Where Am I?

For the first time in my life, I think I truly grasped what I love about my job. Being in video production, I’ve experienced a lot. A lot of long days, a lot of suffering, dry spells, wondering if I’m in the right place or the right profession or the right mindset. I’m sitting here watching the very first episode of Mad Men, never having seen it before. The lead, Don Draper, played by John Hamm, said something that really sparked a thought in my heart.  Maybe the one phrase that I’ll never forget. He said “Advertising is based on one thing. Happiness.”

Now, while Mr. Draper is talking about in the sense of selling happiness, or in this case that “cigarettes will make you happy”, I think this simple phrase is much more profound than my initial digestion allowed me to ascertain. What drives my creativity? Well, in some part monetary compensation drives it. It must, if it’s my job, I must make a living. BUT, what is the bigger picture. It’s my happiness. At the end of a LOOOONG shoot day and the client keeps going on about how they were completely mind blown by how we lit the set, directed the scene, or made them feel like they were in a movie. That is happiness to me. Their happiness is my happiness. Conversely, their sadness or dissatisfaction is my unhappiness.

Being Creative

Being creative is a gift. It’s a gift that sometimes, or more often that I like to admit, I take for granted. I could have been gifted with sports, or teaching, or any of the millions of facets there are out in the world to strive in, yet creativity and thinking out of the box are my gift. When we embark on a production or collaboration, it’s not about how much money we can make. Although, that does have to be a part of the conversation, because my landlady just stopped taking good intentions as form of payment for my rent. It’s not even about seeing our ideas coming to life, although that’s a gratifying payoff or proverbial icing on the cake. It’s about achieving an end result that makes our clients happy. Which, in turn, makes their customer base happy.

“Being creative is a gift… I take for granted”

I personally feel like in the video production market, some of that camaraderie/relationship investment has died. That being said, there are brilliantly strong relationships that have been formed in the industry. But we hear time and time again how clients of our’s, in past experience, feel like they were just dollar signs to the “videographer”.

So What’s the Point?

How does this relate to you loving your job? Well thanks for asking! I love it; I love the friendships I’ve cultivated; I love the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met; I love the smiles, funny gifts, heartwarming emails, hugs, the laughter, the sweat and tears, the tough times and the good. To those of you who have made that part of my dream come true, I cannot thank you enough from the bottom of my heart. To those of you who are considering video production or want to change up your advertising game, come try us out. We’d love to have you become part of the Hamil Bros family of clientele.