The Secrets to Building a Powerful Production Network with Sean Franklin Boyd

In this episode, we sit down with Sean Franklin Boyd — a director, filmmaker, and production leader who’s built his name around creativity, respect, and pure intention. We opened up about something every creative struggles with at some point: how to structure payments in a way that feels right for both sides. Sean broke down how to make clients feel comfortable while still valuing your time and expertise a real blueprint for professionals trying to grow without losing their integrity.

We also talk about working with big brands like Nike, how those partnerships come together, and what it means to navigate those projects while staying grounded. Sean shares his story about landing a dream opportunity in Italy one he had actually written down and manifested long before it happened. He talks about showing up fully prepared for the moment, and how that short film experience opened new doors for creative collaboration around the world.

What’s powerful about Sean is not just his work, but how he works. He treats people with real respect, creates warmth on every set, and starts each day with clear, authentic intention. That energy shapes everything he does — from leading his team to inspiring the next generation of directors.

We also get into Sean’s next big move: creating a Discord community to connect other directors and give them the opportunity to grow, share resources, and build together. We’re both here to help creatives hit their goals and believe in their vision. If you’re serious about your craft, we’re offering a free 6-month roadmap to help you map out and hit your target revenue goals.

You can reach Sean on Instagram @TheSeanBoyd or visit his site theSeanFranklinBoyd.com. You can also connect with me at @PasadenasWolf  we’re both committed to providing real value, sharing experience, and helping you build the career you deserve.

If not now, then when?

www.markanthonyalcala.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:20

We are here in downtown LA. We are testing this mic and this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Downtown LA today. Keep liking, keep subscribing. That's not ideal.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

No, you might need to overcrank the shit out of that. It's that arm over there. That's fire. You just have to crank the shit out of it. That's what I had to do. That's fucking wild that this is sure quality. Yeah. You would think that this was like. How much they charge you for just the arms? That's crazy. No sorry. I'm gonna pause my camera, but sorry, brother. No, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Oh shit. Alright, well, it's a good thing that that didn't happen. Dude, literally, within a second, you see that big splash of light right there? Just you don't know where it does be beaming in the fucking thing. Yeah, bro, God's watching after us.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

You saw how he did it, right? He did it with that tall stick. Yeah, God watching over us. That's when that happened. So, you guys, if you're still tuned in, these are the add-ins. This is the extra. We're locked the fuck in. God is protecting us as we speak. He always is, but specifically watching over us right now to ensure we have the highest quality podcast.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

I think oh damn. I think the and then also it's like, were you hearing the tip that bad?

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:27

Is it terrible? Fuck. I think that's like tethered to the air conditioning, which sucks. I'm like, damn, it's hot in here now.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

It's like, shit, we need the sound, but then it's also hot as well. We can talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Sean Boyd. High Cross Drive. It's money season, baby. And uh we appreciate you guys for tuning in. Alright, um Sean Boyd, introduce yourself. Nobody could do it better than you.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

Alright, what's going on, you guys? My name is Sean Boyd. I am a director and cinematographer, born and bred in North Jersey, living in Southern California these days. And uh happy to be here with you, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Uh, thank you so much for coming on. So, today the overview, what we're looking to go over is production and the film industry, specifically high craft drive, how he's been able to start scaling and implementing the systems to become uh he's on track to be a three million dollar company with um this year with the profit margins that are correct within the film industry. So let's go ahead and drop the value, right? What have you learned as a production company to be able to collect payment uh or at least 80% of it after film day?

SPEAKER_03 4:15

At least 80% after film day.

SPEAKER_04 4:17

So, dude, I think this is like a a definitely a big learning uh thing for everybody in film, right? Like you start out, you get a camera, you know, somebody asks you to shoot, and you're just kind of solo willy-nilly, and then eventually you'll go through your career as more of a structured freelancer working on your own. And then for some people, the path eventually becomes to operate as a production company, as a business, and navigating that can be very tumultuous sometimes for people because there's so many things involved in it, right? Like you have to unfortunately be uh very emotionally intelligent to obviously handle yourself in a professional manner with your clients so that way when you're talking to them, you never rub anybody the wrong way. You're also building in value in what it is that you do, you're having points within whether it's a verbal contractual agreement on when it is that you need to get paid, or hopefully you have things in writing, which is probably the better way to do things. But as you grow, that process will progress. These days, my process more looks like something like this. Usually we'll have a creative talk with a client, we'll see what it is that you're they're trying to do, what they're trying to achieve, and then we'll put together a budget on what we think is it is that it's going to take it to get done, right? And then we'll set up um different like payment structures, right? Because sometimes uh every job is different, right? You know, like if we're doing a multi-day campaign or we're doing a single day shoot, right? So sometimes these numbers can get quite large for these productions. So sometimes you need to kind of break things up, like, hey, you know what? We have rental items that we need to cover. So we're going to need, let's say, a 25% deposit. After we've covered everything that it takes on our end for our overhead just to make your shoot happen, then at next said point before the day of production, we are going to need another 50% deposit to be able to pay the crew out. The remaining usually will be somewhere in the structure of the deliverables. And for the people who don't know what that means, the deliverables are going to be the final video, what you get in return, what it is that you're paying for for all of this. But it it's a tiered system that structures honesty and integrity so that way each party can feel like they are well taken care of and heard and everything is, you know, transparent because the last thing any client wants is for you to feel like, hey, I just took 80% of this whole entire budget. I just took all your money. I'll see you later because there's people who do that, right? So when you treat things in a kind of give and take sort of way, it makes both parties, I think, feel very um, very calm and at ease. And then it's also kind of like a reward system. It's like, okay, you made all of the creative, you did all the pre-pro. Okay, yeah, we can pay you. No problem. Okay, you guys showed up, you did everything cool. You know, you're here on the day before we start filming. Yeah, we can give you another thing because you actually showed up. You didn't just take our money. Okay, you you did the job. All right, yeah, you have to pay the whole crew, you have to pay for all of this, no problem. The last portion is hey, listen, I want to see all of my deliverables. Once I'm happy, then we can pay you on that final bit. So every job is different on how that percentage is going to get broken up on those different um deliverable points, if you will, that are agreeable on. But yeah, as long as you guys are taking deposits up front, as long as you guys are hopefully having more written contractual agreements based upon this, you're gonna have an easier time because, like I said, in the earlier days, you you don't want to rock the boat. You're like, hey, I could do it for this amount of money, and uh yeah, you'll pay me, right? And like, you know, unfortunately, there's not great people out there, and sometimes it ends up not working in your favor, and things can get a little ugly.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

That was very well said. Um, part of the reason why the Sean Boyd is here is because he was receptive to when I introduced myself when he was on set running the set, running the the the show, uh right outside the laundromat on Orange Grove in Las Robles. And uh I had a small apartment right up the street at the time, and I pulled up and like, hey, who's in charge here? My name is Mark Anthony. I would love to just learn more about what's going on. They had a full set, and he was honest from the jump. I said, Hey, is there any way we could fit in? Is it okay if we stand out here? He was like, Yeah, you can stand here, but you know, truly, like we have everything we need. I was like, Okay, no per no problem. And I was like, good. And then um, you know, ultimately he realized, like, oh wait, you know, you guys would be fucking amazing for extras if you guys are interested, but it's gonna be a long night. I was like, uh yeah, I told you we're here already, and I was gonna market you for free. I was gonna have you on my podcast if you're interested. And he was like, Who are you, man? Like you're pulling up in this crazy looking vehicle. Do you have the beamer at the time? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

Like a slime green M3.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

It's pretty wild. The power of marketing, right? Um, and uh ultimately back to the fact that it was a give, give, then ask situation, right? How can I bring value to here? What do you guys need? And he was like, No, we're good, we're good. Just hang out if you want, watch if you'd like. I'm like, cool. Thank you for allowing us in your space. Thank you for allowing us to be around you and uh be around your creatives and around your team. And you saw everybody was in sync and everybody treated people, everybody treated each other with respect. So that's why we aligned the stars aligned, thankfully, by the grace of God. Um, my next question, man, is uh being that you've learned so much in the past couple years for anybody that just started their production company, just started freelancing. What suggestions would you make so they make sure to collect payment up front besides the contractual agreements to ensure that they can pay their crew? I know that's a big thing. Tenure.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

Yeah, that's a big thing. And here, put tilt your mic down so this way we get we got to get you nice and crispy too, just like me.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

