How's the industry been for ya'll lately?

D

DBP

Well-known member
This is the last old school forum I check in on (god I miss these), but I'm curious how work has been for everyone this past year? A lot of the industry subreddits, facebook groups etc paint a very grim picture. It's hard to know how industry-wide the sentiment actually is versus doomerism that permeates online discussion sometimes.

I'm in the corporate world and it's been decent. Had to take some time off for visa issues, but I was able to pick up most old clients upon my return.

How's it been for everyone else?
 
Similar threads if interested...(not to say this one shouldn't exist but just some more thoughts on the overall topic/vibe):

Is January going to save us?

Howdy all, First of all, I just want to say how happy I am that this forum is still alive. I appreciate the mods and everyone behind the scenes keeping it going! And I'm really thrilled that so many of you are still around. I'm literally rewatching Key & Peele again and love that Charles...
www.dvxuser.com

How was business in 2023?

As a freelance videographer/DP, 2023 has been an exceptionally weak year in terms of income for me. I think I'll have made about 2/3 of what I took in last year. I'm usually booked solid between September and the end of the year. This year, I've barely had anything. This seems to be a common...
www.dvxuser.com
 
I work mostly in mostly corporate, nonprofit, and tech product commercials. I'm 16 years in, 10 of them as a freelancer. I started that thread about 2023 in NorBro's post, which was such a bad year that I considered leaving the industry. 2024 was a bit better. I made a modest living; basically what I made my first year out of college at my first corporate job (adjusted for inflation). Again, I thought about jumping ship, but 2025 has started off with a bang and I've already billed 1/3 of what I did last year in the month of January. So we'll have to see how long this holds.

Lately I've been getting contacted by social media content creators who are offering me 1/2 or 1/3 of my regular rate to shoot for them. I get the feeling that they want to see what I'm doing, what gear I am using, and then try to do it themselves. As an experiment, I took one of them up on her offer, explaining that I will only work at this rate the first time to establish a relationship. Hopefully when she sees how much work goes into crafting an image, she will throw up her hands and just start budgeting for me on future shoots. But I won't hold my breath.
 
QuickHitRecord said:
Lately I've been getting contacted by social media content creators who are offering me 1/2 or 1/3 of my regular rate to shoot for them. I get the feeling that they want to see what I'm doing, what gear I am using, and then try to do it themselves.
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This is quite interesting. I'm surprised you had someone in social media content creation reach out to have you shoot for them.

My experience with "influencer" talent has been that they shoot everything themselves on their phone. But obviously there are some who are trying to level up their production value it seems.
 
DustinSchmidt said:
My experience with "influencer" talent has been that they shoot everything themselves on their phone. But obviously there are some who are trying to level up their production value it seems.
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The two that I've been in contact with this month aren't influencers, but rather people who are selling the whole package of videos, photos, copy, social media posts, and web services. I've got nothing against that. Seems like honest work.

However, it's funny and kind of sad to see how many people see us as unskilled monkeys pushing buttons. It's getting worse as more people have started shooting video on their phones. My wife and I were laughing this morning about how many times people offer to help me set up. I'd love to say, "Sure! Grab the 350w out of that case, put a 4ft parabolic on it (NOT the 3ft); some of the rods are popping out of their sprockets so please re-seat them, grab a 25ft stinger from that case and plug it in, and throw it up on a c-stand with the Rocky Mountain facing forward. I'll take care of the rest." Instead, I just tell them that I've "got this".
 
Yeah, but there are similar jobs with their own lingo...people can learn.

I'm a man's man with sports and fitness, but absolutely useless with carpentry, fixing things, cooking.

I could name like 3 tools in a toolbox, but I would learn all of them if I was helping out...and those people would as well and eventually grab the right light and set up the reflectors and soft boxes correctly, etc.

Many jobs aren't special (and I mean this for hundreds of them, not just video production)...it's learnable stuff in a short amount of time (e.g. setting up lights vs. like creating an architectural lighting grid for a building).
 
NorBro said:
Yeah, but there are similar jobs with their own lingo...people can learn.
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Yes, they can learn. But do they really want to? It took me years of studying and trying out different lighting and camera techniques as well as making every single mistake in the book to get to a point where I feel comfortable charging what I do. After every shoot, I come home and ask myself whether there was something that would have really saved the shoot. If it's less than about $50, I buy it. Or I tweak my kit so that something will go more smoothly next time. Or I learn how to do X, Y, or Z. Multiply that times 1000. I'm sure that most of the other people still hanging around on DVX can say the same. And you're not going to get there after shooting a handful of unlit videos on your iPhone, no matter how willing to learn you might be.

