Why I Started This Channel for Film Crew (and Where It’s Going)

Let's talk about why I'm helping freelance film crew like you, get more work, manage your money better, and find financial freedom. And where I hope it's going for our industry. After producing nearly 25 years, I want to share with you what possessed me to go on this journey and take you with me. I'm going to share a few key strategies, real things you can start using right now to help you win as a freelancer, not just survive. Let's take action. The moment everything started a shift for me was when I finally said no. When I first started out in production, I said yes to everything. Even the nightmare shoots, even the ones that paid late because saying no felt dangerous. 67% of America lives paycheck to paycheck. The film industry is not exempt to that statistic. And I was living proof that it's probably true. I think if I turn down this job, will they ever call me again? Then one day, an executive producer named Chester I'd worked with before called to tell me about a job he wanted me to produce. And I could feel that same knot in my stomach. Chester is an awesome guy, but it was with a director that I knew from experience, treated crew terribly. So I really didn't want to take the job. I don't even know what came over me. For a second, I almost said yes. Muscle memory, I guess. Then I caught myself staring at the floor. Just zoned out. That kind of tired where your brain goes quiet for a moment. And it hit me, if I say yes again, I'm signing up for the exact chaos I'm trying to get away from. It wasn't bravery, it was exhaustion finally turning into a boundary. But I heard myself say, I'm gonna pass on this one. And the second I hung up, my brain went straight to panic mode. Because in this business, you don't say no, you take the job, no matter how bad it could be. But deep down, I already knew what that shoot would be. The chaos, the yelling, the exhaustion. And for once, I. My peace of mind felt worth more than the paycheck. Then silence. Just me staring at the phone, handshaking a little bit. But for a second, I thought, what did I just do? I opened up my banking app and I was emotionally prepared for panic to set in. And to my surprise, it wasn't that bad. I had a little savings, enough to breathe. It wasn't life changing money, but it changed how I saw myself. For the first time, I realized I didn't have to say yes to. To everything anymore. That was the day Freedom started not because I got rich, but because I finally had a choice. This is when peace finally beat panic. That one choice didn't just change my schedule, it changed how I thought about money. That small savings I had. That's what I now call my peace of mind fund. Money that buys me freedom, not stuff. If you can build just one month of expenses in a high yield savings account, it changes everything on your goal to three to six months. Of course, for years, my peace of mind depended on the next phone call, the next call sheet, the next early morning call time. If a week went by without a gig, I'd start questioning everything. My skill, my security, my life choices. That cycle, stressed when you're slammed, stressed when you're slow, is exhausting. You start saying yes to jobs you hate just to avoid the panic. That's no way to live. And that's what pushed me to figure out how to make the money I already had actually work for me. I didn't need more income right away. I needed smarter income. And that started with something simple. Understanding where my money sat and what it was doing when I wasn't looking. That's when I learned about the hidden power of a simple savings account. And realizing how much more interest I could make at one of these banks. Instead, I started wondering, how can I make this money actually work for me? So I went down the rabbit hole. I compared banks interest rates, checking minimum deposits and FDIC coverage in realizing just how much more I could be earning in an account other than my bank of America, and thought, why didn't anyone teach us this in film school? Or school? It was only through this digging that I spent eight hours on that I discovered that high yield savings accounts are paying around 5% interest compared to the 0.01% I was getting at bank of America. That's 500 times more interest. $10,000 at.01% earns a dollar a year. 10,000 at 5% earns 500. Which one would you choose? Take all the time you need. Figuring out basic financial literacy blew my mind. Learning that I could earn $1,000 per month with my savings by making one right decision and having your money in the right place felt like unlocking a cheat code to adulthood. The earlier you start, the less you have to hustle later. Then, while researching those accounts, I stumbled into investing and learning it's not gambling if you do it smart and safe. I learned that you don't even need a financial advisor. You just need a plan. Just so you know, I'm not a financial Advisor. I'm just sharing what's worked for me and what I've learned along the way. Always do your own research before making financial decisions. That's why it's called personal finance. My first year investing, I earned 24% of my money. Now, you should know that 2023 was an exceptional year for the market. That doesn't happen every year. Historically, it averages about 10% a year. So when I talk about the market, I say 10%. But when I project into the future, I bake in inflation and call it a safe 7%. Whether it's 7 or 10 or 24, it feels great. That's when money works like a movie set. Once I started seeing these results, I realized the same rules that keep a film set running smoothly can keep your finances on track too. If you just put $400 a month into a simple index fund for the next 30 years, at a conservative 7% return, you'd end up just shy of $500,000. And if you add some birthday money, a few tax refunds, or a part of other found money along the way, it's an easy half million. That's the power of letting your money work behind the scenes. The same way a crew keeps a set moving while the camera's rolling. You do your job, you show up, and the system works in the background. Financial security isn't built overnight. It's built the same way we build a great production, day by day, shot by shot, paycheck by paycheck. Now, here's the bigger problem no one talks about. Once I saw how powerful this was, I started talking to other crew members about it. Most of them weren't saving or investing at all. So I started asking why. And almost everyone said the same thing. I'd love to save or invest if I had more work. That's when it hit me. We don't just have a money problem. We have a work consistency problem. The industry runs on feast or famine. When there's a lot of work, we're stressed. When there's a lull, we're stressed. Which I don't know about you, but to me, that's an insane way to live. But somehow we've been brainwashed to think that's just part of the business. Makes total sense to nobody. Now, it's not that we don't want to save, is that the income roller coaster makes it feel impossible. And