There you go. There you go. Um, yeah, dude. I mean, I I think that's a great thing um for sure to make sure that your crew gets paid because a lot of times it depends on what kind of space you're working in, right? If you're doing uh a little bit more of what I would call like entry-level budgets, if you're working with mom and pop shops, it's gonna be usually easier to get those deposits up front. But unfortunately, in the big ad world, and unfortunately, um, let's say you do music videos, right? When you're working with big record labels and you start to move up in the tier system of budgets, sometimes what you also have is uh what we hate in our world, which is called net 30. And if you're unfamiliar with that, basically what that is, is that you and your team will get paid within a net 30-day window, right? It could be 15 days, it could be 20. Usually they'll wait until the last absolute moment. It's usually for the reason that their accounting departments have enough time to keep up with all of these invoices and these payouts and everything. And other reasons that people don't like to know is that, um, and then they don't like to say, is that a lot of these big companies have offshore accounts that gain small margins of interest inside of them. So the longer they hold that amount of money in that account, they're making just little points on it. So if they hold your money for 30 days plus all the other production crews or the other third party ventures, how much money do they make on that? I don't know. Like 3%? I don't know. Yeah, yeah. Let's say it's, you know, that they got millions and millions. Let's say you're capital records or you're some other company and you have this offshore account that you use, um, or just like a high yield interest account and it's just a payroll count and they just keep making more interest on it and they hold it longer, then they make money by just not paying you in as much time. So it's an annoying thing to deal with in the big world is the net 30. I really hate it. I think it's archaic, I think it's unfair because a lot of people, a lot of the crews, they're relying on this to pay their bills. And let's be honest, uh, most crews live in major metropolitan areas, whether it be Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, whatever you want to say. And it's not cheap to live. So to do a job and say, hey, great man, you know, you just work 12 hours. And for those listening, 12 hours is a standard day in film, right? That's sure. That's that's not even portal to portal. Meaning, like you wake up, you leave your house. Let's say the address is in fucking Santa Monica and you're coming from Pasadena and you drove an hour there, then you work 12 hours, and then you drive another hour back. You're cooked at the end of the day, and then some big company that has millions and millions of dollars goes, Hey, listen, Mark, listen, we'll square up with you in a month. Like, great, man. No, you know, so um it's it's tough, man. I think uh really, really tough with that. But um, it's something that's you're coming up with your production company that needs to, I think needs to be more of a conversation with big companies to be able to take deposits so that way you can pay your crews on time. Like I get it. We have what's also called like a production fee. When you're dealing in like in the in the space with a big production company versus like solo one-man band videographer, the production company needs to make money as well, right? It can't just be me as the director, it can't just be the producer, it can't just be the crew. So it's one thing if the production company needs to assume their production fee, like let's say the budget was fifty thousand dollars, right? And the production company charges a 20% fee. That's so that way the production company can make money. It's one thing if our production fee or if other costs to our overhead are paid within a net 30. Okay, fine. But the people who did the work, the crew, the logistics, the the even the catering, everything should be paid, in my opinion, by final wrap at that hour, if not before. So I think personally it's something that the standard needs to change. Um, and it's not gonna change unless you have these conversations with these companies, whether it's directly to the company or whether you're working with an agency through a company, because they all have the money. So I think anything in life is just communication and you got to have those conversations because I would like to see a change, and I know all the freelancers out there would like to see it because there's not just net 30, there's net 60, there's net 90. Like, that's fucking insane.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

That is, and it's uh it's they have on paper and with their branding more leverage, but with that said, they also need you guys. So, what does a typical conversation look like? Do they just send out a contract to you and they're either like, okay, if you don't do it, then we'll just go with the next company that will, right? And how have you been able to leverage relationships to get in the door and get paid on time?

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Yeah, yeah. I mean, a typical conversation, right? It depends who you're dealing with. It's it's very possible in some scenarios, right? Like if you're a gigantic brand like Nike or Adidas, like they have everybody like dying in line to shoot with them, right? Um, whether you're just a solo one-man band, maybe, or whether you're working with a creative agency like that is that has Nike as a client. You have so many people in line. So if you don't want to agree to their terms, because sometimes it's not just payment terms, sometimes it's uh they have you sign an NDA for these products or certain things that you can and say or do about the shoot, right? It's kind of like kick rocks. We have 5,000 other people online. So those conversations become very tough in those situations. You can have them, it's not that it's going to be 100% no, but the likeliness of one, unfortunately, is is very high that they're just gonna move on to somebody else. But again, it's like I said before, those things don't become uh a reality unless you make it a conversation whatsoever. So for me, I try and bring it up. Obviously, there's a respectful way to handle things within business. Um, and obviously there's a great way to handle yourself, plant seeds and and make sure that your you know end of the deal is heard because everything is a two-way street and it's a transactional relationship at the end of the day. So when you're speaking with somebody, you know, it's a give and take. So you say, hey, listen, you know, this is what we're going to need to be able to handle this. If that doesn't work, then maybe that just doesn't align with with you as well. You know? And there's clients that we have, and it's like, hey, listen, we can't do this because believe me, this is the other thing too that people don't realize, especially from the music video era, and I I haven't really done music videos and I really don't want to anymore. I don't care who hears this, like, bro, whether it's Capitol Records, whether it's Warner Brothers, they will say, Hey, we'll pay you in net 30. And like, we're talking 20, 30, 40,000 sometimes for these music videos. And then net 30 comes and uh, we're a little late with payroll. Oh, so and so is out of the and they don't give a shit. They do not give a shit. So guess who gets to get looked at by their crew? 15, 20 people who they hired. Me, hey, Sean, where's our paycheck? Hey, Sean, when are we getting paid? So then I have to foot the bill because this multi-million dollar company that has more money than God just, you know, it's it's the last priority in their mind right now. So it's just an ugly kind of thing where you know you have to say to yourself, is this client ideal for me? Do their values align with mine? If they don't, if they don't respect my time, if this is not transactional where it's a give and take and both parties feel a mutual uh agreement on things, then this is probably not worth my time.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

That transaction to a true interaction.

SPEAKER_04 16:51

Exactly. Because if you're working with somebody and you're like, oh, but I need the money, I need the client, and I would rather the business, but you end up having a second-time job just chasing them down to pay you, it just becomes not worth it. And I've done that for so many years, and I'm so sick and tired of it. That now it's like you have to have the emotional intelligence to kind of read the writing on the wall and say, okay, if this is how this is, just us agreeing to it before the project, what's gonna come up when they say, you know what? Yeah, I don't like the way that we shot this. I'm not gonna pay, you know what, I don't like this. Oh, you know what? I want to change that. You know what? I said I was gonna do this, but I'm not gonna pay you at that time anymore. So if that's gonna happen before you even start, the writing's all over the wall. Just it's you have to learn to be able to say, it's okay, I'm gonna say no to this. This doesn't align with my values, something else will come, right? It's like any business, you can't think that the client that's on your doorstep right now is the last one that's gonna come knocking.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Right. What that said, that plugs me into the next perfect conversation. Tell me about all the different jobs that you've been willing to do to front these bills.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

What do you mean exactly? Like front these bills. How did you get the extra cash flow to pay your guys on those darker days? I mean, I just try and keep like a business savings. So, you know, every single time, like I said, that production fee like helps so that way the business not only grows its value, but we also have money in the checking account for expenses, overhead. And then on top of that, too, it's like in these dark situations, it's like, okay, shit, all right, I gotta eat it right now. When so-and-so company decides that it is that they want to pay me, uh, okay, I'll get paid back. But you know, if you are the captain of the ship, you better act like one and you better be a leader and not a boss, because everybody who you hired, they look to you and they come around and they work their asses off for you. So you need to keep a good relationship with them. So you have to pay them. Don't ever be the guy with, oh yeah, they're not paying. Like, that's more bad on me. If I don't have a great agreement with them, if I'm not pressing that company hard enough, if I haven't collected their paychecks, then that's bad on me because you know what? That's my deal. It's not the guy's deal. Like, they agreed to show up, they agreed to work for the day. What is what are you grabbing over there? Face is dry. We're in a two-shot over here. This guy's walking over here because his face is my face is oily, pal.

unknown 19:13

What?

