Did that title get your attention? Good because this has to be one of my favorite topics to talk about. The biggest question I get asked is “How do I get celebrity clients?” Or “How do I become well known?” In past blog post I talked about the importance of networking and expanding your circle to people with similar interests. It is so important that you do this if you want to be a successful and well-known cinematographer. So how are you supposed to get celebrity clients?
This concept landed me huge gigs with Bravo’s Patti Stanger, fitness model Paige Hathaway, dating and life coach David Wygant, the Pussycat Dolls, Rita Ora, Flo Rider, Cisco Networking, SAP, Pandora, Glassdoor, and much more! What did I do to get these gigs???
This is a one-worded answer…The answer is FREE!!! When I started off my business I tried reaching out to celebrities, asking them if they needed professional videographers. I waited weeks, including my own follow-up emails, and I never got a response. Then I thought long and hard about what I was doing wrong! Then I put myself in these peoples’ shoes and asked myself, do I want to pay for someone I don’t know to come and shoot my videos? Not really. With this thought process I realized that I had to start off offering my services for FREE!
When things are free, people want it! A lot of the time is doesn’t even matter what it is, just as long as it’s free. But if a person has something you want and NEED, and is offering it to you for free, you are going to jump and grab that opportunity as fast as you can. Almost each celebrity I have worked for, I gave them a free service and they loved it! So they decided to keep me on board with a paycheck! This is why internships are SO IMPORTANT! They get you clients and experience! You must woo or seduce your future clients by offering professionally done work for FREE (at the beginning).
This is a very important concept guys!!! Especially if you want to go with the big fish and swim with the sharks! When you are starting off a business such a videography or photography, you can sacrifice a little bit of your time and money to offer free services and you will NOT regret it!!!
Have fun and go get ‘em!
