3 AM Call Time

This episode of the Production Prism Podcast delves into the realities of working in the video production industry. Torrance and Jaylin discuss "The Life," covering the nitty-gritty of being a videographer, from the personal lifestyle impacts to the high-stakes demands of the job.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

What's up, y'all? You'll tuned into the Production Prism Podcast. Today, we are talking about the life. Yeah, the life of being a videographer, being in the video production world, the thing that everybody wants to be. We're getting into the nitty-gritty about the upsides of it, the things that we don't like, but also just like, hey, these are the reasons why I love this. So, yeah, let's get into it. Let's just get into the lifestyle. Like, I'm always I would say I feel like our industry has its own lifestyle of its own. Like, think about people who are like construction workers or mechanics, like it kind of goes into your personal life. Like it's not just I work in production. And I mean, and if it doesn't go into your personal life, you're probably either just getting into it or you're not really about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:05

Um so like let's just start off with you know, briefly, what does your typical nine to five look like?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Untypical. I just want to start off before I even forget, before I forget, I was on set yesterday for a commercial. Uh-huh. The shoot time, the call time was 1.30 p.m. We rapped at 3 45 a.m. That's it. 14 and a half hour day, I believe that's the math. Something around there.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

There you go. Like, you have days like that. Yeah. Um now, how often that is, I think that depends on the industry you're in. I think, like you like we talked about before, the more narrative stuff. Like if I think about TV, you know, where they have night scenes, yeah. They're starting at 6 p.m. Yeah. Um all night, baby. You know, no matter no matter what what the temperature it was. Like it was 30 something degrees last night. We out there. You'll shoot outside. We shooting outside. Production don't care about the agency got the warm, heat, heated tents. We out there huddled up, but hey, that's how it'd be. But um, yeah, my typical nine to five. Um depends on the day. Depends if I'm shooting or not. Yeah. Uh depends on what type of mood I'm in. Sometimes I'm tired from the day before. I just need to rest. But if I think about a shoot day, uh I these days I kind of like to get it out the way, do it more so in the early day if I can, you know, between like I like to start around 12, I think. You let the early traffic go. Like, you know, you're nine to fivers. You let them go to work. Y'all go here. Yeah. Never at race. Yeah, let them go to work and then shoot till whenever, however long it takes. Um depends on the shoe, of course. Um it's not typical. Like, it's just whatever fits. It's not. It's whatever fits the day, like whatever fits for you, the client, agency, if you're getting into all that. Like, yeah, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say, what's that?

SPEAKER_04 3:20

What's a nine to five?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

There's no normal schedule.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

Like, for this industry, a nine to five is sweet. I mean, if you if you have a nine to five in this industry, you work, you work a cushy corporate gig. And I'm gonna say cushy real real loose, because you're gonna be they're gonna box you into this little salary, you're gonna get boxed into that salary where you can go cry to your boss all you want, all night long that you want to increase. They might give you maybe a rat on top of that for the year, and by the end of the year, you're gonna get 20 more dollars. But on our side of it, you know, we we're freelance. Nine to five is just it's it's non-realistic. I don't care how hard I try to make a nine or five realistic, it's just not because no matter what, it's going to seep into the later hours or the earlier hours, and it's just the nature of the beast, and like we know this and we accept it.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah, but you know, people around you ain't gonna get it. They don't understand. Yeah, I I it's funny, you know, it's the beginning of the year, everybody trying to get in shape, you know, get their body right, summertime coming up, and you know, I'm trying to get in the gym, but it's like, you know, typically I'm not gonna get into the other stuff I do, but I get home late. I typically start my day around nine or ten o'clock. Then I got edits to do, and then I gotta drive somewhere else to meet with a client or shoot. And then in between then, it's like, okay, I don't really want to go to the gym at five o'clock. Or I have to cross town. Sorry. That's one thing about it is like finding your out of out of like out of work schedule schedule is probably the hardest part in my opinion. Because, okay, I don't have no like kids or no family or anything like that. But just my personal life, like to say if I want to go to the gym at this time every day or have breakfast around this time, like I just gotta do with what what's available.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

What whatever time is there, that's what I gotta use. And that's the hardest part of this, like, is trying to actually come up with a routine. A routine. I'm sorry, I didn't make y'all. I know it's going on my stand right now. Amazon basics being real basic. Amazon, send me a new stand up. Um, but no, like in this, and and right now, I'm thinking like technically right now is it's not busy season, at least for me. It's it's ramping up. I got like maybe one more week of like, oh man, I can actually like take a breather. Yeah, I can have breakfast and lunch in the same day.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

Like, oh man, I'm I'm great. But busy season pops up, and especially like if we're doing conferences, dumb. I mean, you got you got three or four days in a row, 12 hour days. Like where I'm working out, you know what I'm saying? And it's not and it's not that I don't want to work out, and sometimes it's just not even healthy, like you just need to go to sleep. I gotta go to sleep because it's I'm gonna work out or I'm gonna be up all night. Yeah, because we just rap. Like you said, like think about like a day you had yesterday. You rap at 3 a.m. You're not about to be like, oh, I'm about to get this workout in real quick. That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yeah, you know, unless most of them not even open.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Yeah, and the thing is, like, much like yourself, like I'm trying to get a workout routine, gotta set up a gym at the at the house and you know, pushing some weights here and there, riding a little bike. But it's like I have to keep my expectations really low on outcomes because I'm like, yo, when this get going, it's gonna get going. Um, and I mean, yeah, long days, it's it's a thing. We all know that for our industry. Yeah. Let's talk about let's talk about like a pre-shoot ritual. Um, like to either get in the right head space or even just like making sure you got everything. You got you got a pre-shoot.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

That's the that's the ritual, is making sure I got everything. Hopefully, I ain't gotta stop at no camera store. Hopefully, there like I mean the things I say before I leave my house. Do I got my phone? Do I got my keys? Do I got my wallet? I'm shooting. Do I got SC cards? Do I got the batteries? Do I got the camera? I've done that one time. Yeah. I forgot the camera on the way to Virginia. Didn't notice until I got about an hour away. Thank God I had somebody else with me who have one. Um yeah, making sure you have everything and then doing some things to make sure like you're ready when you get there. Yeah. Uh, make sure my cars are clear. Um, or you know, prep they're able to be clear once I'm on set. Um making sure you just have everything. Like anything could happen.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

And not to cut you off, but you you stating like when you about to leave.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Like this for sometimes this starts for me a couple of days before.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:24

How depending on how big the loadout, because you know, sometimes I'm I'm I'm loading out for a crew.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

Um, this is a couple of days before, so I'm going through each kit. All right, camera A, I got batteries, cars, lenses, top handle, camera B, sound thing, Ronan, light kit. Yeah, sound. I remember one time I left a uh I needed I had a the only sound I was gonna use is boom, you know, left SD card, had to go to had to go to Best Buy. You know, I'm in Best Buy, you know, getting ripped off for an SD card. 150, 67 and stupid, you know, for SD card. Um but like even even when I'm soloing, it might be the day before, it might be two days before I'm packing. And I know I had to explain to my wife what that means. Yeah, like we've had in the past, we've had straight up arguments about like yo, yeah, why is it taking you so long to pack?