one day it just clicked. I might actually be able to help fix that. I'm a producer. I hire nearly every position on every shoot. That's thousands of crew members over the last 25 years. Who better to teach how to get more work than the person who's been doing the hiring all along? The first things I teach when film crew asks me how to actually build wealth in the film industry is to forget about networking. Sounds crazy, right? But here's what I don't Network Connect. Don't reach out between projects when you're on the hunt for work. Instead, check in while you're already working on another set. Send a quick, friendly text or a dm. Hey, working on a fun spot in the desert today. Hope things are great on your end. No pitch, no pressure. You stay top of mind and you should sound confident, not desperate. That's one small habit that can easily turn into your next job. And that's when I realized I had to start sharing what I know. This is the secret producers never tell you. Once I realized that, I started sharing my experience in a different way. Not as lectures or rules, but as stories from set. Real moments about what to do and what not to do, how to get rehired, and how to build stronger relationships. I begin mixing these stories with lessons I wish someone had told me earlier. Things like how to show initiative that producers actually notice, how to stay connected between projects and how to become someone people want back on set. And to keep it fun, I started sprinkling in the behind the scenes stuff too. Like stories of closing down the middle of downtown Los Angeles for a Ford Mustang commercial or a mountaintop in Telluride, Colorado with virgin snow. For sure Men deodorant. That's degree in the States. A few celebrity moments with mark Wahlberg, Elle McPherson or Mr. T. Because that's part of what makes this job amazing. But getting more work is only half the story. The other half is what you do with it once it lands. That's why I started sharing my journey into saving, investing and managing credit cards. Because having money isn't just about freedom, it's about control. If you're carrying credit card debt, start small. Pay off your smallest card first for the quick win. That momentum gives you energy to tackle the next one. Each balance you clear rolls into the next like a snowball picking up speed. Small wins create big confidence, and confidence on set shows up everywhere in your work, your communication and your opportunities. And I know for a fact that confidence shows up at home too. That's when I knew this channel couldn't just be about getting more work. It had to be about keeping it, growing from it and turning it into lasting freedom. Your money Your freedom, your rules. Now this channel has become a mix of everything that actually matters. Making money through smarter career moves. Saving money by managing it intentionally. And having your money work for you so you can create true wealth. Freedom to take your family on a lake retreat without guilt. Freedom to say no to jobs that are so low budget that your gut tells you it will be a nightmare. Or freedom to help your director friend build her reel so that you can both get better jobs. That's the real goal here. To build a life you don't need a vacation from. Because when your finances are stable, your creativity skyrockets. You stop chasing every job out of fear. You start choosing the ones that light you up. That's when work feels fun again. And that's when the whole reason we got into this industry starts to come back. It isn't just about the money. It's about changing the culture of freelance film life. Less burnout, more balance, and way more control. Here's what I see as the mission going forward. When I think about the future of this channel, I see more than just YouTube videos. I see a movement. A place where film crew can talk about money without shame or confusion. Where a gaffer, a DP and a key grip can talk about compound interest as easily as they can talk about the next setup. Or managing money becomes as normal as reading a call sheet. This channel is about changing lives and maybe even the culture of our industry. Because when film crew members build wealth, we all work better. We make better art, better decisions. We stop saying yes out of fear and start saying yes with confidence. Every time you talk about money with another crew member, you help change the culture of this business. Silence keeps people stuck. Conversation creates growth. And if we pull this off together, here's what I want to build next. What I hope to build is a community where film crew can support each other. Not just on set, but off too. A space where we can share what works, learn from each other's mistakes, and remind ourselves that none of us are in this alone. I want these videos to reach crew members in all 50 states and even in other countries too. I want to work with you one on one and in small groups, helping you build real financial confidence, not just one way information. I want this to be a place where you can meet crew you've never met before. A space that helps you connect with producers, production managers and coordinators from coast to coast. Because when we actually know each other, it becomes easier to collaborate, easier to get hired, and easier to make great work together. And most of all, I Want to empower every freelance film crew member because we didn't learn this stuff in school. We learned how to make magic on set, but not how to make our money work off set. That's what I want this channel and this movement to stand for. But I can't do it alone. Here's how you can help make all this happen. Like and subscribe if you haven't already. It really does make a difference. Share these videos with other crew members who could use them, someone you've worked with, someone who's between gigs, someone who's ready for a fresh start. Read my emails when they come in and if one hits home, forward it to a crew buddy. If you're not getting them yet, but want to drop a comment below and I'll point you to the signup. Leave comments, ask questions, start conversations about the topics we cover here. Every time you take one of those actions, it tells YouTube that freelance film crew find this information valuable. And when that happens, the algorithm pushes it out to more people who need it too. That's the only way we can build this community together. Bottom line, every small action adds up. Every comment, every share helps, helps move this mission forward. And this only works if we all do it together. I'm on a mission to help 1000 freelance film crew build $1 million in wealth. And I'd like you to be one of them. Because when we have money, we have options. We can turn down jobs, take time off, and focus on the projects that actually excite us. That's what real freedom looks like. If you're ready to take that first step, my next video walks you through exactly how I saved $10,000 fast and how I turn that savings into real momentum. You can watch it right here. Stay focused. Stress less, Build wealth. That's a wrap.