Week 7 EOC: Biggest Challenge

The biggest issue I am going to run into while attempting to complete my business plan by week ten is time management. I am currently enrolled in six classes, which takes up twenty-four hours of my time before adding in the added time it takes to do homework. Adding in homework time, we’ll say an average of four (4) hours per class for five out of the six, this brings me to up to approximately forty-four (44) hours worth of work. My final class calls for approximately eight to ten hours of work outside of class. We’ll call it nine to be safe. This brings me to fifty-three (53) hours of work to be done before we add in my work schedule. I work anywhere from twelve – sixteen hours of work. For easy math we’ll call it an average of fourteen hours per week. Add this to my already 53-hour week and we are up to sixty-seven (67) hours.

            Just for school and work, I’m working on 67 hours per week at the moment. Sometimes it’s more sometimes it’s less. This is no including travel time to get to and from school and home. It can take anywhere from thirty minutes to one hour to get from my home to school. We’ll call it forty-five minutes one way for driving. So this is an hour and a half per day that I have to travel to and from school and home. I travel this six times a week bringing my travel and work hours to seventy-six (76) hours.

            I am also trying to help get my friends business going by providing the video side of his productions. So I have to add anywhere from an hour to ten hours of freelance work per hour; which could bring my hours up to eighty-six (86) hours if I have a full load of work and school.

            On top of this I am up for two job offers; which are amazing offers. One is to work as an assistant editor at Top Rank for my former co-worker who will then be my boss. It’s a great opportunity to learn and make connections. On the other hand, I have been offered a video production supervisor position making $28,000-$32,000 annually. It’s not a great amount of money, but the connections and experience I’d get from this would be phenomenal.

            The biggest issue I’m going to run into for this business plan is time. Finding the time to finish this assignment; however, I know for a fact that I will be able to finish this project on time.

            It’s an exciting project to finish. It’ll help me out quite a bit when I graduate and start my business. 

Week 6 EOC: How do I see my role starting in the industry?

“Surviving in the film industry is tough and having talent is just the start. It's a small and competitive industry and the key to success is ensuring that the right people know about you and what you can do - it's not necessarily who you know, but who knows you.”*

How do I see my role starting in the industry? I see myself starting in the industry as a peon. Someone low on the totem pole. My experience in the industry so far confirms that the aforementioned quote is so true. I was able to work on the set of Katy Perry’s “Waking up in Vegas” music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-pUaogoX5o). I got that job through a contact I had met at the school. My friend had gotten to know the career services staff that, in turn, knew the people in town from the production company from Las Angeles who were in town to make the video.

Once my friend got hired on, he was looking for extra hands to help assist in the creation of the video. I was the first person called to become a production assistant on the set. From there, I met the art director who would love to work with me again. So I was able to get an in with HSI (LA).

“The film industry exists on word of mouth - you'll find employment from people putting you up for work and you'll soon realize you're only as good as your last job. You have to work at raising your profile if you want to find the right opportunities.”*

         I believe this best way to create business, especially in the freelance community. 

* all quotes are from http://www.skillset.org/film/jobs/article_3688_1.asp 

Week 5 EOC: Progress Towards my Four Professional Contacts and Progress on Networking.

     I am not entirely sure which four professional contacts we are talking about, but I will do my best on this post. I have already acquired my four professional contact business cards. I have one banker from Bank of America, I have a small business banker from Wells Fargo, my insurance agent from State Farm, my lawyer Mr. Busch, and one technical advisor Mischa Barton who was previously a media director at Real Media Group here in Las Vegas before relocating to Ohio.

         Wells Fargo informed me that their tellers are all considered bankers as well, but I had already gotten my banker card from Bank of America. Both agencies were extremely helpful and told me that if I had any future questions I could call them any time and they’d be glad to answer any questions I had. The small business banker seemed extremely eager to help me; which is nice.

         My lawyer was actually my sister’s attorney during her divorce; however, he said he knows a few intellectual property lawyers and an entertainment lawyer. So he said to hold on to his card and let him know if I ever need anything he can get me in touch with whoever I would need to be in touch with.

         The State Farm associate was an oops. I happened to be walking by the State Farm office across the street by Smith’s and wandered in to inquire whether or not they had business insurance packages. They said that any of their staff would be able to help me and handed me a card.

         The technical advisor, while we weren’t told that we needed one as of yet, came through a random freelance gig I had obtained a while ago. She was helping us film a television pilot for a show called “Sound Check” she was extremely helpful during the whole shoot and offered us advice on who to deal with getting funding for things, dealing with talent, and getting proper permits.

         As far as networking goes, I am trying to make myself familiar with it a bit more. I am not as good at networking as I should be, but we had an exercise on networking in my Advanced Communications class that helped me quite a bit. I learned that I need to work on posture and articulation. I get nervous and when I do, my articulation gets hindered. Knowing this will help me in the future though and hopefully I can get better at networking to get to know others in my field and create opportunities. 

