Hey Skip,
Regarding NeatVideo, yes, get it. It's a lifesaver about half the time and unusable about half the time (if the footage is too mushy and grainy), but it will save your ass at some point.
Regarding test footage, try this: try to get a stranger to let you film their daily life for an hour or two. Somebody random off the street from a radically different walk of life. Show them a little reel of your work on your phone if possible in order to get them to agree. Then try to film them in an up-close, intimate way that sheds new light on the details of how they live. Try to use only natural sound, no music, for a challenge.
Example:
OR try to re-work your b-roll footage into something with spoken narration to give it a tone poem feel. Maybe use your own voice for VO.
Example: