Put your trust in your guts and skills!

In 2014, during preparation for the shooting of my first movie, I gathered people I assumed knew better than me in terms of film production technicality, but the outcome proved to me that I was not only wrong, I paid dearly for such an erroneously act.

The first error began when the director of the film advised we use a Black Magic Camera to shoot instead of the initial agreed Canon d7 camera. Now, let me explain in simple terms for those who are not familiar with a professional DSLR camera. Black Magic Camera is a sophisticated camera meant to be used for high-budget film projects because it shoots cinema quality. The project at hand is just a personal project meant to be produced via DVD. So, professionally, we should have stuck to Canon D7. More importantly, as of then, your rent Canon d7 at N10,000 per day while Black Magic goes for 70,000 per day and we have to shoot for five days, just imagine the cost of professional ignorance. If I know better, I would never go for a Black Magic camera but because I am following a supposedly professional directive, we used black magic and incurred a whole lot of other expenses during post-production like we have to downgrade the quality during post-production.

Here are hard lessons from that experience;

1.??????Understand every crucial technical aspect of your profession: Every profession has two sides - technical and business sides. Before you take any step to make any decision to start a business on your own, make sure you understand every crucial technical aspect that will have an impact on any of your projects. Otherwise, there are many quack professionals parading as experts who will not only cost you time but waste those resources that you are managing. The onus is on you to know every crucial technical aspect in order to block wastage of both time and materials resources. After 2015, I have to invest heavily in learning every technical aspect of filmmaking to avoid repeating of 2014 mistake.

2.??????Only believe what you can see not what you are told: Only believe what you see, not what you hear. Professionally, everyone is an expert until you get to the field and everyone had to prove their skills. So, it is easy for someone to put a nice title and achievement on their resume or proposal to wow us. Before you fall for such crap, test their skills in practical terms, not oral interviews. Now, don't ever feel too courteous because someone is famous or older than you, as long as you are the one paying, test their expertise! Never allow anyone to bully you to believe what they are saying without proof.

3.??????Furthermore, invest in your professional development. Read, attend workshops that will set you on the path of being an expert and authority in your chosen field. Nobody is born with professional expertise; it is something we all acquire through consistent learning that never ends.

4.??????Finally, as I said earlier, every profession has two sides - it is not enough to understand the technical area of your profession alone, you must understand the business side. The best-selling author does not only mean the best writing author, it also means that the writer knows how to sell their books! You must know how to sell your works! In 2015, I spent over two million nairas to produce the film, but struggle to even make a return of two hundred thousand because I focus so much on the technical side that I gave zero attention to how to make returns on the project. Now, I was able to get away with this error because it is personal funds but I learned the hard way years later, you don’t want to misuse other people's funds in case you have partners. ( I will address this in the next edition).

The best way to stay afloat of trouble waters, is always, to let your experience be your guide.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

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