SPEAKER_00 9:24

But you need to make sure you got everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:26

Cause remember, we're pros. When we get on the ground, a client hiring us to get it done right the first time. Yeah, I we can't show up and be like, dang, dog, I ain't got my tripod. And if you do, bro, you're about to know where.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah, facts. You better have one on the way or the back of somebody who knows somebody. It's just you better have it. Like you better have it.

SPEAKER_04 9:50

Like, and that's the stress level.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

It's other, it's and it's little things. It's so funny. I did a shoot a couple days ago, real estate, somebody flying a drone. Not the one with the remote, the remote with your phone connecting, yeah. Phone die. It's little things making sure your phone is charged, like phone died, drone in the air. Yo, on the other side of the highway. Ooh, like it's little things like making sure your phone is charged. So if you got a big conference like we had in in ACP, client call you. What you gonna do with your phone dead? Like, and that's just being professional. That's it. Um like you said, we're hired when you get to, I mean, at all levels. When if you hired to do something, you're supposed to get there, get the job done. But when you hire on the level where people are spending thousands of dollars, like, bro, like you better get the job done correctly, the right way, have good service. It better not be no riff rap where man, you gotta make sure you prepare.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Yeah, and I mean how many times? Because the level we're at, we always we we always on some just in case. Yeah, like people check in. Like, and I mean, you you might have an extra kit in your car, light stands, all kinds, even though the client ain't calling for it, it's just like yeah, literally. I just I know I better have something just in case.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

Cause the client gonna tell me, oh, well, you know, it's it's X, Y, and Z, and I'm gonna pull up and I'm gonna need I'm gonna need a different lens, or I'm gonna need, you know, I'm gonna need extra lights.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

And it's it's funny, part of that I learned from you because I remember when I first started working with you, and at the time I was doing smaller gigs. I was like, What's why is he bringing all this stuff? We don't need we loading in, and I'm like, we didn't do five trips, like, and still got one more. But you never know what situation could come up, like somebody could drop a lens, whatever, like anything could happen, like something break, it's just not working. You gotta figure out a way to troubleshoot a problem. You see, I'm shooting these ski snowboarding trips, and realistically, I don't need much. Like, I need the camera, the lens, a battery and a half for real. Like, because I'm not overly shooting, we just getting the experience. But it's so funny, y'all. I'm doing these trips and they're awesome. I love it. Yeah, and like I said, I don't really need much, but just in case, I'm lugging my 30-pound case up the mountain, my 20-pound book bag, snowboard on my hip, like just in just in case. And I never for the last two weeks, haven't needed anything, but it's about be pre being prepared just in case something dies and don't work.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

Yeah, even mentally, it's hard for me to be like, I don't have that. Yeah, like, and that's and like I I love that like amongst my crew, like everybody know I overpack. Like, it is for sure. You can throw a rocket anybody in my crib, like, hey, who gonna overpack? Torrance. Torrence is gonna overpack. Why? Because like I am that paranoid, and I think a lot of it is because like I come from broadcasts, like broadcast television, where you don't you don't have no excuse. And a lot of times stuff is moving fast, you don't know what scenario you're gonna get into, and sometimes your best shot might be I'm gonna put this person in front of this window. But guess what? I ain't got no lights, I ain't got no, I ain't got you know reflectors, I ain't got flags. Yeah, like so. I just started amassing stuff because just bring everything, yeah, bringing everything you got. If I got my pickup check, hey yo, everything's coming. We got too much stuff. I got an eight by eight, and we got two people on the set. Are we gonna piece it together?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

If we need it, we have to, like, and we we've had to one time, and it was hey, that was the best thing to have, like it was the best for the situation.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

It saved the day, exactly, but like even with the the the amount of gear for me, it's always like the toll of carrying it. Like my entire life, I used to watch my dad. My dad used to work out, my dad wasn't like swole, like he wasn't like no like super strong, you know, cut up dude. Yeah, we used to work out all the time. Now I get it.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Exactly. Because it's like stuff is not three pounds, no, and it's like, how do you keep up with having to do that?

SPEAKER_04 14:34

You don't you don't do it on a daily, but the times you gotta do it, you gotta carry your stuff, and then you have to be in the mindset of you can't be like, Oh, I'm tired, I get a break. It's like, no, literally, I gotta do more.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Like, I'm literally thinking, like, Torrent, these ski trips, I'm having the time of my life. Like, I am a snowboarder now, y'all. I'm a real butt to get up this mountain, you gotta go up Timbuktu to get there. And then somebody asks you a question, I'm like, like, I'm just and it's like you you seriously kind of have to train for this job. Like, and that's why it's funny, like, people be like, Oh, I'll give you a hand. I got it. Like, a part of this is my workout. Like, because if if you're not here, I have to be able to do this by myself. I'm a most of the time, I'm a single shooter. That's just where I'm at right now. I ain't always got somebody helping me out now. If I can't do it by myself, it's all right, I'll ask for a hand.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

But yeah, you invite me to one of these trips if you need a hand.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

The bus full. Bam. The bus is full. I wish I could. I wish I could. You you're about the eighth person to ask. It's a waitlist. But um, yeah, man, just and that's part of the lifestyle, is like being in shape to do it at a high level. Um, I think another thing that we talked about just now is bringing all that gear. And kind of like sometimes that's like part of the experience of like explaining to a client is like, yeah, that's part of like budget, you know. Um, you we may we may not use it, but you know, we've been on conferences where oh, can you do this? You might be you might make some extra money. Yep. Yeah just by having.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So yeah, because I mean it'll be conferences where we have we have one set of cameras for the conference, and you know, I might have an extra one just laying around. They're like, yeah, hey, somebody they have an after party.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

