We were lucky to catch up with Found Format recently and have shared our conversation below.

Found Format, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

It often doesn’t feel real but yes we are lucky to be able to earn a full-time living doing what we love even though it can be crazy stressful at times. Kyle and I have slightly different stories in how we got into film but we ultimately collided at exactly the right time. I was working as a photographer/videographer at a car dealership shooting all the inventory for their website. It was incredibly monotonous and soul sucking but I definitely felt called to work with a camera in some regards and that monotony pushed me to make big changes. I knew Kyle had been shooting some music videos and was just starting to get into it so I gave him a call to just see how I could get started. He said “If you’re serious, buy some camera gear and start shooting with me.” I think there’s a point in everyone’s life where you’re offered two versions of your ‘destiny’: The Red and Blue pill moment. One pill is the easy and comfortable road with little risk, while the other shoves you out of your nest and forces you to learn to fly— or die trying. The next day I went and opened a new credit card and maxed it out to get a camera, some lenses, and gear. I think Kyle was surprised that I took his advice so literally.

We started shooting weddings, music videos, little promos and ads to get better at what we were doing but let me tell you– the first couple years I was about as broke as you can get. At one point I was so far negative in my bank account that the bank wouldn’t let me borrow any more and was only a few days from rent. It was intense but I really believe it’s those tumultuous times that give you a subtle signal that you’re on the right track. It always seems like right after the universe asks, “you really sure about this?” and beats the hell out of you, that things start to figure themselves out. It probably wasn’t until our third year that money really started coming in to the point where we weren’t sweating it everyday and there were so many times during those first three years I wanted to give up but knew if I didn’t see it through that would be a massive waste.

I think we’re still figuring a lot of things out and maybe always will be. I live by a philosophy of never regretting a decision, only learning from them so I don’t know that I would have done anything differently if I knew what I know now. I just try to take one day at a time and never stop learning.

Found Format, 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?

We are Found Format, A Film Directing Duo born and raised in Wisconsin. We specialize in creating gritty, visceral imagery while keeping an element of humanity always at the center. We love creating otherworldly visuals and content that makes your brain feel weird. One of our favorite things is telling a visual story for a client, or brand, or song– especially when there’s no boundaries or rules. We pride ourselves in being able to take someone’s thoughts, feelings and ideas and reshape them into a cinematic space in a collaborative essence. I think we have a knack for taking the ordinary and making it feel like something special and unique while staying on brand.

We’re proud of a lot of things we’ve done. I think we have to be otherwise it’s easy to start doubting ourselves. We’ve worked with such a wide array of industries, sounds, people, and places and each project has something special in it. Whether it’s shooting with trained wolves in Montana, making creatures pulled literally from our nightmares, dressing a bunch of dudes up as aliens in church robes, our main focus is always just having fun and I think it shows. The main feedback we hear from a lot of our clients is how tight knit and efficient our team always is and that’s because our talented team is also some of our best friends. We focus heavily on having great camaraderie at all times and ultimately that allows the work to flourish in ways it otherwise wouldn’t. It hardly feels like work when you’re having a blast with everyone around you. And we find it really important to create a safe space where everyone can be themselves. There are no wrong answers, or stupid ideas. When everyone is in their element it literally creates a playground of imagination and experimentation. I can’t stress enough the importance of surrounding yourself with people who motivate you, can collaborate with you, and support you through thick and thin. It completely changes the dynamic of what you can create.

If there’s anything this industry has taught us it’s that getting out of your comfort zone is paramount. The moment things start to feel scary, push harder. That means you’re doing it right. Always push for that next goal, that next big phase. We’re so proud of the things we’ve accomplished and the projects that felt entirely impossible at the time and still got them done. Sure, there’s some really hard days, weeks, and months here and there but that unpredictability in all of this is what keeps us addicted to it and keeps us growing every single day.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The first story that comes to mind was one of our first music videos when we had just started out. We wanted to prove ourselves and didn’t know how to reel in concepts that are way too ambitious (though we still struggle with that). We essentially wrote a condensed drama series with a ton of different actors and scenes and subtext for a 7 minute music video. Little did we know we were essentially setting out to capture a short film and it took seven 16 to 20 hour days to pull the thing off. On the last day we were shooting by the Milwaukee River in the dead of winter. The spot we chose to shoot at was down two steep hills from the main road. When we arrived on set at 9am that morning the snow that had fallen recently was still soft and temperature wasn’t so bad so things were looking good. We unloaded our Gaffer’s 2 ton grip truck full of lighting gear and brought it down by sled to our spot. What we didn’t take into account was when you have a crew of people going up and down a steep snow covered hill over and over– eventually that becomes ice. By the evening it was completely unwalkable but as scenes change so does lighting so the crew kept falling with gear in hand. One of our lighting team slipped into a bush and lacerated his cornea. It was super intense. The final scene we had to grab involved four actors, one of which was a child and we needed it to be at night. The temperature had dropped substantially by then so everyone was freezing which in turn made shooting last much longer. By the time we actually finished shooting it was around midnight and stupid cold. Due to the ice hills we had created, it took us 5 hours to get all of the gear back up to the truck. I remember leaving there at 6am, more exhausted then I think I ever will be. Since then, that shoot has been a recurring joke as the hardest set any of us has ever been on. Oops. We learned so many valuable lessons on that shoot and drastically changed the way we go about things after that. Sometimes you just have to bite off way more than you can chew to learn what works and what doesn’t.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think a big lesson we had to unlearn that I think a lot of directors have to unlearn is that being a leader doesn’t mean knowing everything or doing everything yourself. I think it’s really easy for people in that role for the first time to let their ego do all the talking. The day you can let go of being a know-it-all and put trust in your team and value each person’s individual skillset is the day you start to see magic happen. Letting other people bring their own ideas to the table, and giving everyone responsibility is key. On the flip side, It’s equally important to find a way to value yourself in that same way. We both struggle with that quite a lot. It’s really hard to let go of being a perfectionist. We constantly beat ourselves up about the million other ways you can do something. I know it’s cliche but if you can’t believe in yourself, then people won’t believe in the project.

Contact Info:

• Website: foundformat.tv
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/found_format/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundFormatFilms
• Other: https://vimeo.com/foundformat

Image Credits
Jennika Bastian // Mini Doc Stills TesseracT “King” // Music Video Stills Behemoth “Wolves Ov Siberia” // Music Video Stills Daniel Tompkins “Ruins” // Music Video Stills Primary Candle Co. // Commercial Stills Pteradactyl King “Bardock” – Music Video Stills