SPEAKER_04 19:14

I'm Hispanic.

unknown 19:15

What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04 19:16

You just gotta sit in the frame. Okay, probably you'll live. Nobody, nobody in this wide shot. I want you to put this in the podcast. Nobody in this wide shot is like, you know what, man? His face is a little dry. You know what? I wanted to see him get up in the middle of the fucking podcast. Like, imagine that on a Rogan. I guess it could happen. Like, Jamie, Jamie, my face is dry. Like, give me some moisturizer right now.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah, and I'm a brand, bro. What can I say? So he was continuing to say, like, we have to sacrifice as leaders, and it's uh insane. So for me, like to front different bills when I was doing everything and I was running my business and I was doing this and that, and I had to fucking work for lift, I had to do all these extra things just to be able to barely make it by. And the Sean Boyd and I were talking about all these different things that we've done to sacrifice to grow, and I love it because we haven't talked for let's say, I think uh about a year now. We exchanged some messages, but haven't talked on the phone because we wasn't busy. But it's like no time has ever passed, and every time we meet up, it's true creativity, just like how he does with his team, and it's so amazing. So I appreciate you, and I want you to know that you're a leader amongst your circle because you care about others. You put others first and you put the business first, but also make sure everybody wants to be make sure everybody's comfortable, make sure everybody's taken care of, and that is leading, that's not bossing, right? Um, with that said, what truly you've said this before. Where is a video or film a vibe, and where is a video a film and a film? Because you have a true background in film being where you're you're coming from. So there's vibes, which are great, yeah, and then there's films.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

Yeah. I mean, you are you saying like what's the difference? Are you saying, you know, or do you want me to quantify like with exact examples?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, no, you could say what's the difference and then exact examples of what a Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

I mean, you know, at the end of the day, storytelling is whether it's painted on the wall in ancient hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt or Greece or something like that, right? Or it's a campfire story, or it's religion in the Bible, or it's theater, or it's music, or it's film, right? Stories help us convey information, they help us convey um different ideologies, if you will, different emotions, and that's the most powerful tool at the end of the day. And if we're not clearly, coherently giving you all of that in one, then we're not like totally full, right? And so it's the same thing when it translates to film. And I think we're seeing a lot of kind of vibe films where there's not a lot of clear structure in story, we don't have like a Three act structure, like we normally will, right? We have the fall of our hero, the rise of our hero, and the final conclusion and the catharsis and all of that. And we're seeing a massive difference. Like a vibe is what I would call like, dude, he's got cool music, he's got great cinematography going on in this film. Uh, you know, they have like very um cohesive color palette in the whole nine, and there's a vibe, but you watch it and you say, Okay, what the fuck did I just watch? Like, here is a story, and here is what I would call either a vibe movie or a coverage movie, right? If I said to you and I said, and I said, Hey Mark, let me tell you this great story, dude. And I say, My friend Dave, he went to the park, he sat on a bench, that's it. I just covered what happened. That's it. It's just a vibe. There was a bunch of gang members there, graffiti, people selling drugs, and he wanted to walk his son there, and he had to clean up the neighborhood so that way it could be a better place for his kid to play soccer, and then in the end, the whole neighborhood loved him, and you know, everybody celebrated, and now they could have like parties at the park and play soccer safely. That's a story, right? We have a beginning, middle, and end, and we we not only have a beginning, middle, and end, but there's a transformation of things. There is a cause and effect, and a vibe is kind of like we're just lingering on something in one singular feeling, right? A vibe is is just that, basically, to me. And so we're seeing so much of that, and personally, I don't like it. I can't stand it whatsoever. I want to take something away, I want to go on a journey, I want to feel something through and through. And it's like there's so many incredible films all around the world that do it. I don't know why. I haven't watched this film in a while, but I'm just gonna spit it out. Have you ever seen Slum Dog Millionaire? No, no, you gotta fucking watch that. Where's that at? Slumdog, I'm sure it's on some streaming. I had the fuck if I know, but I'm sure it's on some streaming. It won it won the Oscars probably early 2000s, but it's this amazing story of this Indian kid um in India, and he goes from like we we follow him from like being such a young child in like war-torn India. Like it starts out, there's like this huge insurgence to like following him through all throughout his life where he like his mom dies in the beginning in this war, and then he has to like navigate his whole entire life, uh, singularly with like no money, learn how to panhandle and get his way by as he travels across India, while he's trying to reconnect with his childhood love that he like saw when India was all war-torn and his mom died at the beginning, while doing all these things, and we follow it throughout years and years and years, and like we see this transformation of this character, we see all this hell and shit that he has to go through, and in the end he finally reconnects with the girl and the whole nine. But you're taken through this journey, you're taken through the emotions of the character, you feel like him, you feel for him, and we we we get to feel so much rather than singularly, do you want to feel like you know, just chill, man, for like three hours and just feel chill, and then feel like you've gotten no greater deeper influence in life. So I don't know, maybe I'm going on a tangent, but that's that's the difference here. But definitely Slum Dog Millionaire, if you guys haven't seen it, that is a voyage through life. It was an incredible film. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

I gotta watch that. Yeah, yeah. So Sean. Tell me how having one woman that uh backs you and believes in you fully has helped you gone to go to the next level.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

I feel like I'm gonna get long-winded here. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get I'm gonna get I'm gonna get really long-winded. Um listen, at the end of the day, whether it is your wife, your girlfriend, let's say you have a roommate who's like your best friend, let's let's say, you know, um, you know, it's a partner in whatever realm it is, it's important that you have somebody so cohesive to you because this journey, I think any entrepreneurial journey is fucking hard. It's really, really difficult. And I'm not just talking in the sense of money, I'm not just talking in the in the sense of logistics. There is so much extra baggage that comes with it, right? Like this morning, I'm exhausted. Like somehow I seem a little bit lively here on camera, somehow I seem like I have it all together. But I woke up, my body hurts. Like I've been working day after day, like 14 hours. I haven't had a day off. I'm absolutely blessed. Let me not complain. Uh, but shit, I didn't even want to roll out of bed and uh and make my breakfast. I didn't want to iron my clothes I'm wearing right now. And my wife helped me, you know, just kind of get moving, take a little ibuprofen, make me a little Italian cappuccino and kind of get running, right? So it's it's those things, and then it's the times when you're broke, it's the times when not only are you broke, but everything in your life is just not working out whatsoever. And so something that you've invested all of your emotion into, something that you've invested all of your hopes, your wants, your dreams into eventually attacks that um that that inner alignment within yourself, right? And you're not yourself. You need that person there, whoever they may be for yourself, to say, hey, listen, it's gonna be okay. Hey, listen, this is gonna pass. Hey, listen, get the fuck off your phone, Mark, because we're talking to you. I'm still listening. I know he's listening, but he's I'm marketing, baby. I'm getting more models, but you're right. I know. No, I'm just breaking posts. No, I know. But um we got to keep this as natural and not as structured as possible, but you need those people in your life, you know, to be there as an emotional support because there's always going to be ups and downs, and and you're so plugged into it sometimes that you know, when the losses pile up and the losses keep happening and you feel internally lower and lower and lower and lower uh on the chain, you need that person to pick you up, smack some fucking sense into you, right? Because like many times in my career I've been like, oh I'm nothing, it's not gonna work out, it's all over for me and this and that. But on the outside, anybody on the outside be like, dude, look at what you just shot, dude. Holy shit, you've achieved this, that, and the other thing. And you're just gonna give up right now. But when the negativity piles up, when any energy piles up too much, it's a weight on your shoulders, right? I don't care if it's negativity or it's positivity, it piles up and it amounts and it almost becomes our driving force, right? If you just did a bunch of multi-million dollars deals in a row, right? You're gonna feel like you have race fuel in the tank and you're gonna feel like, fuck yeah, nothing can stop me. I'm all the way up, as they say, right? Like we're gonna go, we're gonna hit the gas from here, right? But then let's say the economy changes, everything gets fucked, and you know, your business is just not doing so hot, and you go through about nine months of that. Eventually you get used to something. It's an adaptation, it's normal in the body. And eventually you become negative. Eventually, you think things are not possible. No matter how positive you are, there's just only so many times that we seek patterns, our body adapts to a scenario. And so it's important that we have extrinsic forces, meaning our partners, our loved ones, to slap us in the face and be like, uh-uh. What you're feeling is not real. What you're feeling is just an amount of all of this weighing on your shoulders. This morning, yeah. I mean, fuck, this morning I was grateful to shit, but not this morning, I'm sorry. But she does that all the time. You know, there will be times where things are great and there will be things, times when things are bad, right? Right now, things are great, you know, and then on top of it, too, like this morning, you know, I'm like, oh, my back hurts. I had a back injury, I'm recovering. Oh my God, I'm tired of shit. I've been getting up like stupid early every single day. I'm working long hours. And it's like, hey, babe, be grateful. This is everything you put that you prayed for. And I literally posted about this this morning. So having somebody there to be that extrinsic voice, having somebody there to be that pat on the back, to be there and be supportive when you're tired, when you feel like you can't give anymore, when you know you lose gear or things go wrong on set and you're broke as fuck in your early days starting up, and your wife goes, All right, listen, I'll put it on my credit card, or your car gets towed in those times when you're a startup and you're you're fucked. Listen, I got your back. Like, we'll get your car out of toad. Having somebody who's so loyal to you is one of the most invaluable, irreplaceable things. Like, I'm I feel like I'm rambling, I'm going off on it. You're not, you're doing purpose, but I'm saying so many things because I can't drive this point home enough, and there's so much um that that becomes of it. So, however that partner is in your life or anybody else out there who has different scenarios, uh, just make sure that you appreciate them more importantly. Like outside of the portance of it, make sure that every now and then you can kind of take off the entrepreneur cap. You make the sacrifices, right? Like, so for me, if I know I have a day off on a Sunday, as an entrepreneur, you always have shit that you have to do if you're not working in the field. Okay, I gotta write these invoices. Okay, I gotta organize the gear. But you have to make the sacrifices to have days of appreciation for those people who sacrifice so much for you because eventually they're gonna say, I give all I can to this person, and you know, they don't have any time for me. So you need to make sure that again, just like with clients, it's a give and a take. If that person is giving you so much, you need to not only verbally express how much it is that you appreciate them, but you need to also make sure that you make the sacrifices to do things for them to also express your appreciation because you will not have that person there forever if it's not you know reciprocated at all. That's that's all I'm gonna say about this. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