I bet we can break somebody off of this, go over there, make a little bit more cash, you know, and that's that's just uh I mean, sometimes it pays off like that. But yeah, yeah, here's another side of it. Like, we're talking about the physical side, let's talk about the mental side, like the creative decision, like fatigue. Um I I really just came to a realization of this like yesterday, literally yesterday. Um as y'all might know, I I have a wife, I have I have two kids, they they babies. And I had to kind of like understand why is it really hard for me to make a lot of decisions around the house. Because like during the day, you're already making a bunch. That's all I do. All I do is create schedules. All I do, I'm I'm filling out RFPs, um I'm trying to figure out okay, what's the loadout for this? What what size team I need for this?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

What's the when I say the loadout, like what's the gear needed? The camera package, the land package, the lighting. Um, and I don't even include if I start editing something, or if I'm writing a script, or if you know, we're looking for a talent for a documentary. Um, but even on a on a different level, like, do you feel like you experience some sort of like mental fatigue?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Of course, 100%. Like, and even sometimes just with the type of work you're doing, like sometimes it's not mentally fulfilling, like it's not really fit feeding your creative, so it's like it's more of a hassle to do it. Like at the end of the day, like, yes, you're getting paid to do it, but mentally, my mind is not wanting to do this, you know. Um, and that takes a toll, especially, especially if you're good at it. Like, yeah, I'm good at sports videos, I don't really want to do them anymore, but they're paying for stuff. Like, you're paying for it.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

Like, if I needed a video, I'll be hitting you up.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Yeah, like that's what, and it's like, okay, I'll do it. But you know, that's mentally taxing. Um, you know, I even think about like home life, about you not, or about you mentioning like not wanting to make so many decisions, like I completely understand that um in a way, like I'll just say I'll I have roommates, and it's like my thing is I really like for things to always be in the same place, or I like it to be as simple in a way like I wear the same 15 outfits, I want to, I want to eat the same food, I want things to be in I I want to make minimal decisions when it's time to relax. Um, you throw other people into the mix, it's like, bruh, like, yeah, like it's just a lot more. It's just more like you're exhausted. Like it's a mentally draining job at the end of the day, mentally draining, physically draining it. Uh, and it can't, it can be.

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Yeah, um, and I'll feel you're still life. We still love it. It's the life. That's why this episode I've called it the life. So everybody, man, I want to be, I want to be this. This is the life. Yeah. Like, and and that that drain, like the roommate discussion goes right into like how do you deal with burnout? Like for me, or try to avoid burnout. For me, I need it's always peace. For me, a lot of what I do is I'm gonna watch a lot of TV. If you catch me watching a lot of TV, I'm I'm I'm like near my exhaustion point. Yeah, I'm not social, I don't want to do a lot of things. Like, um, it'd be crazy because like around the holidays, I think we spoke about this a little bit. I was like, Yeah, family, family, family. I look, I love my family or my wife's family, which is my family as well. Yeah, love kicking it.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah, but yo, it's been a hard summer.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

After busy season, bruh, I just need some time to myself. I'm gonna turn the TV on, or you're gonna catch me sitting in absolute silence. I'm straight up meditating, or I'm just thinking. And I need that, yeah, because that's how that's how I recharge my batteries. Yeah, I play a video game or something, but I just need something where I'm not thinking. If I'm thinking, I'm just I'm still using that that that battery. It kind of sounds stupid. I just want to be like sitting in the corner brain damn for it, but I needed it.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

I get it. Like, shoot, I started playing the game again. Yeah, last year. I started I was like, I'm gonna put up Red Dead Redemption, plug this PS4 up. Yeah, I started playing the game again just to get my mind off of it, you know, because it can get to a point where it's like it's repetition at the end of the day. You're doing the same thing over and over and over again. Um, and it's mentally taxing. Um I'm trying to think of like other ways I try to avoid burnout.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Hanging out with friends, um just. Just get in the way. Traveling, I love to travel. Yeah, that's a way that I love to you stay gone. Stay gone, man. I don't like to be, I don't like to be home for about two weeks, is about my max. I need to be like, I've been home all month in a way, but I gotta go. I'm mentioning. Um, the snowboard trips have helped, but I've still been annoying.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Can you start mentioning the snowboard trips? Because every time you mention, I'm like, yo, let's go. I ain't got an invite.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

You know.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

I'm I'm telling y'all. And it's so funny. I talked to my friend. She's like, Do you think you have an addictive uh personality? I do. I really like if I like something, I'm in all the way in. Yeah, and I love I love it. Like, dude, I'm all the way into this snowboarding job. Like, I'm not gonna buy no gear right now, but I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure I make it through this ski season and see you because it's expensive. I tell you that it's expensive. All my hobbies expensive.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

But that's I I hate to go on this tangent, but that's a part of our industry that I love is that sometimes you get exposed to stuff. Yeah, like when we did that black folks camp to documentary.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

I've never done anything in my life like that.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

Me neither. We got exposed to the outdoors. Oh, now I'm so locked into the outdoors. Yeah, I got hiking boots. Oh, I'd be going on trails now. Oh, like now I want I want to go camping overnight. My wife is like, hey, bruh, you got tomorrow in the tent. I'm like, yeah. She like, nah, yeah, that ain't for me. But it was good experience. Yeah, like we we're able to experience people's worlds and it becomes a part of us.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Literally. If you're doing your job well, right. Because the thing is, like, and what I mean by that, I ain't trying to like play nobody, but what I mean by that is like a part of what we do as creators to storytellers, we have to learn things. We have to understand, like, if you're clipping into your snowboard, like, okay, what does that process look like? Show me that. How's it done? Because now I'm thinking, how am I gonna capture that?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Or how do you how do you prepare to start snowboarding or skiing? I'm going to want to be able to document that process. So I'm gonna watch you and I'm gonna learn it.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

And then if I gotta film it, now I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

And that's that's exactly what I'm going through. It's like, this is my first time ever doing any snowboarding skiing. I'm doing all snowboarding, that's just my vibe.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

But uh the, you know, the people we're on these trips with, like, they're learning as well. So shout out to Alexa, she's the owner of Youngest Stamp. She's she's allowed me to take part in snowboarding as well. And I'm I'm doing the lessons, and I gotta put the camera down because it's not easy. Like, I can't afford to bring this up. So I just I go GoPro when I start, you know, when I actually get out there. Um, but it's like, you know, part of I think this is part of being really good, you know, like really being good at capturing, whether it's your first time or your first couple times doing this, is like really immersing yourself in it. Yeah. Because my if you look at my timeline, like my explore page, it is all snowboarding. Like I'm about to show y'all right now. It's like it's gonna take me a minute.

