several different videos he'd seen where MrBeast gives out life-changing amounts of money to people who could honestly use it. Surely that's a good thing, but how do I approach telling my kid about all the other nonsense involved with making that happen let alone some of the ethical concerns?

Short-Term Investment Returns as a Freelancer & Small Business

So, checking in on a certain blog post from January 2023. That one where I rambled on about short-term investments for freelancers & small businesses. It's been a full year to simmer on and experiment with this nonsense and wanted to share where I landed.

First off, it's worth mentioning that financially, 2023 was a hot mess. Those interest rate hikes intended to cool inflation seem to be making for the soft landing the Fed was hoping for, but the process still felt like riding an unfinished roller coaster in the dark. Higher interest rates made borrowing more expensive, and that certainly meant it was harder to finance production budgets. That squeeze showed up in my stock footage sales which were down about 48% from 2022 and down 51% from a five year average. Then came the entertainment industry strikes. Serious kudos to both the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA for holding out and getting good deals, but the process and industry fall out wasn't pretty, especially for those working in production. Thankfully I wasn't directly impacted by the strikes and personally can't blame it for a slower year – my labor income was actually up 6% from 2022 and up 12% from a five year average. That said, I have plenty of friends in film production who are seeing their revenues be well below normal.

I'm not here to whine about a genuinely rough year, but did want to share one of my wins. Last time I'd mentioned it, U.S. Treasury bills (T-Bills) were sitting at just north of 4%. Around the end of May 2023, the 4-Week T-Bill peaked at a 5.9% coupon equivalent. These nearly risk-free short-term investments weren't a bad place to park your short-term money, especially considering the alternative of just leaving it in a basic savings account which as of Dec. 18, 2023 is 0.46%. I'll not go into the details about T-Bills here, but if you're interested, go back to that previous blog post where I dig into that glorious bond nonsense as well as high yield savings account options.

Part of the way I track my financial nonsense is based on the gross profit of each project. From that gross profit, I set aside 20% to cover end of year taxes and tax prep fees. For example:

MathJax example

\[Project\ Revenue\ - Project\ Expenses\ = Gross\ Profit \] \[$1,000 - $100 = $900 \]
\[Gross\ Profit * 20\% = Set\ Aside\ for\ Tax\ Purposes\] \[$900 * 20\% = $180\]

Instead of just parking that cash in a savings account like I'd normally do, this year I bought U.S. Treasury Bills directly from the U.S. government at treasurydirect.gov. You can only buy T-Bills in $100 increments, so my individual purchases ranged from $100 to $7,500 throughout the year.

This is where I'm supposed to talk about how I did everything according to plan. Instead, for the first few months of the year I used a good deal of that tax money set aside to pay down business related debt from 2022. The return I'd have made in those short-term T-Bills making 4-5% wasn't worth the interest I would've been paying on that debt with its 15+% interest rate. Once I got that debt paid off I returned to my short-term investment plan, refilled those cash reserves spent to pay down debt, and kept at it throughout the rest of the year. I also planned it out so that those purchased T-Bills would all mature by around mid- to late-December, allowing me to cover my business taxes and tax prep fees.

I experimented with buying different lengths of T-Bills throughout the year, but for the most part just stuck with buying the 4-week option which is the shortest period available. There's a difference in the interest rates for each of the other options and the longer term ones generally earned a higher return, but I calculated everything out and with the amounts I was dealing with, it didn't make a considerable difference. At first I was buying the T-Bills in one-period increments, but then started setting them up to where at maturity they'd automatically reinvest for another period at the current rate.

I'm a big fan of financial transparency. As a household, statistically we're in the top 20% of income earners in the U.S. according the U.S. Census Bureau. St. Anne the Wife is a public school teacher with two masters degrees here in Oklahoma, which according to USAFacts ranks 35th in the nation in terms of teacher pay. I'm a self-employed creative with a bachelor's degree and will finish my masters degree in business (MBA) this March. Currently my take home pay is less than half of the the average MBA salary here in Oklahoma and I'd honestly prefer to keep doing my own thing after graduation, so take that however you will.

Could I be earning more than I am? Yes, I believe so.
Am I primarily motivated by how much money I can make and having more things? No.
Do I enjoy the work I get to do? Most of the time.
Am I doing the right thing and providing for my family? I sure hope so.