I love that, man. And I I couldn't agree more. It's just kind of another thing where you have to set the expectations properly from the start and also continue to put the work in like it's not a job, but like it's your passion, right? And I I couldn't agree more. With that said, you've done it by yourself before, you've done it with your partner, you had your support. What does your team and how does that support system help you keep the feel on the days like this? For example, you said you got a back injury, you are in pain, you've done a lot, you've been working 15-hour days for four days straight, maybe even more. How has the support of your team fueled you and pushed you to the point where it's like, you know what? I'm locked in no matter what. Right now, you can't tell that he's tired as fudge. You cannot tell that he's been working 15-hour days, you can't even tell that his back hurts.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

So go for it. Dude, I mean, it's it's a great feeling when you have people who believe in you. It's a great feeling when you not only have the people that believe in you. I just worked with uh one of my best friends, Ryan, uh, the past few days, and he came out and this dude worked his fucking ass to the bone. Not even just worked hard, it's it's a different thing when you have somebody who believes in you because every single time I needed something, hey, do you want me to do this? Hey, I could do that. Hey, I could do this. He could have just sat in the corner and until I needed something and asked for something, then he would do it. No, he put in that effort. Correct. So when you are able to have the character that people want to help you out and are proactive in helping you out and pursuing that and saying, hey, dude, this is great. We got this new client. Like, bro, imagine what we could do in the future. Imagine we could do it. Hey man, thank you so much for hiring me. Like, I last night I took him out to a nice dinner, like afterwards. We sat there and everything because we were just cooked. He's like, Are you sure? Are you sure? I'm like, dude, I don't care. Like, we'll put it on the business card. Like, I got you, we got dinner. And it's like, when you have that amount of appreciation uh for you just hiring them and bringing them in on your dream, on your business. It's like, how can I not reciprocate and get up and be strong? It's like the general who has all of his men say, Hey, listen, we're willing to charge the hill and we're willing to die for you. Like, how can you not say, you know what, I'm going into battle with you? Like, right? Who's respected more? The fat politician who sits in the chair and says, Yeah, go die for me. Yeah, go die for me. Or the generals and the presidents back in the day, like George Washington or in the Roman Empire, right? Like Caesar and stuff would fight with his men, say, Hey, listen, we are gonna go over that hill and we're gonna fucking kill everybody and we're gonna take this land because it's ours, and we're gonna fight and we're all gonna do it together. Or the guy who says, you know what, I need you guys to go over here and do this, right? The difference between a boss and a leader. So when you not only feel like a leader, but you also feel like somebody who's is well honored, well appreciated, well respected, and there's a reciprocation in your respect for them, then holy shit, man, when I'm tired, when I feel like shit, when I feel like, okay, I don't want to keep going. Like yesterday, I was like, I was cooked by the end of the day. I was still having fun with what I was doing. I was like, all right, Ryan is still in this. I gotta stay in this because like we're both like working together here. Um, you know, let's just keep going. Let's just keep going. And then this morning, too. You know what? My wife is like, I'm proud of you. You've been working so hard. I got you here. Let me double shot a cappuccino. I got you. Oh, get in the shower. Get it, let's go. You gotta get to that podcast. Yeah, let's go, let's go. I'll iron your clothes. It's like, all right, wake the fuck up. Everybody's showing up for you this morning. Let's go, let's go, let's go. So if you have that kind of support, it's like it's kind of hard to let them down, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

Man. You said something that triggered me in a beautiful way. You said that you reciprocate when somebody's proactively involved in your business and doesn't expect anything in return. And that's such a beautiful thing. And then you go ahead and you return the favor and show your appreciation, gratitude, elevates your altitude, quote by Mark Anthony, the dude that's speaking right now. Um, and with that said, how many times have you seen people that have people that are proactively helping them and just don't you don't have to name drop or anything that are proactively helping them and they don't end up reciprocating that energy to that individual or to their team? And how did that change the dynamic for them?

SPEAKER_04 35:57

Yeah, dude. I mean, um, I'll say this, yeah. One one thing I could think of in particular is probably a few years back, like in my early years when I was just getting started, I had this one big music video, and fucking if it could go wrong, everything went wrong on this one. And one guy that I considered a friend at the time, we're no longer friends. I mean, I wish him well. He's apologized years later down the line. We're we're cool. But one guy who I had hired consistently on a daily basis all the time, and he was new here in LA and he just wanted to make some connections and would always pay him not only a fair rate, a great rate. We had this music video, he was on it, and uh, he was the camera assistant, and he lost a memory card to this camera, which was proprietary, and it was like an $800 memory card, right? And did not want the location, it was an hour and a half away, and I get it, but he lost it, and like he's in charge of all of this stuff. Did not want to go back to the location and search for it because it was an hour and a half drive, didn't want to do anything. So, guess who had to foot the bill to pay the guy for the memory card? Because he's like, I don't want to go through insurance. Insurance is gonna take like a month and a half. Like, I need this camera, this is how I get paid to work and everything, and I rent this camera out. No, you're gonna pay me now. So I had to eat the $800. And I remember like throughout the day, even before this happened, like anything that I would ask him to do, it would just only be as if I asked him, and then always, okay, yeah, whatever. And I'm like, dude, I hire you like all the time. You have nobody else hiring you. Like you're like, I'm broke as fuck. Like, please hire me. Okay, and I feel bad for you. And so, not only did I get that kind of attitude, but also in the end, like, no, dude, I'm not going back there. I'm not searching, it's an hour and a half drive. I gotta pay for the gas and everything. I'm like, dude, I paid you in full before the shoot, and now I have to eat the cost of the memory card. And I will admit this that this is my wrongdoing, and I don't care if anybody hears this, dude. I laid into him on the phone, like hard. There's only a few people in Los Angeles, and I don't like to be this guy, but I got nasty as fuck. Whenever I say nasty, like like nasty, like screaming at the top of my lungs, like, dude, you don't understand. Like to give you context on this one, too. Like I said, I don't I don't like to be that guy, and I don't think there's like a reason for it. So I've tried to throttle back in the years, but I remember feeling so unappreciated. Like, dude, I'll I've hired you for months. I've like basically like kept you through everything. I motivate you, I try and inspire you to get your own clients and do things, and like you don't want to do any of that, you don't want to show up and work hard, and then also like I get fucked. Now I have to pay for it, and it's okay if Sean pays for it, and it's okay if but I don't want to go look for it at all. And I'm like, okay, this is the thanks I get. So I felt so undercut, so undermined. And it sucks to have that feeling. And I know so many other entrepreneurs go through that as well, that I couldn't help but respond emotionally. And you can't do that. You kind of just have to be like, okay, shame on me. I've learned a lesson. I've learned that I have to not only better vet the people that I'm working with, but the people that I want to eat at the table with me, right? Because I don't want to just consider everybody this um this bot to just do what I tell them to do, right? I want to create a table that everybody can eat at and have a family and grow together. Not everybody has that mindset, but unfortunately, over time I've also had to differentiate that sometimes some people will just need to be work for hire in some situations and they merely need to be just be transactional. But if I can, if I can grow a table that we can all eat and grow at together, then I would love to do that. But you have to differentiate those people. You have to learn how to better vet those people along the way because sometimes values won't align, work ethic won't align. Um, and yeah, I just have to maybe get better at that. That's something I'm still learning the lesson of this year, maybe not quite in the same way. I would say this year is maybe like I've worked with some people and creative values don't align, personality values don't align. I'm a very talkative guy. And when I work with people who are very, hey, how's it going? Hey, it doesn't do well for me. I'm like, speak the fuck up, dude. Like say something. Say something. Like I feel like you you either don't like me or you don't like the scenario. Like it, because I'm a very, I'm just gonna say how I feel. And if I'm excited as fuck, I want you to feel excited. I want you to feel excited, I want you in the camera to feel excited. I want everybody to feel like, yeah, let's fucking do this. Let's go. Right? So if everybody in the room is not feeling that way, I'm like, all right, either you don't like to be here or you're just not an exciting.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