SPEAKER_03 25:20

Hopefully, snowboarding, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Like, yeah, it's I would not know about it unless I really try to immerse myself in it. It's like it's a completely different world. You have to, you know, and I won't know how to tell the story.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Exactly. If you're gonna capture it, how can you capture something you're not familiar with?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Right.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

At that point, you're gonna miss certain moments, or you're gonna probably overshoot and just get a bunch of useless stuff. So you gotta kind of like take that deep dive and commit.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Yeah, yeah. Yes, you're gonna show us your uh I'm trying to get it right. What is it?

SPEAKER_04 25:57

I wanna see this because I mean, let me see.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Oh, yeah, yeah, you're not, yeah, you're not playing. I don't know if y'all can see this well, but the whole junk is basically snowboarding. Yes, and I love it, you know? Yeah, like, and that's a lot, and that's the life too, is like I think the type of personality, at least for the type of work that I do, requires you in a way to really put your put yourself in your client's shoes or your subject's shoes, um, because you want to tell their story. Yeah um, because I think some people do that too. Like they'll try to tell their story through, like it just don't fit. It don't and that's that's when you get a bad story sometimes. Um, because you're not telling theirs.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Yeah, like I had to um we were working out in LA on this project um for We Are Here series about black equestrian. I had to I had to deep dive so much into like the Western side of equestrian, like it's kind of cowboy culture, and then the English side of it, the more traditional, like jumping and stuff like that. Yeah, and a lot of it it wasn't it wasn't because like I want to be any of this stuff. It was like, how do I visually tell this? How have other people done this and it look cool and it look cool? You know what I'm saying? And so now I had to add them, okay. Now in my mind, I'm able to say, okay, I need I need this like telephoto lens, I need a wide angle lens, because it's not just about jumping, it's about the range. Yeah, the atmosphere would you know that if you don't research, if you don't learn about, if you're not in that in that circle.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

So that's part of the life is doing your research ahead of time. Like you can't just, and that's what I used to do, like as you know, starting out just pulling up and shooting. You can't do that no more. Like you need to know, like you said, what lens is this, like what lens best captures this and tells the story and tells this person a perspective. Do I need a drone to show the entire atmosphere? I need a drone to show that we on a mountain. Yeah, uh, yeah, you know, sometimes and you can't sometimes you can't get all the way to your subject. Like if you're I don't know, let's just think about like swimming or what is the question? I don't even know what that is. That's the horses.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

That's horses, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah, like you can't get in there like with them really.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

So, like, yeah, and I found out that certain horses, so we were working with with ninja, ninja was looking at us like, hey bruh, back up, you better bag up, and like in and like Zoe was telling us like, hey, like give him a second. Some cameras he's cool with. Okay, do not fly that drone around him. But like after a while, he he got comfortable, yeah. But it's little stuff, yeah. For him to be the most comfortable, like we couldn't be in what's called the arena with the gear, so we had to have some long lenses because while he while she was working with him, we had to be far away. Okay, but now you think about how that looked, though. That's that separation, you know. That's clean, it's clean, but I wouldn't have known that, right? Right, yeah. So in the same the same vein of looking at other work, how do you avoid because I know we all deal with it, the imposter syndrome? Like, how do you avoid like or what do you tell you?

SPEAKER_00 29:25

I can answer this right away, yeah. Part of why it just took me so long to show y'all my page is I blocked Instagram. I have to like I block Instagram, I block TikTok, I block LinkedIn, yeah, from nine o'clock a.m. to 5 p.m. Um, and that's just also part of I don't want to consume as much. I want to think more. Um I want to give I want to give my brain a break a break, you know, because like I said, this thing can be mentally exhausting. Um I think with imposter syndrome, you're always gonna have a piece of it, you know. That's just human nature in a way. Um but you know, trying your best, and that's that's part of like doing your due diligence and finding yourself uh and realizing that like you're you're you're at where you're at because you're good and because of work you produce, the type of person you are. Um so continue to like know that and you know, just believe in that, believe in yourself. Like the same way I I talked about like telling their story or like telling whoever your subject story is. Whoever hires you to tell the story hires you because they like the way you tell stories, you know, they don't people don't spend money for no I mean some people do, but you know, like in this industry, more than likely they're not spending money just on the limba things, like they want to see some prior work, like you know, so yeah, just to believe in yourself and knowing that if we both have a camera, the same exact camera, and somebody tells us to shoot a commercial on this and everything's the same, we still gonna tell two different stories, yeah. You know, um so knowing that individual individuality in this is good too, like in this industry. Um because if everything was the same, what's the fun in that?

SPEAKER_04 31:30

What's the fun? And I like to piggyback off of that, you I definitely I'm a big person of self-affirmation. Like I I deal with imposter syndrome every day. I'm not gonna lie, like I'll get in a situation like man, maybe I'm not that good. Maybe maybe I'm not a great producer. I dealt with the the Emmy nomination last year and didn't bring the hardware home. That that messed me up. Really, in my mind, I understand like it's not it's not a a measurement of how good you are. I mean, there's people judging it, right? There's always gonna be winners, losers, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Art is subjective, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

But in my mind, that really put me in a in a mindset of I'm not good enough. I didn't tell a great story, I didn't do these things right, and I've had to continue to like build myself and be like, no, like you are you are a good producer, right? Even when people or television stations would go against what I was doing, in those moments, I have to buy I'm still a good producer. It's just that like you said, this we can all have the same gear, feeling the same thing. There are a million different ways to do it, yeah, right? Just because the way that I wanted to do something doesn't stick, or someone claims that hey, they want it differently, doesn't mean that it wasn't great.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

And so, you know, I would encourage people, you know, even if you listen to this, like just believe that you are enough. You are great. You are you're doing well, even if you fail.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

