We recently connected with Rhett Cutrell and have shared our conversation below.

Rhett, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

The good thing about success is that there are more avenues to become successful than there is for failure, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier. Keyword here being avenue, or route. If you research successful people, they will all pretty much say the same thing, that you need to get really, really specific on where you are trying to go and how to get there. Seem like the more of a niche you can make for yourself, the more you can narrow down your distinct abilities, the more clear the path forward will be. Another key to success is knowing that interning your progress in any given field will become progressively more difficult. At some point there will be diminishing returns on your efforts, so in order to elevate yourself you need to adapt new methods and get comfortable with the pain that will come with reaching that next level in your business. Think of it like lifting weights. If you only lift a fixed amount of weight, say 100 pounds, eventually you will hit a plateau where lifting that 100 pounds is no longer making your stronger and you will need to increase it to 120 pounds if you want to progress. In my field of filmmaking, this is very relevant. It is easy to settle in and continue to do the same ol thing you have been doing for years because it brought you moderate success. Eventually that success will run dry so by taking new risks when it seems scary and unnecessary to do so, hopefully you can avoid dry spells and eventually elevate yourself into a higher category. Currently I am transitioning from work for hire in the TV industry to directing documentaries for different distribution networks which requires higher quality standards but anything I have produced in the 12 years previous is not adequate for my resume, I might as well be starting from zero experience, so spending a lot of time and personal money improving my skills is the uncomfortable and difficult step I need to take.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My love for nature is why I am where I am today. From a young age I was fascinate by animals and once I got my hands on a video camera, it only seem rational to marry these two interests into one passion. After graduating film school, I somehow managed to wiggle my way into some remote TV work in Alaska and developed this niche for myself as a person who could get the job done under extreme circumstances. Being able to keep all of this equipment working with barley any shelter, no electricity, sparse food, and bears everywhere, I realized is a particular skillset that most people in my industry don’t possess and I went with it. Eventually this led to more wildlife focused things and some international productions as well but becoming a wildlife cinematographer took some work. The outdoors have always been a passion of mine but what inspired me the most many years ago to peruse this niche was just the feeling that no one else was capturing the wild nature in a way that spoke to me and that my vision for how it could be done might have some value to people. Even with all of fascinating work I have done for hire these past 12 years, I am most proud of the content I create independently and just for fun. Wether it’s going out and making a commitment to get slo mo video of a particular rare bird, or rummaging around in the swamps looking for snakes to take pictures of, these are the images I am most proud of due to the difficulty of acquiring them.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Operating a production company is not cheep. Most people I know who do what I do some how or another got a large sum of initial capital to get the ball rolling. From what I can tell, this is the typical route. Fornever Productions is not typical. Progress has been slow and gradual. Building up good enough credit to buy my 1st camera, which cost $24,000 dollars took about 5 years of playing the credit game. All the while I am constantly working productions on the road and saving as much money as possible. PB&J sandwiches and oatmeal was 90% of my diet for years. All with the distant goal of owning a nice camera that might elevate my skill level to a place where I could make more money and buy an even nicer camera, which could help to expand my operation. In short, initial capital doesn’t always mean quick capital. Some times it’s a 5-7 year plan.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The industry I work in is a creative one, and creative people are more motivated by their results rather than just money. What I have learned is that if you want your employees and people you work with to stay motivated and do a good job, as the person in charge, you need to facilitate an environment that allows them to do their best job. The work people do needs to inspire them if you want good results, so taking the time to hunt down opportunities that your employees will succeed at is crucial. You will also learn who is just trying to get through the day to collect a check and who is there for the satisfaction of achieving good results (which leads to greater income).

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.forneverproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhettcutrell/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhettcutrell/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/rhettcutrell https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4577416/

Image Credits
All images Copyright 2022 Fornever Productions; All Rights Reserved