Working as an Independent Company

J

JonMW

Member
I'm an upcoming college graduate and I currently have video equipment. I was wanting to know how do I operate as an independent production company. Here is what I'm working with:

Panasonic HVX-200a/16GB P2 card/tripod/external mic
MacBook Pro w/ FCS 7
A BA in Media Production

As you can see I'm VERY small. Im trying to build clientele and possibly make a little money utilizing my talents (though, at this point, it won't be a whole lot).

The answers that I'm looking for is
-how to build clientele.
-what would be considered a fair amount to charge (if an answer can be given)?
-what can I really do with the limited equipment?

Al advice is welcomed. I'm open to constructive criticism.
 
Hopefully you get a lot of feedback on this. There's a ton of people here making their living as videographers.
 
I appreciate the post. Unfortunately, I already bought the equipment. No worries. What I planned on doing was along the lines of what the thread was talking about. I thought about looking up local real estate agencies and finding out if they were looking for someone to video record homes for the purpose of posting online. Would this be a good idea? Is there another way of going about this?
 
Probably the first thing I would do is setup an actual company, most likely a LLC. You'll have to check the specifics for setting one up where you live, but they're fairly inexpensive. I think mine came to a total of $130.

Step 2: get yourself a website that has your contact info and a demo reel on it.

Step 3:...?

Step 4: Profit

Really the hardest part for anyone starting is getting that very first client and getting that first client to pay you. You're right out of college and unfortunately, many clients look at youth as inexperience. Hopefully you can land one or two gigs and word of mouth can help you land more gigs.

JonMW said:
I appreciate the post. Unfortunately, I already bought the equipment. No worries. What I planned on doing was along the lines of what the thread was talking about. I thought about looking up local real estate agencies and finding out if they were looking for someone to video record homes for the purpose of posting online. Would this be a good idea? Is there another way of going about this?
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This was actually pretty popular for a while here in Phoenix when the real estate boom was happening. Unfortunately, the real estate companies I talked to all had unrealistic ideas of how many houses I could shoot a day, how quickly it would take to edit them, and how much they would be willing to pay. The highest anyone was going to pay me per house was $25...and this was a luxury home broker. So if you're willing to essentially lose money on doing these types of gigs, go for it. It might be a good step in the door, but if you don't another full-time paying job or a large amount of gigs going on, I don't think its worth it. Hopefully you'll have better luck where you live.

One last thing about doing real estate videos is that you need to check with the local real estate licensing board about what sort of requirements are needed in the video. Certain logos (HUD, NAR) might be required depending on the local real estate bylaws. I found this out during some real estate licensing classes I took.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for the info, little bobby. A big help. I'll totally look into the LLC idea. I had a friend advise me that doing small gigs for businesses for free and gaining a reputation (as you mentioned word of mouth). He also suggested having those businesses write a letter of recommendation to show potential clients. What do you think?
 
I had a friend advise me that doing small gigs for businesses for free and gaining a reputation
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Does your friend work in the video business?

Bad idea. The only thing that comes out of doing work for free is that you end up with a reputation as the guy that will do it for free. Everybody wants to work with the guy that does work for free. The problem is that you can't earn a living working for free. On paper it sounds like a good idea, but it reality new (paying business) is rarely the result of giving it away for free. If you intend to run a company you should act like a businessman. Offer your customers a good product at a fair price.

The other problem with the "everything is free" strategy is that it undermines the value of the product you're selling. What happens next year when 10 more college grads enter you market and offer up free serves? The next year 30 more new grads offering free services. The current market is already flooded with cheap services and it's only getting worse. In the end you're left with a market that places very little value on video production. Bottom feeders fighting each other for tiny scraps of work. Joy.

If you must do pro bono work to pad you reel then at least pick your targets carefully. Doing an unpaid project for a charitable cause in the community makes sense. Doing an unpaid project for the local car dealer makes no sense.
 
Understood. Again, I'm a new grad. While on campus I did paid gigs for some of the organizations. I also worked for the production house located on campus as well. My question is how do I go about determining what to charge a client? I have experience, albeit not as vast as some seasoned veterans. Is there such thing as a "scale" or "start point"? Is it really about the value of your talent?
 
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