So if you have lazy energy, get away.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

Yeah, yeah. And I I don't know, so I don't like that. So I feel like to answer your question before I keep on rambling, it's just like, you know, vetting those people better so that way you don't have those kinds of issues is an important thing that you need to kind of grow as your career goes on. And then, you know, sometimes it's like not a right or wrong thing. It's just, you know, certain people drive and work well together and certain people don't. It's no hate against those people. As like I said, I've worked with people who work hard and they're they're good at their job, but they're just kind of, hey, so hey, yeah, all right, yeah. And for me, that's just I'm an explosive kind of uh energy type of guy, and that just doesn't blend well with me.

SPEAKER_00 40:44

That's horrible. I I I I think it's all a part of the process though, and now you can see right through people's uh ways of wanting to screw you over or not actually wanting to perform or not actually performing and not actually doing what they said they were gonna do. And um, with that said, it's like you have to qualify the candidate to qualify them, and then even when they're on set, making sure they're up to point and setting that like morning huddle before the setting the intention for the day, setting the objectives, setting the goals and what we're gonna hit, and this is the time we're gonna hit. Yes, if we go past it, oh well, that's fine, but we need to be on target with as as best as we can. So tell me about let's say one normal and excuse me, nominal regular film day running from A to Z, what a morning huddle looks like and how you set the targets. Obviously, we go past them in the film industry. Things change. People don't execute their jobs, they don't execute on the their words, they might have forgotten their lines and you have to coach them through it. But let's let's do a five-minute morning huddle or three-minute morning huddle setting at a task for the day. How do you go about doing that?

SPEAKER_04 41:49

Yeah, I mean, really, I love everybody to get to set, you know, right away, everybody to kind of talk to each other, settle in for a little bit, you know, make sure that all of the craft services, like the snacks and coffee and water, is there, give them a little bit of time to like kind of settle in. All right, the gears out, the the all the food and craft services are out. And all right, hey everybody, listen, I want to just get you guys together for a huddle. We just have a couple things to go over for the day. And it's not only that we want to obviously set the standard of what our goal is for the day, but sometimes maybe there's logistical things to go over, like one I just did. We did a huddle uh because we had guns on set, and you know, and we want to do a safety meeting. So we also want to set a standard that our intentions is the filmmakers hiring you, the production company, the crew are of the utmost purest form because we care about your safety. We care for you as well. And then after that is let's talk about the goals of today. Let's also build everybody's morale up as well. Let's also make sure that we know here that you guys are appreciated and without you, this is not possible whatsoever. And I think that that's so important. So I try and just, you know, get through that as as quickly as possible, like the boring stuff, the safety stuff, but still make sure that it's there so we know, like, hey, listen, I don't want any of you guys to get hurt. Hey, listen, you know, if you guys see something, say something. Hey, listen, let's also communicate so that way we also have like a clear day. If something is not working, you're gonna go over to Abe, my producer, and you're gonna talk to him and say, hey, listen, we could do this, that, and the other thing better, right? It's film, it's like riding a bull. Things don't always go to plan. You can have a plan, but you know, the generator stops working, so we don't have light for an hour. And so-and-so's got to run to the gas station, we got to get more gas for the generator, we got to go. So we're always gonna have to pivot. And sometimes things are gonna maybe be a little bit stressful. And so let's also make sure that we're treating each other with respect. We're not yelling at anybody, we're not cursing at anybody. But, you know, if we have to move stat and we have to talk stern, please understand that we respect you, we love you. We're not here to be the bad guy whatsoever. So any of that, we just know you're appreciated. None of this is in a me way. We're here to execute. So it's setting a standard of we love you, we appreciate you. It's setting a standard of This is what we need to do, and we're here to do it, and is setting a standard that we all chose this career, right? We all chose to make movies, we all chose to make art for a living. This is gonna be some long hours. This is going to be at maybe times stressful, but also let's have fun. One thing I do on my sets big time, especially once we get a rhythm, I will admit like I'm a little bit serious for a little while, but once we get the rhythm, we're getting the shots, everything's going great. I love to have fun. I don't like that. Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, copy that. I'm like, let's fuck around, let's joke around like with the with the lines with the actors, let's joke around with the grip guys. It doesn't matter who it is. If you want to say something and add something in, let's have fun. Like that's that's the whole intention of it. I don't like this whole hyper serious thing. So when you set that all of those standards at the height of the day, I feel like you can have as smooth of a day as you possibly can. Like I said, obviously things can go wrong. Obviously, things will always not go 100% according to plan because that's the nature of the business that we're in. But as long as you can set that a standard, as long as you can be maximus, you know, with your with your legion and say, listen, we're gonna charge the hill, we're gonna do this together, right? And you set that energy in everybody, man, the rest is in God's hands, man. You know, you've done your part.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Greatness over defeat. Shout out to the team in the background, you can't see him, but my cousin Vanessa G, she's so beautiful. I love her. Shout out to Crispy Life. Crispy Life, he's the smoothest guy with the haircuts in the industry. He's the individual that I will say that has helped me grow as well, has helped me get in situations without a clean haircut that I would not have been able to get in. So thank you. Thank you all for being here today. Thank you all for that didn't show up because we ultimately didn't need you to begin with. But for you guys that are still on the way, we appreciate you. We're here to execute. And with that said, thank you guys. Gratitude elevates your altitude. Tell me about the Italy filming that you've done recently and how you're gonna help me meet some of the people in Italy so we can continue to grow together. And even if not, if now is not the right time, just tell me a little bit about filming in Italy and what that felt like for you.

SPEAKER_04 46:20

Sure, man. Yeah, no, I mean, uh filming in Italy was like absolutely beyond a dream come true. Um, I grew up in North Jersey, so I'm around a lot of Italian Americans, and so especially the neighborhood I grew up in was all Italian American, and I want you to consider that I'm not Italian in the slightest form bit, but all of our family's habits uh Colombian, Arab, and and and uh Irish. So I have the whitest name ever, Sean Franklin Boyd, right? My dad is an Irish guy with green eyes and blonde hair, but dark skin because he's half Syrian and half Irish. And then my mom is Colombian, right? Um, but my dad grew up all in an Italian neighborhood, so did I too. So all of our Sunday traditions, all of our, you know, even our religion, Roman Catholic too, is all Italian habits. And I've always grown up around that culture. I've always appreciated it for so, so, so many years. But the idea, especially as a North Jersey guy, most people are born and raised there. They maybe go to Florida once a year or the Bahamas, and that's it. You never go anywhere else. The idea of just getting to Italy in my lifetime is kind of like this thing where you're like, it's a place you're never gonna go, right? So to get to go to Europe in general is my first time this past year was like, holy shit, wow. You and I why did I think this was so hard? Holy shit, I'm here. Wow, oh my god, right. So the whole thing kind of came about to be because I couldn't afford it, I'll totally admit it at the time. My wife's girlfriend had a timeshare, and she gifted us for our um our wedding anniversary a trip to Italy. And so we went and we went to Pompeii, right, which is uh beautiful historical ruins of a Roman society that was destroyed by a volcano. And we went for the day and it was hot, and uh, we had been walking around the ruins for like three hours, and eventually I was like, All right, babe, yeah, this is beautiful. Like, I'm kind of hungry, maybe we'll like leave. And there was an exit at the park, and so I said, All right, let's leave. And she's like, No, no, no, no, let's just stay like another hour. I was like, All right, fine, fine. So we stay, and then there's a new exit, and there's a whole Coliseum, and there happens to be a whole Roman village set up with all these guys in armor and everything, and I'm like, Oh shit, what is this? And the next thing you know, I'm like talking to these guys and they're teaching me about Roman history and the whole nine, and I'm there for like an hour and a half. My wife's like, I'll be at the exit whenever you want to go, no rush. So I start talking to this one guy, his name is Daniele Bergantini, and I'm talking to him forever, and I'm like, dude, you know what? Like, you're so cool. Thank you for teaching me about your history, your culture. I was like, Did you mind if I take a photo of you? I'll send it to you. I'll email it to you when I get back to the stage. Yeah, sure, no problem. So the rest of the trip goes great. I'm grateful we had a great time in Italy. And I email him the photo about a week after I get back. He emails me back. I have my email signature with my website, all of my work and everything. And he said, Hey, you know, this is really cool. What is it that you do? Like he doesn't under, you know, understand the film industry and directing everything. And so I told him, He's like, Wow, you know, this is great. How would you like to come and make a film of us? So I said, Oh, yeah, like that'd be fucking sick, man. Like a like a short like film, yeah, like a mockumentary, like of Roman, like Roman soldiers. So I was like, Oh shit, dude, like this is fucking sick. Like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Like, trusted off this off rip, okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:34

Yeah, so I was like, Yeah, that'd be great. So he said, you know what? My neighbor Betsy, she speaks English better than me. You know, can we get on a Zoom and talk about it? I said, Yeah, sure. And in my mind, I'm like, there is no fucking way this is ever gonna happen. Like, that's just too crazy. There's no way this is ever gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 49:49

Right.

