Garage Studio And Work Boundaries

Vipul Bindra 0:04

Welcome to another episode of Studio B Sessions with me, Bindra. I'm the owner of Bindra Productions here in Orlando, Florida. And these are raw, unedited conversations with other people in the film industry. And I've got an incredible guest today. My friend Ryan, he's an incredible DP, producer, local owner operator, has been doing this over a decade locally here in Orlando. So, Ryan, welcome. How are you?

Ryan Ashworth 0:26

I'm great, man. Thanks so much for having me. This is a pleasure.

Vipul Bindra 0:28

Did I say that right?

Ryan Ashworth 0:29

Yeah, you got that right. Yeah. I appreciate the intro.

Vipul Bindra 0:32

Awesome. Yeah. So this is your first time in the studio. You know, you've heard about it enough. I mean, studio, it's technically a garage that's converted, but hey, we're doing incredible things out of here.

Ryan Ashworth 0:42

Dude, it's it's it's cooler than most people. I'll say the equipment that you have here, I mean, the reach, it's awesome. So I appreciate you having me.

Vipul Bindra 0:51

And the advantage, no rent. A place like this in Orlando with what this is about 550 square foot, would be an office like that, would be crazy. Yeah. Especially in Winter Park in this area.

Ryan Ashworth 1:00

Oh, dude, it's such an advantage. And you live, I mean, you live here, right? So it's like you're like this, this is your house. So you like you wake up and come out here.

Vipul Bindra 1:08

That's what I'm saying. And and there's work-life separation, right? You leave that door, you're you're in home. You come here, you're working. Yeah, honey, honey, I'm working and close the door, yeah.

Ryan Ashworth 1:16

Exactly. I uh uh because I'm working out of my house right now, and um obviously don't have a studio, but uh when my wife comes home, she opens the door and it's like social hour, and I'm like, honey, I'm working. And so she she uh she no, but she's great, and it's funny that

Vipul Bindra 1:32

No, but that happens. I you know, like I said, before this, I was telling you actually before we started, I had uh, you know, like um a house somewhere else that sold it, and in between I was an apartment, yeah. And so my desk and everything ended up uh you know in the living room. So it's here's a couch and TV, and there's a desk. And then my equipment somehow even ended in my room. Point I'm trying to make is it was very difficult to take meetings. Like uh, you know, uh, for example, here, you know, uh you and I had a call a few weeks ago. I was able to just come right in here, sit down, take a you know, it kind of looks nice. Point is it can you imagine you know you're taking a meeting and somehow a kid opens a door and you know they want to come watch TV? And it can't do that. Point is yeah, it gets hard inside a home. So I'm I'm lucky that I was able to convert this and and make it work.

Ryan Ashworth 2:14

There's definitely got to be a little bit of separation there, but also there's so many advantages too because you had the flexibility. Like I think that too is like, hey, I need to pop over and be with my wife, but also I can't have a creative space as well. So yeah,

Networking That Makes You Memorable

Ryan Ashworth 2:25

awesome place, man. I'm like once again, thanks thanks again for having me.

Vipul Bindra 2:27

Of course, and I I'm so excited. So we we met at David Moorefield. Shout out, David, again. Yeah. Uh uh is his meetup, which was I keep forgetting where it was. It was one of these studios.

Ryan Ashworth 2:39

Yeah. Uh it was a studio um over kind of near the I think it was kind of near the airport.

Vipul Bindra 2:45

Yeah. Yeah. And uh you had an incredible story. So that's why you were memorable. And and again, I tell people when you go to networking meetings, stop being the car ninja, and you know, you know, because most people when they go to networking, they just want to shake hands and tell, what do I do? The the idea is that actually makes you not stand out, it makes you seem like what everyone else is doing. You want to stand out by, I don't know, some unique conversation or making an effort to get to know people, yeah. As instead of telling them about yourself, uh, but or doing what you did, which I like liked about your thing was, which is what made you memorable. You had an incredible story to tell how you were able to go get a client, right? And that's that type of stuff people want to hear because that's showing you are proactive, you're not just waiting there for people to show up. Yeah. Uh so tell me that tell that story

Pitching The New American Home Series

Vipul Bindra 3:30

again.

Ryan Ashworth 3:30

Yeah, so uh it was a few years ago. Um, and I, you know, I've I was looking out for work and I was looking kind of what my next step was gonna be. And um, I don't know, I just felt like there was I've always I've always wanted more. I've always wanted more of an opportunity like and um to be that show runner, to to to go out proof the idea. And um I was I was just one day driving here in Winter Park, actually, and uh I had found an opportunity where they were building what they were calling what was the new American home. And uh I was like, that's really interesting, is like what like you don't see that every day. Like in most neighborhoods here in Orlando now, it's like just another neighborhood, right? And so, but they were calling it the new American home. Um I was working with a studio uh like I said, a few years ago, and they um and and connections had built, and the people building the home was close with another uh business owner. Um we were able to make the connection, and basically what I I had pitched is this idea to film basically like a HGT HGTV style uh series on building the new American home. And I was like, we'll call it building the new American home, and we'll you know pitch this idea to be months of production um because essentially what they were doing is is is creating this uh opportunity similar to kind of what you have here, is like it's a place for families, but also for networking, and it's also for you know his business. Um, and so it was three levels, um, is something that Orlando doesn't typically see, had a big huge pool on a lake, um, there was an underground basement. I just said there's so many different storylines here with all the different businesses that are coming together. Um, and I just I I found this opportunity to create this story here in Orlando, pitched the idea, and so I pitched it to him and I said, Well, why don't we create a series that is called Building the New American Home? And um, you know, we'll produce it over the time it's gonna take. And they're like, Yeah, it's gonna, you know, it's gonna take probably uh 18 months to build it at the very minimum. And the coolest part was that they they had a deadline because there was the uh builder show that was coming up in I think it was in January of this year, um, so 26. And what they they knew they had a deadline, and so that was like the whole story is like we have to build the home by January of 2026. And so I knew going into this, like I've built stories before, I've built series. Um, it's been my passion as store as a storyteller that we had something that people could look forward to, and also the homeowner, he's a local um Orlando native, went to UCF, he's a billionaire, and he was dumping a lot of money into it, and um his his foundation was also a big part of it. So there's a lot of people that were involved, and I just said, This home deserves a story. Um, and I kind of came across like this whole idea is like home is not a place, it's a feeling. And I started, you know, pitching this and writing it and um you know telling people about it, and everybody got really interested, and all these other businesses were like, we want to contribute to this, like we want to like take part in this and essentially become the executive producers of it. And so I thought that was really cool that you know, more people were like, hey, you know, we want to be involved, whatever it takes, like you know, we want it. And so I got really inspired to to produce it. And so that was back in end of 2023, is when we came up with the idea and finished end of 2023 is when we they broke ground. I was there for the ceremony of like starting it, filmed everything from 2023, all of 2024, and then they built it so fast, this multi, multi-million dollar.

Vipul Bindra 7:17

Which is crazy for construction, yeah. Crazy.

Ryan Ashworth 7:19

Like typically this home would take like three years, and they built it in like 18 months. So that was part of the storyline. But we interviewed all the business owners, the ideas, um, the designs that went through the process, and um, yeah, it outputted. And so when we're at the meetup, ironically, it was right around the time that they were gonna promote the series. Um, they it was it was right about the time that they were about to launch it. Um so I didn't really know how like it was it was all gonna go. And sorry about that. Yeah. So uh I didn't know how it was it was gonna land, but I was really excited because there was a lot of Orlando local business owners um were gonna be involved. And so we did it. And now looking back, that was you know eight, nine months now, they started launching the series uh in it in lieu of um the new American uh home being built and then the builder business uh builder show. And uh now collectively the series has grossed almost four million hits all together. Um, it's 15 parts. You can watch it on YouTube. Um, everything is exclusively open and available. Um, and yeah, a lot of people have been affected, you know, they've seen their their face out there and they're like, wow, that's super cool. And they get like an ordinary person can watch a home being built from literally the ground up to this multi, multi-million dollar mansion. And so yeah, I um had originally pitched it at and and told people about it. And then when I was at the the meetup, I was like hearing all these people's stories, like, I want to be in the industry and I want to do this. I was like, guys, like I, you know, I'm in your same position as you guys, and like it's nowadays just like create the opportunity for yourself, you know, like go out there. Exactly.

Vipul Bindra 8:59

Because when you keep waiting for it, you'll get the the opportunities that like you know, come take 200 bucks and make a sh reel from whatever. And I'm not saying those are bad opportunities if you're starting out, but yeah, if you want to have big opportunities like that, a lot of times you have to find them because those people probably didn't even have thought of what you pitched them, right?

Ryan Ashworth 9:16

Yeah, no, they they hadn't they did not think of doing this. Like I I was like, hey, why don't we do this? Because you like the builder show brings in it's like goodness, it's like hundreds of thousands of people, it's like 200,000 people to the builder show in Orlando.

Vipul Bindra 9:34

And there's a lot of mone money flowing, let's be real. Like it's also a project where people have money invested and they can easily afford this production because that's the other side of it. Look, there's incredible stories to be told, but if they don't have a budget, then you get in that loop of I don't have the money to tell the story, versus stories like this that are you know really good stories, but they also have backing because all these companies would benefit by just having their work shown. You don't even have to do anything crazy.

Ryan Ashworth 9:58

Yeah, and I'll say this too, is like it's it's pretty crazy how how it happened, is like pitching an idea and then the longevity of it, like you spend 18 months producing this show, um obviously having to do other stuff, but after it produced the 18 after the 18 months happened, um people that were a part of the show were like, you know, we love what's going on. And that's how I got to work with a company like LG. Like LG was a big part of the home being built, like all the TVs, everything inside um was LG. And after they were like, hey, we want to do a campaign about the home and like living better, living smarter. Um and they're like, What producer DP do we know that like can do this for us? And it's like, oh, well, you know, Ryan's here and you know, he did it, it did the other one, so like we trust him. So that's how I got to work with a company like LG, is just I put myself out there, showed him the work, and then LG was like, Yeah, no brainer.

Vipul Bindra 10:49

And that's a really great brand to work with. So exactly, and that's what I'm saying. And it was what um at least a six-figure job, right? It was higher than that.

Ryan Ashworth 10:56

Yeah, it was it was uh it was more than six figures um altogether. I I think uh uh after 18 months, like I think it was 190, 100. Look at that, 100, almost 200.

Vipul Bindra 11:07

So you went out and you created yourself a $200,000 opportunity from nothing, and that is to me, it was an incredible story that you shared. And I think it just is about inspiration, not saying now go start approaching every construction um builder that you have. I mean, you can. Yeah, you can the idea is just to look around you. There's always stories, there's always things happening, and you just have to kind of uh uh just see you know what where what the potential is and what what how you can bring in and and make it into something bigger, and and and everyone wins. Like, for example, in your story, like you said, it's not just the builder that's winning, it's LG who's applying the TVs, it's yeah, other vendors who probably did the flooring or the roofing or whatever. You know what I'm saying is at the end of the day, most people who do good work just want their work to be shown. It's as easy as that. Right.

Turning Stories Into Brand ROI

Ryan Ashworth 11:52

Uh you don't even need to do some complex commercial and things that you know, and I think nowadays, one of the things I wanted to discuss with you is you've probably seen this too, is like as creatives, you also now have to think about their business's back end. Like, what is their business going to get from producing this content, right? Like, what are they going to show? So for me, I I wanted to make sure that the company and all companies that were a part of the series, they were shown as like the highest quality tier. I mean, this is a high quality home, so we wanted to make sure that uh everybody who was seeing the series was also associating the brands with a high quality product. So um, I think nowadays I see a lot of young filmmakers that are just graduating and you know, they want to be producers, they want to be DPs, and it's like you want to be now it's it it's becoming so competitive that you also have to know the creative side, but also understand the business model for these other companies, too. Like, how are they going to make money? Because essentially you have to justify your rate.

Vipul Bindra 12:58

Yeah, because they have to make at least 20x what they spent on the video. Like the people don't get it, like it's not just oh, uh spend $1,000 here and then you make $2,000. It's not enough worth it for a business with you know, ROI uh speaking, uh or Ruas or whatever, whatever metric you're going with. At the end, they have to um, you know, uh get at least 15x, 20x return on you know what your video is gonna cost. So as long as you can justify that, and that's why it's hard for creatives, and I totally get that. Look, I am a visual first person too. Like I want to make the most beautiful things, I want to create the epic shot, but when you're in a real situation, uh, you know, you have to understand that they don't care. Like most of my highest paid clients do not care. And I've said this over and over again. I am buying the FX5 or I'm bringing the Burano on a shoot. I want to. It happens now. There's agencies I work with that are gonna do their own posts where they there are requirements, like, oh yeah, we want to use the Alexa or whatever. Yeah, yeah. But most companies, I'm saying, even on the high level, and I'm sure that's the same with you, they don't say what lenses they want or the camera they want. It's on you. Now, I'm not saying there are people on the other side who go use the cheapest stuff, yeah, and then the product looks like crap because equipment does matter, but it matters in the level of production. Like if they're paying you 100 grand, and I'm talking hundred grand a day, not 100 grand spread over time because that's different too. Yeah, but what I'm saying is then you use the premium stuff because that's what you should use, not because a client is requiring it. Right, right. You could technically shoot it on a potato, who cares? You know, if it looks good, hey, if you can make it look good, then you can make it look good.

Ryan Ashworth 14:28

I mean, we just shot, what was that, last week or two weeks ago? We shot that brand film uh for a local agency. Um, producer was from DC, and she basically had worked. She came to me and she's like, Ryan, like, I trust you as DP, like you've done this kind of content before. Um, she's like, I trust that you're gonna do it right. We don't really care what lens, what cameras you use, we want it just to look like this. Like, we wanted to make sure, and and really they didn't, it was not as much about she was portraying to me less about what she wanted to look like and more how she wanted the audience to feel. Exactly. And so for me, I was like, like, Vipple, like, let's use G Master lenses. Like, they're great, they're great. I mean, they're expensive too. Two kind of pop.

Vipul Bindra 15:14

I mean, technically, those Vespit 2s are cheaper for a lens than I'm saying.

Ryan Ashworth 15:18

And and I was like, and I was like, dude, like if we're gonna go out there, and especially if there's people moving and they, you know, people get nervous or they sway a little bit. I'm like, the autofocus on those G Master lenses with an FX6 is incredible.

Vipul Bindra 15:29

Yeah, exactly. Well, and that time I didn't have my autofocus adapter. Now we do, we can, but no, that's exactly you're absolutely right. That's been my issue with the R's lenses. I love those ones too. Yeah, but the issue is uh because you know, again, everyone wants to put them at T1.4. Yeah, you know, again, people's obsession

Right Gear For Real Shoots

Vipul Bindra 15:45

with shallow depth of field is real. Uh, and and then what happens is um, you know, like you said, a lens like that is so so narrow, the focus area. So you have to be really on it on an interview. And most people are not actors, you know, they're gonna sway, they're gonna move, they're gonna get excited. Yeah, uh, so it's I'm saying it's hard to keep up. I'm I'm really excited now with these autofocus adapters, obviously, what we'll be able to do, but regardless, it's the right tool for the right job, yeah. Right. And you, in that job, for instance, for example, you were the director, DP, whatever, producer, you chose the best equipment, and that's what I'm talking about. Like, right, the clients don't at the end pick the equipment, usually, it's us, and it's on us to pick the right equipment for the right budget. And so you could technically pick something cheap if you want to, right?