Um and just continue to tell yourself that and just believe that even when you see someone's doing something amazingly well, like we look at sinners, like that is awesome. Like that is like a pinnacle of creativity, of mastery, everything, even though if we're not there, your success is still great, right? Even if it's not that type of success. So just I struggle with that, and I have to I have to battle that and tell myself that every day that hey, like I'm great, I'm I'm doing great things for other people around me, I'm able to support people, I'm able to do a lot of things. I'm blessed. I have a life that someone on this planet dreams of, would dream of, and would probably pay me to take. Right. So, like, and this industry makes it hard to do that. Yeah, because you are constantly trying to look for the next biggest project. You are trying to be trying to get better every day. Trying to get better. You know, you look like you said, I gotta do what you did with Instagram, but I'm about to do it today. But like, you'll sit on Instagram, you sit on YouTube, you look at these videos, they got millions of views, or you go to somebody, they got millions of followers, you know, or you might hear a guy on YouTube. Um I'm gonna keep saying this. I I got a million dollar podcast set up, and they make a million dollars on their podcast, and you just like, I'm not doing that, so I'm not enough. But that's not true.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah, it's not, it's just not. Can't be, we all can't be in the same spot. Oh, we all can't be in the same spot, and then I think you know that's one thing like basketball helping with um is because like we're all valuable, you know, whether um whether you're on the same team or not. Like we we go to conferences, they got a whole we a video team and they got a whole nother video team. Yeah. We not even working together, but like they're telling a different story than we are, yeah. So, and just because like the production didn't hire you for this or whatever doesn't mean that you you couldn't do the job. Sometimes it's just maybe it just is what it is. Sometimes you just gotta be okay with the situation, and that's that's what I be telling myself, like and um oh man, this is something my my old trainer used to say to me when I used to get frustrated. And uh when I was playing basketball, he would be like, Don't get mad, get better. But that's also that's not and that's all internal. Like, it is what can I do to get better? If you want to be able to do this, then you need to put in the work to be able to do that. Like, and that doesn't come from you scrolling all day. That that comes from you getting the reps. That's all you're thinking and not being I'm hard, I'm hardcore like that. Like, uh, I'm not into affirmations. That's that's funny. That's like we're talking this tangent. We talking about love language, that's my least favorite. But um, yeah, like sometimes you just gotta put your foot down and be like, look, if I'm not where I want to be, what what do I need to do to get there or to get close to there or continue to grow?

SPEAKER_04 36:43

Ivree. I'm a firm believer on that. And what what did your basketball coach say?

SPEAKER_00 36:47

He said, Don't get mad, get better.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

Don't get mad, get better.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:51

I love that. I mean, the Bears had a great season this year. Good, better, fast.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

They did, they did. I was like, okay, Caleb. I'm a big fan of Caleb, but I know the first season was rough.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

But I like that because I'm I'm the same way. I don't like we can talk and chit-chat and say what we want to do. Do it, yeah. Like, stop saying you try and just do it. You know, it's not that's the only way you're gonna get better, right? Yeah, you know, I like to talk to myself a little bit, but of course, but outside of that, I had the same type mindset where it's like, I gotta drive myself.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:33

Every day I wake up, I'm on a mission. And that's and this is this is still a part of this lifestyle because it's how this is how you have to be in this lifestyle. You work for yourself. I can't wake up and just be like, nah.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Right. And if you chilling, then nobody, nobody's gonna be calling you. Now your bill's not paid.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Yeah, because each day it's a step, it's a step in the next direction. I still think about like interview setups that we've we've done.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

How can it be better?

SPEAKER_04 38:03

How can it be better? The questions, the way I'm delivering questions, how can it be better?

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 38:08

And I I would somebody might say I'm a successful producer. And my mom still like, I got more to do.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, yeah. Man, another thing on uh what was I gonna say? Another thing on imposter syndrome. Um gosh, why did this? I'm getting old, man.

SPEAKER_04 38:28

Don't get old, man.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

Don't get old. You beat it.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

It'll come back to me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 38:33

But all right, so let's talk a little bit more about scheduling. Um how do you explain your erratic schedule to friends and family who work traditional jobs?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

I literally try to, I literally give it to them. Timestamp. My friend, she we're trying to hold each other accountable with the working out. I was, and I told her today was gonna be a rough day trying to work out because I said, I'm tired from the shoot yesterday, got home at four. I'm not getting up early to work out. I'm here with mentorists with the podcast. I need to be energized for this. I need to edit this, these ski trips. I that's what I'm gonna do afterward. I'm going to uh um a lighting workshop tonight. I'm not going to the gym at 10 o'clock. It's just not really safe for a lady sometimes. This laugh is not gonna do it. I'm gonna either have to get the workout done at home in the garage, yeah. Or we try again tomorrow. But and and sometimes it's it's literally laying it out like that for people. Um, because it's what else, what other way are they gonna understand without you saying it? Um and it's funny because I think my schedule is a lot busier than most because I have a job outside of here as well. Um, but even my friends will tell me, like, Jalen, you need to chill, you know, get your rest. And and that's something I'm working on. Like, and that comes with growth. It's like when you're starting out, the budget's lower, you gotta do more work to get to where your means are.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Um, you start to get better, you charge more, work less. That's the goal. Like work less, charge and make more money at the same time. Um, but yeah, I think it's as simple as that, is you gotta just tell people what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_04 40:19

Yeah. I think, you know, with with family, it's it's it's hard for them to kind of understand. Cause like I'll come into the studio every day, and that's just a part of me pushing myself to to work.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

You know, like I can't, right now, I can't work at home. You know, distracted. I'll be distracted.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

I want to put the kids, run around, hang out, hang out with my wife.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Like, I'll just be wanting to do everything but work. But I have to come here and be like, I'm on a mission. Like, I have a calendar that I have blocks of time when I'm supposed to be doing things.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:56

Like if I have a consistent contract, I have a block of time to work on that contract. So that's energy, time going into that. Now, how do I explain it to family? I don't. You know, like I don't even explain it to my wife. She just knows I'm here working. You gotta know I'm I'm working.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

But I could do better on that because the thing is, I think with a lot of people on the outside looking in, I think they feel like we just chilling. Like, I feel like people it'd be like, oh well, um, you're right. Like when I go on a work trip, people have fun. We was in Miami. How much fun we have up in Miami? We might have like, yeah, like a slither of like, oh yeah, we got to go out to eat, we got to go experience South Beach. And when I say experience South Beach, that was like sacrifices sleep to do it though.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Yes, like you're literally like that's the thing too. Like, it's like, do I want to go to sleep or do I want to go check out the beach? Mind you, me and Kira went at nine o'clock at night, didn't even see it for real.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

