We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marvin Watts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marvin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The film industry can be extremely profitable if you play your cards right. There’s a variety of different jobs within the industry. What most people think of is the Director, cinematographer, sound guy, producers, etc. There are loads of jobs in this industry that people never even heard of.

One of thing that most people or schools won’t tell you is that profitability can be hard. This really depends on what you do in the industry. For example if you work at a media company or production company you can make good money depending on your job.

What most people think and want to do in the industry is freelance work or specialize in a certain role like being a Cinematography, a Gaffer a camera, assistant, or audio guy. Which can extremely profitable, anywhere from six figures working out of any city you want. Or you’re getting a local gig once every other month barely making rent. That’s one real big factor to this is getting enough experience and work under your belt that people keep calling you back or keep recommending you for work. Which starting out can be difficult.

Marvin, 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?

I work in the film industry, mainly in Camera Department and G&E ( Grip and Electric). I took a longer route into the industry. I went to film school for four years getting my BFA in Motion Pictures Production from Wright State University.

After that, I started working at a rental house called Cleveland Camera Rental. While working at this company, I started getting more involved with camera, assistant work, grip work, and production assistant work.

Aside from working at Ccr, I do cinematography work on my own. I’ve shot a couple of short films and a few small commercials for local businesses in Ohio.

What I believe sets me apart from others that work in this industry is that I work extremely hard and that shows a lot. I try to make every project flow a smooth as possible and I do everything I can to help out. I’m also extremely easy to work with I don’t argue or fight back if I disagree with something and it’s something I’m feeling strongly against I will show some concern, but I’m not going to argue with anybody especially a department head. I’m pretty easy to talk to for the most part. I leave my pride and arrogance at the door because that’s not work done and people seem to like that.

What I’m most proud of is my growth since finishing school. When it comes to set protocol and etiquette, I am a light years ahead of where I was in college. I understand cameras a lot better, lighting a lot better. Which to most might not seem to be a lot, but growth is growth. I’m also extremely proud of the projects. I’ve worked on over the last 2 to 3 years. I think my first short film to my most recent short film shows some of that growth.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Something that keeps me going down this path of working in the film industry is the idea of working full-time as a grip or DP (Director of photography) or a camera operator/assistant. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a child. I love movies and TV shows of course I really love the behind-the-scenes work more than the actual show. The idea of having a short or feature length film I shot or was involved in being shown in the movie theater on a streaming site is one of the many things that keeps me going. It seems like such a cool experience to show your work on the big screen and I want to experience that more than once. I could go on and on and on about this.

Also, the people along the way are some of the greatest people you could ever meet and I wouldn’t trade any of these people I’ve met for anything!!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist is having a project that’s unique. Which I will guarantee every artist on the face of the planet, will give you the exact same answer, but they all give the same answer for a reason. We love having our own unique projects being shown to people and talking about the process behind it. Either the creative aspects or the technical aspects. There’s something about making a project and releasing it knowing that it’s going to be the only one that feels like this, looks like this, sounds like this, and can be seen like this. It’s such an amazing feeling that a lot of other industries or professions don’t have the liberty of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marvinawatts.com/
• Instagram: marvowattso
• Instagram link: https://instagram.com/marvowattso?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

Image Credits
Headshot photo is from Cleveland Camera Rental Additional photos are from miscellaneous jobs or social media tags