Studio Sherpas Podcast

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Let’s face it, none of us are getting any younger. And one of the challenges that our ever increasing ages present to us in our industry is that it becomes harder and harder to keep up with what our clients expect when it comes to wedding and commercial video projects. Tastes change, and there’s always some new piece of gear or software with which to acquaint ourselves. Jason Magbanua is a Philippines-based wedding and commercial filmmaker with more than 17 years of experience in the industry. He’s realized how much harder he has to work these days to stay atop the latest trends and technology, but why that hard work is essential to continuing to grow his brand. His company now has 25 employees and he personally shoots over one hundred weddings every year. Amid this schedule, Jason still manages to find time to work with corporate and commercial clients and speak at wedding filmmaking events around the world. He reminds us that while your age may require yo

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com When a lot of us start out in the wedding industry, whether it be as filmmakers, photographers, or coordinators, we have dreams of working with high-end luxury and celebrity clients. I know I did when I first started, but as most of us realize pretty quickly, it can be really hard to elevate your brand to a level that attracts that type of clientele. And even if you do, there are often a host of other challenges. Sasha Souza is the founder of Sasha Souza Events and has been planning and coordinating events of all kinds, including weddings for over 20 years. In that span, she’s guided her company to becoming one of the top event, design, and wedding coordination companies in the US, the most awarded wedding design and event planning company in Napa and Sonoma, and now has offices in Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Over the years she’s worked with a number of celebrity clients and shares with us today her mindset behind attracting those clients

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com It’s a challenge that wedding filmmakers and creative business owners the world over face and struggle with, every day. "When is it time to quit my job and go full-time on this? Is it even possible for me to make a career telling stories through film?? My market is waaay too small for that...” Some of us struggle with this for months, years, or our entire lives without ever taking the leap and giving it a shot. The timing never seems quite right, our ideal clients are nowhere to be found and there are too many obstacles that we perceive to be standing in between us and our dreams. Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Sarah and Rick Pendergraft of PenWeddings have been there, and know all of the struggles associated with making the move into a totally foreign industry. Based in Broken Arrow, OK (yeah I had no idea where that was either), it’s hard to say that they’re in a “high end” wedding market, and yet they’ve steadily been increasing the

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you’re probably going about pricing your film services in the wrong way. Don’t worry, I’ve been doing it wrong as well, and so are about 99% of not only wedding, corporate, and commercial filmmakers, but creative business people in general. Sean Low is the Founder and President of The Business of Being Creative, a consulting company and fantastic blog (seriously, read Sean’s stuff) that helps artists build businesses that honor the art that is behind them. After starting his career as a lawyer, Sean found his calling working with creative business owners helping them transform that pesky business side of things that so many of us creatives struggle with. One of Sean’s biggest criticisms is that through our pricing structures, we unintentionally cause our clients to value the wrong parts of our creative processes. By rethinking - and repricing - our offerings we can be more, creative, land better clients, and mak

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com You might notice while listening to this episode that today’s guest, Evan Bourcier uses a certain word again and again and again. That word? Intentional As in being intentional, thinking intentionally, and making decisions about your work, your projects, and your life with foresight and purpose. Despite his age (he’s 23), Evan has achieved a lot in the world of filmmaking so far. He’s an award winning and highly sought after DP, owner of a boutique video production house, Valo Visuals and runs a popular educational blog, podcast, and Facebook community. What’s the secret to his success? You guessed it: Being intentional If you’ve dreamed about moving from event video production to commercial work for big brands, or making the jump into marketing yourself as a full-time Director of Photography, Evan has some great tips on how to go about achieving those goals with intention.

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com A little over a year ago we (Matt and Ryan) launched this crazy idea we had, called Studio Sherpas. Since then, we’ve put out our Selling Like A Sherpa course (which we will be relaunching soon!), launched this here podcast, and created a whole bunch of other content to help filmmakers take control of their creative businesses, move in a direction that inspires them, and charge what they’re worth. You might be wondering though, “Who are these guys, and why should I listen to them???” In answer to that question we decided to record a podcast focusing on us, Matt Davis and Ryan Koral, co-founders of Studio Sherpas, passionate storytellers, creative business veterans, and dedicated family guys. Between the two of us, we’ve experienced pretty much all of the highs and lows that working in this industry can bring. We wanted to take a moment to share our own stories and hopefully provide some insight into what it’s taken for us to build our businesses from one-ma