EOC Week 4: Executive Summary

            The concept of my business is to provide high quality high definition video products to clients. We will focus on creating content to the clients’ specifications. Whether it be documentaries, shorts, features, live event, commercial, or corporate videos. We will also be able to deliver products on various different ways (dvds, on the web, tapes or on hard drives).  We will utilize the latest and greatest in the digital world to create our videos. We will Avid, Final Cut Pro 7, and Adobe Premiere editing suite. We will utilize adobe’s After Effects program for motion graphics and visual effect. We will run high-end professional cameras such as the JVC GYHM790 and the Sony EX1. We will also use more portable cameras depending on the shoot’s needs such as the Canon 7D, 60D and 5D MkII.

            This is not new per se, but it hasn’t been around too terribly long. With the price of high definition equipment dropping rapidly, this type of business is rising. However, to ensure the quality of the product being made, one needs to have a high quality business to look to. Not the run of the mill production house.

            Since the market the business will function in is the Las Vegas market (with the potential to spread to surrounding markets), the main market for the business will be casinos and other various businesses with a minor market in individual consumers such as independent filmmakers.

            The majority of the business will come from businesses needing commercials, training videos, live event coverage or online media to deliver to their consumers.

            The minor market my business will cater to is the individual such as independent or student filmmakers. We will offer both services and equipment rental to these types of people.

            Most of my competitors are only focused on big companies. They want to make the videos for the casinos and only the people they know they can make money off of. I want to make videos for everybody and anybody. If the mom and pop store needs a commercial on a budget, I will work with that budget to an extent. I will be able to reach a wider audience with my work than that of my competitors in town.

            Immediately off the bat, I want to be able to keep my business afloat. I don’t need to try and turn a profit right away. The main goal starting off is to get my abilities out there. I cannot make a profit from a market that I cannot get into.

            In the long term, I would want to be able to turn a profit. Spend one thousand dollars on a project and bring in three to four times that.

EOC Week 3: Where are you now and where are you going?

     At this point and time I am just starting out in my career. In fact, I am not even in my field quite yet. I am doing the random freelance jobs at the moment, but as for being in my field, I would not consider myself far in my field. I am in my field as a freelancer, but that is not where I would like to be.
         In the Vegas market, from what I’ve been told, it is all about corporate gigs and commercial products. This is where I would like to be in the next few years. I plan on staying in Vegas for a while and most DFVP students disagree with my thinking. They believe that commercials and corporate won’t lead to anything in the actual film world, but I have the opposite feelings. The more practice I have with lighting and camera, regardless of what I am shooting, the better I will end up in the long run. Since this is not what I want to be doing, I am going to take my time in this part of the industry to practice and become even more skilled in my trade so that when I eventually do get into the film industry I will feel as though I am ready to take on the task at hand.
            Where I would like to be in the long run is in the film industry making feature length movies. I wouldn’t mind either working for a big production company or an independent production house. Owning my own company would be amazing, but I know the amount of effort and time that I would have to put in would be exhausting. Eventually, if I had the manpower and time, I would love to own my own production company. Being able to make all the creative decisions while making my film would be amazing. No one could tell me what I can or cannot do during production.
            Over all, I want to be part of the movie making process. 

Week 2 EOC: Get Some Copyright Law Under Your Belt

     Getting to know copyright law might seem pretty scary. After all, copyright law is very extensive and covers various different fields. To help keep frustration to a minimum I've included some links to help you on your journey to understanding the basics of copyright law.

     1. Copyright.gov_FAQ: Want to understand what copyright is or what falls under copyright protection? Check out copyright.gov and their FAQ section.

     2. Intellectual Property Lawyers: Looking to talk to an intellectual property and copyright lawyer? Check this website out for a detailed list of lawyers in your area.

     3. Examples Of: Here are some interesting examples of copyright disputes.

     Knowing copyright law is essential when venturing into a creative business, or any business for that matter. Knowing whether or not your work is being abused or if you're inadvertently abusing the works of others is extremely important. You want to be 100% sure that you are following the law exactly to save yourself from lawsuits and hefty financial obligations.

Week One EOC: Sacrifices I Am Willing To Make For My Career

What sacrifices am I willing to make in order to have a successful career after graduation? This is a question that has been bouncing around in my head for some time now. Graduation is coming quickly for me. As it does I need to start thinking about how I am going to form my career. Where will I go? How will I start? Perhaps the most important question is what am I willing to give up?

I used to believe that my career could wait for various reasons; but, as I get closer and closer to graduating, I get more and more excited and realized that my career comes first. I need to focus on my career before anything else. If that means that I have to sacrifice friendships or relationships then I will do so. It will be sad but necessary to ensure that I can get my career off the ground.

Having met the real world face to face recently I realized I am willing to sacrifice my current lifestyle to move forward with my life.  I am more than willing to live poor now to ensure a brighter more comfortable future for tomorrow.

I have always had the idea that suffering now and living better later is better. If you put off giving up some things until later in life, you are ensuring to have a rocky future. If everything is sacrificed early on then you have an uninterrupted future ahead of you.

It is this mindset that I have that allows me to be willing to give up what I have now in order to reach success. I do not believe that I can achieve my dreams without giving up something in return. My end goal in life and in my career is not to be rich and famous. My end goal is to be happy. Sacrifices must always be made to achieve happiness.