Getting your first promo work... (in the UK)

[DanTheMcIntosh]

I am just setting up my own small production company in the UK, and I would like to specialise primarily in doing promo videos, adverts, music videos - that sort of thing - but I don't really know where to start... I've put out a few adverts on forums and classified listings, but I have very little evidence of my skills in this particular area. I've done lots of training, but haven't actually made any music videos or adverts as such.

Do you guys have any advice for me on how to get that type of work?

I'd also be very interested to know how much I can expect to charge once I have some work under my belt, and how I need to go about starting the ball rolling for this company, as up until this point film-making has only really been a hobby for me...

 

[Motorstorm]

You should do kung fu movies, if you can get some talented martial artists, some good equipment and a good story you could make your own feature, thats where the money is check out www.z-team.net your directing and editing is good and the sound effects on ur kung fu movie were brutal, nice work by the way i would love to assisst you on your next kung fu short whether you need an editor, iuse adobe premiere pro cs3 by the way or an extra cameraman. I live in Britian so location isnt a problem. Even if you want cgi done i can do it but kung fu films are best done completely for real.

 

[directorik]

I assume the business in the UK is similar to the business here in
the States.

Before people will pay you, you need to have a very impressive
body of work. There are so many people out there with amazing,
finished promo’s, adverts and music videos with a nice client
base that it doesn’t make much sense to use a new prodCo headed
by a guy who doesn’t know where to start.

So you’ll need to do what those established companies did - build
a reel by working on promo’s, adverts and music videos for free.
You’ll need to offer your services to bands for no pay. You’ll
need to contact local businesses who need adverts but can’t
afford to pay for them and make several really great ones with
high production value for little pay.

Once you have an impressive reel you can start charging.

To know what to charge you’ll need to check your local market.
What bands need videos? What companies need promotional vids?
What businesses need adverts? Who is currently providing this
service and how much are they charging?

Changing from a hobby to making a little money to making a living
is really tough and competitive. You need to be able to offer
quality and service that other don’t and for less money.

 

[EvsFX08]

Directorik speaks the truth. I also wanted to start out in making commercials, figuring that's where the "easy" money was, but as I did do a few productions for free, word got around that I also do sports league videos for kids. The market demand for me turned into going from adverts like I thought I wanted to do, to doing Sports highlight videos that are in demand (in my area), so I adjusted to what the market wanted, I didn't try to force my way into an already swamped and highly competitive market such as adverts. I now have 3 music videos in production I'm working on as well. It took me about a year exactly to build up a reputation of quality and affordability. As of now, I can no longer afford to do pro-bono work anymore, I have too many paying customers in que. So, yes, you'll have to do a lot of free work, but start out small. I started off with church functions and commercials, helped a few people get into video contests for free, produced a few documentaries, volunteered to what turned out to be a major non-profit project that gets a lot of media attention-which is also free advertising for me), and basically lent myself out to whoever needed my services. Eventually, people noticed, and the only money I spent on advertising my company was on business cards and a website. Matter of fact, under my first company I operated, I did all work for free, this company was a pilot company which allowed me to figure out what works and did not work. Once I felt comfortable enough with being able to operate with quality work, enough customers, and figuring out my pricing chart, I opened up under a new name and now charge people. I have more business than I can handle, but that's a good problem to have. Eventually, I'll be able to break into the adverts, but for now, I'm enjoying filling a market demand. So, I guess the point to all this is, you have a goal of producgin adverts, you can get there, but you may have to get to it through a round about way, and it may not happen as soon as you want it to. Find a niche, be good at it, welcome the demand and enjoy the ride. For me, the market is capitalizing on the rivalry between Soccer Moms, they love having ESPN like videos for little Johnny.