Ryan Ashworth 16:29

Yeah, and on that series, we shot the the building the new American Home series. Like, I shot that primarily on FX6, um, yeah, FX6 and A7S3. So those are my two cameras. I used a Ronin, uh RS3 Pro uh for all the gimbal gimbal moving shots with the A7S3, use a 10 millimeter Laua, and then on the FX6, all the interviews were on 24 to 70 Sigma, like 2.8. Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 16:56

So like nothing super expensive, but also I think it's justified because again, the project was 18 months. So I know 200,000 sounds like a lot of money when you divide that over a lot of shoot days.

Ryan Ashworth 17:07

Yeah, you divide it over a lot, like it ends up, you know, it's it's it's it's relative. But uh at the end of the day, like I I think like I was speaking with somebody who just got out of film school, like I think last year they got out, and he went out and he like he's like buying all this equipment. He's like probably I don't know his whole situation, but I think he probably had to have got a loan for like 20, 30 grand. And he just got like this guy's 22 years old, and he bought like FX6 and he bought all these Cine lenses, and and I'm like, dude, like I went and shot an 18-month campaign and kept it under 10 grand, like you know, or I mean probably a little more than that. But at the at the end of the day, like there's really good like opportunity in front of you. The biggest thing is just find the story, like exactly because the gear can be rented.

Vipul Bindra 17:54

See, and I get it, like uh, and again, a lot of people uh I've read that say, like, oh, we don't have a rental house near us. And I'm like, they don't have to. There's websites like borrow lenses and lens prints, lens uh pro to go. Yeah, that I'm saying there's places to rent gear if you have the budget, you can just build a client. Yeah, don't and and that can also be indirect because a lot of times, you know, I'm not billing the client directly where you know it's just a single rate. It's like, okay, we'll make this video for 5k or whatever.

Ryan Ashworth 18:21

I mean, that's what I did with you on our last shoe. I just built your rate into the budget, and like it was no no shame on me.

Vipul Bindra 18:27

Yeah, you don't you don't have to uh break it down because some people like I said want to break down, sure, break down. But I'm saying is most people you don't have to even break it down, you just bill it uh the total, yeah, include the rate for rental, and that's if it's necessary. Like you said, if it's a simple job where an FX3 will do, then just use that. Yep, and if you need an FX6, which those are everywhere. But I'm saying there's jobs that justify, for example, like I said for me, the the close example I'll share that I shared on this YouTube was that commercial I did. That where the camera budget was so little, so we ended up going with the Ronin 48K and the Brano, yeah, right? What I'm saying is on budgets where you use bigger, fancier, heavier cameras, what I'm saying, the camera budget is never the concern. No, so but most people do the opposite, they just go, What's the most expensive camera I can get? And it's like it makes the least amount of difference. Like, yeah, uh, you know, like to me, for example, an FX5 is such a huge upgrade from FX3, but if you put that footage side by side, it's like most people can't tell.

Ryan Ashworth 19:25

It's like, you know, so it's like and also most people are exporting to YouTube and Facebook and they're exporting out of 1080. Yeah, so huge banding issues, yeah. Yeah, exactly. But I mean, like I said, the last thing I guess I'll just mention about this is like I see a lot of people out there and they they want to go get a job and they want to go, you know, go find a studio and they want to go work, you know, on these Netflix productions. And like you can create your Netflix production right now, like without a doubt. Like if you are out there and you want to be uh a filmmaker and you want to or you want to be a producer or DP, you can create these opportunities right in front of you. I literally literally driving here. I was like, I thought of like two or three different like series ideas that you could go out there, even if it's a passion project, and you shoot on your iPhone or you borrow your friend's camera for two weeks. Like it there is so much opportunity um in front of you. The biggest thing I'll say, and and I just want to be a test uh testimony to this, is find the story first. Like find the story and worry about the cameras later. Yeah. Because if you find that story, 99% of the time, the company is just gonna trust you, or the people the product is gonna trust you to go out and be able to just do what you do, and they're more worried about how they're going to look at the end. I'm I'm producing a uh series right now, hoping it lands with HGTV here in the spring. Um, but uh I I'm I'm I'm I'm producing a series, and when she brought me on, she's like, like, we trust that you just do what you want to do. And um, and and that's been great. But I I just I I wanted to just relay the the message to the audience is just like find the story. And that's what I said at David's thing, is like a lot of the questions at David's meetup was about like, oh, like what's the best camera right now to buy, and like how what should we justify our rate as? And it's like, guys, like these are little things that you can worry about, obviously to some degree, but if you want to be in the industry out there doing your best, go out, find the story, find the product, and understand how does this story create a 20x return, start with a 3x, 5x, 10x, 20x return uh for this person, brand, or organization.

Vipul Bindra 21:47

Exactly. And uh no, I couldn't agree with what you said more because that that's exactly what what what um I'm saying, because it's like look, you have to look at your client's perspective, and again, I'm gonna shout out to again. Steven, who's the president of the chamber that I'm a member of, I had him on the podcast. Go listen to his podcast because he's a primary example. They actually pay us to make videos for them. So they're not only a resource where I go find other clients, but they we actually make videos for them. Nice. Point I'm trying to make is so he gives you a perspective of what a client cares. So I'm saying if you want to have reality check, most clients, right? Like you could have two types of clients, right? Either agencies or like, for example, on the your shoot, you were my client. Yeah. There, you understand the equipment and stuff. I'm saying, or like your client who they couldn't care less. But I'm saying most of the time, regardless, you figure out the job, and unless they have a specific requirement, you need to pitch it by understanding the level of quality they're needing, right? Like, because like, for example, some people want, like once you get the scope of it, you're like, oh, this is gonna land on Netflix or this is gonna go wherever. And once you get a budget, that's how you can determine the equipment. I'm not saying equipment doesn't matter because it does matter, you know, good lighting uh can make such a huge difference in skin tone and stuff like that. But point is most people will immediately jump to, oh, I need to go buy a 700x from aperture or whatever, and my lighting will be good. No, because the reality is to make it good look good, you need five lights. Yeah, you're not gonna buy that. So one good light even isn't gonna change the scenario. What I'm saying is so most times the easiest thing for you is to figure out the project, and on a certain shoot day, you need it, find out your local G-E guy, and I'm sure there's a lot, they'll happily come help you out and you can create something epic. And now you don't have to have five lights sitting on your home doing nothing. Now, if you do have enough consistent work where you need it, that's when you go think about investment. People think it the other way. It's like an emotional thing. Oh, I have this job, I need this equipment, which happens, but then you immediately go, Oh, I gotta buy all this. No, you have to see, am I gonna use it enough? Then yes, buy it. If not, find someone who has it, hire those people because guess what? Then they may hire you back too. So it may actually return better investment than any equipment you buy. Plus, these companies replace this equipment so fast. Yeah, so it's not even like a good investment, as in uh six months later, it's gonna be worth while you bought it for.

Ryan Ashworth 24:02

I shot uh sorry to keep bringing up a series, but we just tired up. I brought I shot the whole series almost in natural light, almost completely in just shaping it because a lot of it was construction, so it was like a lot of people. Well, how are you gonna control the light? Yeah, you can't get and and also it's like you it's really hard to control the light when they don't have power going to it. So it's like just shoot outside and shape it, like get good diffusion, get an eight good eight by eight and and or a six by six, and like just you know, quickly rig that up, get two quick interviews, and then get B-roll. It's like that's you know, I I I I follow uh somebody on Instagram and they were talking about the other day is like the a full shoot day should be um, you know, you got b-roll in the morning when golden hour is coming, it just sun's just rising, shoot your best b-roll, and then mid midday, midday when the sun sucks is above your head, shoot all the interviews inside, shape the light, use diffusion, and then at the end of the day, also go back, shoot b-roll uh at the end. So it's like you have so much opportunity, you don't need all I mean 100% agree with you, like a good light will definitely help you. Um, but you do have opportunities in front of you too, where you can just go out there and find good lighting on the right time of the day.

Vipul Bindra 25:13

The best source exists and it's free. It's called the sun. Exactly. There's nothing better spectrum. We're trying to replicate some spectrum with these lights. Yes. But but again, I'm not to take lighting away. I'm a big proponent of lighting, but but there's situations for it. Like for the same thing for me. Yeah. Like if I'm I have an unlimited amount of gear. What I'm saying is like I could pick an FX6 or a sockler or whatever, a Ronin or whatever camera I want to use. But here's the thing if I get called for events, which happens here a lot here, conferences, I'm picking like an FX3 or an FX2 on a gimbal, right? That's all I'm bringing. I'm not bringing lighting, I'm not bringing my fancy, you know, $30,000 audio kit because it's overkill. I'm bringing those Holly Land mics. What I'm saying is it's the right gear for the right job. Absolutely. At that point, bringing FX6 with a big sockler is gonna be uh, you know, slowing me down on a conference where I'm just running around getting some b-roll in natural light, or I say natural light, whatever light is present, because we don't have time to light, we don't have time to especially in a big conference hall. I'm not gonna start sending up lights. That's not why they hired me. Yeah, exactly. And then it's different. Like it would be weird also on a commercial if I started doing that. That's where I'm bringing, you know, like say on a high-end interview, I don't know, bringing my chef's microphones or a better light or whatever. What I'm trying to say is it's right tool for the right job where where it matters, you do the right thing. Uh, don't also overkill it because only hurting yourself. I've seen people where like uh I'm doing events or whatever where people have like a giant rig, and then you can see they're struggling with it. And at the end, most people, I'm saying, for example, event shoots, they want stable, silky, smooth b-roll. Yeah, they don't want the handheld look. Yeah, so which is which is so weird because on a higher end production, that's what they want. So then using a gimbal actually makes you look cheap. So it's like you know, you have to just pick the pick the client, pick the job, and then do your best.

Ryan Ashworth 26:53

And a lot of this too comes in with experience, too. Like you, like just doing it, like going out there. Like I I I've been lucky to have the opportunity to be out there and trial and error and learn, hey, this this is what worked, this is what didn't work. And so, like, like you same thing. It's like if for people, like I'm I'm just envisioning like my younger self. It's like going out there, doing it, you did it wrong, understand what you could have done better, and fix the next one. Exactly.

Getting Paid For Judgment Not Labor

Vipul Bindra 27:17

And you know, now you bring up uh there's the craziest thing. I'll tell you like that. We were literally kind of talking about this right before I hit record. The most when I'm paid, I do the least amount of physical labor work. Yeah, uh, it's always when I'm getting paid the least when I'm doing the most amount of physical labor. Because here's the thing believe it or not, most people aren't paying me to be on set to lift and set up their light, to pick and set up their tripod. Yeah, most times when I'm being paid, I'm saying the highest rate that I can ask for, is they're being paid paying me for that 20 years of experience that I bring where it's like gonna be like, hey, something goes wrong, or how is the brand, like you said, perception gonna matter? What the end result? Like, I'm thinking a million other things from an executive level, not just as a you know, simple, I'm saying camera operator. Yeah, I am thinking this light, you know, it's not just makes it the most cinematic. Does that even need to be in the story? I'm saying, like, when I'm deeping a high-end thing, like for example, uh, you know, on a job at it, like it was like even the subtlety of the color because the branding cut brand colors matter. You know what I'm saying? Going deep into it is why they're paying it. So usually I have a team and I can tell them, like, I need this light there, I want this camera there. Even when I'm deep, I have DP'd big projects where I never touched a camera. I had four operators operating for me, and I'm on a multi-view, I'm saying, watching the camera. So somebody would be like DP, and you're not having holding a camera. No, because I'm responsible for that image. And that image, like I'm controlling everything. Yeah, and I trust those guys to be on those cameras to do that for me because I'm relaying every setting, everything I want them to be. Yeah. So their job in that instance, I'm saying, is to make sure that they do what I tell them to do. And mine is to make sure they're consistent, they look great. What I'm trying to say is like they weren't paying me to hold the camera, they were making paying me to make sure all four images look beautiful and they're consistent. I hope that makes sense.

Ryan Ashworth 29:02

Yeah, they're they're paying you for your trust. Exactly. It's your trust, they're trusting in you and they're paying you that they know that you're going to be able, whatever it is, like, yeah, hey, we're gonna hand it over to VIPL. Like, if Vibble's gonna do it, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 29:13

Yeah, and then you bring that reliability as in like they don't have to think about all this. That's the whole point. And same thing why I do it. Because there's sometimes jobs, you know, like let's be real. Most times we are the producer, we get to pick, right? Yeah, yeah. You could just show up yourself. Do I want to bring two guys? Do I want to bring three guys? Unless your contract specific uh specifically says how much crew members you gotta bring. Yeah, my clients don't, you know, care. Yeah, so I am deciding, and then that's where it comes in. Like, I'm like, how much high level do I need to think? Because let's be real, if it's like I need to do an interview, I can just do it by myself. I can now run two, three camera interviews, especially with autofocus lenses by myself. So why do I need a crew member? Then you go, oh, maybe I need to also ask these people questions. You know what I mean? Like, so I need somebody to stand here, but then who am I gonna bring? You know, if it's just an operator, I can bring somebody cheaper. But if I need somebody to actually be high-level DP, making sure this image is gonna be right, this audio is gonna be like clean, yeah, then I'll bring higher level people. What I'm saying is like you choose based on the job. Yeah, right.

Ryan Ashworth 30:12

I totally agree with you. I I I totally agree with you. It's funny too, because like so. When I started in this industry 10 years ago, yeah, 10 years ago I started in this industry, and I thought everybody had a position. It was like you go here, you go here. And when I first started out in Orlando, we did a I did a lot of commercials as a PA. Um, and I and I would see like I Yeah, you'd be on set. You'd be on set, and you'd see 150 people on set, and there's all these people and doing this and that. And it is crazy to me that in 10 years and when I started doing this to now, like you can get away with what I thought was like 100 people set with like four or five people. And so you uh now like we I think we talked about this too, is that being uh a Swiss army knife and like being adaptable, where if one day like I know Vipple can be my DP, but also like if I need him as my gaffer because he knows lighting, like he is essential to me. So like nowadays, I I was just talking to a uh a production company um not long ago and a producer that's been here 30, 40 years in production. He um he was telling me too that they have just pared down so much now on their cruise, where they used to have a full production company of like 30, 40 people, and now they have like three or four editors that all work wherever they want, and they have like one director and like one uh uh DP and they can basically get what they need from that because nowadays, like shoots and um opportunity is there with gear, and people just like becoming more versatile. I think it's a huge benefit to you in the film industry, like people watching at home is like, hey, what do you think you know I could do to stand out? It's like be versatile. One day you might need to be a gaffer, and the next day a DP. Like, don't minimize yourself, like, oh, I'm I'm only a director, I'm this. It's like, no, like if you get a chance to be on set, like be grateful for that, be thankful. If you and if you're getting paid for it, like that's even a bigger plus.

