I'm trying to get get my own little video production business going. But I have no interest in doing gigs for others such as recording weddings, sporting events, corporate events, etc. I'm interested in producing my own DVDs in areas that interest me and I know about. Producing my own instructional videos or "how-to" type videos. Maybe some documentary work down the line, but no films.

I was just curious if anyone in here produces and sells their own videos for a living? I don't think I have seen anyone talk about it. Seems most are doing the wedding and corporate videos or taking a shot at films.

I do just that, make programmes on a specialist subject, shoot and edit the shows, make the DVD's and then sell them via an eBay store. With an Acard 1-3 duplicator a DVD printer and a good colour laser printer you can actually do everything in-house.

I make stock to order and it brings in a nice little 2nd income providing you are clever about marketing your DVDs. I usually blitz any forums that are related to the subject as well as posting trailers on YouTube.

Adam thanks for posting this question becoz I have exactly the same aproach as you do but never found any forum discusing it. Steve could you post a link showing some of your work, I would love to see how others are doing it.
Thanks everyone.

www.flyingmachines.tv has a link to my e-bay store as an example, it's all very simple and easy to maintain. Since I started it in January the trailers have benn downloaded around 200,000 times, thank heavens for unlimited bandwidth servers.

Now if everyone who had download a clip paid £1 for it I would have had a good year!

Steve,

do you mind me asking how successful you are financially with your selling of DVD's? How much does ebay help towards that?

It doesn't make me a living put it that way! It does however give me a nice second income, because I do everything on the programmes it doesn't cost me much to do and the unit cost of the DVD's is tiny.

e-Bay works well because it's like having a shop in a mall, you get passing trade. I do work hard on viral marketing though so the right people get to my site. This is where the new video share sites work well, I'm getting a lot of referrals from YouTube etc.

I plan to expand the operation over the quiet winter months to include pay per view on the site.

Steve, do the DVD's really sell for 12.99 British Pounds (roughly $25 dollars)?My experiece with Ebay is the buyers are "cheap". I'm just curious how much a DVD can sell for.

eBay is no longer just for cheap second hand goods it's now a proper marketplace for new goods as well.

I do work hard on viral marketing though so the right people get to my site. This is where the new video share sites work well, I'm getting a lot of referrals from YouTube etc.


Precisely what I thought. After considering all the buzz about copyright and ownership on these sites, they have to protect themselves, and earn revenue in some fashion. You just have to be careful of what you post and make sure your name is in there. From a public viewpoint, your not posting hi-rez clips for others to steal and use in their own compilations either.

If your video clip winds up in a YouTube marketing piece for their promotion, it's free marketing for yours as well.

(I'm just wondering how long it will be until some form of video spam, er, VAM floods this sites? It'll be exploited).

You have some very nice video Steve, not to mention a job that looks like a lot of fun. A rare combination.

I live in a 'dry county', that is, one where folks don't want to pay much for weddings and local spots. Rather cheap. So I'm also considering subject material that will appeal to a wider audience.

Obviously you have a love for aircraft, so how did you come into making these productive pieces? How did you wind up starring through the viewfinder of a camera?

Sounds like a brutal way to make a living. What you may consider is making one that you can pitch to other idea guys, that way you get money up front from them for production. You can actually make a living that way. I dont think people realize how much production work there is that is not all weddings/corporate/etc. With satellite, digital cable and now internet, there is more production than ever before. If you are good at it, you can make $50K in any market in the US.



ash =o)

Yes, that sounds about right. But I can't live on $50K anymore. Maybe when I am ready to retire.

By the way, after watching a couple of videos, it occurs to me that I may never have seen a better example of something that would look better in High Definition. The shape of the planes just cries out for widescreen doesn't it?

Don't I know it - we've shot everything on HDCam and XDCamHD this year and it looks stunning! I'll have some HD .wmv files on the site in the next few weeks.

$50k is not enough to quit my day job, but it could help, and my wife wouldn't have to work part time anymore either.

Still, there has to be more than just the money that causes one to drag the gear back and forth to the garage.

Your right about the wide-angle perspective Steve, a lot more marketing edge in that.

There is much more than $50K to be made, I only said that because that's what is EASY. With more talent, better gear and some connections, you can make a multiple of that as myself and many others do. I live in a market ranked 40+ and make a very good living...



ash =o)

Ash,

Can you elaborate on what type of productions you are talking about and give some examples of what maybe you have done in the past. I have interest in all forms of video production. But wedding, corporate, etc is not for me. Maybe this could give me another avenue to look into.

... I live in a market ranked 40+ and make a very good living...

ash =o)

I'm in the age market ranked 40+ Ash : )

I'm looking for early retirement. Six years ago, when I decided to quit being an engineer and start video production, I was in complete awe in seeing those checks written for outside firms. Now I'm in complete awe that I'm not out there bringing them in.

Steady wages, 401k, and health-care for a family of five adds up to a hefty bottom line. If I could just bring my wife home and pad the bank account...
Anyway, I'm all ears for listening to how others have gotten started on their own.

I'm trying to get get my own little video production business going. But I have no interest in doing gigs for others such as recording weddings, sporting events, corporate events, etc. I'm interested in producing my own DVDs in areas that interest me and I know about. Producing my own instructional videos or "how-to" type videos. Maybe some documentary work down the line, but no films.

I was just curious if anyone in here produces and sells their own videos for a living? I don't think I have seen anyone talk about it. Seems most are doing the wedding and corporate videos or taking a shot at films.

Make videos of/about whatever you're personal interests or passions are. It ensures you know the subject matter well and are interested in learning more, and helps avoid boredom and eventual tedium from editing stuff you don't care about.


$.02

Excellent vids, Steve. Particularly enjoyed the ME109 clips because my father-in-law flew those back in the day. My father flew in B17's and my wife and I joke about how they must've met before, in the air over northern France LOL.

There is MASSIVE amounts of acquisitions for television programs all around the country, also, there are THOUSANDS of press kits, etc. being made and these pay very well. In the last month I shot stuff for international TV, a theatrical film out, a commercial DVD release, a music video, a reality series, a feature documentary and a press kit for Major League Baseball.




ash =o)

Steve

Do you have any player compatability issues with the duplicated discs?

Use the right branded discs and you get very little, in my case it's 0.2% of sales and that is usually cured with a simple replacement disc.