No money for a personal project?
Agony Agent has the answers.
As some of you know, I love giving advice. This is an ongoing series titled ‘Agony Agent’ where I give you advice on any creative/ industry problem you may have. Feel free to submit your own via the homepage or at the link at the bottom of this article. Can’t wait to read them!
How to make a cool, personal project with sadly no money? How to reach out to people you want to collaborate with? Thank you!
As someone who is telling you every three lines in my posts to be shooting personal projects, I can acknowledge that I do feel guilty here. We all want to be shooting our own work, pushing our practice and advancing our portfolio- but to make work costs- & when you are starting out that is not something many can afford. I understand it completely.
But I do think that we have lost the art of hustle. It truly is a rite of passage to make a shoot out of nothing. It’s like the stories your parents say when they tell you they would go to the corner shop with £1 and come out with five chocolate bars, toilet roll & a pack of cigarettes when they were kids. You gotta try and make a lot happen for little money, where favours, persuasion & creative solutions come in.
Money should not be the only way to create work, this is when the industry becomes less diverse & the class system wins. Grants & competitions are great solutions but to be able to build your portfolio you need to shoot more often than that- let’s figure it out together.
You need to break it down cost by cost to get a shoot for the smallest money possible- almost like a jigsaw puzzle. Then you can try and make each as close to zero as possible. Here we go:
Studio
One of the most expensive aspects of a shoot is location, mainly studios. But does your project NEED to be shot in a studio. Some of my favourite shoots are shot on location & with summer round the corner the world is your oyster. You can shoot outside (weather permitting), or borrow a friend or family members house. It can even add more to the shoot itself.
If the creative is reliant on a studio then find studios that offer a pay what you can system or smaller rates for personal projects. You can even try to do a credits only booking, but this mainly works for jobs that will end up in an editorial down the line.
Kit
Call on every favour you can with friends/ peers in the industry. Offer to assist them for free in exchange if needed. It’s time to beg, borrow or steal. But without the stealing.
Models
A lot of modelling agencies do offer models for free as part of a test, some may even pay so see what you can swing. The only issue with tests is last minute a model can get booked on a job & not be free for your project- which truly is the worst. Otherwise you can use friends or friends of friends. People want content for their Instagram- just ask, see what they say.
Props
Time to get inventive. Truly anything can be a prop. It’s time to look through everyone you knows belongings, or off to the charity shop you go.
Styling
Two routes here. Find a small company that would be willing to trade items on loan for use of the images for their Instagram- or its time to find a stylist with a great archive to pull from of their own clothes. Perhaps you may be incredibly fashionable so use your own or have a very stylish friend who will be up for a favour.
Retouching
A lot of retouchers are willing to do personal work for free to establish a relationship with talent. So reach out to who you would want to work with & ask. However, equally you can just learn it yourself but it may take you longer & may come out worse than someone who is experienced. But you would be learning a new skill- so up to you.
Crew
Truly, you don’t ask you don’t get. So ask. Reach out to people you want to work with, send them the creative & see if they want to get involved. The worst they can say is no & 9/10 they will recommend someone else for the job. But if they like the creative, trust me they will say yes.
Broken down it ain’t so bad, but to summarise you are likely going to owe a lot of favours. But that is so normal to this industry & a way to earn your stripes and truthfully build your network. Once you get into the swing of it it will feel a lot easier to do, like I said everybody does it. But remember when the favours come knocking the other way round- roll up your sleeves to, nobody likes a taker.
If you would like to submit your own Agony Agent Submission you can do so here.
Otherwise if you are interested in reading some of our other responses you can see them below:
I want to produce.
As some of you know, I love giving advice. This is an ongoing series titled ‘Agony Agent’ where I give you advice on any creative/ industry problem you may have. Feel free to submit your own via the homepage or at the link at the bottom of this article. Can’t wait to read them!
"People only work with people they know."
As some of you know, I love giving advice. So please welcome the first of an ongoing series titled ‘Agony Agent’ where I give you advice on any creative/ industry problem you may have. You will find a link to submit your own on the homepage- look forward to reading them.