My first month as a freelancer....

I can’t believe it’s been a month since that first Monday I woke up and DIDN’T have to shell out £45 for a week of forcefully inserting myself in to someone’s armpit for 30 minutes (return!) to go and sit in an office all day, to instead have a fully flexible diary and be only answerable to myself. What a change! A wonderful one.

The first month has been unexpectedly busy, and it’s amazing to already be able to look back and see I’m overtly heading in the direction I wanted when I made the difficult decision to leave the comfort of my full time production studio job.

I was lucky enough to spend 5 days in Denver and New York securing soundbites for a film about conflict free gold mining. It’s an interesting subject, and I’m delighted my old agency, VisualMedia still trust and value me enough to continue booking me to produce work for their clients.

My job consists of a lot of travel, but more often than not I don’t get the chance to enjoy the locations I’m filming in. With this in mind, and with newfound diary autonomy I extended my time in New York by an extra couple of days and had the most amazing time hanging out with friends, and exploring the incredible city.

America aside, I have spent time on the beach in Kent (thank god for the Indian Summer) and a day in a storage unit filming a pair of web promo films that are currently being edited, have recce’d several London pubs for a short film about a vivacious landlady, spent time in Madame JoJo’s getting inspiration for a short film from an Award winning feature script that I’m really excited to be producing in December, and trying to blag a free bunch of flowers for a no-budget short I’m Producing for one of PunchDrunk’s incredibly talented performer directors.

So. It seems Freelance Month Two has a LOT to live up to!

AdCan Awards - We Are Shortlisted!

I was absolutely delighted to receive notification that the entry I wrote and produced for the inaugural AdCan Awards (http://adcanawards.com/) has been shortlisted for an Award. 

To receive this news just 24 hours after announcing my intention to become a Freelance Producer feels like a wonderful omen!

The new initiative, predominantly sponsored by Partizan, Rattling Stick and Nexus, is a vehicle for young talent to emerge, whilst also benefiting very worthy causes (namely charities who need creative, quality TVCs but who don't have the available budget to commission such productions) so it's fantastic to have been recognised for our entry. 

I specifically wrote a script that would challenge me from a production perspective: all the action was set outdoors (which considering filming was set to take place in the UK over May Bank Holiday was a gutsy plan!), our lead role was to be played by a 6 year old boy with no film experience (but an enthusiastic amateur dramatic according to his mum!), and the Director suggested a scene with a pack of dogs would really enhance the narrative (to which I agreed!?). Embarking (excuse the pun!) on securing a pack of dogs for a no-budget short was intense. The usual bartering tool of "we're shooting it on a Red Epic - it'll be great for your showreel" doesn't really hold much weight with canines...! But the pieces all fell in to place and not only did the shoot go really well, we even wrapped 10 minutes early!

The film is strictly private until the winners are announced so we all have our fingers crossed for the Awards Ceremony on 7th August......