Vipul Bindra 32:18

Exactly. And no, and that that's the because the industry's changed. Yeah, and you know what? Uh I know that if somebody's been in the industry a long time, they're probably listening to this and complaining, going, no, this is not right. But but here's what I believe in, you know, uh, as in look, you can move with the times. Is it right? No, because and again, not that union sets have totally gone up. Yeah, I'm saying union sets still exist. And yes, if a camera's falling and you're not department, you let it fall. That's just how those sets are, and that's for a reason. You know, it's it's I I don't want to say all union stuff is bad because it is good, because you do make sure you get paid right, you do get your breaks, stuff that doesn't happen on small sets. I've been on lot enough shoots where you know you didn't get any food for 12 hours. That's terrible. There's this crap that happens, I'm saying, uh, on uh you know, indie sets that would never happen, I'm saying, on a union set. So there's advantages to it. But here's the thing uh as tools have gotten accessible, because here's the truth, you know, what you, for example, what I did for you, right? Yeah, uh, like essentially we did interviews, but because we're fighting Florida Sun, you need a lot of light. Yeah, to do something like that five years ago would have been a completely different way to do it. Because guess what? You would have had to bring jennies because there's no power in there that would have been able to power hot lights. Yeah, then you need multiple guys because the lights are hot, they're 10x heavier, yeah. Then you need to run baits cables, you need a real gaffer, because nowadays I know we call people who set up lights gaffer. Gaffer is electrician, right? Yeah, point I'm trying to say is that's how the crew would have ballooned to 20 people, at least because not you would have done something unique. It's just the tools weren't there, and then cameras weren't as good. You know what I mean? So if you use even more, I'm saying easier on your cameras, autofocus wasn't as good, so you'd have more operators, you know what I mean? That's so essentially the availability of tools is so much better. Like I said, the light quality that we can have, the audio quality that we can just produce, and and and it's so much cheaper, it's more accessible, so you no longer are like you know, limited by uh, you know, those this crazy resources I'm saying that you needed to make something look good. Uh and that's why like a lot of people were like, oh, the the FX3 being used on a creator was a marketing gimmick. And I was like, no, no, the camera doesn't matter. Now, yes, is there a big dynamic orange difference between Alexa or whatever? But if they're preparing for this camera and the the DP wants to be nimble, then he's gonna be nimble and it's gonna be like I said within 80% of it, especially I'm pretty sure uh they recorded in pro ResRaw or whatever. So then you know it it's out of the window anyway about the compression and stuff that you normally have issues with small camera.

Ryan Ashworth 34:44

Yeah, and obviously they're doing things that you on smaller shoots or local like commercials that you you necessarily don't need to do. Um, but at the end of the day, like like what we talked about before, is like having the flexibility of understanding what you have with your gear, um and saying, like, like so being able to understand what you have with your gear, but then also what the output is. Like, is this gonna be a social media reel? And it's like what like overkill, right? Exactly. And and and time and and the amount of space it takes up on your drive. Like, those are all the things you have to methodically think through to make sure that you're not wasting time, losing money and and and in the back end.

Vipul Bindra 35:27

Yeah, exactly. Which is why I position myself at least to to be where I am, and and that's at least how I get hired. Look, uh, if you're still doing the old school way, great, as long as there's work, which there is, not that it's fully gone away, it's just not as much of it. But I like, you know, where we positioned ourselves because most people are hiring me because they want that one man. Yeah, like as in the usually, like I'm saying, most people who are calling me is like, hey, we're coming from Canada or we're coming from Mexico or somewhere. We need you because we need the one guy who can bring us the everything. They don't want to go to 20 sources because can you call a cheaper grip man? Can you call lighting individually and rent them? Can you get lenses from this place, cameras from this? When people are coming here, they don't want to do the old school way because that's how, like you said, cost balloons, resources balloon, and then what if one guy's lenses don't have a certain adapter you need, or the back focuses off, you know, it doesn't fit on this camera. Point is with me, everything works together, everything is these little accessories. You know what I mean? Like we showed up on, for example, your set. I turned on the button and it worked. You know, the wireless. You don't have to sync, attach, build cameras. Yep, so it reduces cost, setup time. So most people that are calling me are like that like, hey, we want this, we want an audio guy, we need you, we need one more guy. And now they can do a big shoot for ESPN. I'm saying, uh, for with three guys, I'm saying that can be high end. And also, the think of that other thing I want to talk about is they don't know what they're walking into. Right. That's where it's perfect uh positioning with me. It's like, hey, they're gonna be outside, we can set a friend, they're gonna be inside, we can build a book light, whatever is needed, because a lot of time they're not paying for all the equipment, they're paying for the you know, uncertainty of what they're walking into, which happens a lot in television, broadcasting, you know, corporate stuff. Uh, because like we didn't know what we were. You had some idea, but you didn't know exactly what we're gonna use. So we walked in, we could have handled anything.

Ryan Ashworth 37:17

It's like it doesn't matter. We had a huge, sorry, we had a huge range there. Um, it's funny you mentioned ESPN. I shot with um so uh ESPN when they come to Florida, uh they usually work with this uh DP. His name is Pete Gill. Shout out Pete Gill. Huge, like I look up to him. Like I I want I've I've told him many times, I'm like, dude, like your stuff just looks prime. And and he's awesome, dude. Great guy to work with. I had the pleasure of working with him a few months back. And uh so he does all the ESPN um commercials here in Florida, all the ESPN documentaries, all the 30 for 30s. Anytime ESPN needs something in Florida, he's their guy. And uh I was talking to him about the same exact thing. It was like it was like, you know, back in the day when ESPN needed they wanted all this crew and all these people and all the sets, and he's like, dude, we've paired down now to like five people on set, like producer, director, me, maybe another camera op, and like a sound guy. And and he's like, the the the the flexibility now we have with these lenses, with you know, two FX sixes, you're able to make an FX6 look pretty close to Alexa, like it like with the opportunity we have there, like he was just telling me that the same thing we're talking about, is they have pared down completely. So coming from a DP who works with literally brands like ESPN Publix, he is in these same exact photodas, is just on a different scale uh sometimes. Um and could not agree more with that. Yeah, exactly.

Vipul Bindra 38:45

And that's why I get a lot of my money nowadays, and that wasn't even part of funny enough, three years ago.

Building A Network You Can Trust

Vipul Bindra 38:50

This type of production I'm saying wasn't even part of my job. I still do. Uh and to be honest, again, most of my money just uh it still comes from working with direct clients where where it's not these type of productions, but it's so easy to go uh and and uh you know, I'm saying be able to support these productions where it's like, hey, all this equipment wasn't working half the time anyway. Yeah, now it's like, hey, you were like, I need help. I'm like, there you go. And now you get the whole you know production stuff they've already designed for my clients. Because, you know, with them, let's be real, I have it because I want to set up my interview fast. Go shout out again, watch my video on the cart. The whole reason it's designed that way is so I can do my jobs faster. So I'm the so gear goes out of the way. People think I'm like a big gear guy, but for me, gear is just a tool, and I and everything I I'm uh you know I do for efficiency is in like I want the gear to be the least of my thing when I show up on set. And and it's so funny because people see a lot of gear, they're like, oh, you have all this gear because you want to use it. And I'm like, no, all this gear was picked because this made me faster on set, right? Yeah, but now if it's set up and it's ready to go, we say say what 2023 beginning. I started so basically I was freelance, right? So uh I helped people, and then for a few years we were direct to client only. Yeah, and then I now I do both. And uh, so when I opened up, it was like New Horizon because it was like, oh, I was missing out on a lot of money because at first I was like, Oh, I don't want to do freelance job, I don't want to help other people. So I would just say no, like blanket, it was like we're not directly like making your story, then we don't want to be involved. Yeah, and like I said, it was fine, but it was a mistake because now it's like, hey, half the time it's available, like I got to hang out with you. I did that Adam shoot, right? We had so much fun, and it was like the equipment was free, so might as well go do it. And and and it's still revenue. And the best thing is if I had to invest to do this, then it wouldn't be worth it because you know, overall, this much equipment would be a loss. But because my main clients are paying for this, those jobs I consider 100% revenue, man is like, hey, it's free money that I wouldn't have had. Plus, now I'm getting to hang out with other people on their cool sets, so makes it so much you know easier, and they get to benefit everything I'm because I'm constantly improving, constantly adding things because I need it, yeah, and then it gets divided into all these people.

Ryan Ashworth 41:00

Yeah, yeah, that's shit we did with Adam too. I mean, that was that was so much fun. You and I got to work together. Um for for people at home, like I was uh Vippel's grip, so we out in the hot sun all day. Um in Florida, gosh, it was like 95 degrees. Yeah, and it was humid, it was nuts.

Vipul Bindra 41:17

But you were so great. I actually even shot, I think I was I did a podcast with Michaela where I was mentioning you. So go watch that episode. But basically, uh, here's my perspective of it. So Adam told me about the job, and you know, again, budgets are limited. So if you wanted to bring me on one of the days, I think, or no, two of the days, yeah. So, so first day he was like, again, walking into unknown. He was like, hey, probably gonna be outside when we use frames and stuff. And I was like, Look, I can handle this most likely, but if they're building frames and stuff, I need a grip because you know, I'm not Superman, you know, because especially a building and eight-byte, putting it on stands, right? Uh, and not that Adam wouldn't have helped me, but again, when you're a director, you know, you're busy talking to clients and stuff like that. Uh so long story short, he was like, Oh, I know the perfect guy, Ryan. I was like, awesome, and that was so great. I'm glad you know you you were able to come because that uh I got to spend a lot of time with you. Yeah, and you know what I really liked about you was like how proactive you were. Oh, thanks. Because you know, it's one thing, obviously you're talented, no doubt about that. But talent is one thing, it's it's another thing to anticipate what's needed on set, right? And then just go do it, type of thing. That's what I like. And uh, and uh, you made it so much easier for me to focus on the big picture and uh you know on the lighting, and uh yeah, it was just amazing. And and you know, I could tell, and that's what I'm saying. People have to say, I was like, oh, even though you're just being a grip right now, you can easily tell that you're not looking at it just oh, I gotta set up a stand here, I gotta fold a frame. You're going, where does it actually need it? Yeah, you know, you gotta think of it.

Ryan Ashworth 42:48

I appreciate you so much for saying that because that's essentially, you know, I I've I'm I'm lucky that I've had the experience being in Adam's shoes, I'm lucky I've had the experience being in David's shoes, your shoes. So it's like uh having the experience of being, and like we just mentioned before, it's like being a Swiss Army knife of like, hey, I need to do this, I need to do that. Like that plays um in in a field like this. And so, you know, I really wanted I told Adam like, look, man, wherever you guys need me. Like, I'm happy to be here. I'm thankful to be here. And and I think that's the best part about being in a creative industry is you get to work with your friends. It's like, what other time, like you know, other professions where you can like on a day-to-day basis, like go work with your friends, have fun and create something meaningful. So I think that's really cool. And then like getting to work with you and like hearing, you know, about the gear and where the gear goes, um, you know, how much you what opportunity we had, I was just like, man, this is you know, awesome being here. Um, you know, rather than doing like my a lot of my work is like things that I produce, like and so gears that I rent, bring out, have. Um and so it's like great that side, but then it's like at the end of the day, when I get to work alongside of you and get to see your reach too and what opportunities we have, I was like, dude, this is awesome.

Vipul Bindra 43:57

So no, and and I think that's what I told you too. And it's so funny because I had no idea we were gonna then do that shoot together. Because I was genuinely like, look, and I and it this genuinely this is not the right business way. Let me also be real, you don't have to run the business like me, because in business, I'm saying you also have to be a business owner. But exactly my my entire thing with this company has been, and that's why I have two companies. We do do business, but like with this company, it was always like this is a passion. And the day I run it like a real business, it'll become work.

Ryan Ashworth 44:23

Yeah.

Vipul Bindra 44:24

And if it becomes work, then I won't enjoy it. So I genuinely run it from the place of like, how can I help people? Right. And and so that's why when when I met, I was like, bro, this is all your resources. Yeah, you know, if you need me, I'm there. And that's what I told Adam. So I was so happy to go help him. Like I said, and plus he was like, Oh, David's gonna be there. I was like, if David is there, I'm there. Yeah, and same thing on your shooter, like, oh, David, David and Adam are gonna be there. Yeah, but then unfortunately, they weren't on the day I was. I mean, yeah. But regardless, I'm like, like you said, I want to go work with my friends, I want to work with cool people, yeah, and I want to see their perspective. I have no ego because I know a lot of people would be like, hey, I've filmed all this, I'm the DP. Yeah, how dare I be the gaffer under this guy? I was like, I always look forward to David being the DP. I'm like, look, my goal as my me being also being a DP, for example, in a shoot, I can anticipate what he's looking at, yeah, what he may need, and having it ready to go. Now, will he use that? Probably not, or maybe he will. Like, yeah, obviously, I don't know what he's exactly thinking, but we can almost get there because I kind of can anticipate that. That helps the shoot move faster, just like you were helping me. Uh, you know, we were all kind of like it's a dance, right? Yeah, and at the end, how fast it moved. The amount of scenes we were able to get, you know, in what I would call yeah, is very little time for a commercial.

Ryan Ashworth 45:38

Yeah, and and essentially that's what I and it's I'm thankful you said that. I really appreciate that a lot. Because essentially, when I went into the day, I was like, Oh, this is cool. Like, I don't have to bring any gear, I don't have to worry about script, actors, nothing. I was like, I just have to worry about assisting the team and making sure that I'm already two steps ahead of their one step. Um and essentially, like, that's how you have to think uh when you're on set too. Like I just mentioned I was I was working with Pete, and when I work with Pete, like he would, he's DP, he's working about lighting and this and that and new cameras. It's like I'm already thinking about like his two steps ahead of him, so that way I can assist him. Same thing with you, as I I wanted to make sure that like if you were over here doing something, I was already on your next step so that way it's an easy transition. We get through things fast. Um, if you can be like that, if you can go ahead and think through those problems before they do, you you become uh irreplaceable. Um and essentially, like that that's why like we had a great time working together, and then a few weeks later, I'm like, hey, like I need help. Like I want to work with my friend, like I gotta call Vipple, I gotta call Adam, I gotta call David. It's like it's like a no-brainer, and so um, you know, I I I essentially think that that's the the blessing of of working in this industry is like working hard, working with your friends, um, doing some really creative work where everybody gets to win.

