What occupations are best-suited for individuals with video/editing backgrounds?

[QuickHitRecord]

I'm not saying that I'm going to make the jump, but it seems like a good thought exercise after fifteen years in this field. Personally, I'm just getting tired of cranking out so many dull, formulaic videos. I still do try to inject some interest or personality into most of my client work, but too often it gets stripped out during the review process. Whether I am being paid or not, I will always make films. However, the idea of only making the films that I want to make is pretty appealing.

To clarify, I'm not necessarily trying to get personalized advice here, just some general discussion. And if you've made the transition, I think that it would be especially insightful to hear about your experience.

Though most of the HR bots that are going to screen out your application might not see it, I think that this job requires a lot of different skills that would translate into other roles such as storytelling, project management, communication, flexibility/adaptability, technical proficiency, problem-solving, attention to detail, client relations, collaboration, marketing knowledge, time management, and continuous learning. And if you're freelance, you've got to be a real self-starter.

I've seen video people leave and go on to make a lot more money in the IT field (there's been some recent discussion here about this). Communications also seems like a natural fit, though I wonder about the viability of that career path given the proliferation of AI. Speaking of which, here are the roles that ChatGPT recommends looking into:

Quote

• Digital Marketing Specialist: Video content is a powerful tool in digital marketing, and individuals with video production skills can create engaging promotional videos for products or services.
• Social Media Content Creator: The demand for visually appealing content on social media platforms aligns with the skills of freelance video producers and editors, who can craft attention-grabbing videos for various platforms.
• Online Course Content Developer: E-learning platforms benefit from high-quality video content. Freelancers can contribute by creating instructional videos, enhancing the overall learning experience.
• Graphic Designer: Video production skills often overlap with graphic design, making individuals proficient in both areas valuable for creating cohesive visual elements across various media.
• Web Developer (Multimedia Focus): Websites with multimedia elements are more engaging. Freelancers can contribute to web development by integrating videos and interactive content.
• Virtual Event Producer: With the rise of virtual events, individuals with video production expertise can manage and produce high-quality video content for conferences, webinars, and virtual gatherings.
• Creative Consultant: Freelancers with a background in video production and editing can offer creative insights and strategic advice to businesses seeking innovative ways to showcase their products or services.
• Public Relations Specialist: Crafting compelling video stories is beneficial in public relations to convey messages effectively and engage the target audience.
• Branding Specialist: Video content plays a vital role in building and reinforcing brand identity. Freelancers can contribute to brand development by creating visually consistent and impactful videos.
• Advertising Copywriter: Collaborating with copywriters, individuals with video production skills can create multimedia advertising campaigns, enhancing the overall impact of promotional content.
• Multimedia Journalist: Traditional and online media outlets often require multimedia content. Freelance video producers and editors can contribute to news stories by providing visually compelling coverage.
• Corporate Communications Specialist: Many businesses use video for internal and external communications. Freelancers can assist in creating corporate videos, training materials, and other communication assets.

And of these roles, here are the ones that it deems the most future proof in this AI age:

Quote

• Digital Marketing Specialist: Human creativity and understanding of diverse audiences are crucial in crafting effective digital marketing campaigns. While AI can assist in data analysis, the creative aspects of marketing are likely to remain in human hands.
• Social Media Content Creator: Building and maintaining authentic connections on social media heavily relies on creativity and understanding of human emotions, areas where AI may struggle to fully replace human intuition.
• Online Course Content Developer: The ability to create engaging and effective educational content requires a nuanced understanding of human learning, making this role less susceptible to automation.
• Creative Consultant: Providing strategic creative insights involves a deep understanding of human culture, emotions, and trends, making it a role less likely to be automated by AI.
• Multimedia Journalist: While AI can assist in data analysis and basic reporting, storytelling, investigative journalism, and connecting with human experiences remain crucial skills that journalists bring to the table.
• Corporate Communications Specialist: Effective communication within a corporate context often involves conveying complex messages with empathy and clarity, areas where human communication skills are essential.

So, what are your thoughts on this? Have you made the transition? Would you like to? Or if you haven't/won't, how are you planning to adapt?

[kye]

9 hours ago, QuickHitRecord said:

I'm not saying that I'm going to make the jump, but it seems like a good thought exercise after fifteen years in this field. Personally, I'm just getting tired of cranking out so many dull, formulaic videos. I still do try to inject some interest or personality into most of my client work, but too often it gets stripped out during the review process. Whether I am being paid or not, I will always make films. However, the idea of only making the films that I want to make is pretty appealing.

To clarify, I'm not necessarily trying to get personalized advice here, just some general discussion. And if you've made the transition, I think that it would be especially insightful to hear about your experience.

Though most of the HR bots that are going to screen out your application might not see it, I think that this job requires a lot of different skills that would translate into other roles such as storytelling, project management, communication, flexibility/adaptability, technical proficiency, problem-solving, attention to detail, client relations, collaboration, marketing knowledge, time management, and continuous learning. And if you're freelance, you've got to be a real self-starter.

