How is your bizz going?

[zerocool22]

Hi,

So how is your business going this year? I feel overall companies are spending less. Not too many jobs out there I feel. It feels like 2008 over here.

Not sure how you guys are doing, where, how, what.

Thanks,

[fuzzynormal]

I'm looking into semi-retirement.  Weirdly, not because of the jobs I'm getting or not getting in the next 12 months, (that's already set) but because my niche of freelance corporate gigs is definitely on the way out. 

It's the devaluing of video production in general.

With video now, everyone does it.  Quite literally.  Anyone with a new'ish phone camera is on the other side of a gate.  A gate that's been blocking people for over a century of motion picture creating.  Phone IQ is really good.  AI can help generate a ton of stuff with low effort/high reward.  Canva is a thing. Online tutorials explain production concepts.  Creative info flows like a torrent.  Hobbyists are better than careerist, etc. etc.

None of that looks like it'll affect me in 2026.  I have 3 clients with semi-large gigs that'll get me through.  Maybe they come around again in 2027?  Perhaps.  What value can I offer them?  A certain confidence in problem solving they require?  Sure.  For now.

However, for one of the clients specifically, I could easily do via AI in an afternoon compared to what it's gonna take me a week to do live in a studio.

So, yeah, I'm not gonna reveal that my client that yet, but still, that reality is here.

At this point, as a documentarian filmmaker on my CV, that's the thing I feel I can do without AI stealing it away, but, man, not exactly a bunch of people out there have EVER made lucrative careers outta being a documentarian filmmaker.

I mean, I'm decent at this sort of stuff, but I'm not, like, an elite creative, you know?  No ones ever gonna watch a doc I've made (yet) and walk away thinking, "Wow, I need to make sure to see what that guy is going to do next."  Hell, even the elite creatives in the documentary world barely make a living at it.

Looking back I kind of feel like I should've gone all-in on sports-video production when I had the chance 30 years ago.  Live event broadcasting will stick around for awhile.

Other than that, I'm an older married guy without kids that has acquired some in-demand-physical-assets throughout my younger days.  Because of that ownership, the wife and I do, luckily, have some things to help us through the final few decades of life.  Then again, 3 more decades of late-stage capitalism?  Gotta wonder about that too.

[QuickHitRecord]

2023 was so poor for me that I almost left the industry. 2024 was enough to get by on. 2025 seems like I'll gross 10-20% more than last year, even though my costs are up significantly across the board. It's still by no means a "well-paid" job. And I don't know how sustainable this is, because I haven't felt like my market would support a price increase for the past three years. I haven't given dared to give myself a raise. This is one of the problems about making a living in video production and editing into the second half of one's career. @fuzzynormal touched on this above; I can't expect to increase my rate based on experience alone when I am competing with people who are literally half my age.

Now that I'm in my 40s, the stability and security of a staff position hold more appeal. And yet the job market is so volatile that I might have better job security being self-employed -- for now.

My problem is that there is nothing else that I am equally drawn to. Almost every role that draws a decent salary involves sitting in a never-ending stream of unproductive meetings, and I can see a lot of those going away as a result of AI in the next couple of years. I can't reach a place where a career shift makes sense.

[Alt Shoo]

It’s definitely been a tough stretch. Budgets are tighter and clients seem slower to move, even on things that would’ve been quick approvals not long ago. I’m seeing the same pattern where more content is being made but with less real investment behind it.

The best move might be putting more time into personal projects that could eventually be licensed or streamed. Even if it only brings in small checks at first, it adds up over time and keeps your creativity active.

I still think there’s room for people who know how to make something feel real. The tools are everywhere now, but the connection and emotion still come from experience.

[MrSMW]

Ticking along but still here after 25 years comprising approx the first 10 as a photographer and the last 15 as a hybrid shooter in the wedding industry.

5 more years to go and then I will be packing it in out of choice.

In the meantime, just have to make sure I keep my head above water and not overly concerned in that regard as neither AI nor the wannabes can do what I do. Yet, as far as AI goes anyway...

Seen a lot of changes but no real challenges as such and for whatever reason, I just seem to have been in a place where I can just tick along and by 'tick along', I don't mean cruise, because I am always working at it and on it. Rather I just don't feel the need to follow every trend and possibly because of that, why I have remained pretty constant whilst I have seen so many come and go.

[zerocool22]

12 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Ticking along but still here after 25 years comprising approx the first 10 as a photographer and the last 15 as a hybrid shooter in the wedding industry.

5 more years to go and then I will be packing it in out of choice.

In the meantime, just have to make sure I keep my head above water and not overly concerned in that regard as neither AI nor the wannabes can do what I do. Yet, as far as AI goes anyway...

Seen a lot of changes but no real challenges as such and for whatever reason, I just seem to have been in a place where I can just tick along and by 'tick along', I don't mean cruise, because I am always working at it and on it. Rather I just don't feel the need to follow every trend and possibly because of that, why I have remained pretty constant whilst I have seen so many come and go.

Wedding seems like of one the safe plays right now. People who want to get married still want actual photo/video.

[MrSMW]

1 hour ago, zerocool22 said:

Wedding seems like of one the safe plays right now. People who want to get married still want actual photo/video.

Maybe, - I couldn't say as there are a lot who say the opposite and say the market is over-saturated and everyone else is undercutting them.

I really don't know and pay almost zero attention to what anyone else is doing and never really have! Perhaps another reason why I keep ticking/plodding along?

And on that note, back to editing the 4th to last of the season and then 'just' 3 more to go for this year...