Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cam Sale. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Cam, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Working for free for “to build a portfolio”. It’s huge topic in our industry; when starting out, it’s tempting to offer free photo/video/drone footage to people who ask for it because you need to create a portfolio to then show other potential clients.
It’s a big Catch 22 because while we do need material to show prospective, bigger clients, it can devalue the industry by working for free. Finding that proper balance of charging something (even if it’s a 75% discount) for your work can show that your time is worth something and clients shouldn’t expect great work for free.
Cam, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
It all started with a GoPro Hero 2. When Cam started attaching that camera to his mountain bike in 2008, everything “came into focus” as they say :). That was the lightbulb moment where everything changed. Later that year, Cam transferred to the University of Montana, Missoula to finish college, receiving a Minor in Media Arts and a Major in Organizational Communication Studies.
After graduating in 2011, Cam moved to Breckenridge, CO to shoot video for the Ski School at Breck Ski Resort. After managing the Video Shack for several years, customers and friends started asking about additional filming projects. Realizing this could be a full time job, Cam ended his 5 year career at Vail Resorts (the parent company of Breckenridge Ski Resorts) and began offering freelance video and drone services.
Cam Sale is a Breckenridge, Colorado based cinematographer established and experienced in aerial and action sports media. He has produced work for clients all over the country. As an active outdoorsman, Cam is passionate about shooting snowboarding, snowmobiling, adventure motorcycle trips, surfing, mountain biking and auto racing videos.
He is diversified in his projects, also filming TN shows and commercials, promotional videos, local events, aerial inspections for solar, bridge and windmill turbines and even multiple Guinness World Record attempts.
Additionally, he helped the Town of Breckenridge literally write their new drone laws.
Most recently Cam was sent, on assignment, to Morocco, to capture a 2-week backcountry ski trip with 12 People of Color. It was the experience of a lifetime and he, along with Sorcery Cinema, are extremely excited to have a few distribution partners for this incredible project. Ideally, this is only 1 of 7 continents we will film, with the entire world being our stage for this multi-year project.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For Cam, he really feels a sense of accomplishment when, after filming for 1 hour or 10 days, the client is happy with the end result. Sometimes that end result (or “deliverable”) is a series of short videos, other times it’s raw footage from the camera’s memory card, but when I get to watch the client review the footage and they’re high fiving each other, saying things like, “Holy $hit, I can’t believe you got that!!”, there’s almost no better feeling.
To know you’ve helped someone capture their vision, even better than they expected, is difficult to put into words.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
The transition from working full time at the ski resort, to part-time freelance to full-time freelance video production services was scary for sure, but Cam still knew it was the right move to make.
When people at the ski resort started asking, “Well, can you film me skiing?” or “Can you film a mountain bike video for my son?” Cam started to think the “full time filmmaker” career was a reality.
Attending the Drone U training facility (formerly based in Albuquerque, NM) was a crash course in not only being a drone pilot, but also running a successful drone-focused business. About 90% of Cam’s job is the non-filming side of things: finding new clients, demonstrating value, negotiating contracts, explaining deliverables, posting to social media, invoicing, keeping accurate logs of miles driven, etc, so to be a freelance drone pilot/videographer takes a lot more than just taking pretty pictures.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.camsalefilmdept.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camsalefilmdept/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CamSaleFilmDept
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camsale/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CamSaleFilmDept
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cam-sale-film-dept-breckenridge
- Other: We (CamSaleFilmDept) has partnered with Sorcery Cinema for the Morocco project (and 1-2 other projects we can’t speak about at the moment) and they can be found here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sorcerycinema/ Website: https://www.sorcerycinema.com/
Image Credits
Photo Credit: Sinjin McNicholl