SPEAKER_04 49:49

So we get on a Zoom. Um, Betsy is his English teacher, and Betsy, big shout out to you. Uh, she's originally from the UK and she lives there in Italy. She speaks full Italian, she's uh an English teacher for Italians, and she speaks full Spanish. Incredible woman. Um, and she uh helped facilitate the whole entire meeting. And so originally he thought that I like I was just gonna edit something for them that they were gonna shoot. And so there's a huge like language barrier misunderstanding. And the next thing you know, I'm like, no, I thought I was coming there, and he was like, Oh, you want to come all the way to Italy? We would never ask you that. I was like, what are you talking about, bro? I want to go. I was like, that's the only way, bro. I want to get there, I want to shoot Roman soldiers in Italy. Like, what are you talking about? So we had a couple other conversations to be able to figure out to make the whole thing work, you know, just getting me there, the logistics of it, uh, room and board, all of that. And eventually we were able to put it all the whole thing together. So six weeks after I first went to Italy was the next time I was getting on the plane. So to be there, I was like, holy shit. And I kind of extended the trip a little bit on my own dime. Uh, I flew into Milan because I'd never been to Milan on the first trip. And I'm there, I did the whole trip alone, and I remember like flying in and be like, holy fucking shit, this is a dream come true, man. And uh on the trip, I made it a thing to like type on the threads, like, hey, is there any Italian filmmakers? Anyone we don't link up? I met up with this guy, Miguel. He speaks Italian, but he is from Peru and he speaks Spanish, and he moved from Peru to Milan, one of the best fashion videographers out there in Milan. Great dude, and he ended up taking me out the whole day in Milan, showing me all around town, talking to me about what he does. Such a cool dude, great networking, the whole nine. I got to see all of Milan. So it was incredible, dude. And then the next thing you know, I'm driving to a town called Fano, which most people who visit Italy are never gonna go to. And Fano is the city of fortune, it is where Julius Caesar used to take his vacations. So it's like a mini Rome, it's on the east coast of Italy, and it's this beautiful little town, and they would call it Fano Fortunum, which means like the city of fortune, right? And uh I would drive out there, it was about a four-hour drive from Milan after I spent two days, and I'm going to meet Betsy and Daniele, uh, who live out there. Never met them before in my entire life, don't know what to expect. Like this whole thing could be like either a scam, they could be there to rob me. Like they could be anybody, they could be bad people. They ended up being like the greatest people that I talk to literally every day on WhatsApp till now. I'm learning Italian now. I speak with them in Italian all the time, uh, very little still. And we just created such a great friendship. And then eventually after that, we went from Fauna, we drove to this area called Monte Fumiolo, and it's this mountain. And dude, we had like the thickest fog with all of these Roman soldiers. So everything's blue and bleak as fuck with these Roman soldiers. And we put together this amazing short film that's like a historical documentary, mockumentary, if you will, like reenactment. What does it come out with voice met voiceover later this year? We're still working on it and everything, like still working on all the translations as I learn Italian. I thought it was gonna be easy, but editing a film in Italian has been more challenging than I thought, but it's okay. I'm learning. And so I like and then also I shot that film the whole day with no crew, just me, and I and Betsy helped me out with the whole thing in this mountain in the middle of nowhere, this New Jersey kid who never thinks he'll get to Italy, and I made a brotherhood with all these guys in the Legion, and we talked about life, and we're doing all this, and my dreams have come true. And I'm like, holy shit, how the fuck am I here? Shooting the sickest footage of my life. These people are the nicest people ever on my 32nd birthday. So I'm shooting on my birthday. I'm out there alone. I've never met any of these people in my life, and by the end, I feel like they're family. I have Roman soldiers who made me like Roman wine. We have a dinner table with like 20 of us in this like little mountain hotel. They're all singing in Latin and like Roman chants and like their armor at the table, and they're all cheersing. They got me a bunch of Italian food, and like I'm having the time of my life after we wrapped the filming that night on my birthday. So, to answer your question, filming out there, like it literally changed my life. It it gave me a new perspective on the other side of the world. It also gave me a new perspective of motivation because when you're at the bottom, sometimes you set yourself a new standard, you absorb that energy of that negativity. But then when God shows you the light, when he shows you that you can get everything that you dreamed of, when he shows you connections, when he shows you people you've never met in your entire life, treating you like they've known you for their entire life, treating you like a brother, like a family member, and having it in such a platform where you're so appreciative, where you're going through a transformation of belief in your life. I cried at that dinner table, like a little girl. Like there's videos of it, like where I'm like, holy shit, how is this possible right now? My parents would be my parents are so proud. My wife is so proud. I'm so proud to be here, and I'm so grateful for these moments that I went home and I still don't forget it till today. I talk with Danielle and Betsy almost every single day on WhatsApp. And mind you, that was like six months ago in November. We don't stop talking. I'm still working on the film actively, the whole nine. I'm learning Italian now. I'm studying Italian culture nonstop, and I'm just counting the days until when it is that I go back. I don't know when that is, but I know I will have to promote this film. Let me go back.

SPEAKER_00 55:05

Let's set up for you said you want to go in summertime.

SPEAKER_04 55:08

I want to go in the summertime so bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:10

August. Sound good?

SPEAKER_04 55:12

Yeah, I would love to go back.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

So let me uh let me set that up for us.

SPEAKER_04 55:17

Yeah, I would love to, man. Yeah, no. So that's I want to get a second home there one day. I love it so much.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

We will. So uh are you open to making a short film for me in Lake Como? How much would that charge? And I know there's factors, but what would be your base minimum rate for three days of filming in Lake Como?

SPEAKER_04 55:36

Three days of filming in Lake Como. Uh Como, sorry. Probably I mean it's definitely gonna be a few thousand dollars for sure.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Like thirty? Forty?

SPEAKER_04 55:47

Are we talking like just me, not crew, not gear, not traveling?

SPEAKER_00 55:51

No, I'm talking elite. I'm talking uh full production, high crest drive, the Sean Boyd director.

SPEAKER_04 55:57

You're probably you're probably talking at least like 70 to 100 for three years. Okay, for three days? What about two days? For two days, maybe a little bit less. Like a lot of your logistics are just getting me there, the clothes, yeah, everything.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

You heard it here. 100K for three days in Lake Como for me, your price might be a little higher because I have helped him a little bit, but 100k that's nothing. Um, or it's not nothing, rather, yeah, but it is something that's attainable for me in the near future because of connections that I have and leveraging uh OPM, right? For you guys that don't know what OPM is other people's money. In this case, it's gonna be a business or uh angel investor, which I have. So next. I love it. This guy is Hemothy. We're almost done. Um give me a couple more value pieces for somebody looking to start their production company or somebody looking to start being a true freelance director.

SPEAKER_04 56:59

Ooh, value points, man. Is let me think on this for a second. Okay. So I want to say this this is very nice. I feel like I've been decently well spoken this morning. You've been amazing, sir. Um, but this one, yeah, because there's there's so so much to say. Um, biggest thing for anybody, are we talking like new, fresh, like just starting, babies bottom, like how they have experience now they're they're going on. So we're we're transitioning from an experienced freelancer to production company owner.