So it's like trying to explain people that like when I'm when I'm up in DC, like I'm working. Yeah, my schedule, and especially what I try to do is if I have a trip where I can like stack things, I'm gonna do it. If I'm in DC for one shoot for one client, I'm trying to squeeze in another client. So I'm I'm working clock the clock, you know what I'm saying? And if I'm not doing that, if I'm not working with a client, all right, I still got other stuff I gotta do, whether it's admin or editing or whatever. So it's it's hard to explain that. And I think that is an important part of this lifestyle. People gotta understand, like your family, your friends are never gonna really fully explain or understand what you do, even when you explain it to them.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Right. And I think um, and that's something I'm trying to be better at with my clients, is just literally telling them how long this is gonna take. Like, yeah, when they uh we shoot the the edit's 30 seconds, but this is gonna take me six hours, yeah. It's not gonna make me 30 seconds, it's not gonna take me 30 seconds to put this together. Um, so yeah, just that's the I don't think, yeah, you'll never understand it. Just like I won't really truly understand their job. Yeah. And it's I'm not fighting you on it. Like that's it's your job, that's what you do. But this job is around the clock. You know, I'm not trying to compare it to a doctor, but like they're on call. We're kind of on call. Like, yeah, if this is the best time for a client, this is when they're doing this thing, okay. I have to move my schedule around to be able to do it in this time.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Um, and then the best thing I think we can do is be transparent with our clients and be like, okay, this is how long it's gonna take me to do this. This is how long it takes me to set this all up. Like you, like you we said, Torrance be bringing everything you got, it's gonna. Take us an hour to bring this all in. Like, if you want to make sure we got it, then that's what it's gonna be. Well, it's look nice.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

So, and it's yeah, and it's that, and it's like in the same vein, you know, I've had to explain to family like how hard it is to take a vacation during busy season. Like busy season for me is March. March until like, I want to say November.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

And that's like that's almost the whole year.

SPEAKER_04 44:33

You yeah, that's like the whole year. Like, you, I mean, it's you humping. I mean, it's it's client project delivery, gag to back. Client, a new project, literally. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

Um, and I had to tell them, like, y'all, I love our family vacations. Can we take one in November? Because I, for me, at least for me, it's hard for me to unplug.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Right. Um, I struggle with that. Yeah. Because I will I will build a vacation into a work trip now. I'm gonna do something fun while I'm in Arizona. But at the end of the day, I told I'll I told my client I'm gonna have this done at whatever, like I told him I'll have this done tomorrow. I'll be up until four or five o'clock, or I'll be editing while we're at dinner. Like it's great. Like, you want me on the trip or not?

SPEAKER_04 45:30

So not, and that's uh and it's hard because especially on my side.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

Um Yeah, you family man, it's a different story.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

It's it's different, and my wife is very understanding. Let me let me say that for the record. My wife, amazing. She she party is too understanding, yeah. You know, um, lover to death. It's really be her family member, like her granddaddy's like, are you working again?

SPEAKER_00 45:55

I'm like, yo, cuz. Watch out now. Hey, like we provided.

SPEAKER_04 46:01

I told him before, my hey man, like the only time I want to hear something from you about me working is you saying, good job, congratulations, keep doing what you're doing. Yeah, because you don't know, because you don't know the struggle, and because we're on vacation, because the whole group had this time available and I made myself available, doesn't mean that hey, I don't still have things that I have to do to keep pushing forward. Yeah, it's not saying that I don't take true vacations. I took a vacation last year, family vacation, and only thing I checked was emails, you know. Can I fully unplug? It's difficult, it's very difficult, especially during that summertime. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. I don't know how to that's that's part of this life. If you came here trying to you came in for a remedy, I ain't got it for you. If you got the remedy, tell me about it. If you if your remedy is hey, you need to tell clients when you're on vacation, bruh.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

They don't care, they don't care.

SPEAKER_04 47:00

And the thing is, some of these projects you start them before you booked your vacation. Well, you booked the project before the vacation.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Yeah, and it's like, all right, you're gonna have to figure it out.

SPEAKER_04 47:14

Yeah, like last season we had a we had a documentary we're filming. Like we started filming in March, deliveries in October. Post production was starting in end of June, July.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Summertime.

SPEAKER_04 47:25

What was I supposed to do? Hey y'all, we're gonna hold up post because I'm on vacation, right?

SPEAKER_00 47:32

Right, you know, that's that's why you gotta charge the big bucks. You gotta make it worth it. You gotta make it worth it, you gotta make it worth it for real.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

For real. Um let's see.

SPEAKER_04 47:48

All right, that's a fun question. So, how do you decide between investing five thousand dollars in uh like new gear versus five thousand dollars in your personal savings on vacation?

SPEAKER_00 48:00

How do I decide? That's why I said this. Oh no, no, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_04 48:09

Um I don't have an answer for this.

SPEAKER_00 48:14

I'm trying to think of a situation. Um I kinda, all right. I don't be really paying for my vacation. That's why that's kind of hard. Like, I be paying a couple, I really don't be paying though, but making I got a little connect, I got some connections. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Uh but in when it comes to gear and it comes to like personal finance, housing, stuff like you know, stuff like that. Me personally, I kind of try to split it. I try to split it.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

Um whatever makes sense. Sometimes it's 50-50, sometimes it's 30, 70, 60, 40, whatever. Whatever makes sense. Like, what is the what's the most important? Um, if we're talking about gear, do I really need this right now? Like, is this can I do the job with it? Or I mean, can I do the job without it? Okay, it's not super priority. I can still focus on putting money over here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

Now, if it's like camera go down, I need a camera ASAP, all right. This is where I'm gonna do it. Yeah, no, I gotta make the money somehow. I can't do it without the camera. Um, so yeah, that's kind of how I think, you know.

SPEAKER_04 49:34

Yeah, and I don't know whatever makes sense. I'm with you. Like, you know, the the savings is it is important, vacation is important.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:42

Um, I'm kind of the same way with vacations. If I got points, like points ban for vacation. Right. Um, we can we can have a podcast where we talk about the inner workings of of how you do your business stuff versus your personal stuff. So for me, it really they really don't kind of sit together because like vacation is over here somewhat. Business stuff like equipment purchases and things like that is over here, but it's still in the same vein. Cause I'm not I'm not an equipment hoe. Like I'm not like I'm not buying, I'm not selling to buy the latest thing just because or I'm not just buying the latest thing just cuz. Like I have to have a lot, you almost have to hit me over the head several times for me to be like, oh, I need this piece of equipment. Right, right. Like when I bought the DZOs, I was renting them. And I was like, man, I ain't renting them no more. Yeah, I'm buying.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

Because at that point, I needed them.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:35

Um, but yeah, like that's that's kind of my thing. You know, like they don't they don't necessarily really mix, but I buy gear out of necessity.

SPEAKER_00 50:47

Especially because it's expensive.