I've seen video people leave and go on to make a lot more money in the IT field (there's been some recent discussion here about this). Communications also seems like a natural fit, though I wonder about the viability of that career path given the proliferation of AI. Speaking of which, here are the roles that ChatGPT recommends looking into:

And of these roles, here are the ones that it deems the most future proof in this AI age:

So, what are your thoughts on this? Have you made the transition? Would you like to? Or if you haven't/won't, how are you planning to adapt?

The TL;DR is that you're incredibly valuable to any office environment, but the challenge is that compared to the average (borderline useless) office worker you're so different that the entire system won't be able to see your value, so the challenge is how to get in the door and then get your bearings.

I've spent my whole career in offices - starting with IT background and working through project management to program management to various consulting and transformation engagements.  I am an independent consultant not under the umbrella of any consulting firm, so I'm on my own for networking and finding new contracts etc, so have navigated this territory for a while now.

The most significant things I have observed are these:

• Almost no-one understands the concept of transferrable skills.  There is no understanding of this in the recruitment process or HR department at all - zero.
• Offices and corporate environments are designed to treat staff as pre-programmed robots.  If your entire career history isn't the same job title over and over again then they don't know what to do with you.
• Offices and corporate environments are places where the rules of the game do not include things like productivity or practicality (or probably anything you'd recognise), they are about perceptions and processes and culture and not rocking the boat.
• The only people that appreciate people who can take ownership of an outcome and actually get things done are a select group of middle/senior managers who are being suffocated by red tape and actually trying to move the needle on some outcome.

There are two types of people, those who change things and those who run things and maintain the status quo.  You are the former, not the latter.

As you are someone who knows how to actually get things done, I'd suggest the following:

• Any kind of role with a focus on making changes or solving problems and hitting deadlines should be a good fit - this is likely a management role but don't confuse the management roles that are just managing a team of people that do repetitive tasks
• Smaller organisations are likely to be a better fit, as they'll be more comprehendible for someone not familiar with the corporate world (think of it as a parallel universe completely separated from reality with different rules)
• As much as you can, bypass any recruitment process, and try and establish contact with the people inside the business who make decisions and can see your worth (and if necessary can ensure you're not filtered out in any recruitment process that is required)
• Try and meet these managers directly - many people have needs to hire good people but don't have advertised positions because the job market is pretty devoid of sensible people - so if you get in contact with these people they might make a new position for you
• What you want to do is get talking to the managers who have money and decision-making authority and have them decide to hire you.  This is the whole purpose of networking.

The other challenge is once you're in the door, how do you work out how to fit in and get people to work with you.  Things like running meetings, getting people who don't work for you to do work, how to explain things to management types so that they understand you (including how to tell them things they don't want to hear without making them want to fire you), etc.  

My sister made the transition from film to 'normal' work.  She retrained in Business Analysis (basically analysing a problem and designing solutions) and Project Management.  She got hired into a large corporate firm into the call centre, but very quickly started doing things on top of the normal work (which she absolutely hated) and was internally promoted, and has now been internally promoted several times as they gradually see her potential, and as she gradually learns the new culture and ways of doing things.

It's a long learning curve, but it can be done.

Good luck!

[IronFilm]

If you're a massively big tech nerd in your job as an editor / DIT / whatever, then doing a Graduate Diploma (so you have some credentials as "proof") plus spinning  a good yarn about your background on your CV and in interviews, means you could target IT jobs. 

Alternatively, if you've been doing a lot on the producing side of things, and/or worked a lot in AD roles, then doing a GradDip in Project Management (or even going crazy all out with say an MBA???) could then (together with spinning a good yarn about your background on your CV and in interviews) make you a great fit for Project Manager roles. (especially if you sit and pass a few exams such as for PMP/CAPM/CSM/PRINCE2/PPM/SAFe/etc certifications)

Everyone's pathway out of film would be different, and they need to look hard at what are their own unique strengths and background. 

[QuickHitRecord]

On 1/29/2024 at 6:48 PM, kye said:

The TL;DR is that you're incredibly valuable to any office environment, but the challenge is that compared to the average (borderline useless) office worker you're so different that the entire system won't be able to see your value, so the challenge is how to get in the door and then get your bearings.

Thanks for your very thoughtful response to this thread, @kye.  Your remarkable ability to distill and articulate is one of the reasons I still check this forum.

I worked for a large corporation for eight years before freelancing, and I've "consulted" with dozens of other corporations since. What you've written above rings true. There are a lot of people hiding out under ill-defined roles and abstract goals who spend their days shopping online and watching YouTube. Their job, quite literally, is to create the illusion that they are accomplishing something. And yet, it's so hard to even be considered for one of those jobs. Something that I like about video work is that you always have something to show for it, and effort is evident.

I think you are right about smaller organizations. If I make the switch, I'm more more interested in less pay for an organization that is actually trying to do good in the world than more pay for a company exists to increase wealth for the shareholders.