Vipul Bindra 46:55

Yeah, exactly. And then I love that because then opens your resources because what I love, like for example, like a guy like Adam, he's so talented. Yeah, but I normally uh you know get to do simple stuff with him, like you know, it's like FX3, you know, shoot with the gimbal and a couple of you know interviews. What I'm saying is, and so that's why I was really excited for that commercial, because that was like on a different level. It's like, oh, now I can finally do, you know, let me show you what I can actually do. So it's like fun where we were able to elevate his production and have a good time, like I said, with friends. Yeah, I was like, why wouldn't I do it? Plus, you have to look from Adam's perspective, at least I'm hoping he he's thinking this way, because that's like not a production I'm saying that he does every day, right? Plus, he only needed me like two days out of the four days. So it would no make could he buy it again, could he buy all that equipment and do it himself? Sure, save a few thousand dollars. But at the end day, you have to think 99% of his jobs don't need that. So it makes no sense to invest a million dollars in stuff he doesn't need. And now he has access to all these resources when he needs it, right? And if he needed it just for two days of the year, he calls your friend, gets to work with me. We all have a good time. I think we had a great time, yeah, right? I mean, you were saying we had a great time, and he was able to make that happen, and he didn't have to invest anything, right? Obviously, other than those two days paying me. But even then, I'm also flexible because he's a friend, like with you. I was like, bro, like whatever you need within reason, obviously, but I'm happy to help because at the end of the day, I'm not treating this as a business relationship, coming back to what I was saying earlier. This is like, sure, it's a business, of course, but it's also coming from a place of how can I help you? And most people I find understand that, especially since you're a business owner yourself. Like, look, I'm gonna be reasonable here, but also I have a budget, right? Yeah, and as long as we land on a number that makes sense for both people, like for that one day you had full resources of Bindra available to you, you looked great in front of your client, everyone was happy, but then the days you don't need it, you don't need it. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Ryan Ashworth 48:49

Yeah, I it it's a no-brainer, and I think I think also, you know, getting a chance to work with your friends and being passionate that like I want to help you get better for your clients and you want to help me, it's like it's one of those things, you know, when you when you show up on set and you don't know the guy or you don't know the girl that you're working along, it's just like there's no synergy. And so I sometimes think that that could almost hurt collaboration a little bit, but obviously, you know, there's there's opportunity to grow with everybody. I worked, you know, after we worked um a few weeks ago, the rest of the week, Adam and I worked together and we worked with a few other people um that we had never met before. And by the end of the week, we were all really close friends, but it's just like learning, you know, how to get involved with each other, how to like where do these things go? And that was the one thing I wanted when we first when we went on Adam's shoot together, I just really wanted to know, you know, where does this go? Where does that go? What are your quirks? Like, what do you what what really makes you want to do something? What really is important to you so that way I can make sure I can do those things. Um, I said I had this conversation with Adam when we were driving home the other day. I was like, it's great when we work together, but like if you use my gear, I use your gear, like we want to be respectful so that way it's uh I I'm putting things away for you, you're putting things away for me where it's not hurt hindering our workflow.

Vipul Bindra 50:07

Exactly. And it's good to know, have this network. So, for example, you know, it may not be like every day Adam works, uh Adam and I work together, obviously, but you know, if what I love about this is like if something, you know, let's say happened and I wasn't able to go to a shoot, guess who I'm calling? I'm calling Adam, I'm calling you. If I need a DP, I'm calling David. You know what I mean? It's good to have this network to count on too. Because guess what? Uh when people are hiring me, they expect me to be there, yep, regardless of life emergency. And and also, let's be real, a lot could be riding on it. Yeah. So having a good network can actually just help your business in general. Not only do you, like you said, we collaborate with friends, but also if I'm not able to go somewhere or do something, then having a good network, you know, like to rely on, yeah, uh is great. And same thing, Adam has been able to send me to shoots where he wasn't able to go because he was having a kid or whatever. Yeah. And you know, when I'm going there, I'm representing him. I'm not just doing the job, I'm trying to find opportunities, sales for him, business, because that's what you do, and that's what I would expect Adam to do for me, you know? Yeah. And I think that just elevates everyone, and everyone wins together. I don't know. That's the right attitude.

Ryan Ashworth 51:15

No, I 100% agree. And like I said, I going back on this dude I know who, like I said, just graduated from film school and he just bought 20, 30, probably 30 grand of gear, honestly, if I had to look at it. And he you get out there and you just expect, oh, I have all this gear, like I'm ready to make future films and like I'm ready to do this. And it's like the I would say the most important part is your story, but also is your network, your your your sphere of influence of people that are around you that uh are going to vouch for you. Like that's the most important thing for me. Um because like having people like you and Adam and things like this, like I have other friends that like would just go to bat for you and and do that. And so very thankful for that, and um, very thankful for people and also like learning from you guys too. Like I think you have to become absorbent every single day. Like, I I told myself when I went onto this journey of like going out, being a business owner, I said, uh, I want to learn something new every single day. Like, I want to go out there and like learn something I don't know. Any and and obviously I I try to take it towards being a business owner, running a production company, or like being a good DP. Um, like those are things I want to learn and grow. I say I have other things too that I I want to grow on as well. But when I get to the chance to work with like-minded people like yourself, like I learned things. Like when we went on Adam's shoot, we went on when you came in mind, like I'm like, hey, so what are you doing there? Like, what is this? And I think that you you should become a sponge for like people out there. Like, if if you are in the industry, like get out there, network, you know, understand what it takes to help somebody get to the next level, but also become a sponge with them. Like, what are you doing here? Uh, there's so many free resources right in front of you, you just have to ask.

Vipul Bindra 53:01

Exactly. And and just build a good network, but also understand because I know some people then also get emotional, and I get it, like, as in it may not also be that people, your sphere of influence moves with you. Ideally, you do, like in an ideal world, you grow together, so you keep just doing bigger and bigger things together, but also understand that a lot of times it they may not grow with you, as in you know, you go on a higher set, sometimes there's obligations, as in you only can bring a gaffer or DP or whatever people at that level. So even if they wanted to bring their friends, they can't. Like, I have this struggle a lot, for example, with Adam, since we're talking about him, like where I'm like, Adam's just gonna be able to do it. He's gonna be somehow, somehow you guys what the heck? But he's the common guy, maybe. So, but what I'm saying is like there's a times like genuinely, I was talking to David about this too. I was like, Yeah, there's so many gigs where I want to work with Adam.

Ryan Ashworth 53:50

Yeah, right.

Vipul Bindra 53:51

I want to have him on my sets because I like the dude, yeah, you know, despite on set what I say. You know, he's he's a fine guy to hang out with, but also it's like, but where do I plug him on my sets? Generally, it's me plus you know, three, four guys, and I generally need people I'm saying who are like gaffers or sound guy or something like that, or grip. Yeah, I don't need another director DP. Yeah, right. So I'm like, if I wasn't gonna be there, guess who I'm calling? Adam first. But also where I'm like, all these sets where I'm like, I need you know, and I want Adam to be there, I'm like, but what is Adam gonna do? Because Adam replaces me. So that can be an issue where I'm like, I want to also work with my friends, and I'm like, but I also struggle sometimes, like, where am I fitting him? Because I'm like, I also don't want to call him on low-level jobs where you know, I'm like, oh, I I need to go do an event with one other guy. I'm like, that's not his level job. He's very, you know, high level. But then I'm also like, same thing on high-level jobs where I can have him, I'm like, he's technically not a gaffer, you know what I mean? And then I don't need a DP because I'm the DP. I hope that makes sense. So sometimes that can also be a struggle with your friends where you want to plug your friends into shoots, but they don't always, you know, plug in, and that's okay. I'm saying, yeah, you need to find the right jobs for each other. Uh, but but that happens, I'm saying also. So it's also like understanding that you're you know, your friends can also plug you into everything. Yeah, just like your job, for example. You know, I fit into a portion of it, just like Adam's job, I fit into a portion of it. You can't fit into everything, and it's it's okay.

Ryan Ashworth 55:14

Yeah, it's okay. And and I'll and I we're talking so much about Adam and David. Yeah, so that's but there's after this, we'll move on. But generally, they're like great dudes, and honestly, like that's what we talk about. They're our friends, so it's like it's it's super easy, and honestly, great dudes to hang out with, great dudes to work with. But I'll say uh shout out to David because on the shoot we did a few weeks ago, like same conversation. We're in conversation about who's gonna do what, and you know, David pulls me aside and he's like, Hey man, like you don't need me. Like, you got this handled, like between you, you and Vipple, like you guys can handle this. And I was like, dude, that's such a pro move. Like, uh genuinely like thankful to be around people that are looking for your best interests. And so, like, he David's like, dude, look, look, I can come in and do this. Obviously, I'll help you, and like whatever it is, like in and such a great dude, even when you know he's not shooting, he's like, Hey, I'm willing to carry things or like set things up. Like, that's the kind of people you want to be around. And and I was so thankful for him. He's like, like when chaos was ensuing, and the D the producer was like, Hey, I need this, and like this is happening, and we have this, and like all these other things. And I'm just trying to make sure that I'm covered because the producer comes to me and says, Hey, the last thing she says to me, she goes, Don't hire amateurs. And so I'm like, Okay, who's the like the best crew I got that can be available? And I obviously thought of you guys, and uh, and David's like, hey man, like you don't need me, you got it. And I was like, Okay, yeah. He's like, like, thank you for like thinking of me. So, you know, at the end of the day, like it's a pro move. Shout out David once again.

Vipul Bindra 56:42

Obviously, and you know what's crazy is that him dropping out only makes him get hired even more. Because I'll tell you why. Because in my brain, and and and that is the difference again to talk about from pro-level people to low level, yeah. You know, what I'm saying is he saw uh uh you know that you didn't need him, uh, which I think you could have still used him, but what I'm saying is his perspective is correct because after being on that side, I was like, Oh, yeah, we we didn't need that many people. Point I'm trying to say is you know, he saw that he communicated that with you. Most people would be like, Oh, I need the extra few thousand dollars or whatever, you know, in their pocket, right? He on the other hand, and I'm sure he can use the money too. He talks about his 401k or no, his IRA so much on his podcast, on his vlogs. Point is, I'm sure he could have used the money, but instead he did the right thing. And I loved the text message he sent me. He's like, Look, I would do, I did the what I would just expect you guys to do for me. And that is what immediately I was like, that's such a David move. Yeah, and that makes me respect him more and makes me recommend him to other people and you know, uh, want to hire him and work with him more because not only are you talented, sure, but you're a good person, yeah, you have good moral values, and now I know on set when you're saying something, you're saying it from a genuine place to make anyone everyone better, right? You're not just going, oh, does it fill my pocket? You know what I mean? And and that was such a pro-level move, yeah.

Ryan Ashworth 58:01

Such a pro-level move. Once again, shout out David. So thankful for that.

Vipul Bindra 58:04

And see, I didn't even know that because our communication was very limited. I thought, you know, he was the DP and I was the gaffer, which is why when you were like, Oh, he's not needed, I was like, why? But once I fully understood, I was like, oh no, you're the DP. So I got his perspective. I didn't know that because you know I wasn't part of those conversations. I was like, I'm the gaffer. So I but when I found out, I was like, oh, he's just helping you. Then I was like, oh, I totally get it. I don't think we need you other than people than you and me, you know.

Ryan Ashworth 58:29

Yeah, and also at that time too, when when we were um when I had talked to David and all of you guys, and I was like, hey, like we're all gonna do this, you know, the producer was like, hey, we might have three or four different locations and all within this one little space. And so I'm like, okay, like I need somebody that can also like look forward, like talk about like look two steps ahead of me or two steps ahead of you. And so I was like, I need somebody that can think like-minded like me. But then she comes to me and she's pairing everything down. She's like, Hey, we should do one location. I'm like, okay, you got this, I got this. We got PA, you know, we uh we have Ring Mario, like, like what an opportunity here. So things start to level out. Um obviously, once again, thanks, thankful for for David Um and appreciate him. He's a great dude. Um, but 100% agree. It's like now it makes me want to like let's find another job. Like, yeah, David, he's because he thinks of my interest, and same thing for anybody else, like be a good person. I I told myself when I got into this industry a few years ago, my my two biggest attributes is work hard and be a good person. Like if anything else fails, yeah, like if you are working hard, you're showing other people that like, and people will see that. If you see that you work hard and you are a good person to be around, you will become irreplaceable no matter what.

Vipul Bindra 59:38

Exactly. And and and that's you know, the power of, like I said, what David did only makes you respect him more and want to hire him more. And the the crazy part is again how much more we can do. Because to be real, once we showed up, I obviously wanted to do more, but like we had those tables we could move. That's why I never built a book light or something crazier via ended up with like a softbox. So, what I'm trying to say is technically we could have done even more with just that crew. So, how much now you can do with like three or four person crew is just crazy. Yeah, and now that like I have the tilt autofocus adapters, next time I would love to, you know, even put like R's or something on it and make it even elevate more. And we wouldn't need anything extra. That's what I'm saying. How much more you can you can do is just with limited resources getting

Smart Gear Buys That Save Time

Vipul Bindra 1:00:20

crazy out there, yeah.

Ryan Ashworth 1:00:21

It absolutely is, and I'm super, super excited. So, so so talk to me. So, you you got the tiltas, uh it finally came in after months and months. I know.

Vipul Bindra 1:00:29

I'm excited. We actually unboxed them on an episode of this uh thing. They showed up while we were uh recording podcasts.

Ryan Ashworth 1:00:36

I'm excited to see that. Yeah, so what else are you buying then right now, as far as like what are you looking at? I know obviously you bought the FX5, but what else are you looking for? I'm always buying stuff. I know you. That's you when we talk to a bunch of people like, dude, I buy half a million dollars worth of gear a year.

Vipul Bindra 1:00:48

Yeah, yeah, it's it's nice, but but also things go sell out, like you know, so things are getting psyched. I don't want to be like things are piling, but at the end of the day, look, my my uh investment is a very simple thought process. Am I gonna use this at least 10 times a year? I buy it. If I'm not, then I don't buy it. I don't care how cool it is. I know a lot of people want to just buy stuff because it's cool. Because at the end of the day, I don't need stuff sitting here. Every single thing I own gets used at least 10 times a year. And if it doesn't, I I sell it. So, long story short, currently obviously the FX5's been the latest acquisition. Uh, and then uh I did it. I mean, it's old, but one of the really cool things I invested is a DIT system I built that I kind of also used on your set. Yeah, it just solved the problem I was having so much because here's the thing again, people don't want to have a dedicated DIT, and I was having an issue where they would expect me to copy. And you know, we're also expected to tear down. It's like, did my computer go to sleep? Did it actually copy? Yeah, did some bytes fail? And then I started using Hedge, and then it wasn't, but the thing with Hedge was it was expensive software, and I call it Hedge, it's got offshoot pro. And then it wasn't working. Uh, you know, correct point is then I wanted to, you know, have four drive scheduled to go because I'm like, we're doing four camera, two camera, three camera. I don't want to have to come back, keep starting it. So, anyway, that whole system I built where I can have all the cards already ready to go, it just works so great. But so I'm saying a lot of investment, you don't even think about it. It's like these little things that add up, or you saw that two bucks that I had in front of the car. It's like so I'm always constantly investing, but a lot of things people don't notice. Like the camera FX5, everyone's like, oh, you bought an FX5, but like it's like hundreds and hundreds of little things, or that adding that second recorder that I was talking about. Oh, yeah. On small sets, I don't need to bring the bigger recorder, right? So it's it's always a constant upgrade, but also again, you don't need to buy gear, is my advice to people. But yeah, I'm always buying gear, but always you don't need gear. I hope that makes sense.

Ryan Ashworth 1:02:40

No, 100% makes sense, dude. Like I said, I mean we could talk, everybody talks about this. Like you, you it's not always the gear that's going to get you, like you can if you can figure out how to film something. I mean, look at look at there's dudes on Facebook or Instagram who have millions of followings and they use an Insta360 camera, or they like you know, there's there's so much opportunity out there in front of you.

