Being a film producer puts you in a niche. Or not.
Being a generalist and a freelancer, the business I do is varying a lot. One day I can be deep in to podcast editing, the next I discuss online education and then I move on to scanning and archiving receipts. And when I say days, I mean hours.
I have a problem of packaging what I do when I talk to people. That’s the backside of it all. I can do almost anything, but saying that isn’t making it easier to hire me.
I had a brief conversation with a friend that I studied with a couple of years ago. She and her partner have started a film business where they can do small and full scale productions for commercials, social media or even events.
They’re great at what they do, and they have a wonderful background both as actors, producers and editors. They’re a complete package if what you’re looking for is well produced film.
We started discussing getting clients, and she asked me how I do it. I started off by saying something like “Well, when you’re as specialised and niched as you guys are…” and she cut me off, telling me that they’re not niched. And that might be true, in terms of film. But in my world, if you can’t do at least 3 different things well for a client, you’re a niche product.
I realised, pondering this later on, that I have a couple of biases, filters or principles when it comes to freelancing or even running a small business. They’re all based out of my own experience as a young, high energy person and, as stated, a generalist. But here we go.
I do anything.
As I’ve started out, I’ve said yeas to everything. That’s partly because I need the money, partly because I think most things are fun, and partly because I learn from doing a diverse amount of things. I don’t think I’ve yet turned an offer down. i’ve recruited part time colleagues to do things, I’ve hired friends for small projects that I knew I wouldn’t be able to do myself, but I haven’t said no.
My best example is that I’ve been head of volunteers at a local techno festivals with 1500–3000 attendees and 100 something volunteers. I’ve never been to a festival. I don’t listen to techno music. And I hadn’t managed that many people. I said yes, and it turned out fine.
I do things for free.
One of the things my classmate said that really got me off was that people don’t understand the production value of a 3 minute video commercial. Where I come from entrepreneurially and as a freelancer, saying that is a sin. You simply don’t.
Doing things for free for 5–8 years has gotten me where I am today, where I can say that I do all the things I do and point to something in my portfolio. DRock is a big inspiration for me here, and you can read his story here.
Niche is a perspective.
The reason to why we didn’t come to any conclusions in our conversation (we drifted apart after she interrupted me) is that being a niche business is a point of perspective. What she means when she says that is that they’re not specialising on a specific type of video. They’re not in the “filming podcasts that deal with racism”-niche. They do video.
As I’ve stated, that’s a niche to me. And that’s important to realise when you’re talking to customers. They don’t always know what you know, they don’t always want what you want and they don’t always believe what you believe. They might know, want or believe whatever you’re speaking about if you can tell them about it from your perspective, but you might just have to step over in to their realm of operations.