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com "It takes more than pointing your camera at a human to really capture character in your video. While most wedding have a bunch of people, and often prominently feature a couple, they rarely have any character." This was the opening line of a recently published blog post by today's guest, Patrick Moreau. The blog post in question was titled Why Most Wedding Films Suck, and needless to say, it ruffled some feathers. Patrick joins us today to dive deeper into the sentiments that drove him to write the post, and what the average filmmaker can do to not only produce films that don't suck, but ones that cross borders and inspire viewers beyond the wedding film industry. If you don't know Patrick already, he's the co-founder of Stllmotion, a video company that went from shooting their first wedding with photo and video for $250, alllllll the way to shooting for some of the biggest brands in the world a few years later. How big? How about the NFL, MLB, CBS, Callawa

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past… well, ever... You’ve probably realized that our industry is going through some pretty major changes. A lot of these changes are scary to us as filmmakers and video producers. Budgets seem to be getting smaller, and it gets harder and harder for us to stand out from the hordes of insanely talented filmmakers that we often find ourselves competing for jobs with. Pat McGowan is a filmmaker with over thirty years of experience in the industry and has watched these shifts take place over time and adapted to them along the way. He’s the owner of inMotion, a film house based in Ottawa, Canada, as well as his new service BlackBox. He’s watched what he calls the commoditization of video content take place, with giant companies taking a major stake in content production and consignment. Pat realized that there had to be a way for the average video producer to capitalize on the ownership of the content sitting on th

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Ok, confession time. There was a time in my filmmaking and creative business journey where I almost let the business take over my life. I let the work that I was doing take over more and more of the energy and attention that I should have been focusing on my family, and I learned some really hard lessons from it. Joey and Aaron of 31 Films and Film Lab Creative were getting established in this business around the same time as I was, I’d I’ve been watching and admiring their work for a number of years. Right from the beginning, the thing that set founder Joey’s companies apart in my mind was the culture he established. He’s been able to take his companies from a one-man operation to bringing in Aaron, to now having seven full-time editors on staff! Of course, it wasn’t easy for them, and they too have learned many hard lessons along the way (don’t we all?). It’s never easy, knowing when it’s time to bring in someone else to help grow your business, but Joey

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com If you’re like me, at some point in your life you’ve probably aspired to making it big and breaking into Hollywood as a director, producer, DP, editor, etc. But where did this idea of success come from? Rob Hardy was an indie filmmaker working 18 hours days on projects he wasn’t passionate about, with people he didn’t click with, burning himself trying to achieve that goal. He was at the point of asking himself if he even wanted to be a filmmaker before realizing that there were many paths to a successful film career, most of which don’t lead to Hollywood. Rob now runs The Filmmaker’s Process, a blog and growing community of indie filmmakers where he guides readers on how to redefine success for themselves, according to their own circumstances, talents, and values. He's also passionate about building a worldwide directory of film professionals to make it easier to connect with partners for our creative projects. Few if any of us will realize the dream of co

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com “You get to a point where there’s always going to be something that could hold you back, and you have to decide, ‘Ok, at which point am I not going to let that something be a hindrance to me starting to check things off of that bucket list that so many people have but they never actually get through.” [33:57] I’ve been a friend and admirer of Ron Dawson for over a decade now, and he seems to have a way of making everything he touches turn to gold. Ron is currently the host of Radio Film School, a podcast that many call “This American Life for filmmakers”. Before RFS though, Ron had started 2 more uber-popular podcasts geared towards the film and photography industry. Ron is now in the process of filming his first feature documentary, as well as transitioning his business and family into becoming global digital nomads. As with all successful people, Ron’s story has not been without struggle. In this episode, he shares how some of the hard times have inspired

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Ok, I hate to be the one to bring back these horrible memories, but do you remember how painful it was when every project delivery was done through DVD? Yeah, I hear ya, dealing with the whole DVD process was the first thing I offloaded when I hired my first employee, and I could not have been happier to never have to deal with it again. We’ve largely moved on from physical deliverables these days, but Dropbox and USB stick deliveries, while easier definitely lack the experience that DVDs and Blu-Rays gave. In this episode we’re talking with Michael Guastamacchio, co-founder of MediaZilla a content delivery service that delivers the best of both worlds. Michael and his team work to provide an immersive viewing experience for your clients, while saving you from the tedium of physical deliverables.

