Balance Filmmaking With Your 9-5

If you want to make your own films, but still want to carry on with your full-time job, you might be wondering ‘how do I manage both?’

One of the biggest struggles for filmmakers is trying to fit making your own films around a full-time job

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When I worked 9am – 6pm 5 days a week, I used to get up at 5am to work on my own projects, spend a full day at the office (whilst working on my own things in my lunch break) and then I’d go home to carry on with my own projects until midnight or 1am

I was doing what everyone else had told me filmmakers have to do, which is to work like crazy until you get your big break. I burned out pretty quickly and it took over 6 months for me to recover

So I’m not here to tell you how to work harder, or how to find more hours in the day

I’m here to help you build your career on your own terms so you can start making the projects you love, without burnout or waiting for permission from anyone else

Outlining Your Essentials

The first thing you have to do to balance your 9-5 with making your own films, and skip the burnout, is to outline your essentials

So what are your most important weekly tasks?

If you’re a writer, director, producer (or combination of the above) then your essential tasks will be development, networking, marketing and pitching

That’s really only 4 tasks, so it’s already looking pretty manageable to fit around everything else you have going on

You could do each of these once a week, but they are most effective when you do them consistently every day

I’ll break down specific things you can do for each essential in a minute, but first let’s look at how they can fit into an already pretty busy daily routine

Finding the Time

Using my old 9-6 routine, I’d start my commute at around 8am and have a solid uninterrupted 45 minutes

I could use that time for development (which doesn’t have to be pure writing. It can be generating new ideas, outline beat sheets, drafting character bios – but we’ll come back to that)

Either way, that’s a pretty good development session and it’s done before I get to the office, without me having to get up before the sun does

You could also use that time for online networking if you prefer that. Getting involved in Facebook group conversations, Twitter conversations, replying to Instagram stories or leaving comments, sending emails or LinkedIn messages – all of these are worthwhile ways of networking that don’t involve you having to go to an awkward drinks event

Whether you can do these on your commute though is sort of dependent on your internet availability though

During your lunch break (but definitely not taking up your entire lunch break) you can be pitching, networking or developing

Then on your commute home, it’s exactly the same. Do more development work, or do some networking if you can

When you get home, the evening is still yours because you’ve done your essentials for the day already

Then you can save in-person meetings, Zoom calls, networking events, or heavy writing sessions for the weekend

You can definitely add more into this routine, but it’s the lightest option whilst still covering all your essentials

When it comes to marketing, which you might have spotted was absent from the daily routine, it’s all about personal preference

Personally, I couldn’t squeeze in daily marketing. I still can’t, really. I find it takes me out of whatever I’m doing and tends to interrupt my focus

So instead, I do it on a weekly basis by finding a couple of hours (usually on Monday morning) to create and schedule all of my marketing content for the week. That way, it’s done and is posting automatically for me, whilst I’m on a call, doing my other essentials, or taking a day off

Within your daily essentials of development, networking, marketing and pitching there’s a lot of room for variety and experimenting, so you have the freedom to choose what you’re feeling like on the day

Development & Networking

Development can include generating new ideas, outlining stories, creating beat sheets, building out characters, making pitch materials like treatments and pitch decks, creating mood boards or playlists, as well as writing and editing

And remember you’re only picking one of these each day

Networking is all about making connections with other filmmakers, so you can do that in whatever way works for you

Facebook groups, Twitter – you can get involved with conversations already happening on those platforms or start your own. Instagram, you can reply to people’s stories, send DMs, leave comments on their posts, as well as sharing your own posts and stories

You can also find people you want to connect with and just send a good old-fashioned email

All of these are quick, effective and the key is to go with the ones you enjoy

Marketing

Marketing can be any form of social media post, so again it’s about finding the way you enjoy, as well as meeting your audience

If you know your films will generally appeal to the 35 – 44 demographic, then marketing on TikTok won’t be the best option for you, as your audience isn’t there

Even if you’re new to making your own films, you have to consider who’s watching them from the very beginning, an this will be the gamechanger for a lot of filmmakers in the post-pandemic industry, so do pay attention to who your audience is and consistently market to them

Oh and when we say ‘marketing’, we don’t really mean self-promo or selfies

We mean something that has value to your audience whilst letting them know what you make and what you’re working on, in order to get them excited about it

Pitching

Pitching can only really come after you’ve done some heavy networking and have built a connection with the person or people you want to pitch to, so if you’ve only just started building your networking you can hold off on pitching for a couple of week’s while your nurture those connections first

Like marketing, pitching can be misunderstood. It doesn’t have to be in a boardroom with a crazy presentation. It can be as simple as answering the question ‘what are you working on right now?’ With a logline that’s so enticing their desperate to know more

I call it Friendly Pitching, because the goal is to stay in the casual tone and feel of the conversation whilst still giving the other person the key information they’re looking for

Psychologically this performs a lot better, and the psychology of pitching is something we go into a lot of depth on with my one-to-one clients. As well as going through all the materials, the data and the key things that matter for whoever you’re pitching to, the psychology behind it is what will swing it and be the deciding factor

So you could stick to Friendly Pitching for three or four days a week, and then send one or two formal pitches to producers or production companies

Again, it’s still not interfering with your other commitments but it’s one of the four essentials that makes a huge difference once you start doing them consistently

Recap the Essentials

So to recap: development, networking, marketing and pitching are the 4 essentials to fit in around your other work

The best part is, they’re pretty easy to fit into your day, so not only will you be burnout-free, you’ll also be getting much better results and on your way to your life as a successful filmmaker