SPEAKER_02 57:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

I'm gonna give you this answer from a guy who's still learning it, from a guy who is not a master, from a guy who's getting um success, but it's not quite at the level of anybody who called themselves a master. I'm gonna give you the humble answer like that, right? Okay. So I've been uh at this now as a production company owner for only three months, right? And and I've learned a lot in that time period. And I also think that um part of it comes with time of being ready. So this is what I'll say is right. So somebody who wants to transition from freelancer to agency owner, production company owner, there's a couple things that I think you need to have in check. Number one, have you done your due diligence over the years as a freelancer, learning from producers, directors, production company owners, um, on learning as much as you possibly can from an outside point of view to be able to um do this, to be able to start this company, because you need to have a good foundation. You're never gonna know it all. Because I think even established people who've been doing this 10, 20 years, because this is a business that is evolving, right? Like five years ago, AI was not in the conversation, right? AI affects our business, right? AI affects the logistics on it, it affects the creative, it affects the mindset and the way that we pitch this, right? If it's not AI, the laws, the permits, the the way that things are done, the content strategy, everything is changing. My point with that is that I don't think that anybody who's even doing this 10, 20, 30 years is a master of this. We are all learning and adapting. But at its core focus, when you are getting started, I think that you should not only have a good understanding of the experience of what it takes to have a production company from an outside point of view, as you've been a freelancer, but you should also have good technical knowledge, you should also have good logistical knowledge of what it takes. Like, don't come in here just think, you know what, I've been shooting for a camera for years. Let's just start this, let's fucking do this, right? So that's number one. Number two, I think it is it's good that you know you don't conquer land by just being one soldier. It takes a legion, it takes an army, it takes a whole entire group of people to do it. And it's not just the sheer masses of bodies of like actual physical labor, it's minds, right? It's different minds as well. It's not just a number of them, right? So that means putting people into positions of motivating them to have them be in a position where they're gonna say, okay, I know what he needs, right? So when you consult with those people before you're starting your agency, like for instance, I'm lucky, I'm really lucky because my mom does payroll and runs a company that not only helps do payroll for companies, helps do accounting and everything. So I had to consult with her and say, hey, listen, what do I need to do this? How should I structure my business? Should it be an LLC? Should it be an uh an S-corp? What state should I incorporate in? I have an LLC. Okay. For this state right now, as being a sole owner, not an S-corp. And S-corp, you kind of get a better tax situation if you have people continuing on payroll. But for my business, because it's a revolving door, because every production is different, we 1099 people, we don't have anybody on payroll. LLC makes more sense for me. I'm incorporated in the state of Delaware, which makes more sense because I also have operations out of there and because I also have an address there, and it makes more sense tax-wise as well. So you need to consult people on what it is that you need to do structurally to make sure that your business is set up well. Outside of just the taxes, the logistics and everything, right? Then you also talk to people like for the marketing or the website. Understand that everything that you're doing is not, you can't just look at it as I'm spending money and I'm doing this. It is an investment, right? So when I consult people and I put the Legion, when I put the soldiers into place, there's a guy who's an archer, there's a guy who's a general, there's a guy who's a lieutenant, right? In a legion for a reason because they all come together and say, no, general, this is what we need to do. This is where these need to be. So I'm learning more and more that I can't do this all on my own. I'm gonna get burnt the fuck out. I don't know how to do all of these things myself. I can't specialize in all of these things. I may know a lot or a little bit about a lot, right? But I can't specialize and do them. So when I need to do these things, and I've gotten the people who specialize in doing this, say, Sean, you need to do it this way. I need to listen. I also need to vet those people well because I've made those mistakes in the past. And when I listen, I can't go, fuck, dude, it's really gonna be $3,000 for a website. All right, well, I can do it myself. If I do it myself, that means, okay, the website's gonna come out shitty. It's not gonna have great lead traffic, it's not gonna be attention grabbing. My portfolio is not gonna be presented its best. So I need to learn that it's not I'm spending money, I'm investing money, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:10

What does investing mean to you?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:11

Investing means to me that you are taking a calculated risk for with your money for the pursuit of a very specific goal. And you are understanding that not only in the grand gamble of odds of being an entrepreneur, that you are tossing that gamble on many, many different factors, the person you hire to make your investment with, whatever that is, whether let's just say it's in the context of a website. Am I vetting that person right, right? Within that investment, is that person going to yield me the best return on the money that I'm putting in, whether that's return and value on visibility for my business, whether that's return on value on physical, actual return on investment, monetary return, right? Or is this also a return on investment as well? On, hey, I I invested in doing uh my website with this guy. Is he gonna help me three years down the line? Is he gonna want to grow with me? Right. There's so many factors that you have to think about when you are making any investment. So for me, it's it's personal, it's logistical, it's monetary, uh, it's monetarily um quantified as well. So there's so many things that goes on with that and with investment. But these are all the things that I would say that the, you know, just at a surface glance, because I think the list can go on and on and on, that I think anybody transitioning from being an a freelancer to an agency to a production owner need to uh think about. And then the other thing too, the last thing I'll say that's most important, and believe me, I'm missing things here, are what is your goal? What is your intent? Who is your target audience? What is your brand identity? What is your intention? What kind of things do you want to shoot? Do you want to shoot music videos? Do you want to shoot narrative films? Do you want to shoot commercials and create commercials for people? Do you want to solely just uh structure yourself to be sports broadcast, right? You need to quantify what that is and double down on it because niching down will help your business so, so, so much more rather than just being the one trick pony and being the jack of all trades or however you want to put it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:10

Jack of the tradesmaster of none.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:12

Yeah, exactly. So you need to have that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:15

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:15

You know, you have a roadmap of where you want to go because I think in the early freelancing years, I was just like, I'll do whatever, I'll do whatever. This year, specifically for me, my focus is commercial and narrative, and that's it. And specifically commercials that are in a narrative context, because that's becoming a huge thing in content right now, a huge thing in marketing. So when you realize where you want to go and you have more of a map drawn, you're gonna have more of what you want rather than just going with the flow, rather than just being a bag within the wind, and the last thing I will say that you need is an unwavering, unwavering belief and not just belief, character and fortitude to go on. Because those days where I said where you're gonna feel like I'm tired, I don't care, I don't know, everything's going to shit. This is not going well, I want it to play, are going to inevitably happen. So you need to have that character where you say, okay, you know what? I'll fucking mope for about a day. Maybe two, maybe three max. And then by day four, I gotta say, you know what, dude, you've dug this hole so deep, you've opened up this whole can of worms where you say, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to be this, I want to be that, that there is no fucking other option. So you better pucker up, pal. Get back on your horse and say, All right, let's go. I I said I want to do this, so I better put my money where my mouth is. And people believe in me. I opened up this, I don't have any other plan B, so I gotta do it. So you need to have that fortitude to just no matter what, you can have bad days. That's okay. You can have days where you feel like you're down, you can have those days where you feel like this isn't working out so hot. It's normal. You're fucking human, but you need to also have those days where you say, you know what? I'm not giving up. I'm not giving up. I'm gonna keep going. If I if It's not sometimes it's not just okay, I punched the wall a hundred times, I want to make a hole. Sometimes it's where am I going wrong here? What do I need to do better? When you come back to your clarity, and then you need to keep on going. So fortitude, fortitude, fortitude, and that is the last thing I'll say.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:14

So with that said, uh, you know how I'm gonna end this right now. What are the three three what are three things that you're looking to improve this week? And what is your biggest, most wild in the limitless world and abundance world that we have? What is your big goal for this year if you feel comfortable sharing it with me?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:43

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, all right, let's see. Repeat the first question.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:48

Three things to focus on this week that you want to improve.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

