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

Alright, Stebs thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

As a freelance filmmaker for the past 13 years I’ve seen the industry shift and change in so many ways. I began my career before the world really had a handle on what the internet really was and long before social media existed. Seeking out answers to questions and accessing filmmaking tools was very difficult. It required a huge amount of ingenuity and scrappiness to create anything that didn’t feel amateur. It was also incredibly difficult to find opportunities to be a part of the film industry at a young age so for someone like me with a huge drive to create moving pictures I had to do it all myself with what little I had. Having this experience for many years ingrained the ability for me to be a one man band, producing projects soup to nuts by myself. As I moved forward in my career and began working with advertising agencies, larger production companies, and bigger clients I had the ability to bring on crew members to help with all of the tasks I’d become accustomed to doing on my own. This was a welcomed change for some projects, but for others it almost felt inhibiting to my artistic process to have all of these other cooks in the kitchen. What this has taught me over the years is an understanding that every project, every client, every story requires a different level of attention, a different set of tools, and often a different way of thinking to produce a product suites for that particular effort. The shortcoming I see sometimes in this industry is that many companies and creatives get locked into a specific way of doing things. While that can be a healthy model for many artists or companies, I believe it also had the ability to pigeonhole creatives leaving them to only work on very specific projects with specific visions. Again, this certainly works for some people, but in an incredibly fluid media landscape I believe it’s an asset to be able to wear many hats. As budgets shrink and technology makes processes easier and easier to do as a single person or small team, I see it as a strength to be able to shake the industry standards in favor of healthy flexibility. They key is understanding each project’s needs and what tools and team members are genuinely needed to produce that product for the budget and scope given. I, however, do not believe in hamstringing creativity or the final product because a client doesn’t feel like paying for it. Being able to communicate clearly with clients and draw strict lines for them is very important. I typically do this by working to back into a projects budget rather than forcing creative on a specific budget or scope. This means looking at the budget and scope, then establishing or reworking the creative approach to work specifically for the parameters given by the client. Doing this allows a healthy setting of expectations for what you (the creative partner) are able to accomplish and offers more transparency to all parties involved. Clear and honest communication is key for projects to be a success, especially with budgeting and especially when you’re being flexible with your creative processes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Stebs and I have been a professional freelance filmmaker for the past 13 years. I consider myself a documentary storyteller first and foremost, but really work to create all sorts of vidual content for clients of all sizes. I help individuals, businesses, organizations and brands to help tell their stories in the most honest and genuine light possible, while making them stand out with unique film content tailored to their brand. I work hand in hand with clients to understand their communication goals in full, then tailor custom approaches to telling their story and/or crafting visually stunning films for them.

I believe strongly that every project is unique and that there are a multitude of approaches both creatively and through production that can bring a project to life. My main focus however is that the content on screen is represented in a way that is authentic and genuine to that company, individual or organization. I’m fascinated with why people do what they do, and believe that the beauty of everyday life can be transformed into beautiful works of art. To me, crafting films in this way allows viewers to connect in a more human and personal way to what’s on screen. While I believe there is a sizable place in media for highly stylized content, my process focuses more on creating the best dishes with some of the simplest ingredients (if I can use a culinary metaphor). Now, this isn’t the approach for every project but as it’s core I believe thinking this way lends itself to more relatable and connective content rather than something you might scroll right past.

On top of being a freelance filmmaker I am also the co-founder of a non profit organization called Crews for a Cause which brings together creatives in the film industry with non-profits in need of visual storytelling. We created this organization because for years we were creating pro-bono films for non profits and other people in the industry asked how they could get involved with something like that, many expressing a desire to use their skills for the benefit of others. For us and our volunteers this is fully driven by passion so nobody on our team or any of the volunteers who sign up for our projects get paid, and all of the proceeds go into creating impactful films for organizations in need. This is something we’re ver passionate about and a model we hope to grow for years to come.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Very early on I thought I could do absolutely everything. I still sometimes feel this way, but what I learned is that the more I focused on creating a particular type of content the stronger and sharper my skills would be in that area. For me, the more stories I told the clearer it became to me that I am most passionate and focused on telling truly human stories. The reason for this is because I’m personally driven by the desire to understand people form all walks of life and why they do the things they do. I’m especially interested in the passions people have – be it art, community service, building a successful career or pioneering sceince – and translating them onto the screen. Sharing that passion and often beauty with the audience is something I find truly gratifying both for myself and for my clients. At the moment I am embarking on my largest project to date, working to create a series of films helping family members and friends who have been estranged over social and political differences reconnect with the aid of professional mediators. This project was brought on by my discomfort with the current state of our social and political discourse, and wanting to use my skills to help teach people the power of healthy communication and why it’s more important than ever.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I have always been and continue to be inspired by people who work to break molds in every industry. We live in an incredible time of art and information, where everything you could ever dream of is out there and [for the most part] extremely accessible. Back in the day there used to be only a small handful of avenues to create and distribute art to the world, and even less for those looking to make a living off of it. One film in particular that inspired me early on (among many) was a Vimeo original film called Press, Pause, Play. This was a free to watch documentary film highlighting some of the most groundbreaking artists of our time utilizing this new wave of technology to create and distribute their art across the globe. It’s one of many pieces of content that made me realize how powerful an individual can be these days with he right amount of drive and courage. All the information is out there, most of the tools are accessible to just about anyone, and the avenues for distribution are mind bogglingly vast. While it certainly is a crowded space and it’s changing more and more every day I do believe it’s a great time to be a creative. It just takes determination, passion, and an excitement for learning to make things come to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stebs.co
• Instagram: instagram.com/stebs
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stebs/
• Twitter: www.x.com/iamstebs
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7KkecYTT7g41SLxIWPFvHA
• Other: Non-Profit Org: www.crewsforacause.org

Image Credits
All images shot by me and represent projects I have worked on.