Considering leaving this industry

[Steven Digges]

Hey Shaun,

Good to hear from you. You should come around more often. This board can still use an honest opinion like yours. I hope all is well in your world!

Steve

[Phil Goetz]

What's the thing in the Kurt Vonnegut books where your name is underlined or has a star by it and that means you are going to be gone next...

[Robert Lane]

Jack,

While I damn-near feel the frustration from your post, and that you've had some amazing replies of "what you might do..." I think the core issues of what's happening (or not) hasn't been addressed yet.

First off, what's your passion? There's a huge difference between a camera-op and someone who's actually creating content, not tied to a client. Meaning, would you rather just shoot event-type stuff and nothing truly creative or, have you been yearning to branch out and sell something that *you've* created, like a short film, documentary etc.?

Second, if your "me" page is all the marketing you've got then you're not doing your job of marketing yourself and putting yourself out there. You need a real webpage with your own domain that's showcasing your work and capabilities. A little tip: Don't talk about doing something "until it was cancelled". Jobs always have an end, but the way you worded it makes it sound like you're hoping for sympathy, not just putting out a resume of work.

Third - and this will most likely be the hardest pill to swallow but... Your reel lacks any tangible, definitive skill you have as a camera operator. There's no compelling content that isn't just putting a camera on sticks and hitting the record button. No creativity.

Granted, shooting events or ENG work isn't exactly the way to get creative footage, however as suggested weddings could be the first path into a world where YOU are in control of the look and feel of the footage and can really show off whatever creative skillset you have hiding inside you.

You need to think of yourself as a creator of content, not just a hired monkey behind a viewfinder. Get out there and shoot... whatever! Find the material that you're passionate about and put together a reel with that - and mix in the ENG stuff if you still want to go after that kind of work.

Get busy on your marketing; new website, fresh content - and network in your area. Cold call if needed (hard to do but can resolve some great new business.)

If you give up and do nothing, then you'll be stuck where you're at - forever. Stand up, brush yourself off, create this new version of yourself and your abilities and see what happens.

Just don't ever give up.

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

Jack,

While I damn-near feel the frustration from your post, and that you've had some amazing replies of "what you might do..." I think the core issues of what's happening (or not) hasn't been addressed yet.

First off, what's your passion? There's a huge difference between a camera-op and someone who's actually creating content, not tied to a client. Meaning, would you rather just shoot event-type stuff and nothing truly creative or, have you been yearning to branch out and sell something that *you've* created, like a short film, documentary etc.?

Second, if your "me" page is all the marketing you've got then you're not doing your job of marketing yourself and putting yourself out there. You need a real webpage with your own domain that's showcasing your work and capabilities. A little tip: Don't talk about doing something "until it was cancelled". Jobs always have an end, but the way you worded it makes it sound like you're hoping for sympathy, not just putting out a resume of work.

Third - and this will most likely be the hardest pill to swallow but... Your reel lacks any tangible, definitive skill you have as a camera operator. There's no compelling content that isn't just putting a camera on sticks and hitting the record button. No creativity.

Granted, shooting events or ENG work isn't exactly the way to get creative footage, however as suggested weddings could be the first path into a world where YOU are in control of the look and feel of the footage and can really show off whatever creative skillset you have hiding inside you.

I could understand why the OP wants to quit. I've gone through the same thing, and I've decided to retire.
Your first point: What is your passion? I've come to realize that it's not videography or photography. To me, it always seemed like a job, and when the jobs began to dry up, it wasn't worth the effort. My passion for 40+ years has been electronic music. I can get lost in that for hours and I completely lose track of time. Granted, I don't make any money from it, but I still love doing it. Not so with videography.

Your second point: I was terrible at marketing. Anytime I'd try to do marketing and sales, I'd be very uncomfortable doing it. I could do it, but I really didn't like to do it. I even thought that maybe I could affiliate myself with people I know that are better at marketing than I was. Maybe they could act as an agent and I'd pay them a percentage for setting up a gig, but I never found anyone who could seriously do this.

Your third point: Since I was doing ENG and events primarily for local television, my reel was pretty boring. Hardly any creative content. I'd get some corporate gigs every now and then, but lately my corporate clients
never seem to have the money to do anything. It also doesn't help that they think that they can do it with their iPhones. I used to joke about that, but in many instances, the end result looks pretty damn good. And that's good enough for them, uploading to YouTube or their websites.

I thought about maybe doing documentaries and doing the film festival circuit, but the time and expense for next to no return isn't worth it.

It was a nice run, but it was time to hang it up.