Ours is similar to any other trade, and I have a lot of respect for people who also work with their hands. But our product is unique in that it serves more than function. Our product is emotion, visual communication/coverage, and maybe even something one-of-a-kind and beautiful. It's all about subtlety and nuance. It could be my ego speaking, but it bugs me when people assume that my job is mindless, or something that they could pick up in an afternoon.
 
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I could really relate to the above note about coming home and thinking about the shoot and then spending money, sometimes hundreds more than $50, in an attempt to produce smoother results and an easier production life.

God, I wasted so much money; I cared too much and it was a mistake. It really didn't matter.

The video existed in this matrix for a few seconds and eventually disappeared forever.

Corporate work, random freelance here and there. It was fine, it looked like everything else on the internet, high-quality and great editing but nothing special.

I sometimes think about the people who gather a few million for an independent film only to have it watched by 'family & friends'. Then what do they do; I'm assuming Lifetime is not picking up every single movie out there (I like their movies).

There was some evergreen content here and there, greatly appreciated by the lead and his or her subordinates, but for the most part it was always, 'what's next?'

It should definitely bug you when people assume your job is mindless.

That's hurtful, crushing.

But, it's partly mindless. And what you're describing above is experience and learning how to become better at your job, competence.

Competence is beautiful, not mindless, something that can't be picked up in an afternoon or a lifetime for some.

The job; you can pick up the basics about framing, ISO, WB, shutter speed, focal lengths in an afternoon and be on your way.

The emotion, the visual communication, nuance, it's all short-lived, man.

*[Fixed a typo I couldn't live with, ha.]*
 
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2024 was a really good year. 2025 has been absolutely abysmal, so far. I do fly out tomorrow and start a week long job, but otherwise it’s scary how dead it is. Actually, dead would have been an improvement over what January was. In my 27+ years in the business, this was my worst January ever.
 
@NorBro

I agree with everything you've said. So much work and attention to detail, and yet it's extremely difficult to hold anyone's interest or attention. Making video or films or art of any kind is definitely screaming into the void. But at least I am screaming. This trade is full of life, unlike a lot of other jobs. And I know I'm good, with stylistic qualities that are unique to my work, even if no one else cares and my take home pay doesn't match my dedication. There's some satisfaction in mastery and actually producing something real and tangible almost every day (or at least every week).

I'm kind of on the brink here. Another year like 2023 or two consecutive years like 2024 and I'm probably looking for a cubicle to spend the rest of my career in. It's making me take stock of how much I have loved (and sometimes loathed) being in this profession.
 
This January I made the most money I ever have in a month by a margin of about 15%. Usually my spring and autumn are best and January only sees about half as much income as those months. This January was a perfect storm for me of a lot of work from my main client plus a few jobs from other clients which filled the dead time at the start of the year. The scheduling just worked out that I was balls to the wall all month long. But there easily could have been scheduling conflicts that knocked some of the work out of the box.

Can't draw conclusions from a single month. But my relationship with my main client (who accounts for about 75% of my revenue) is strong. Their business is doing decently although it's contracted since the pandemic bubble.

Most of my other clients' business health and video needs are still about the same as before, given or take.

I'm less worried about AI than I was before. I think it will make an impact, both positively and negatively. But it's not reliable enough to lead to disruptions on the scale that its hypesters predicted.
 
QuickHitRecord said:
However, it's funny and kind of sad to see how many people see us as unskilled monkeys pushing buttons.
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Maybe, but I see it more as people think video production is "fun". If an electrician was installing light fixtures into the ceiling of an office lobby, no one in a million years would offer to help.

Compare this with filmmaking, where almost everyone watches films and you can't avoid BTS even if you tried, making for enthusiast filmmakers everywhere. In the corporate world, it's also likely more exciting than whatever else they'd be doing if the shoot wasn't happening, so there's an element of wanting to do tasks other than their actual work. This can also be compounded by an unrealistic schedule, which is dawning on them on the day, where making up for lost time is part of the offer to help.
 
The freelance business has always been feast or famine. That it is so important to put away plenty of savings when times are good. Too many people think that when times are good it will stay that way. It never does.

This is one of the things that led me into stock footage and starting some other personal projects. When I'm not working for a client, I can fill the time working for myself. Sure, it won't bring in any income next week or next month, but eventually it pays off with a portfolio of footage that brings in a steady income to supplement regular work. Also, working on your own stuff is a good way to hone your skills and try new things in an environment without client pressure.

It used to be that automotive repair shops and mechanics would have used vehicles to work on when regular business was slow. Then those vehicles could be sold later. Same idea.
 
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