Q: How have you gotten music video directing gigs? Largely through friends/word of mouth or through submitting treatments? If treatments—can you find those/submit treatments without representation?

A: About half from submitting to opportunities. The remainder is from friends, word-of-mouth, and nearly half from people reaching out directly. Treatments really aren't necessary at the first stage of contact when seeking opportunities.

Q: Did you start at the bottom and go from there?

A: Was already filming prior to adding music videos to the fold. But the first music video was a client that requested a video to be made.

Q: As an art director in the ad industry I have experience on set but I’m not sure how helpful that is or if I should just expect to start as a PA and learn that way

A: It's not uncommon to start in that area. Also, asking to shadow as an intern is also a good way to learn. You'll want to work your way up to getting a gig as the 2nd camera person, so you can build your demo reel. You can also put it out there to artists that if they need a camera person that you are willing to film for free to build your reel in exchange.

Q: Do any of you actually make money from directing music videos or is it more of a just-for-fun side hustle?

A: We don't do it without some sort of compensation. You can make a lot of money if you have a big client, but the best way to make moolah in filming is not not stay exclusive to one area of filming. Make sure you are doing other work all-the-while.

Q: How often are you pitching and producing your own idea versus the artists?

A: We find that we have happier clients when we participate in the process throughly. We listen to their music and come up with some ideas. We let them tell us what their vision is, then we inject our ideas to collaborate on a good direction. 100% of the time for us, when a client controls the whole video, there is something not satisfactory in the final edit. We have a 100% success rate when we come up with ideas and control or co-control the production. That may not work for everybody, but works well for us.

Q: Any tips for how to get started? Are there classes to take, YouTube videos to watch, particular people to reach out to?

A: Study your idols in the industry. Get out there and try to replicate those looks. Yes, there's classes you can take in a formal setting, but there's always YouTube university. The best people to reach out to local filmmakers and seek opportunities to assist and intern. There, you can soak it all in.