SPEAKER_04 50:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

Just be all willy-nilly, throwing the money away, like just because just cuz. And I feel like I got gear. Yeah, you do. I got enough. I told you to take an hour to load his stuff in. He got gear. Don't worry, more gear.

SPEAKER_04 51:03

Yeah, facts. Do I need I need I need one more lens for to put this Komodo on uh on the gimbal? I want to get a lighter lens for it. Yeah. So I can just have that as a as a gimbal situation.

SPEAKER_00 51:14

Yeah, and it's it's stuff like that. Like, yeah, that's stuff I do, very running gun. Sometimes this heavy setup is just like, oh god. Like, I'm like, okay, do I want to get the C50? Do I want to get the R52?

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:31

Sometimes I just don't need that C80. Like, it's just big. Or like, or just even a gimbal cam. Like, depending on how fast transitions are. I just I don't, yeah, I don't, I or I just need to be able to have the gimbal right here. It's already got a camera on it. I put the C80 down, switch, you know. Um yeah, it's about efficiency at the end of the day for me. Uh, because I think the quality's there, like with the stuff I'm shooting.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

I agree. I think I think that's in that vein of like where I should spend the money is gonna be on efficiency. Like if I already got something that's working, it's working for what I need it for.

SPEAKER_00 52:11

If it ain't broke, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

Yeah, it's so hard for me to like pull triggers on on gear. I I I still want to get I want to get a an ideal setup for like our conferences. I want to have like run and gun cameras that I like for people to carry for the day. And to have my interview set up, if you like the Komodos, right, you know, but that's a need thing. And a money thing. Because hey, I need my I need my books and energy to look great.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:41

So I'm not if I do get a different camera or another camera, I'm gonna get one. I ain't gonna get two. Yeah, you know. Um, but in that vein, um, I want to just touch on something in our industry because I talked about busy season, I talked about the low season, and some people equate that with like feast or famine. Um and I kind of want to talk about for me, like financial, I guess I want to say responsibility, that ain't the word um financial intelligence around keeping your money in your pocket because you have a year.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:25

Um, and I think I think I probably will just need we probably we'll have to do like a podcast just on like finances, finances, how you set yourself up. There are multiple ways to set yourself up, you know, business-wise, LLC, S Corp, whatever. Um in short, I pay myself a salary because I don't if if I don't do that, I'm gonna just take my money and I'm gonna blow it. No, I'm playing. No, but if I don't do that, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna properly, in my mind, put it away, be able to budget my money. Budget. It's just kind of how my mind works. Like I have to get, I have to know, hey, I'm getting this consistently throughout the year. This is how I split it up. Yeah, that's for me. That ain't for everybody. Some people, hey, you get a job, you split it up, you pay, you know, you pay the company, you pay yourself, you pay whatever bills you gotta pay.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

I'm more like that.

SPEAKER_04 54:17

Yeah, and that's cool. But at the end of the day, you gotta there's you have to save. I have to save. I know you save. Because if not, like anything can happen. Anything can happen, and then when it's not busy season, when you're not making that money, bruh.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, and stuff just comes up. It does. Man, I went to the dentist last two weeks ago, bruh. That was a thousand dollars more than I thought. Not just a thousand, a thousand more, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:55

The dentist, um if you got if you got a car you gotta get repaired, whatever. But that's a part of lifestyle, it's gonna be budgeting. Like, this is why I call it the life because everybody only thinks about like oh, you get to do all this, all this fun shooting, and this. Yo, like it's it's some sides to this that are fine, that are fun, but it's some sides of like, man, you gotta be strategic, yeah, you gotta be resilient. Um I'm gonna have one last question.

SPEAKER_00 55:29

I'm gonna think it's cooler than it looks, too.

SPEAKER_04 55:31

It is.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

We just got these offensive cameras, so we're just able to take cool behind the scenes pictures at the end of the day. Like, man, I was telling my I was telling my parents about the shoe I did yesterday, and they were like, We had some we had some A-list celebrities. I'll just put it that way. Yeah, and my mom was like, Oh, did you say hey to them or my or my dad or something? I was like, mind you, basketball. Like, you know, I'm a basketball fan. It's like, uh no, I don't just don't care anymore. Like it becomes normal, like it becomes new normal.

SPEAKER_04 56:04

Yeah, so yeah, it's like I don't know, when it comes to stuff like that, it's like I was taught you almost just treat those folks like they just normal people.

SPEAKER_00 56:18

You also have to act like you've been there before. Like this is just not the setting for it.

SPEAKER_04 56:22

Yeah, you know, you're there to work. If my homie Barack Obama pull up, hey I have a few. I got a few. I got a few where I'm gonna be like, oh I'm gonna go wild. Um I'm I'm hey, it's gonna go out the window. I'm gonna party look, I'm professional, and I'm cool. They know that it's only if right, and it'd be people like like they would expect like bro. Hey, nobody knows how to act right now. Yeah, it's you know, it's just a few folks like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

Um but you still keep it cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:53

Yeah, I ain't gonna be like, you know, like screaming, like a fangirl and fan, yeah, like losing my mind, but like hey, can we take a pick?

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Can we take a pick?

SPEAKER_04 57:02

Hey, Obama duh. Hey, hey, I'm I'm gonna need a pick, I'm gonna need to adapt. Yeah, you know, I might have to call my mama real quick. Hey, I got Obama on the phone. Yeah, I swear it's him, like you know, but but yeah, it's it is kind of like you gotta navigate that. Yeah, because we we've been on on on uh shoots together where it's like you said, A-list, b list actors or famous people, and it's just like what's up, yeah. Literally, like, yeah, I ain't trying to play them or nothing, but like ready to start interviewing, yeah. Ready to start, like it's just you know, we we all here to do a job, you know, they're currently doing the job because nine times of ten, if they there, they were hired to be there, right? It's not like we going to go get coffee and hang out, you know. So yeah, but we're gonna we're gonna have to do a part two to this joint for sure. Because I I got I even yeah, I got more stuff I want us to work through. But I mean, we already had like an hour on this conversation. Um last thing I was attire. I think that like I'm always pushing black on my sets. I'm uh they they call it show blacks, um, all black, whatever. I was always kind of I've always gravitated towards that. That was just the the gigs I've done, broadcasts, yeah, even before. So I always push that. But now I wear a lot of dark colors and a lot of black.