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Are you one of those classic creatives who loves what they do, and is really great at it, but struggles with taking control of their business and capitalizing on their talent. I know I am, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that just because you’re a creative type person, doesn’t mean you can’t master the business skills as well. Brennan Dunn is the founder of Double Your Freelancing, a blog, podcast and online platform dedicated to helping creative freelancers such as videographers, photographers, software developers and more make the most of their talents and grow their businesses. Whether you’re just starting out in your freelancing career, or have been doing it a while but want to take it to the next level, there are a ton of practices you can implement to your business and client relationships that will help you grow your business fast, and Brennan is here to share some of them with us today. I’ve been doing this kind of creative work for over

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com You know what one of my favorite emails that I get every single week is? It’s the email telling me that a client has just booked with me and my team. Then a few minutes later I get a second email with their retainer payment, then another that they’ve signed the contract. The best part about these emails is that I can be off spending time with my kids, or my wife, or working on other parts of my business while an automated system takes care of my new leads and clients. Adam Fried is the owner of ShootQ, having acquired the software company within the past year. In this episode, he shares his vision for how he and his team are revamping ShootQ to make it the very best studio management software on the market. My teams and I have been using ShootQ to manage our clients and workflows for the past ten years and I absolutely love it. This is one of those rare pieces of software that actually frees me up entirely to focus on the things I want to, like creating ama

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com “A lot of really smart people don’t get around to doing nothin’. They like to think about it, they like to read about it, and then they go to the next book and they listen to the next podcast, and they attend the next workshop, and they talk and they talk about what they’re going to do. But then they don’t ever get around to doing nothin’.” [19:10] As creatives, a lot of us struggle to move into the launch or action phase of our pursuits. Like Ben Hartley, today’s guest says, we think and talk and plan but often fail to pull the trigger. Well, if you need some motivation, Ben might just be your guy. Ben is the founder of Style and Story Creative, an award winning wedding photography and commercial videography agency that has been featured on Creative Live, The Today Show, The Huffington Post and more. He also runs the Six Figure Photography Podcast and blog aimed at helping photographers achieve success in their business, but in a way that complements their

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com I know, I know, I’ve been there. As creators it often feels like cheating to use templates or have anyone else do work on our projects for us. To be honest though, sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed to finish a project on time, or to be able to spend any time whatsoever with our families and loved ones. That’s exactly why Eri Levin and Tyler Williams, co-founded Motion Array, a creative marketplace with a variety of digital assets that include Premiere Pro templates, After Effects templates, stock music and stock video. Their goal is not to reduce the creativity of video producers and editors, but rather allow them to save time on their projects and focus their creative energies where it really matters. Their content is all highly curated, meaning that everything they offer is the highest quality possible.

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com “The ultimate goal is to be old and in love.” That’s what our guest today, John Goolsby says he always tells his kids, and it applies as much to your business and what you fill your time with as it does to your relationships with the people around you. John has been making films professionally for 30 years, and although he’s had to make a ton of changes to stay current with emerging trends and styles, he’s found a way to remain deeply in love with what he does, even after all that time. John’s company, Godfather Films has filmed over 3000 weddings, and currently takes on over 300 projects a year. Aside from wedding films, John takes on a lot of corporate projects and is currently even working on a reality show for A&E! In this episode John takes a look back over his career in the film industry, covering everything from winning a national award for his film on floor mopping for a grocery store client, to now speaking at numerous industry events, and stru

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com As busy entrepreneurs trying to grow our businesses and sometimes even just scrape by, it can be hard for us to step out of ourselves and our work personas to actually connect with those around us. Jon Connor joins us today and among other topics shares some incredibly powerful stories of how just being a good human while participating in the film industry have given him opportunities, great memories, and have even impacted lives for the greater good. Jon is a filmmaker, editor, and writer, as well as the co-founder and event director of Masters In Motion, a 3 day event focusing on bringing like minded creatives together to learn from some of the best minds in the filmmaking industry. Jon has worked on productions for Showtime, National Geographic (he’s got a great story about this one!), and Urban Outfitters among others, and has a lot of wisdom, as well as a pretty great beard.

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com As filmmakers, gear is an essential part of what we do, and while there’s no denying that fact, it’s important to remember that gear isn’t everything. Kraig Adams, a certified gear nut, joins us today and shares how he’s adopting a minimalist mentality when it comes to gear, and the benefits that the switch is having on his workflow. Kraig is a 25 year old, Brooklyn based filmmaker who, in addition to filming weddings himself, runs the website and Youtube channel Wedding Film School, where he offers tutorials, gear reviews, and teaches wedding filmmaking to others. Kraig shares how he quickly gained a high end client base, his current minimalist gear setup, and how he got arrested for flying his drone in the city!

Find the original post at: podcast.studiosherpas.com Have you ever dreamed of booking destination wedding after destination wedding? Maybe you struggle setting prices that you feel are worth your talent and the product you deliver. This week on the podcast, we’re stoked to have our old friend and wedding filmmaker extraordinaire Ray Roman on the show, who just happens to be an expert in...well, pretty much every area of the wedding film industry, but especially destination weddings and the typically dreaded business side of what we do.