Last Friday I attended a full-day workshop run by Underwire Film Festival on freelancing.
The workshop was designed for those of us who have recently moved into film and tv freelancing. I recently quit my day job to be a full-time film producer. The freelance life is scary — I live in fear of months where I might not be able to pay my rent or afford to eat — but in surmountable from having a network of people in the same boat.
The speakers covered topics that you’re not usually told about when you become a freelancer. A few things I learnt..
- From the ‘Branding, Boldness, Being You’ talk on brand management by Katie McCullogh of FestivalFormula – you need to be able to sum yourself up in one tagline.
- In the same talk, Alex Lightman, director/co-producer of ‘Tear Me Apart’, noted that our industry is based on audience. So make sure there is content on your film’s website.
- Production Accountants aren’t accountants. Also, it appears my skillset matches what a Production Accountant does.
- On the same vein, check out productionaccountingforum.com
- One panel recommended watching Mark Duplass’ keynote speech at SXSW.
- Findie.com is like a Spotify of short films.
- “Short Film is a long game and is about exposure” – Ben Aston
- I’m putting this link here so I watch it myself shortly … “Pitch Black Heist“
- Nicola Lees from WFTV says you can be your own mentor by spending 42 hours over 6 months.
- “DONE is better than PERFECT.” – Sheryl Sandberg
I even got to catch up with Pauline Caletti, who I met in Cannes at the WFTV event.
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.jsHere’s a video from the event. My voxpop even made the cut!
Busy Times 