Vipul Bindra 1:03:02

Um, but you know, it comes always from a place of solving a problem. Like, for example, I've had a lot of clients pay me to use the R lenses with the FX6, yeah, handheld on T1.4. And so I was running into this issue, and this is like how I find gear. Like I was having a legit issue where I was like, look, I don't care who you are, and I'm sure there's five people watching this go, I could have focused. When you're moving, you're running gunning with that setup with an easy rig. Like, you it's hard to keep that thing in focus. And I'm always like, no, this is B-roll, let's go to like T4 or something. But you know, you can't control what the producer director wants when they're when they're familiar. That's what I'm saying. It's easier when they're not familiar, they let it to you, yeah. But and I'm like, at the end day, it's my job as a DP to oblige. I give my suggestion, sometimes I take it and not. And at the end day, I'm not gonna be difficult to work with, so I go T14, but then it's hard to keep things in focus. Yeah, so I was genuinely going, believe it or not, like, why hasn't somebody made something that can make this autofocus? And then when Tilta announced it and I saw an NAB work and I was like, this is great. Like I said, I ordered three of them. I just can't believe it took this long for them to come in. But it solves a genuine problem on set, and which is why I bought three. It wasn't like uh just to buy gear. It like I said, and it'll actually save me costs because now on shoots where I wouldn't have been able to do a cinema lenses because it's they don't have the budget, I'm saying, to have an operator on each camera. Now we can. And so it's now yes, does it also reduce two people's pay on set? Yes, yeah, but the hindsight the other positive side is we can do stuff we wouldn't be able to do for resources before. That's what it solves. It's nothing great, it's nothing crazy, it's not doing something revolutionary here. Yeah, what it's doing is again letting us do more with limited resources. So it solved the genuine problem set. It was an instant investment. It was like what 500 bucks, I think 600 bucks a pop. So it was only 1500 1600 bucks. Day one day rate, I make that money back, right? That I don't have to pay MC an operator. So well, maybe two days for an operator. But you get my point. Like it's the ROI is so fast on an accessory, like it was an immediate same thing with FX5. It's like, oh, two weeks, I have my money back. Why would I buy this? Same thing with the audio handle. Do I want to buy an you know? I still want to buy the $4,900 one. This is $50. I don't want to spend $600 or whatever on a stupid audio handle. But then I was like, how many times have I been asked to put the audio? Because I never like recording on camera. But how many times will somebody else ask me to put audio on the camera? Yeah. And then I was like, okay, I'll buy the stupid audio handle. Because yes, is it stupid to buy a handle for 600 bucks? I'm being real, and it's 800 bucks if you buy separately. But you have to look at from a different perspective. Will I make my money back? And I was like, Yes, I will. Okay, whatever. I'll buy this too. I think so. It's like, uh does that make sense? Like in one way, FX5 is too expensive. The handle is stupid expensive, it's unnecessary because you can get such a good audio recorder for half the money. Yeah. Way better. But if you look at from a business perspective, I will make my money back. If I don't buy it, I'm stupid.

Ryan Ashworth 1:06:06

Yeah, I was I'm I'm excited to see or talk to you more about the halos too. Because I know you did the review on that, which I'm sure is gonna come out before this. Before this, yeah. Um because I'm in the same same situation as like the halos. Like, is it worth the investment? How does it work out? Like, you know, all that stuff. So um certainly if it's gonna speed up my workflow, without a doubt, isn't it? No, absolutely.

Vipul Bindra 1:06:29

Lighting has been the best investment. Funny enough, yeah. Any camera from literally five to seven years ago versus a new camera is not gonna make that big of a difference. Like even C200, for example. I love that camera. You can buy that for like nothing nowadays, and that camera's incredible. What I'm trying to say is you don't need, and it looks big, so clients think it's expensive, but you don't need, I'm saying, some expensive latest FX5 to make your videos look great. Uh so I think a better investment is lighting, but yeah, because lighting has the amount of change, and here's the thing it's the most annoying one. That's what I tell people. Here's the the way people look at value camera and audio, and then GE. GE makes the biggest difference in today's time in 2026. Your image is 80% lighting, yeah, and you need support to lighting, right? To to to put up your lights or flags or frames or whatever. Camera and audio are the least of your, I'm saying, uh, you know, obviously if you use decent stuff. Yeah. You don't, it's not as important anymore because the the gear available is so good. So, best investment you can make is lighting. But here's the biggest issue with lighting. It is also the most space consuming, yeah, and the most currently changing. So it's also like, do you want to invest in an industry? It'd be like buying when cameras were changing, you know, every year they do something revolutionary. That's where lighting is. So it's it's like one of those tough things where we know already what's coming because you can look at high-end, the RGB, ACL, the Blair CG thing, aperture is there. You know in five years that's gonna be in the cheapest line possible. Yeah, so it's also like you're buying into technology that's already obsolete. So it's one of those things, but halos are incredible value. If you have to have lights, I mean they're worth buying, yeah. So but but you just know what you're buying into is what aperture was doing six years ago. Like 600x is that bicolor technology, right? Because all Halo is, is you know, your warm lights, your your cool lights, and you mix them together by color. And that was 600x. So I'd rather buy it personally if you're working pro, a used 600x because you can get it so much cheaper nowadays because you know, new new lights are out than a halo. Because guess what? My 600x works for a year, and if I showed you mine right now, yeah, I barely use it now. Yeah, but it looks like incredible, yeah. I'm sure it lasts for years more because it's like all metal, it's solid. People can drop it, people can you know what I mean? It's meant to be on site. The halo I have in a review, and that's why I can't wait for you to see that review. Yeah, um, just so you know it's recorded before that video came. Yeah, uh, but point is in that one, I borrowed David's Halo, right? He had only taken it to one or two shoots by then. The knobs are already off. The light was covered in scratches, and he only flew like twice with it. I don't even know what it looks like now. Yeah, so is it like, is it gonna actually and that's him. He's a on he treats his gear right, you know, he's an owner op, so he's not like giving it to other people. Yeah, and if that was the condition of his light in a situation like where, for example, we were where five people are handling him saying on your set, like lights, yeah, is it gonna last? No, especially when you are hiring you know unknown people, that gets even more crazy. Yeah, so that light is fine if you're an owner op, you just need a light or whatever, but it's not something I would buy if you know you expect to have crews with you because it ain't gonna last. But is what my opinion is, at least. I don't know.

Ryan Ashworth 1:09:48

I think people need to start thinking a little more. I mean, even myself, like I have definitely put myself in a situation where it's like, oh, it's camera, but like you really need to think about the lights first, and like it goes all the way down to even the plugs that they're going, like, where are you getting your power from?

Vipul Bindra 1:10:01

Yeah, yeah. And and tripping. The thing is, like, I can afford an XT52. There's a reason I didn't buy it because most places I'm filming are on location now. Yeah, they don't have power available that's over, you know, like I said, regular 15 amp household circuit. So, what's the point of bringing light that'll trip? We have this issue with 1200x if even on your shoot, if you remember, yeah. Uh, I didn't even have it on 20% now. We did have multiple lights on that circuit, but it tripped. Yeah, it tripped. And this happens uh, you know, a lot on set. So you have to be uh what I'm saying is uh just having the biggest best source, even though it's you know you want it, may not work for everyone. So coming back to again Halo, I think they're extremely cheap, very bright lights, but most people are rather better off with that like the Ray 660C, because I think compared to uh Halo, so Halo is like 400 something, and that is like 600 something, so it's only like a $200 difference. Yeah, on a production like ours, that's like not even like I'm saying one shoot. Yeah, and this is so much better. That yoke, sure, it's takes more space, but that is a legit yoke you can put on a stand. The halo is like you know, the teeny weeny thing, yeah. It's not gonna last. Again, you could put heavy modifiers on it, and it's a much higher quality spectrum. Again, still not on the aperture level, but the skin tone looks so much nicer with that than the halo. My whole thing is why would you put halo on skin when that is only $200? Exactly. Right? So I think that's it, which is what I conclusion, hey, spoiler, it should already be out right now. But that's the conclusion I gave people. Look, yeah, Halo is great for a room fill, so you can have one or two, just point it up. Great. But if you want to point at people, I still think the ray, obviously, aperture if of the budget, yeah, that's gonna last. But the I think the Ray may be the sweet spot. It's still breakable, but it has you know the waterproof and the water resistance and a better yoke and uh a better quality light. So for $200 more, again, it's still so cheap. $700 for a 660-watt light engine that's color, you know, green magenta shift. For somebody I'm saying, like what you're doing, Adam is doing this like why would you buy aperture? Buy that one or two of those. And we talked about that. Yeah, yeah. It's like more than enough. Now, yes, if you do think you're gonna work with crews, I still think you're better off going and buying um older fixtures from aperture like the seven um the 600D pros or 600x, something you you want water resistance because especially if you're in Florida, you're outside. Guess what? It starts to uh rain, yeah. You're gonna pick up your camera first, right? You're not gonna pick up light, and then you don't have to worry about your lights. You can be like, okay, I'll take pick that up last, which happens a lot. And humidity in general, it doesn't have to be raining. So I would want my lights to be water resistant if you're on location, which is where most of us are. Most of us you're doing weddings or whatever. So I think you're better off buying again rays and apertures and even older apertures that were water resistant than uh buying halos, personally speaking. Doesn't mean halos are bad light, they're great light. David is using them, he's getting good use out of them.

Ryan Ashworth 1:12:57

Yeah, yeah, no, I totally agree with that. Um, and it's certainly, you know, something people don't always think about, but I'm really glad you brought the point. Um, I was gonna mention to you, I I and this is just something I was gonna tell you, off topic of lights now.

Drone Filming At MCO With Clearance

Ryan Ashworth 1:13:12

Um last when we did the shoot, a few days after, I flew a drone on the airport property.

Vipul Bindra 1:13:20

How did you get permission for that? Because I filmed at airport and it's a it's a pain. Obviously, never flown a drone.

Ryan Ashworth 1:13:25

Yeah, it's so when we went into this, this is obviously uh shifting a little bit, but uh so Adam and I we we were shooting and producers like, yeah, we need to fly um drone on property to see we want a super wide exterior. And I immediately thought, how the heck are we going to fly a DJI Mavic 4 Pro?

Vipul Bindra 1:13:49

They wouldn't even let you sell it here.

Ryan Ashworth 1:13:51

I was like, I was like, how do we get that on like up, right?

Vipul Bindra 1:13:56

You have to get some kind of clearance, right?

Ryan Ashworth 1:13:58

Yeah, yeah. So so I had spoken with the producer and she was getting uh clearance from the airport. And so we had I had I had kind of been worried because I not know how that was gonna, and I think I mentioned it when we had that pre-pro call. I said, Hey, anybody flown a drone on MCO before? Like, and you're like, I flew drones, but never on the airport, because that seems pretty scary. So we get there, and um, and immediately my question was, hey, how how are we gonna fly, how are we gonna get the drone up? He goes, Oh, GGI lifted the band, like you can fly it wherever you want. And I was like, No, I was like, you there's still airspace restrictions. Like, I know, like I've flown in airspace areas before. Um, so we got onto literally like I I sent you some uh the uh the BTS, literally probably 50 yards from where planes were taking off, like crazy.

Vipul Bindra 1:14:51

And they allowed you to do it? That's the main thing.

Ryan Ashworth 1:14:53

Well, they're so I originally had said to the guy, I said, Hey, I said, There's just no way that they uh like DJI is going to lift this drone. And but I guess they don't care also, really. He's like, he's like, he's like, no, it should be able to get up. And so um we had to call MCO authority, so MCO security came on site and they were with us as a visual site. Um and so we go into DJI and we're trying to uh lift it off the lift it off the ground and it won't get up. And I'm like, see, I'm telling you. And it's like it's like restricted, restricted. And I'm like, look, it's telling me no restriction. And MCO is like, yeah, well, if we can get it up, like you guys can go up to 50 uh 50 um 50 feet in the air. And I was like, okay, that's fine, but like DJI is not letting me get it up. So what we had to do is we had to go through and have special authorization from MCO. They had to submit a file, we had to submit that through DJI, which had to get sent to the tower to say, like, we're only going to be flying in these parameters that outside of where the planes were being taken off, so we could get our client the super exterior. Well, in this time period of doing this and trying to lift it off, I had tried probably four or five times, put my phone number in, my my I'm a part 107, I had authority from MCO, all these things. And all of a sudden, I get a phone call and it's Homeland Security, and it's Agent White from Homeland Security. That's funny.

Vipul Bindra 1:16:21

He calls they're tracking, it has tracking in DC.

Ryan Ashworth 1:16:24

And so he calls me, he says, Hi, this is Agent White. I'm with Homeland Security. I'm curious why you're trying to fly a drone at MCO. And I said, uh, I'm a commercially licensed pilot. I'm working for a client, and I'm right here with the MCO head of security. He's standing right here next to me, and he had to get on with the phone, get on the phone together. So there was like three or four uh planes that were wondering why is there signal of a un or of a unpiloted or uh unmanned, I guess it is UAV. They're seeing a UAV. The worst part was that there was another photographer there that was also flying. So they saw two of them in the same airspace.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:06

Yeah, that this which is yeah, yeah.

Ryan Ashworth 1:17:08

And with everything going on in the world today, they're like, this is a red flag. Yeah. And so they see all these transmissions going up of two DJI drones for some. I mean, it's like you think about it. It's like it's a regular person can't just come bring their drone onto uh on an airport property and and say, Oh, I'm gonna fly it up. Like that's just it doesn't work that way. So I said to Dude, I'm like, this is not gonna happen. But eventually, after speaking to Homeland Security and being in touch with now, you know they have a file on you. So I said that's it. I was telling Adam that I was like, and next time I go to MCO, like I'm gonna get patted out, I'm gonna get searched for sure. So um, but uh, but yeah, so you've been selected for a random check.

Vipul Bindra 1:17:44

Yeah, right. Random.

Ryan Ashworth 1:17:45

Yeah. So uh but after speaking to Homeland Security, it's the first time I ever had to speak to Homeland Security, hopefully the last time. Um, after we chatted and uh he everything was good. Um, we were able to submit the file. It went quickly. It typically takes 30 days, but they were able to expedite it. Um, we were able to get uh up in the air. Um, everything was approved. After many times of restarting, restarting, restarting, um, we were approved and we got to fly. And so I have some BTS of us flying my drone next to a bunch of 737. That's crazy.

Vipul Bindra 1:18:21

Yeah, you know, you went to that part. So I've been I filmed at MCO a lot. Yeah. Uh but generally uh what I do is just pull the van of whatever vehicle I'm in, and then they'll escort us. But I'm generally like on a private jet or something like that. So this was interesting that you were like right next to all the real action that's happening.

Ryan Ashworth 1:18:37

Yeah, we so we were so Adam was luckily down on the ground getting some getting some shots of the workers and the facility that they're building over there on Terminal C. And then um, yeah, the producer wanted an aerial shot of of the whole facility getting built. And uh yeah, it's just you know, it's obviously under understanding realistic, but probably one of the scariest I've been uh in a long time being on set, not like scared like that I'm not gonna do a good job, but scared more for like getting in trouble. It's like one wrong move, and yeah, something goes wrong, and I'm gonna take it away.

Vipul Bindra 1:19:11

You get put in crazier situations as a filmmaker, and that's like one of the crazier ones. I've flown, obviously, I have Mavic 4 Pro, but never on airport uh property. I uh but that's but that's a good learning experience. Now, next time, you know, you uh I know if I ever needed it, who I'm calling.

Ryan Ashworth 1:19:26

Yeah, and and that's why I uh I kind of wanted to chat about this too, because I literally I was telling you about this, I looked up so many things. I Google Gemini, I was on ChatGBT, I was on everything. How do I fly a drone on MC Airport? And it's just like it's like, well, you're gonna need this, and if this doesn't work, you go to a drop zone, and like and like nobody gave me absolute clear instructions. And so one of the things we talked about was like learning by trial by error.

Vipul Bindra 1:19:52

And actually, that's what most of filmmaking is is

Problem Solving Is The Real Job

Vipul Bindra 1:19:55

problem solving. Believe it or not, like uh well, you have people know, but like most people listening, a lot of times just showing up on set, like most of them, you know, what you're doing is like just solving problems. So if you don't know how to solve problems, you're not gonna be a good filmmaker. Understanding the exposure triangle is one of the easiest things to do. It's like and that's what I'm saying. Like, a lot of people put so much pressure into images. Yes, make great images, but like that's the least of your you know, worries. It's like, yeah, what would do you do when I don't know, a tripod leg breaks? Like what do you do? I don't know when your battery is not connecting, or something like that, or like this. Like somebody they go, I want a shot jib shot and you don't have a jib, you know. Yeah, how do you fake it? And stuff like that. It's like problem solving, and the better you get at it, I think the higher you can charge, absolutely, and the more you can get hired.

Ryan Ashworth 1:20:39

Yeah, it's so I'm so glad you you brought that up. Problem solving is the biggest thing being on set, but also when a client or company trusts you to with their brand. Murphy's Law, right? It's like something can go if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. And uh I that's the way I think is like every single time I go on set, like something's going to happen, and it's your job to figure out how to fix it. And I think also, too, is like you know, people are trusting you with their brand, they're trusting you to creatively make these decisions. Excuse me. It's like you you know that there's something's gonna go wrong, so like have a backup of backup, but then also they have they want to be sure that everything's gonna be okay.

Vipul Bindra 1:21:23

So no, that's why exactly I bring backup of backup of everything because things break, especially you know, during live streams. There's no guarantee that you know a certain cable won't just die on you, or a certain battery won't just die on you. Yeah, you have to then be able to be ready for it, right?

Ryan Ashworth 1:21:38

And I think even extended off of gear, like the way I I try to think now is like obviously you want to be prepared if something breaks to be a problem solver, but also for somebody's business, like you have to be a problem solver for their business too. Now it's like most people come in and they're like, hey, I got 30 grand, you know, I want to do you know a production, I want to do a commercial, this, you know, and and and here's here's what I want to do. Okay, now as a production company or a business owner myself, you have to figure out how to creatively express their problem and solve it using high-quality video. Like that is, and they trust you to do that. And so, you know, for me, I I genuinely think that being a problem solver and learning how to adapt and and problem solve for people's businesses, but also problem solve for your everyday production, you have to be good at it. And that's why we talked about the beginning is like it's not about the gear, it's not about this, it's it's getting the experience of just doing it. And even if it's a smaller scale, the most might, you know, small scale you can you can find, doing it, learning it, growing, that's the biggest thing you can do.

Vipul Bindra 1:22:45

Exactly. And like I said, I think it's it just is a cohesive thing, right? It's I think a little bit about everything, it's about being talented and getting good images, it's about being a problem solver. And when things go wrong, problem solving. It's about being prepared so you have backups of major things that break, right? And still working hard and being a good person, exactly, and being a nice person and being there, showing up on time, you know. I I don't know how I still keep getting work. I'm only five minutes late, though. So it works. But you say you make up for it because you're efficient. So exactly. I'll set up uh half the time. So I'm still always done before the time is needed, but anyway. Uh but you know what I mean, like it's like stuff like that. So you have to be, you know, an all-arounder package to ultimately, you know, get work. And uh, and but the good thing here is uh once you start to build that network, once you people start to notice that, you constantly can start getting work. And there's so many avenues and niches you can kind of get into. It's just wide world, you know. At the end they look, you're filming, you know, but there's so many industries that need help, you know, whether it's construction, it's medical, it's I don't know, political, it's uh, you know, I don't know, law. I mean, there's the the amount of industries is just crazy. Like I said, last year I did with Josh, um it was one of the craziest projects. We were at a laundry convention, and you know, that's where you go, like what you know, things that you wouldn't even think about for people who operate, you know, laundromats. And I'm like, that's crazy that such even thing exists. But like then you start to explore, you know, different various uh you know, industries and and and uh niches within that industry, it's just crazy. And then sometimes you can specialize and just carve out your own niche in that, yeah, or you can be versatile, like at least where I try to be, and do a little bit of everything just so you don't get bored.

Ryan Ashworth 1:24:24

Yeah, that's for sure. I mean 100% right. I I recently um I've been working with he's kind of like a business coach, a friend kind of thing, and uh, you know, we've been chatting about you know what's the rest of this year look like, and he he's more of a friend, like I I don't pay him, right? So um and he we were talking about and he uh did had nothing to do with video production, like he's he doesn't come from video production, but he's uh worked in multiple different businesses um in the past, and one of the things he was telling me, he's like, Ryan, if you can get good at doing one thing and solving somebody's problem to create a dollar amount where you can measurably uh say, Hey, I did this for this person and it gave this, like you like once it can become irreplaceable. And so, like I said, finding a niche is great, you know, going in there and saying, you know, I help medical companies create this amount of work or this this job for this reason, or I help construction companies, you know, um get this many leads, like that's great. And I think I think if you can find that, uh certainly go out and do that because and that's popped about the opportunity, is like if you know somebody out there that is doing something, and how can you help them? Every single person, every business nowadays needs high quality content. Yeah, whether it's photo or video, it's like they need it. So at the end of the day, if you can be the person that they turn to to solve their problem, and if you work hard and you're a good person and you understand what they're trying to provide, you become the person that they need on a daily basis.

Vipul Bindra 1:25:55

Exactly. And just know that every level of company needs content. Yeah, so there may be uh so opportunity, even if you're starting out, because there's always companies that are like, hey, we are bottom dollar price, that's their marketing. So they can use somebody who's becoming you know, new in the industry that can make them fast, cheap content. But then there's gonna be you know medium players, they're gonna be players for them, yeah. You know, they they are the best, so they want the most premium content, and that's where people who could charge more come in. So, what I'm saying, just like there's different brands and different niches, there's enough opportunity for everyone. Because a lot of people, I've had people here, you know, who've called, like uh, you know, there's two ways to look at it. It's like this person's my competition, and then the other one's like attitude is I think what we have is like nobody's competition because ever there's enough work for everyone. Absolutely. Uh so it's like you just have to go find the opportunity. It's at every level and every price point, and there's so many companies just within your local community, but then you can start expanding, you know. Hey, I can drive an hour, yeah, I can drive two hours. They charge a couple hundred extra. I can drive four hours, you know what I mean? And once you start to expand your uh thing, and then you go, Oh, I have an airport, I can go anywhere, you know, as long as they play my flight in my hotel or whatever. And then so I'm saying it slowly starts to expand your horizons and it's unlimited opportunity, it's an untapped market.

Ryan Ashworth 1:27:08

It's like it, it's it's like, like I said, when I started when I went to film school back 13, 14, 13 years ago now, when I started, everybody thought, oh, we're gonna move to Atlanta, we're gonna move to New York, we're gonna move to LA. And it's like that's where we want to get work done, right? And it's like if you want to be in the film or production industry, like that's where you're gonna move. And like I just kind of thought, I'm like, okay, so go move to those areas, right? And be the smallest fish in the biggest pond. Or you go find an area, and this could be anywhere in the world, and you go find an opportunity and you create the opportunity for yourself and you work hard, you do a good job, and then you are recognized, and you can be wherever you need to be. It doesn't matter. And so I I used to think that you yeah, you had to go move somewhere to be like this kind of special person. But now nowadays I think if you work hard and you you could be anywhere in the world and you can be in the film industry and you could be doing creative, really creative projects.

Vipul Bindra 1:28:10

And you know, people cause like I so I helped this agency from LA. So they were coming to Orlando, they were doing something with a celebrity or whatever, and they needed like support. They needed somebody to be the guy who comes on set and you know brings the gear. Cool. So you didn't have to fly with it. Point is something I do all the time. So like I didn't even think about it. Yeah, I came and I did my thing and I left, and I was versatile as in like they were like, I think I did a video about it too. But point is they they they got me in set, so I was technically just a grip or whatever, right? Because I'm bringing you the gear. And then all of a sudden they're like, we don't have an audio guy, which is so I just was like, sure, no worries, I'll jump in and I'll do audio. And that's the thing about being knowledgeable enough. And they didn't need the any level of audio because of course they had clients that were like, oh, we want cans, we want this, we want that. Point is because I can uh you know, uh, I can provide. I took care of it and I left. I didn't even think about it. I was already happy I'm paying getting paid, you know, a decent amount of money to just sit there because most of the day we were waiting on the talent. Point is, and I got a recently call from them. They're like, hey, we had this shoot happening in a completely different state somewhere else, but we want you because we had such a great time. Awesome. And uh at first I'm like, I didn't do that much, you know. Like, I'm like, is it does it make financial sense to fly me somewhere with you know some gear? And it's gonna be double because you know, nice flights, multiple days of travel. But then you have to think from their perspective. Uh, you know, they're an agency, they're working with some high profile people, they're charging plenty. And for them, that reliability, I guess, the experience with me was worth it, where they're like, no, we'd rather have this guy because we know what to expect on set, and he'll jump in where it's needed. Because you know, they had their own team. Like I was just a support person, and I was able to jump in wherever role, whatever they needed. That's awesome. And and then this way they don't have to fly with anything, they just showed up, they did their thing, and they left. Exactly. So, what I'm saying is anyone else watched that job, they'd be like, This guy just had a few lights, some sound, you know, some uh some lenses. What I'm saying is like basic stuff. I I'm not even saying that's like some high-end thing we're doing there, but it's that reliability, it's the ability to jump into various roles, it's the ability to be reliable and trustworthy. That I don't think can be replaced. So stop thinking from the value you bring, because you know, if you start fighting on price point, you'll always lose because there will always be somebody cheaper. Always, always, and and my style is like is that I didn't even offer, I didn't even think about it. It's like this doesn't make sense, but you have to think from their perspective. It's like, hey, if you want it, I like the same thing. They're like, We were happy with what you did. I was like, I'll do the same thing, but it'll be you know, travel on top of that. Are you okay with that? They were like, Yep, yeah, and that's the what I'm trying to get to is like, you know, the whole United States, if not the whole world, is our territory. We can go work wherever, as long as the client values you and the value you provide.

Ryan Ashworth 1:30:47

And you work hard and you're a good person. Like, that's that's at the end of the day. If you work hard and you're a good person, you can live wherever you want to live and you can still do the highest quality creative work that you want to do.

Vipul Bindra 1:30:58

And also remember, it's not always the highest quality work that pays well. Yeah, exactly. A lot of clients don't need the highest quality, they need the most reliable, good quality. Yeah, you know, that's more important to them than the most highest quality ever.

Ryan Ashworth 1:31:13

Yeah, yeah. You don't always need the highest quality, they need somebody who is going to get the job done, who's gonna be a good person, who's gonna work hard, and it's gonna be efficient.

Vipul Bindra 1:31:21

Exactly. A lot of times I get paid highest, where it's like, hey, you're gonna have 15 minutes to get in this room set up, 15 minutes to interview the CEO, and it needs to be done, right? And we cannot miss this. So I hope that makes sense. So I'm getting hired not because I have the most gear or I can do the best setup or the most beautiful interviews. Like, I can set up in 15 minutes faster than anyone else. Yeah, right? Because that's the time you have, because the room is booked. So sometimes it can just be such schedule limitations where most people will think, oh, that would mean you know you have to have the most gear or whatever knowledge. At that point, it doesn't matter how good book like you can set up, you don't have time. So, how can you make this thing look beautiful in 15 minutes and go get your two-camera interview? Yeah, so sometimes it's skills like that that actually get you hired, not even uh the quality levels like how fast can you set up, how uh versatile can you be? Because at that point, if the CEO is there, and this CEO's life is let's say very busy, their fortune, you know, 500 company CEO. You're not important, they're important. So you being able to record when they're there is is far more valuable to whoever's hiring you than anything else.

Ryan Ashworth 1:32:22

Yeah, yeah, and their time is valuable too. They measure their day by minutes.

Vipul Bindra 1:32:26

Exactly.

Ryan Ashworth 1:32:26

I've worked with a lot of CEOs, business owners, people, and they come in, they pop in, they say, What's the first thing you say? What do I say? Like, like that's the first thing. All right, it's like, what do you want me to say? And uh yeah, they they measure their minutes uh with dollars. Yeah, and so for you to come and to efficiently those small amount of minutes that you have with them to create a high quality product, that's once again another opportunity for you to become irreplaceable, whether that person's in Seattle, Washington, or Orlando, Florida.

Vipul Bindra 1:32:56

Um And that's why it's worth paying. Like because a lot of people like don't get that. If you're new, it's like, why would that fly? I don't know, let's say some guy for five grand or six grand, including his flights or whatever, to come do this 15-minute interview, then the local guy who could do it for 500 bucks. Because that is a very common thread that most people don't don't are in this industry or just starting out, don't get uh or trying to level up. It's because of that. Like it's not about your rate and your quality, it's about the reliability and trust. And sometimes that is worth to these companies a lot more. And you have to think that companies, a big big companies, they make millions every hour. So, like a few thousand is not important, it's the reputation of the people hiring you. Yeah, because you also have to know at the end of the day, somebody's responsible for what you do at that company, which is not you, and they have to justify the money they spent on you. Yeah, so sometimes them not being the cheapest isn't bad for their job because guess what? If they pick the cheapest guy and they screwed up, obviously they look bad, but the person at the company now looks bad and they're not gonna jeopardize their job because it's not their money, it's the company's money. They just have to justify the value to the company, right? Absolutely. I hope that makes sense to people listening, you know what I'm trying to say here.

Ryan Ashworth 1:34:07

You have to justify exactly the being there on sale. Obviously, you know, you you come whatever your day rate is or whatever, but like justifying the opportunity that it brings and how quickly you can get done with you know whatever quality or reliability that you're providing. It makes sense.

Leaving A Job With Baby Coming

Vipul Bindra 1:34:25

Exactly. Well, let's shift gears. I want to talk about uh, you know, something really cool. As in, you know, you uh talk about like the business side of things. So, for example, you were working somewhere else, you made a big transition, yeah, you went independent on your own, and uh you have a baby on the way. Like, talk about like you know, being in I'm saying a crazy situation, yeah. I mean, it doesn't get any crazier than that because I know how stressful that having a kid can be. Yeah, but then on top of that, like you know, taking all being a business owner is a big risk, you know. Yeah, our our business has ebbs and flows. So what I'm saying is like uh if you can do it, then anyone can do it. So kind of walk me through that. Like, hey, how how challenging was it? And is it because you still your kid's not here yet, right? Yeah, so but then how'd you manage it?

Ryan Ashworth 1:35:12

Like that stress, and yeah, so yeah, so for everybody watching, I guess uh, you know, a few months ago I was working with a company and decided to go out on my own. Um, all in the span of like a short like two months span. Um got married right after got married. Uh my six, seven weeks after we got married, my wife comes to me and she says, Hey, uh, we're pregnant. And I was like, my life like shifted in front of my face. It was like, wow, like this is crazy. So uh did not expect it, but was so excited. Uh, but I had to think about what the future was holding, and I had to think about you know what what was best for me and my family and what I'd always wanted. And so uh I did decide. I said, you know, we just got married, I have a very supporting wife, I'm very thankful for her. Um, and we have a baby on the way now, and I had to think about what I wanted for me. So I parted ways with the the company I was working with and went and started my own business. Um, and every single day I woke up, I was scared. Like I can't imagine, yeah. Yeah, I like I I'm newly married, like I'm trying to figure out this married thing, like, oh, you gotta be a good husband, these are things you gotta do. And like, like I'm uh marriage is hard already. So I'm trying to figure out you know how to be a good husband, and then I'm like, okay, now I need to also worry about uh I have a baby, like safety of the baby, like what's coming, like what I need to learn, what what my wife can eat, what she cannot eat. So I'm like learning those things, and then I leave my stable you know W-2 job, and I decide to go and be a business owner myself and run crews and do production and uh and and manage you know spreadsheets and things like that. It's like every single day I woke up scared. But like we talked about before, which I'm glad you brought this up, is there's no other way, like I there's no other option for me. And I think that when I thought about that, and we chatted about that a few months ago, when I said there's no other option for me other than this, my whole attitude is like I am doing this for my wife, my baby coming, and and for us because this is what I've always wanted. And when I thought that there's no way out, like this is how I'm gonna do it no matter what, like you can't you can't quit, you can't give up. It's like we're gonna do this no matter what, we're gonna figure it out. And uh, and so I ever since that day, you know, it's been it's been months now, um, that uh it's been like that. And I just wake up every single day with the intention I'm gonna give it 100% and I'm gonna work hard and I'm gonna be a good person. And like I had those, I had those intentions in mind. Obviously, I've been really scared, um, just understanding, you know, where's income gonna come from? And like my one of my first questions was like, is like, yeah, I'm having a baby now. I'm I've just I've decided to change my nine to five stable nine to five where I was getting a paycheck every two weeks to a 24-7 when I didn't know when I was gonna get it.

Vipul Bindra 1:38:06

You work harder, yeah. And that's the crazy thing because let's be real, nine to five has a time off, you know, like when you're you're off the job, you're off the job, versus with the being a business owner, you work 24-7. 24-7. And kid is a 24-7 thing. And like you said, marriage is a 24-7 thing. So you you got three things. So, you know, personally, I'm saying everyone I think should be independent, yeah, because there's so much more opportunity. Yeah, but that by itself is such a scary process because you never know where your income is coming from. You don't know what next month. You don't know how to do it either. Exactly. You're doing 20 jobs in one that you don't want to do, like accounting and you know, uh, you saw a pile of receipts uh my dining table. But yeah, uh, but I'm saying it's difficult as it is, but then to add, you know, new marriage to it, to have a kid uh, you know, yeah on the way to it, which so it'll get even more difficult.

Ryan Ashworth 1:38:52

Yeah, obviously shout out to you that I'm saying you're managing it. Thank you. Yeah, obviously it's not, you know, it's not the way you draw it up, but at the end of the day, like I I think of it as an opportunity for me to grow. Like just personally speaking about this, I think of it every single day. I'm gonna fail. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna say the right thing to my wife. I was like, oh, I'm not gonna do that right. I'll never do that again. And like soon, I'm soon I'm gonna be a dad, first-time dad. It's like I'm gonna learn things, how to be a dad, and like I'm gonna grow doing that. But also as a business owner, it's like now I'm a business owner in production, you know, trying to work with collaborative, creative, collaborative clients that are trying to help them every single day. That's my plan. Um, but being a business owner is like I'm learning every single day how to grow uh myself and do better things for my business. So, like I said, 24-7, I'm thinking of, oh, I need to do this for this client, and I need to do this, and I need to figure out this you know spreadsheet or this contract. Oh, wait, I need to update my website, I need to do social media today, I need to do a video. It's like it's like we've talked about this before. It's like there's so many different things, and obviously, like, yeah, I I didn't plan for this all. Like, if this was ideal, you know, I would have done this, you know, at a different time when I didn't have other things. But honestly, like it's been the the greatest unexpected blessing for me. It's like I've been had so much growth. And I will say this too as crazy as it sounds, as crazy, like you j you got married and then you got pregnant, or you and your wife got pregnant, and then you decided to start a business. It's like as crazy as it sounds, I've never been happier in my entire life. That I've now uh feel so blessed and so honored and excited to be my wife's husband, first of all, to have a child on the way and to be able to now collaborate with people like you and Adam and David, and also the outreach of people that have have I've spoken with that have given me advice of being a business owner is like, here's what you gotta do. It's like I've never felt so thankful um and honored and and and excited, honestly. Like I wake up now, uh every day I wake up now excited to see what the day is going to bring.

Vipul Bindra 1:40:57

That's crazy. But that is the right move, and and you know, that separates you, I'm saying, and and and anyone else I'm saying from other people. Look, um, this is very hard. Yeah, all three things in to get in in individually are hard. So you doing it together is hard, but but there's two types of people, at least I find, you know, you can take uh this crazy situation head on, and then a lot of people will just give up, yeah, right. And that's fine. That's where nine to five jobs exist for them. But you yourself, like, you know, you separate, you you, you're like, hey, how can I do best? I don't have failure, it's not an option, right? And that's when you find uh the right solution, the the you know, if you find success, because guess what? You you won't do everything right in any avenue. Yeah, kids are the hardest thing ever. Yeah, but what will you do is the right attitude. You make a mistake and you go, okay, I learned. I'll do some, I'll do better. And then this is how you find success in life. And I think you're following the right path because you have the right attitude behind it. Everything else can be learned. Yeah, you know, uh it no matter how many parenting books you're gonna read, it's not the you know, life experience that will teach you. Yeah, but I think as long as you have that right attitude, because guess what? Now you're gonna be doing three full-time jobs together, right? Yeah, but as long as you're like, no, I'll figure it out. Yeah, failure is not an option, you'll get through

Cold Outreach That Lands Big Deals

Vipul Bindra 1:42:10

it, and which you are. I mean, you're finding success. So talk to me about that. So obviously you went independent. What do you do? So, how do you go get clients? What's your first move? Yeah. Did you buy $30,000 worth of gear?

Ryan Ashworth 1:42:20

No, I absolutely did not. I actually looked at what gear I had. It's funny. I I I I looked at what gear I had. So, what did you have at that point? I had an A7S3. Okay. I had A7S3, which it had basically an FX3. Basically an FX3, but also the good thing is like I love photography. I wouldn't call myself a photographer at all, but I love getting creative um and and taking photos when I when I get the chance. Sometimes like I I love being out outdoor in nature. So having the viewfinder to be like quote unquote photographer still gets great, great quality photos. Um, so having an A7S3 was great. Um, I got a Cineback, I put on Cineback so I was able to rig it, mount it up. Um and yeah, I just just kind of kept the the needs that I needed right there. But also like I know I have if I need an FXX, I go to you at all times. So I just took what I had in front of me and just kind of multiplied off that. Um, but uh yeah, I've been very lucky that it getting clients. Um for me, I've had a lot of experience in relationships. Um, I used to work for the Orlando Magic, so I was a video producer for them, it was full time. So I have people that I've worked with there that have gone on and we've chatted and um still helping them, um, other clients too that have come to me in the past. They're like, hey Ryan, we we we love you, we love your attitude, um, we love your vision, like we want to keep working with you. So as I've shared my journey of like I'm newly married, new, newly excited to have a baby and a newly a business owner. Like, people have reached out to me and they're like, oh, like we we want to still work with you, like we were excited for you.

Vipul Bindra 1:43:55

So basically, your clients came from people you already worked with in your past ventures or something.

Ryan Ashworth 1:44:01

Some of them, honestly, some of them, I would say like I definitely like 50, 40 to 50 percent of have been like that. But then I've had other my other 40, 50 percent have been I'd say cold outreach. So every single week I give I I I make a point to reach out to five to ten people, random businesses, random people, agencies.

Vipul Bindra 1:44:19

It is And are you doing it through what phone, email? What's your method of yeah?

Ryan Ashworth 1:44:23

It's honestly anything. It's because cold outreach is the hardest part of it. Hardest, hardest for sure to to do um Instagram DM um and email and um website inquiry inquiries um and phone calls has definitely been like cold outreach. But every single week I I set aside time to do at least five to ten people. Um and I just reach out to them and I just quickly say, Hey, you know, I here's what I do. I've helped so-and-so business do this. Um, you are certainly a business that I could certain I know that I could help. Uh if you just want to chat, and I and I I always I never want to like being a business owner, you're now a salesperson, right? And so I went into this telling myself, I'm I'm not gonna be a used car salesman, I'm not gonna be a door-to-door salesman that's selling solar. Like, I I don't want to do that. I want to come across as somebody I know I can help you, and here's how I would help you. If you are interested, great. If you are not, that is perfectly fine. And so I've been doing that, you know, five to ten times a week. Um, I've also like seen a lot on like Facebook groups, like I've been in uh come um uh group chats where people are like, hey, I need so recently I'm in a group chat with uh with somebody and they're in Tampa and they reached out and they said, Hey, we're looking for somebody between Orlando and Fort Lauderdale um that has experience in uh luxury real estate. Um, they're doing like this, X, Y, Z, and I was just like, hey, I have I can do that, I have this, I have that. Um certainly can tackle it. And so it's just like being the right person for the right job in these groups and just being making myself available is definitely the other avenue. So I'd say, like, like I said, 40, 50% comes from past clients, people I've worked with, or like people that like know somebody else needs like work done. I'm lucky I'm also born and raised here in Orlando.

Vipul Bindra 1:46:11

So for me, you already know people, yeah.

Ryan Ashworth 1:46:13

Yeah, I'm I'm very, very lucky. My wife and I are both born and raised here in Orlando, so we we have a good sphere of influence of people that that want to help support. I'm thankful for that.

Vipul Bindra 1:46:22

Yeah, because there's not that many people who are technically natives, you know.

Ryan Ashworth 1:46:26

If we're a dying breed, I guess they say, but um, so yeah, so we have luckily have that, and then like I said, the other 50% is me cold outreach and just being have you had success with it?

Vipul Bindra 1:46:35

Because like I said, cold outreach is the hardest way to get business. Yeah. Have you had actually any luck closing deals?

Ryan Ashworth 1:46:40

I have, yeah. So ironically, the job we worked on together that came from Facebook.

Vipul Bindra 1:46:46

Look at that.

Ryan Ashworth 1:46:46

So she had posted uh producer of post to say I'm looking for a crew um here between Orlando and Tampa. Um, and you know, this this is a job, blah, blah, blah. I called outreach on email, said, Hey, I saw your Facebook post, blah, blah, blah. Um, here's my experience, here's what I've done. Uh, I'd love to help you out. And two days later, I got an email back, says, Yeah, I think you'd be great for the job, and let's get started. And what led into just two quick cold emails turned into a $20,000 job. Look at that.

Vipul Bindra 1:47:15

And on my side, you know, for people like I know I do zero, and again, that's not a something to be proud of. You should spend time on, I'm saying SEO and other stuff, but for us, uh, same thing. Most of my work comes from because I've been doing this so long, people know me. Yeah, so I've not done any SEO efforts, but you wouldn't believe like I close at least 50k of deals every month from just random email leads that we get in. And it's crazy to me for zero review effort, zero uh, you know, uh, I'm saying SEO effort. So if actually people spend some time in optimizing their website and their SEO and the getting reviews in how much leads you can get in just from website. Because if I, by trying literally nothing, yeah, just random leads show up on my phone, and all I do is like this. I reach out and they're like, okay, tell me more. And then they tell me more, and I, as long as I think it's a good fit, I send them a proposal and 80, 90% close. Because if they got to my website, they definitely wanted to work with me. Yeah, and I'm always like every one of those I close, I'm just like, whoa, like this is crazy that we're closing that for doing literally zero effort. So, how much opportunity is out there is crazy. And Facebook.

Ryan Ashworth 1:48:18

Yeah, Facebook, dude. I emailed a guy, a company because I knew that I could work with him. So this is about two months ago. I knew that I could work with this company, and I they had a great message. It was a mental health company, and they were all over the eastern part of the United States, and they have a great message where they're trying to help a certain amount of people by this amount of day. And I was like, You're putting it out there on social media, and it's just like, it's just like you're just saying it, but like, how are you doing it? And so I put a message out to them. I got their email through their website. I said, Hi, I'm a storyteller, blah, blah, blah. Here's this, that, that. Here's my website. And like, I just was like, I'd love to help you guys. And immediately email us me back a few hours later and goes, dude, I love the drone shot you have. You've sold me already. I was like, look at that. I didn't know it's just like on my website. So uh there's like I said, there is so much opportunity out there. Um, and and it's just being available, being present. I'll I'll say it again, like working hard and being a good person will get you a long way because people will see that and they'll say, Oh, Ryan works hard, he does this, like on my jobs, he he did X, Y, and Z. And even if they see it in a little testimonial on your website, like people love that. They're like, Okay, I I feel like I can trust him. So, yeah, I'm just trying to be a person that is reliable, like you say, um, and that can get out there. And and that's I've honestly every single week for me, knowing that I have a baby on the way, I know that I so that's your driving. That's my drive. Like, I have to like I have a little picture in my office and it's his ultrasound. Yeah, and uh, and it's a picture of my wife in there too. And I like I look at it every day as I get into work, and I'm like, that's my why. Like, I have to do it because I don't have another option for me. And uh, and I and I'm I'm gonna and and I That uh from day one that I was gonna have to work my butt off to make sure that I could get there. And uh, and I I definitely think that you know, sometimes in today's people they think that you know this opportunity is just gonna come to them. Like the guy who just bought 30k worth of gear, the opportunity is just gonna come. People are just calling, oh, he's got 30k worth of gear, he's I'm gonna call him. Great, but it's not, it's it's going out there, creating the opportunity for yourself, working hard, being a good person, and reliable. And uh, and and so I I it's a message that I just I tell myself every week, I'm so thankful for the people that have supported me, the people that I've learned from. Um, but but that's essentially what's making me less scared and more excited is that is that I know I have this opportunity in front of me, just go get it, Ryan. Like you that's what I tell myself,

The Mindset Of A Creative Owner

Ryan Ashworth 1:50:45

just go get it.

Vipul Bindra 1:50:46

Exactly. And and like I said, you're putting in effort, you're learning from it. So success just comes naturally.

Ryan Ashworth 1:50:50

I mean, you talked about it too, because you we we originally said like you were working at Verizon and you said like you're like I I know I can do more of this, like yeah, a little bit. What was you know, you you were scared at one point because you were having a kid, I think, right?

Vipul Bindra 1:51:03

Exactly. Well, I had a kid at that point, but yeah, no, the same thing. And I was like, so I I was always into film, right? So um it was more video creation and tech. So for me, it's weird. It didn't start straight with like I want to be a filmmaker, it was more like, hey, I want to be on a like play with tech because that's what I enjoyed. And then I slowly realized, oh, filmmaking is technology, and you know, so it was like, oh, and then I slowly wanted to be behind the camera then instead of front of the camera, and that's what I started. But the point is, I was always making video and then started, you know, went to film school or whatever, journalism school. And then I was charging people, but the the whole thing is it was always a side thing, you know, it was never like the main thing because I didn't know business skills then, right? Yeah, and then so I I had a job at that time and I was doing this on the side. And it's funny, it's the people around you who are encouraging me, it's like, hey, design this logo for me, do this for me. Because you know, I've it's not like the talent was the issue, it was more like the business sense of it. And then all I had to do was just genuinely sit down. The the thing, what happens is, you know, it's scary because you go, I have a healthcare, you know, I have a steady income, I have a mortgage, I have car payments. You you you see what I'm saying, right? And then uh, so it's just that leap of faith. It's like going, hey, if I quit tomorrow, I have no idea how any of this is getting paid. Yeah. Plus, how is my child going to go see a doctor or whatever? So at the end of the day, look, for me, it was just taking that leap of faith and it worked out amazing. Yeah. I also do tell people, like, look, doesn't mean you quit everything and tomorrow you're gonna have 30 grand like I did. No, but you have to take that leap of faith as long as you believe in yourself and you go that failure is not an option. Because at that point, I was like, look, this is it. And there were times, let me be real, where you were you kind of questioned, you go, I could go get a job, I could go work for someone else and still do video. Certainly, because you know that was the goal, right? First was just to go do a video, yeah. And and and and those are the times when you don't want to quit. That's when you double down, triple down, and you go, no, how do I do it better? And for me, it's paid off really, really well. Um, so thank goodness. Yeah, but you're right, it is taking that leap of faith, and it is the hardest thing, but also if you do get into it, don't get into it half-hearted. That's the only thing I tell anyone because you don't want to be in a situation where you have a kid and you can't provide, you know?

Ryan Ashworth 1:53:12

Yeah, uh I I at the end of the day, and I think you do too, is like what I my biggest driving factor is that I want my kid and my wife to look up and say dad is working his butt off, and he isn't he is I want to be an inspiration to them. I want to say that I inspire my son someday to work his butt off because it's you if you want something, you gotta go get it. Yeah, and I'll say to your point too, is like the thing about being in a creative field, what I've learned is I think it's very hard to be a creative in a nine to five because creativity is 24-7. Like I think of creativity all the time. And so uh to be a nine to five, and like I've worked with people who literally will show up at 9.01 and leave at 459. And like for me, like my mind is always going on what the next opportunity is. Like when I was driving here, I was thinking of like two or three other films like I could do. And uh, and and so for me, like uh when I see when I'm in a creative environment with other people who are not like or their brain is shutting off at 459, their brain is shutting off, like that pulls away my creative curtain. And it's just like oh, like, oh, I could just go be lazy and go do that with them. And first of all, nothing wrong with people. Yeah, if that's what you enjoy, that's what you want, yeah, yeah. 100% support that. Like, I know I know family members of mine, they're like, hey, I want stability, I'm gonna log in at nine, I'm gonna be done at five, and like the rest of my time is is is spent doing what I want to do, and I I enjoy it. 100% agree. Like, do that, go for that. Um, if I fully support that, like I know one of my friends, he's like, I'm a team, I'm a team guy. I need to be a part of a team. 100% support that. But if you're out there and you're a creative like us and you can pair that with some business skills where you can understand how you're gonna get money, how you're gonna provide for your family, and still be really creative. I think for me, it's that's why I said it's never gonna work for me to be another nine to fiver anymore, because I'm always thinking about the opportunities. And if I don't, if I'm not around people that also think that way, then it's like no, it it does take certain type of people.

Vipul Bindra 1:55:21

You're absolutely right. Because here's the thing this has to be self-motivated. Because I, and like I said, yeah, we've talked about it, and I'm going to my old job because uh, as in like I've seen people of both kinds, right? There's people who are like, I'm gonna clock in, I'm gonna clock out, they're just there to get a paycheck so they can go have a party or do whatever in the evening. And if that's your energy, look, go get a job, whether in the film industry or some other industry, there's enough agencies or places where they need a job. But yeah, because it to do what we're doing, it requires a certain type of personality, you know. And as long as you're passionate about it, you care about whatever your driving force is, whether that's a picture of your, you know, like you said, ultrasound or your kid, whatever, as long as you're self-motivated, because here's the thing if you need somebody to come tell you to work on a certain project, you'll fail, you know, being uh, you know, an independent freelancer or a production company owner. Because at 3 a.m., like last night I was when I knew, oh crap, I gotta wake up and do this podcast with Ryan. And I'm still so passionate because I'm like, no, this, I gotta do this because I was working on a problem, right? And it's in my brain, the solution. So I'm like, at that point, yes, do I need to turn off my laptop, go to sleep? But I'm so passionate, I'm so excited. I'm like, no, I am gonna solve this, then I'm gonna go to sleep. That is a different trait, and I'm saying, and if you have it, then there's nothing more rewarding than what we're doing.

Ryan Ashworth 1:56:34

It's rewarding. You feel so good knowing that you solved this problem for yourself, yeah, and you're like, man, like that is the most rewarding and meaningful thing. Is you can create something and solve it and help somebody else. That to me, honestly, like that's been the biggest thing. And like, like I said, I have nothing against like the nine to five that this is created literally so for stability for for the most people in the world. But if you have the opportunity to go out there and do whatever you want to do on a large scale, I fully support it. And I'm and I'm so thankful. Like, like I said, yeah, it was very scary for me at the beginning, and it's scary for you too.

Vipul Bindra 1:57:13

Every day, even now is you know, there's ebbs and flows, right? There's extremely busy, then slowly.

Ryan Ashworth 1:57:18

It's crazy because I I get like this imposter syndrome all the time. When I when I am driving in the car, I'm waking up in the morning, I'm like, okay, so all these people could just call me today and say, no, no, no, no, no, and I could be completely back at zero once again. And guess what? I'd be fine with that. I mean, it would suck, it would be horrible, and I'm scared of it. It's scary, but I have the drive that I'm like, I am not going to stop. I have to make this for my family.

Vipul Bindra 1:57:45

Yeah, no, and it's the most rewarding feeling. My best part is when I'm sitting, I'm doing something, and my phone beeps, and there's like a payment, and you're like, oh, I just made money. Yeah. And or or the best ones, I'm like at Disney or somewhere with my kids. I'm just having fun. And it's like, oh, look at that. I made more money than most people make in a month. And I'm at Disney. You know what I mean? That is a whole feeling uh that you just cannot get something else. And then you get to go make, like you said, amazing things for these people. You get to help them make now 10x of that, 20x of that, and then they come back, especially. I mean, sure, we all love, we all work with soulless corporations. Yeah, yeah. But I'm saying the best ones for me, uh, and this is why, like, funny enough, my favorite jobs are the three to five people jobs because you can work directly with the marketing managers, the business owners. Because then when you get to hear like the impact that you made in their lives, yeah, because now they can do stuff like that with their kids and their families and their employees, it's such a rewarding feeling. It's just so much more than just making video, you know.

Ryan Ashworth 1:58:45

Absolutely. You're making a difference in somebody or a person's life. And I I generally like I appreciate that, I love that. And that's that's what gets me going. Is like if I can help somebody, some so uh uh just real quick, I did a production, um, big production Fort Myers uh a few months ago and uh sent it out, and company I work with is has been awesome to me, thankful for them, and um just got it approved a few days ago. And the marketing uh regional marketing manager sent me the group chat of what it um of what they were saying about the video. And I've never like typically this doesn't happen. Like it's usually like, hey, everything's good, thanks, great, great job. Like we're very thankful for you. And their group chat was blowing up about how great the video was and how thankful they were that it made them steal. And one of the comments was just like, This is the best video we've ever had done. We need to keep hiring this production company. Look at that. And I was just like, that is what like and I got paid for that. And I was like, how thankful am I? And it reminds me of back in when I was in film school. I was like, because when I was in school, I was doing films as my projects, and my friends were writing papers and and doing math problems. And I was like, how rewarding am I as like I get to go do a video that you know I get to keep forever and look back on, and you're gonna write that paper, and the second you turn in, you're never gonna look at it ever again. And so yeah, for me, it's just like it's been one of those things that like I feel so good knowing that I'm doing this for my soon-to-be son and my wife. I'm doing it for them. And the fact that I can also help out somebody's business, the fact that they say that like that is the best thing that's helping them, like to me, there's no more rewarding feeling for me. Um, and so that's where when I say, like, yeah, I jumped into this like scared, but at the end of the day, like that's what gets me going every single

Overdelivering With Emotion Driven Content

Ryan Ashworth 2:00:33

day.

Vipul Bindra 2:00:33

So, how do you how tell me about like how do you make that difference? So, what's your going in your brain? Somebody approaches you, whether you know them or not, but like, how are you like this video is gonna work for them or are you gonna make a difference? Like, how are you, what's your brain like brain dump on us? Like, yeah, what how are you trying to achieve that that that response?

Ryan Ashworth 2:00:52

I immediately, every so every single client that I work with, every single team that I work with, I always think, how can I give them more than they're asking for? I always, every single project I overdeliver. Even if that just means, hey, I have the drone up, I'm flying some nice drone sunset photos, like or a video, how about I take a few photos for you so that way you can update your LinkedIn? So that way the marketing manager can go, hey, look at our new project that's going. And they can get that within five minutes. I can download it and get it to them. So, first thing I'm always doing is how can I go the extra mile? That's that's that's uh non-negotiable for me. Um, is how I can do that. But how can I make a difference in somebody's business? Is I do a deep dive on every single person I work with. Now, I obviously there's jobs where you know we come together and we work, you know, and I'm I'm I'm I'm assisting you or assisting the team and like do that. But if it's somebody that I want to work with, I'm doing a deep dive on them. I'm gonna do what are they doing good, what are they doing bad, what is the what is their clients, their audience looking like. And so that deep dive I spend you know a day or two on, and I just look to see what is their problem. And then I think of how do I creatively do something different to help them, they're like, oh, we want to take a new avenue to doing this. And um, and and so for me, it's just uh creatively expressing something, maybe like the smallest, smallest, tiniest way, but going above and beyond and then just doing something different that creates an emotional response for them. So it's not so so when I think of content, like I think of uh either you gotta make somebody laugh, you gotta make somebody cry. And that that emotional response for me is how people's businesses slightly change. Is that somebody's laughing at something or somebody's like, wow, they feel so good. And um, I'm working with a company, actually have a big meeting with them uh next week, and uh I've put together this big campaign, and uh, I've basically I'll use this as an example. Um, they I think I can just say it. The Orlando Dreamers, they're uh baseball team, they're trying to come to Orlando, and all of their content so far has been very cut dry, cut dry. We want baseball in Orlando, we want baseball, like we should have baseball because we all love baseball here. And I'm like, guys, like you can make such a emotional. You can make an emotional, you can make a romantic and emotional response to your audience, to the county, to the state, to the MLB, to say we want baseball here. We need baseball here because uh because of the emotional connection between the kids and the families and the legacies. Like that's the that's the way my brain works, is like creating that uh hit of dopamine where somebody says, That feels so good that I watch that that I have to engage with that brand. Yeah, that's the way I think as like a D like a DP or a director, producer, like what whatever it is, like I'm always thinking, how can I create content that makes this brand or this person look good or feel good in the audience light?

Vipul Bindra 2:03:54

So that's smart, and that's that is what matters because at the end they look uh, for example, in your your example, the only way they win is by succeeding in their mission, and then the only way they succeed is by having that emotional response from their audience and the like you said, the county, the MLB, and every other place because otherwise it's gonna go nowhere. Content should not be just treated as content, you know, it's like the result that it brings, is what matters.

Ryan Ashworth 2:04:18

It's it's it's a result. And the way that I found success in these results is this it is a is a sudden shift that people see and they're like either they laugh so much that they're like, oh my gosh, I love that. Like, I gotta be involved in that, or it's like feeling so good that they can relate to it where they want to uh take action. Exactly. So some kind of you know cause of action, right? So I think that that's the way that I kind of approach all my clients too. And it's like if somebody comes to me and they don't have like, let's just say, you know, they're selling um couches, right? If if the if if for me, if I think that there's no way that I can further you with that kind of you know response or opportunity, then I'm I might say, like, hey, this is not the best fit for me. If you're just looking for what I call like a widget maker, like if you just want like somebody to come in and hit record and then be done, like sometimes I might not say yes to that because for me, I want to go the extra mile for you and I want to see somebody laugh or cry at the content we're producing for you.

Vipul Bindra 2:05:20

Exactly. No, that and that is a very good approach. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. All right, looks like we're towards the tail end

Final Advice And Where To Follow

Vipul Bindra 2:05:25

of this. Anything else you want to talk about before we wrap this up?

Ryan Ashworth 2:05:27

No, I think we hit on everything. Um, and I think the last thing I'll just say is like, excuse me, uh, for everybody looking out there, if you're looking to get in a creative field, whether it is a nine to five or if it is, you know, as a business owner, the opportunity is 100% there. You have it right in front of you. You just need to go dream it. And dream it, envision it, and put your mind to it. And if you tell yourself there is no way that I can fail because I'm never gonna quit, you can do it. Work hard, be a good person, be reliable, efficient, and it doesn't matter the gear that you have, it's what's in front of you and the story. And everybody, if I can do it, newly married, expecting a baby soon, and a new business owner, you can do it too.

Vipul Bindra 2:06:16

That's awesome. Such good word of good words of wisdom, Ryan. It's been incredible. I love talking to you, and that's why uh when I invited you, you know, when we ran that Adam show, I was like, this is the conversations people need to hear. And that's you know, you know, the crazy part of this, like uh, you know, there's so many great creative people out there. Just go meet them, collaborate with them. Uh, you know, work will just come. You're like you say, if you're a good person, you're doing the right thing, you're trying to tell good stories. Um, you know, gear can be rented, people can be found, all that can that's that's this happens in the natural flow of business. But again, it's been an incredible conversation. Love collaborating with you on projects. Hopefully, we'll continue to do that a lot. But thank you for taking the time out and having this conversation. Before we go, shout out, where can people follow you and learn more about you?

Ryan Ashworth 2:07:00

Yeah, you can go follow me on Instagram. My Instagram is Ryan A. Ashworth on Instagram. Uh or you can go to my website where my production company is, it's 126media. So T-W-E-L-V-E, the number sixmedia.com, or you can find my production company um and all the work that we've been doing there. I'm also on Instagram at 126media as well. So uh thanks again, Vipple. This has been honestly awesome. I hope that we get to it again sometime soon, but certainly we'll keep collaborating in the future. And uh yes, yeah, just anybody out there, accept the failure because you will succeed.

Vipul Bindra 2:07:33

Thank you, Ryan. And thank you for watching. I'll see you next week, Thursdays at 8 a.m. But otherwise, see ya. Bye.