SPEAKER_00 58:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:33

I just feel comfy in it.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

Agreed. I don't know. What's my thoughts? Yeah, what's your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, shoot. My mom always be like, why are you wearing all that black? I'll be like, Ma. And she's finally understand, I'm like, literally be working. Like, that's what we supposed to wear. Um now, now like I said, Taurus is Taurus literally is all black. I'll be like, it's funny because sometimes like I'm cool with all black. I'll be like, dang, can I wear these Jordans though? I'm not even gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it though. But I'll um, you know, yeah. I'm at the end of the day, I'm a girl. So, you know, I like to add in a little bit of flavor somewhere. Um, like if it's just my shoe, like I'll keep it mostly to darker colors. And also, I now that I'm really in it, like I don't like to stand out too much. You know, um I like to be in it. First of all, you know, depending on where you're at, you literally don't want to stand out because you caring. Like I I joke with my friend Kier about that who like we were really walking licks. Yes, somebody come and try to get us. They are up, like they are up so good. They are up so good, man.

SPEAKER_04 59:49

I'll just tell you you done came up, you know, you done found me. Don't try it. Yeah, yeah, don't try it.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Depending on what day it is, might have that thing on up there.

SPEAKER_03 59:59

This North Carolina, baby. I got that thing on me.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:02

So you might you might think I'm letting you run away. I'm I'm really just setting up my shot.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

I'm crying. But yeah, um, I try not to stand out too much on a job, but I will I'll you know, have a fun shoe or whatever, you know. Yeah, um, but like at the end of the day, it's about being professional, and it also depends on the setting, the shoot. Like, if it's if it's corporate, corporate, yeah, we're keeping it corporate. Um, sports stuff, I'll wear sports stuff. Like, you know, whatever feels right. Yeah, whatever feels right. That's and that's part of just having discernment and reading the room, you know, doing your research. Um, so yeah. And also just like if you're shooting outside, like I went and bought me a heated jacket.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:50

Love it. I know that thing, nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

Love that thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:52

I know that's nice. Yeah, and it's it is though. Like you start to just kind of like, depending on what you're filming, you start to kind of buy gear around that. Like when we we were doing more outdoor stuff, that's when I that's really when I got my hiking boots.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:05

Um, because I was like the last time I was outside, I didn't have hiking boots. I had on feet wet. Yeah, feet wet. I had on like Air Maxes or something, sliding around. I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah, this is not the move. But yeah, like corporate stuff. I'm definitely I'm I'm always gonna be show black for like corporate work. I've loose enough for like documentary stuff, I'll still be kind of like in darker colors, but I'm never like I don't really like to wear stuff that I like because like the clothes I got, I like I like them. I don't want to mess them up. Yeah, so I'm like, I know some people like go to go to sets really fresh, and that's cool. That's not me.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

I think for me, it depends on the shoe. Like I mean, some shoes not down and dirty. Yeah, some shoes are not cute.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:52

Yeah, some shoes like if if I was if I was like if I was directing a music concert or something, I'm gonna be fresh. Yeah, because I'm gonna sit in a director's seat. Um, you know, I'm calling shots. Yeah. So I'm oh I'm fresh. Yeah. You know, I bruh, if I get dirty, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Also, like that's that's that's part of the life. It's like I think we get to have fun with like what we're wearing. Yeah, like we really get to venture out and like I've literally kind of developed like new style. Like, I'm really into like gourp core, which is like hiking gear. Like I got some salt, I got like three pairs of solomons now. Would have never bought those before, but I love them now. Um tactical, tactical gear, like vest. I really want me a vest. Like, I seen this dude, he has a running vest, he be putting his lenses in it. I thought, I think that's kind of cool. Oh, I gotta do that. Like, he literally got a running vest, and it's say nothing, you can't do nothing too big, but you know, if you got a smaller lens and I just need to go back and forth, yeah. That's fire.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:55

Yeah, I wanted to. They had my mother-in-law sent me this cat had a leather, it was a leather like little zip-up vest joint that you can have pockets for. They sold out of the back. Well, yeah, they only had a white one left.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:10

I was like, You can't do that. I'd be like Taurus cool, you wear it.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:15

Imagine me pull up with a white little vest that had like I'd be confused. Yeah, I'd be confused about myself, but I thought like the tactical stuff, I think it's it's it's really cool. I have some pants like that, and it just has pockets for all sorts of stuff. Yeah, you just never, you never know, as we always say.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:33

Oh, yeah. I love my uh like my little chest pouch. People love that. Like, I always get comments on it. Like somebody say the showrunner yesterday, she was like, You look so professional. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:48

It's meant to do that, and it's just but it is functional. It's functional, it's quick. Like sometimes I'll either I am the one to turn my like I'll have like a um a little sling or whatever. I might make it into like a little fanny pack type joint. I just like to have, I know I have pockets.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:06

Most times, but stuff be falling out of your pocket, like you sit down, yeah, my multi-tool. Yeah, like I gotta be, if I'm moving, I just gotta know I got what I need in there. And in that pack where I have like tools, I have put scissors in my pockets. Yeah, like bro, I'm not putting that in my pocket, yeah. But it's it's those little things like uh attire-wise, around around a lifestyle, shoes, but he's saying I'm an Air Max guy. Like I had Air Maxes and they they treated me well, so I'm just like Air Maxes, yeah, and comfort, like we're on our feet all day long, all day, all day.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:42

Like in on some sense, it's unprofessional to sit down.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:45

Yeah, when I first started, legs are like what are you sitting for? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, especially like some say it's really light that like, why are you sitting down?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:55

And my like I said, we were there 14 hours, they don't care. They don't care. You better only time you should be sitting down is like on lunch.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:02

Yeah, we taking they say the crew can break. Okay, that's when you're sitting down.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:07

Other than that, even then it feels weird, yeah. You can be like, man, all right, I'm not sitting down too much. Yeah, or I'm not sitting next to the client or whoever, but yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:17

But I mean, it's you know, I I mean, I I I love what we do, but I do think like us as a community, we do have to start to recognize and continue to shape what the lifestyle of this looks like. Yeah, because as people are are entering into this, I think it's good for them to understand, but also we all have to kind of like be able to find ways to be like, okay, well, this is how I explain my schedule to my family. This is where it works, and we can start to share that, yeah. And then, you know, like we can kind of see each other. I feel like on accident, I'd be looking like a production dog on a regular day. I'd be in all black, and she'd be like, Yeah, I want to be invisible today.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:56

Definitely happens. Like my mom, she was like, You just look like you working film today, wasn't doing nothing film related that day. But but it's comfy, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:05

It's comfy, and um, and I feel like I'm invisible, and I like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:10

So not not not taking up all the attention, you know.