Glad to hear that your sister is doing well in her new line of work. Do you know what her reasons for leaving were? And out of curiosity (and without knowing her role in the film world) have you ever collaborated on a film together?

On 1/29/2024 at 9:40 PM, IronFilm said:

Everyone's pathway out of film would be different, and they need to look hard at what are their own unique strengths and background. 

IT is for bigger brains than mine!

It seems like you're really plugged into the film world in NZ. Are you seeing any noteworth trends? Do people tend to go into different careers at a certain age or life stage?

[kye]

4 hours ago, QuickHitRecord said:

I think you are right about smaller organizations. If I make the switch, I'm more more interested in less pay for an organization that is actually trying to do good in the world than more pay for a company exists to increase wealth for the shareholders.

Glad to hear that your sister is doing well in her new line of work. Do you know what her reasons for leaving were? And out of curiosity (and without knowing her role in the film world) have you ever collaborated on a film together?

I think that having something to show for your efforts is a pretty significant motivator, and if you can see that what you did actually helped someone then that's even better.  

My sisters story is long and complicated, but it boiled down to two factors.  The first was that after not being able to 'make it' as a director, she retrained in another role, but in her location there wasn't enough work for her year round and she would have had to have found a second career for the off-season.  The second factor was that the work-life-balance was non-existent, and through the combination of her working essentially 18-hour days when she was working (working on-set all day and doing prep work all evening) plus the fact that she couldn't make plans in case she got offered a gig, she had just become separated from the rest of the world.  I'd say the horrific misogyny and directors / producers with emotional / mental problems was also in the mix, and it was, but the other two factors were easily enough.  She would call me and we'd Skype for 5 hours and she'd describe the situations on-set and I can tell you, however bad most corporate environments were, the directors and producers she routinely described would fit into the bottom 30% of management in corporate offices.  It's amazing to me how incredibly incompetent much of the workforce is, and yet, they still manage to find enough money to remain fed/clothed/housed.  I tell this to people who I mentor - if they can navigate the workforce then we, as people who are trying to accomplish something, can thrive.

[kye]

4 hours ago, QuickHitRecord said:

Glad to hear that your sister is doing well in her new line of work. Do you know what her reasons for leaving were? And out of curiosity (and without knowing her role in the film world) have you ever collaborated on a film together?

We did collaborate on some films, and submitted a few of them into the festival circuit, which is quite active here in Australia.  That was mostly an exercise in frustration as it was all a game of who-do-you-know instead of the merits of the actual film, but it gave her experience in directing and, because of the performances she was able to get, contributed to many actors showreels.

It was amazing the trouble we went to considering the camera of the day was the mighty PD150!

[IronFilm]

22 hours ago, QuickHitRecord said:

It seems like you're really plugged into the film world in NZ. Are you seeing any noteworth trends? Do people tend to go into different careers at a certain age or life stage?

I've "only" been doing this for a little longer than a decade. Dunno if that's long enough to see the whole life cycle of a large sample of people entering and leaving the industry after having actually achieved anything in film first. (of course people entering for just a year or three then leaving is very very very common)

For myself though, I'm doing another degree in Computer Science (my first degree was in Math/Physics), as my way out if/when the demand for Sound Mixing collapses as a job. 

[Mark Romero 2]

Since your background is (basically) visual storytelling, how about marketing? (or social media marketing or buzzword-du-jour marketing???)

The other questions is, what does your heart WANT to do?

[MurtlandPhoto]

Higher education marketing and communications. Innately human-centric marketing that doesn't have the same corporate hellscape culture of tech, finance, or most consumer goods companies. Colleges and universities are trending towards hiring content teams full-time versus outsourcing work for cost savings, consistency, and efficiency. Even schools that outsource usually have project managers and communications leads internally that maintain the brand message. I've worked in this space my whole career. It's nice here.

[kye]

12 hours ago, MurtlandPhoto said:

Higher education marketing and communications. Innately human-centric marketing that doesn't have the same corporate hellscape culture of tech, finance, or most consumer goods companies. Colleges and universities are trending towards hiring content teams full-time versus outsourcing work for cost savings, consistency, and efficiency. Even schools that outsource usually have project managers and communications leads internally that maintain the brand message. I've worked in this space my whole career. It's nice here.

I've heard anecdotally that tertiary education (university and technical colleges etc) is being stripped bare by cost-cutting and efficiency programs, to the point where a friend of mine did a Graduate Certificate (which is the first third of a masters degree) and wanted advice on which course/units to choose when re-enrolling in the next part and there was literally no-one he could talk to.  All lecturers were only accessible to students enrolled in specific units and he was ignored / actually turned away, the course controller was also the head of the school and not even contactable and the entire enrolment process was all online and there literally wasn't even a student services desk where you could talk to a human being.  This was at a major university here in Australia that appears in lists of top universities world-wide from time to time, so it's no backwater institution, and it's not like the fees aren't putting a truckload of money into their coffers either.

Maybe life is different in the marketing department?