I feel like if we were more open about our finances it'd help others in figuring out their own financial nonsense. It's one of those "rising tide lifts all boats" kind of thing. There's a Planet Money podcast with comedian Maria Bamford and financial transparency that I'd recommend if you're interested. With that in mind, by the end of November 2023 I'd done about $111,000 in actual revenue had a gross profit of $82,000. That left about $13,000 set aside for end of year taxes purposes. That number is a bit off from an actual 20% due to one of my larger clients this year requiring me to be hired and paid for my labor fees as a W-2 contractor instead of a typical 1099 S-Corporation and they withheld those taxes on their end.

Below is a line chart of what my actual cumulative U.S. Treasury Bill earnings looked like compared to what that same amount of cash would've done had it just sat in my savings account throughout the year. Here's a line chart of what my actual cumulative U.S. Treasury Bill earnings looked like compared to what that same amount of cash would've done had it just sat in my savings account throughout the year. You can tell I had some small successes and got more confident during the summer, then got serious about this hot mess starting in the fall. It's worth noting that the returns are directly related to the amount invested, hence that bar chart above. Like I said, I stopped jacking around and got serious in the fall. My cashflows are typically very low in August, but ramp up considerably right after that.

Let's be honest: $150 extra isn't all that much, especially considering the infrastructure and spreadsheet work I put in to track all this nonsense. That said, no question I'll take that return over that $13 I'd have made otherwise had I just left that cash sitting in a basic savings account. Let's not get into the fact that I'd have had a $335 return had I stuck with my plan through the entire year instead of paying off that business related debt those first few months. Will I continue doing this in 2024? Yep, and I've already started. As of the end of December 2023, those four week T-Bill rates are still up in the 5.4% range.

Maybe the biggest takeaway was the fact I wasn't freaking out the last few months of the year. Normally I'll end up digging into that financial cushion more than I should to cover other expenses, leaving me scrambling for cash at the end of the year. This short-term investment nonsense put just enough room in-between me and that cash reserve to keep my hands off it.

Another takeaway is the fact that I saw positive gains with little to no risk and without putting myself in a bind. Again, an additional $150 return isn't much considering I spend about that on coffee each month. Previously I've justified digging into my cash reserves to buy gear I'd assumed would pay for itself, but it doesn't always work out.

I'm also avoiding the fact that the small stock market portfolio I'm actively managing – not our retirement accounts – is up 40% year to date compared to the S&P 500 being up 24% this year. Me being greedy is thinking about how I could've put that short-term cash into the stock market and made a much heftier return, even after paying the short-term capital gain taxes. But then there's the scars from last year and the S&P 500 having been down 18% in 2022. I'm considering putting a small amount of my profits into the stock market via my S-Corp and actively managing that portfolio as well, but haven't started just yet. For sure that'd be a long-term investment decision and one outside my regular SEP IRA retirement contributions.

Polishing those Steaming Piles

So we're nearly halfway through the second module of this fall semester. The amount of MBA classwork this time around hasn't been as thick and I've had more margin for things outside graduate school. This past week had me mixing up new batches of film developing chemistry and processing six rolls of film I'd put through my RB67. I've yet to scan in all that nonsense, but I did find a few images I felt were more than just hot turds.

It's kinda wild to think I'll be wrapping up business school soon enough. I'm on track to finishing up my master's degree in late March and then walking across the stage in Norman for an awfully expensive piece of paper. Seeing as how I've not been drowning in classwork these last few weeks I've had more time to consider what's next (potentially). You'll notice I'm not laying out some grand business plan nor am I moving into consulting or investment banking like some of my freshly minted MBA peers. I honestly did consider jumping to that seemingly greener side of the fence though, especially considering how bad it's been in the film industry this past year.

A few ideas are banging around that I'd like to pursue once I'm done with this educational self-abuse, but they're still cooking. That rubber stamp documentary needs to be cut and there's a bit more content I'd like to include in it. There's already been a decent amount of licensing revenue coming in from some of the footage, so if nothing else that film project has already been financially successful.

What's been incredibly humbling lately is the idea of "It's not what you know, but who you know." It's much easier to be critical of what others are putting out than making your own hot mess or even partnering with others who're much farther along than you give them credit. I feel like I've got ideas and approaches to the kind of creative work I'd like to be doing, but then get butt-hurt seeing those little darlings crumble under the weight of reality. Still, if this is the professional choice I've made for myself and my family, I'd better be prepared to be sitting on one of those inflatable donuts more often than not.

Ideally, the goal would be to continue following some of those shiny things that keep my attention and share them with others in a meaningful – and profitable – way. Right now that looks like developing new projects, partnering with others and their existing assets, and using what I've learned to improve the financial health of those who are better at the art kid side of this creative work.

Telling Strangers on the Internet how much money I make

A dude on the internet I've never met but followed for years and totally respect has been posting a series related to money and creatives. I've already posted a couple of my faves here on the blog, but when he dropped a link for anyone who'd be interested in sharing their experience I jumped at the chance. Now it's out in the world and kinda feels like standing there naked in a cold room in front of a doctor and their 58,000 social media followers.

Is this a flex by any means? Oh, goodness no. You saw how much I make, right? Do I believe in honest transparency in hopes of helping someone else who may be in somewhat of a similar position? 100%. Is there a bit of irony there in the fact that the Instagram post didn't include my name? Well... Pretty sure anyone determined enough to find out who it is knows how Google works.

When I was first getting started as a freelancer, I don't remember having honest and open conversations with other freelancers regarding their relationships with money and finances. Now I'm probably too open about it and more often than not overly pessimistic. Surely I'm loads of fun at parties.

Rather than rehash what I'd already written for that dude's survey, I'll let you scroll through his Instagram post of my response embedded above.

Thinner for Sure

Well, it had to happen at some point... I got sick and tired of looking at spreadsheets. At least for a day or two. I've learned to do some pretty fancy-pants math this past year with all the finance classes I've been in, and yet I still make a living behind a camera.

Truth be told, that living has gotten quite a bit thinner this past year. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons: businesses have tightened up their spending due to economic uncertainty, the ongoing writers' and actors' strikes, me being insanely busy with school, plus I could just be difficult to work with and terrible at how I provide for my family. There's also the grim reality that August is on average my slowest month work-wise and my monthly stock footage sales are down nearly 60% this year. It's all sunshine and roses over here if you can't tell.

I'm not typically on many narrative film & TV projects, and from previous writer's strikes, I'd assumed there'd be an uptick in reality TV work. I stayed crazy busy earlier this year on a couple different shows, but according to this PBS NewsHour piece, unscripted shows haven't necessarily been thriving.

It's a weird and crazy difficult time to be in this industry at the moment. I'd never seriously considered the MBA I was busting my tail to get to be some kind of professional parachute, but damn I'm glad to be picking up some new tools along the way.

Speaking of picking up some new tools, this MSNBC segment on the entertainment strikes was absolutely speaking my economics love language. Why on earth the presenter didn't mention YouTube's MONSTER amount of advertising revenue for 2022 is beyond me. Of the $77.7 billion in ad revenue listed on this dude's chart, YouTube's $29.2 billion was 201% more than the averages of the other five and 37.5% of the total. Essentially for every $1 the other providers got in ad revenue on average, YouTube got $3.01. Another way to think about it, for every $100 in advertising revenue, YouTube gets $38. That's freakin' bonkers.

The summer session just wrapped up last week and had me finishing out classes in Real Estate Finance and Financial Statement Analysis. Those two should be the last math and finance-heavy classes in my graduate program (unless St. Anne the Wife is game for me to go after my Masters in Finance too). Again, what I've been studying is on the opposite side in terms of helping me light a set or film a scene, but certainly helpful in polishing those business school superpowers I've been working on. I can tell you EXACTLY how much I'll have to pay back on my student loans and show you how to do the calculations.

This week starts the fall semester and I'll be in classes first dealing with Negotiation and Marketing Management, then Advanced Leadership and Organizational Behavior later in the semester. As long as everything goes to plan, I'll be done with my MBA in the spring.

Let me know if you want some help in calculating a loan payment or figuring out some short-term options with some idle cash. You could also hire me out as a filmmaker too.