The whole thing started on Twitter. I followed the filmmaking blog of one of Europe’s top young filmmakers. His tweet put him in Miami a few years ago, right in my own backyard. Nino was on vacation with his girlfriend after having been at NAB. I did the only thing that you should do, when that happens–I invited them to breakfast. “If you ever need help producing a filmmaking masterclass in the States, I’d be happy to help.”
A few months later I get a PM on twitter: “Are you still up for helping us produce a Filmmaking Masterclass in the US with Philip Bloom?” For those of you who don’t know, Philip is one of the most well-known HDDSLR shooters and instructors around, so there is a big opportunity in working with world-class talent like him.
Marketing is in large part positioning your brand. Being able to work together with a world-class group of people rubs off on your brand. Find the best expert in your field and offer to help them put on an event, a show, a film, an article, a workshop – anything that lets you get your brands name out there.
Long story short, I ended up producing 2 filmmaking masterclass workshops. One in Las Vegas and one in Key West, where I learned a lot from Philip and Nino. On top of that the workshops where a lot of fun to run, I made a little money, but most importantly are the connections I made with the instructors and the students. Philip has asked me to help him with some other workshops since then and my most recent video job is a result of producing those workshops: I got to be director of photography on a documentary film for Netflix.