Wow, three things to focus on this week. All right, number one, because I feel like things are great, uh, great in the business field. I need to be better for personal self-care a little bit here and there, because if you don't have your personal self-care, if you if with if this is all a race, right, and you're not maintenance in the car and you're just pressing on the gas at a thousand miles an hour, 100%, and the brakes are glowing red hot and the hood is smoking, then you're gonna burn out. You're gonna crash and burn, and you will never be able to perform, and you will not have the longevity to go the distance in your business. So I need to be a little bit better about personal care. So tomorrow I'm gonna get a little bit of work done uh on myself, a little bit of acupuncture, a little bit of mobility work, especially with this back injury. But that also includes things for the spirit, man. It is great. I think there's a great hustle culture, and I think it's great to work your ass off. And there's nothing wrong with that, and I feel like I'm no slouch to that whatsoever. But if you don't recharge the batteries, I mean physically, if you don't recharge the batteries spiritually, that means spending time with your wife, your partner, your family, your friends as well. Then what the fuck are we working for, right? If I can't make money and say, hey, you know what, babe, you want to go sit here and have a glass of wine and chill for a little while, then why work? It's great to say, hey man, listen, I work really hard. I'm this alpha dude on this podcast, and I wake up at 3 a.m. and I work 40 bazillion hours and I'm badass, and you should be badass like me. And all I do is work, work, work, work, work, work. Like that's fucking cool for a soundbite, but I'm sorry. Like family and life and enjoying life is also equally as important as having, you know, all of that happen because why are we here on earth, right? How is a family being a family man impacted you and helped your business? Um, I think it's it's helped me sit harder on my morals and ethics with things and learning when to say no to things, you know, just because money will come and go in life. I've been doing well, and I've also been in situations where I've been so low, thousands and thousands of thousands of dollars in debt, uh, and not long ago, where I thought, oh my God, we're gonna be homeless tomorrow. And when all the money disappeared and when all the clients disappeared, and I had nothing, you know who's there? My wife, and my family, right, God, everybody. Right. All the all the bullshit disappeared, all those things disappeared, but my wife was there through and through. You're gonna get through this. This isn't over, babe. We're gonna, you're gonna get through this. You're you're great. You're gonna everything's gonna work out. All though that was the only constant. So if I don't pull over and I don't say, yeah, fuck this money. Like, there are times like if it's a Sunday and it's not that big of a paying job where I tell somebody, no, sorry. Either I can't do it, you gotta get somebody else. If they're like, it has to be this Sunday. I'm like, I can't do it. Gotta go to church with my wife, I gotta spend the day with my wife, even if we don't do anything, even if it's just like, hey, let's take a walk in the park, like I have to spend time with my wife. Because unfortunately, I lately, like this past week, is I've been like, I woke up at 5 a.m., I leave the house at six o'clock in the morning, my wife's sleeping. I get back home, it's 10:30, 11 o'clock at night. I'm shot, I'm gonna eat my dinner, and then I'm gonna go to bed. And then the next day, the same thing, and I don't see her. And she texts me, you know, how you doing, this and that. And like, I'm so in it at these jobs that I can't text. And it's like, that's not a relationship. That's not fair to the person that, you know, when you're exhausted, hey, let me rub your back. Hey, let me make you dinner. Hey, let me make you the cappuccino so you feel better. Hey, you know what? Oh, you need to pick yourself up. Hey, uh, you know what? Don't worry about it. I got the groceries this week, things are rough. That's not fair to that person. So you need to be able to be sure that you're there with them. My family, who's 5,000 miles away home in New Jersey, hey Ma, how you doing? Hey, dad, how you doing? Hey, dad, I love you. Hey, brother, I love you, man. I miss you. I'll see you when I can. That is that is important. So those are things that I always try and be very, you know, personally aware of. So that's one thing I need to be more active on this week because we've worked hard, we're paying the bills, things are going great, you know, awesome. One thing I want to be better at this week. Um, man, the next thing, what do I want to be better at this week? Number two. Man, managing uh managing the the horizon of things and being very emotionally aware all the time. I would say emotional awareness. I've been very good at it, but I want to be even more well aware of it. That's why I made this post this morning. I said, you know what, you're tired. You know what? You're fucking run down. You know what? Yeah, you're exhausted, but you prayed for this. You prayed for this. So it's it's having that little you know angel on your shoulder when all of your default feelings are there and say, You prayed for this, pal. Be emotionally aware enough to know that don't let that be your default. Don't get jaded, be happy, be grateful nonstop. Discipline over desire, baby. Yeah, yeah. So just being emotionally aware, good or bad, you know, and I mean that in a good way too, because there's also times like this where I've been like, I'm the shit. Yeah, I'm fucking working hard. Yeah, I'm making money. Yeah, I'm getting booked nonstop. Yeah, I'm great. Right. Don't let that get to your head either. You gotta be humble to also realize that anything can change, right? I've said this before, as fast as you can climb the ladder, you can fall faster. So you start getting too cocky and you treat people like you don't have time for them, you treat people with less than anything but respect at all, then that's gonna come back to you too. So being emotionally aware in every situation, don't let the success go to your head, right? But also don't let the success go to your head and be grateful. I think it's it's nuanced and it's it's double-edged in that in that scenario. So I wanna, I don't think it's something I need to work on better, but it's something that I want to continue to practice and have the discipline of, especially while things are good, because it's like, yeah, both things come with it. I'm tired, oh my god, I'm this. Nope, be grateful. I'm the shit, everything is going great. Uh nope, be grateful. Don't act like you're all that, pal. Um, so that's one thing I want to keep on going. And the last thing I will say going forward for this week. Yes, sir. Damn, this is a tough one, dude. You got me.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:44

The third one always stumbles everybody, but you fucking got this, sir.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:51

All right, yeah. The third one I'm gonna say is planning out my timing a lot better. You know, I think I'm decent at it, but I think, especially when things become hectic, and if especially when things just change, because I could literally have like two, three days free, and then somebody, hey, we have this commercial, hey, we want to shoot this and that. Can you shoot it in three days? I'm like, oh, okay. So the week changed, but there's things that I have committed to prior doing, and then sometimes it becomes, yeah, well, I'll just do that later. Yeah, I have the shoe, yeah, I'm making money. I I I gotta do that later. But these are very important things. So making making it a very um laid out plan to not only uh be a man of my word to myself because there's things that I have going on for my personal YouTube right now. There's things that I have going on that I've committed to with other brands, making the commitment to manage my time so that way when all of this is resolved, I can't go, oh, I'm tired. I have to, you know, uh-uh. I'll just keep pushing that till later. Making it not only so that way I do it and keep on it, but also spreading it out because I think I'm a very all or nothing kind of guy where I go, all right, I'm finished with this, I'm gonna go on that, but then that's how you get the burnout. So it's becoming better at managing time so you can do things periodically and not just all in or nothing and then burn the fuck out, right? Um, but also still executing on the things that you said that you were gonna do. So that's just time management. Not only not only making the time to do it, but also saying, you don't have to do it all in 14 hours, bro. You can do, let's say, okay, Friday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week, I'm gonna shoot. Then after that, I have Saturday and Sunday. You don't have to burn yourself the fuck out after you just did this whole week. Sean, you can do four hours here, and then on Sunday, you know, spend the time with the wife. Monday, you get back to it, you do a little bit more, and you do it a little bit more, and then it's fine. It doesn't always have to be all or nothing. You're gonna burn yourself out. So managing time in that way is also important. It's not only about committing to it, structuring it, but also structuring in a way that makes logistical sense too. There's so many things, and it's always just adapting, adapting. And my life is so random and all over the place that it's hard to have that structure. But because it's hard, I need to stay on top of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:57

Thank you, sir. Welcome to the office of the day with Mark Anthony, Sean Boyd, High Crest Drive, uh, social era and a non-social world and the world of social media it abbreviates to super manipulative. Don't let everything you see, uh, don't believe everything you see on film, don't believe everything you see on camera, believe in energy, believe in authenticity, believe in yourself, believe in your ability to succeed when everything is going wrong. Don't stop praying. You don't have to be spiritual. You can talk to yourself in the car and talk to yourself with a positive self-talk. Talk to yourself as if you were that kid that had no limits. When you were a kid, you knew where you wanted to go. And it's okay if you changed your plan, but stick to the plan and stick to one main thing. You could have two other ventures, but one main thing that's going to propel you that you put in 10,000 hours, that's the start. That's not even the beginning of the walk. So I believe in you, you should too. But most importantly, there is a power in this world, it's called the earth that you're living on, you fuckers. I believe in you. So if you push it, you're if you put all your energy into something. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I put in all my energy into anything, eventually I win. I will learn, win, or learn fly high. I will learn, I will learn, I will learn, I will fell forward, and then I will win. Today, having the Sean Boyd on, I'm winning. To next up is crispy life. I'm winning. Vanessa over there running the cameras. I'm winning. I have people who believe in me. I have the support I need. Unfortunately, there are people who are not going to come with you who you thought were going to come with you originally, and they will not be there with you. So thank you, Mr. Sean Boyd. Thank you, High Crest Drive. I'm gonna see you in Italy. 100k it is. We're gonna run it up. I would like for you to also keep doing what you're doing, keep rocking with me. Let me show you how I can make you recurring revenue. I got that. Unfortunately, you guys will have to miss that. Maybe it'll be a bonus small feature. How as well, maybe you can get invested to help us grow. Uh, we'll have everything down below. Thank you very much. Office of the day with high crest drive, Mark Anthony, Sean Franklin Boyd here to make your life better by continuing to inspire. Thank you very much.