We caught up with the brilliant and insightful John Gordon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
John, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
One of the biggest challenges to profitability in the video production industry is without a doubt, bandwidth. That’s your personal bandwidth, your available hours in the day, and the workload you can realistically uphold. This is also relevant to your external partners and contractors, who need the time and space to not only perform the work, but perform the work with space for creativity.
99% of these tasks cannot be automated. It takes a human, often with their 5th cup of coffee, blue light glasses and 10 hours of lo-fi background music to make it happen. So in other words, your revenue is critically limited by the time you have. For years, I don’t think I realized this, until a good friend and fellow business owner put that into perspective for me; I would only make as much money as the number of projects I could realistically balance. Seems simple. But in the storm of creative work, it wasn’t immediately apparent. The obvious answer to this, is scaling. Hiring on full-time employees, forming a sales team… but if the capital isn’t already there, that’s really hard and often risky to do. Or at least to me, that seemed terrifying! In addition, recouping the costs on the company’s initial expenses was already daunting. The film industry as a whole can be extremely expensive, especially for indy creatives and small businesses. High-dollar camera equipment, heavy data storage, eternal software subscriptions. It adds up quickly.
So in 2022, The Modern Reel took on several projects with Fossil, The American Institute of Architects and Illinois Tech. They were all huge wins for the business and they all had great budgets… but they all had overlapping timelines. Risk of miscommunication was high. Risk of missed deadlines was high. Risk of burnout loomed in the background. Still, when you have that much pressure on you, you’ll find a way to make it happen. Especially when it’s positioned to make your company, well… profitable. But maintaining that is not practical, nor is it of good service, if your clients are not collaborating with your most levelheaded self. The quality of work will always be a priority, but I’ve learned to give just as much attention to my mental health along the way. My advice to my past self would be to be more focused on the present, be sensible about the workload you can handle, and a sustainable system of profitability will follow.
John, 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?
The Modern Reel specializes in producing video content that spotlights innovative and bold thinking. The industries in which we found common ground were architecture, engineering, education, science and technology. To us, each of those worlds were rooted in a future focused ethos that had the potential to create positive change. With the American Institute of Architects (AIA), we’ve showcased stories of design, improving the health, sustainability and diversity of communities. With the Illinois Institute of Technology, we’ve spotlighted scholarship opportunities for people of color from underserved areas of Chicago. That project also developed into a video campaign, aimed at raising one billion dollars to enhance its mission of human centered and inclusive education.
Inclusiveness is absolutely one of the running values with our work. How can we bring more diversity into the design fields, so that our spaces and products serve those who need them the most, better? How can we enrich the educational experience of students in the STEM fields, setting them up to be passionate about the work they do, not only now, but in their careers? Our video services aim to answer those questions and highlight that progressive thinking. Of course, beautiful cinematography and well-crafted storytelling has always been a focal point in our work, as it is for most video companies. But narrowing down that creative service specifically to change driven industries is I think what sets us apart.
We’ve had the honor of featuring “Emancipation Park” the first public park in Houston, TX founded by 4 formerly enslaved people. Through this project, we worked with Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Houston Director of Neighborhoods and numerous Houstonians who told its story. The project was a part of a larger initiative with the AIA, in which architects across the country shared stories of how they’re breaking down societal barriers, lowering carbon emissions, and forming more equity within their field.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A simple, but frustrating lesson I’ve had to unlearn is related to cold emailing. When I was first starting out, I purchased an online video series that claimed to breakdown the “secret to cold emailing potential clients” and winning their business. These were lessons I took to heart. I made sure I implemented all of the advice, executed the techniques with grace and polish, and ultimately felt like I had leg-up on sales, by wielding this “secret” method. A year or two later, I looked back at what was essentially wasted time, forming beautiful emails for people I would never hear back from. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not unheard of to email someone with your portfolio and convince them that they need your services. But in my industry, I believe it’s far and few between.
It wasn’t until I became very busy with some of my larger clients, where I found myself on the receiving end of those emails, and realizing, “wow, I don’t know this person and I don’t have the bandwidth to find out if they’d be helpful to my business”. That same form of email I use to wishfully send out, I was now sending straight to the trash. Overtime, I realized just how busy companies can get with their current work, so having to take the extra step of meeting someone in a “cold” fashion, is not ideal. So the result of this discovery, was learning how valuable word of mouth and references are. I always knew that was part of any business’s success story, but I thought the quality of my work and professionalism would speak for itself. Those are all A+ things to have, but often times they’re not useful until your foot is actually in the door.
Looking back at my journey, its fascinating and somewhat nostalgic to visualize all of the word of mouth connections. “This person, introduced me to that person… who connected me with that networking event, which connected me to that job, which led to the job I’m doing right now”. It sounds like a lot of work, which it was, but it wasn’t rocket science. It was more about letting time do its thing and putting myself out there (preferably face to face) whenever I could. This breakdown is also exactly why initiatives like mentorship programs, creative fellowships and workshops (especially programs that bolster women and people of color) are so valuable. It lets you jump into these environments and quickly start making real-life connections you wouldn’t have otherwise had.
Have you ever had to pivot?
A time I’ve decided to pivot, is actually happening right now. Some friends and I are currently developing a card game called Dogs With Jobs™. It’s completely out of left field, but it’s an idea I’ve had for while now. The goal is for it to be a compact, family friendly game that features sled, guide, herding, therapy dogs and the like. This pivot somewhat speaks to my experience with profitability in the film industry. Because I’ve been selling a service, rather than a product which might yield continuous revenue, I’ve been interested in branching out.
Ultimately, the second business will help further fund The Modern Reel and allow me to pursue more personal film work as well. I’ve realized, as most people do, I have many different passions. So working for myself has been a wonderful way to throw myself into all of them, learn, discover and ultimately be a creative. So look out for Dogs With Jobs™ on Kickstarter this spring!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.themodernreel.com