By Rahul Kumar
Setting Up the Business Side of an Independent Creative Practice
In their career progression, many independent artists are forced to take on business-side work before they are prepared for it. For example, an actor is cast in a festival production, a filmmaker gets attention for their short, a musician’s song gains a following, or a content creator suddenly gets a brand inquiry. Plus, alongside that, there’s a less sparkling aspect: emails about representation, partnership opportunities, contracts, invoices, scheduling, and professional correspondence. Most of all for AAPI creators who are making strides in the movie industry, these bonds are of great value.
Representatives, casting directors, filmmakers, film festival programmers, and brand partners will gradually become part of a professional network as you build your career. Even so, being solely in charge of it implies that even tiny day-to-day details may be the determining factor as to how seriously people are prepared to treat your work.
When Your Creative Output Becomes A Money Business
One of the first pitfalls, which can lead to chaos later, is keeping everything in a single personal email inbox. Using the same email you used for your high school projects or for everyday communications might seem like a convenient option when you are starting your career. Then again, it could make you very disorganized if you are suddenly getting emails from entertainment industry professionals, and you won’t see the big picture.
Having a separate email address for work doesn’t mean someone is more talented or more desirable as an employee. What it actually does is provide separation from your private world on one side and your creative career on the other. An email bearing your name or your brand is a better tool for recognition, filing, and sharing it with a booking agent, publicity agent, your manager, or even someone you collaborate with.
This rule is a good way to guide your thinking when creating your professional appearance online or preparing your business plan or portfolio. Keep your resume or credits list updated, maintain an updated portfolio or reel, and have a simple system in place for following conversations and tracking deadlines. For example, SAG-AFTRA offers performers a Contract Tool Kit, which is essentially a database of information, rates, and agreements in their industry. These kinds of services are great sources of inspiration, so the creation of the artwork does not go alone with an administrator or business partner.
Give Industry Contacts a Clear Way to Reach You
Getting a dedicated professional email is one of the simpler steps in setting up your communication network. Best of all, it should reflect your or your partner’s real names (or the name of your creative brand) so that they aren’t obscured behind a catchy nickname.
Creating a business email account for an independent creative is simple and affordable, and it ensures that only your contact will be reached. You can get such an email through a business email provider. The thing is, you are trying not to be perceived as a big company; your intention is to clearly distinguish yourself as a professional and make your image memorable.
Let’s suppose you get an unexpected call, and the person on the other end of the line is asking for materials for a casting. In this case, an email with a professional address will allow the sender to communicate with you only through business messages, rather than mixing them into your private inbox. This is true for the festival programmer who will probably want you to provide him or her with samples of different genres or even for a filmmaker who suddenly needs a composer or an artist.
Another aspect of having an e-mail account is that it gives you freedom and time to explore. Should you ever decide to work with an assistant, a manager, or a publicist, a business e-mail can be managed much more easily than some personal e-mail, where your professional contacts get mixed with messages from friends and family or advertisements.
Keep the Operational Side Simple
Developing and making your creative work more professional should definitely not mean you are turning into a corporation overnight. Rather, you can start by handling the most basic things.
Make sure to have a designated space where all paperwork related to contracts, invoices, taxes, and production materials will be collected. Retain the agreements and the significant correspondence that you have received. Maintain a journal or a calendar to note down all the appointments -auditions, preparations, photo shoots, festival submissions, etc. In the case that multiple individuals are involved in a project, make sure who handles the communication and approval is clear.
It is also advisable to gain an understanding of the regulations governing compensated partnerships. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides, content creators are generally required to clearly disclose in their promotions any commercial connection with a brand. This is mainly critical since creators who have built an audience may begin to form professional partnerships with companies.
The importance, of course, extends to performers and filmmakers for whom contracts are a major aspect of the business. SAG-AFTRA, amongst other industry groups, offers creators of such works resources that address agreements relating not only to theatrical, television, or music performances, music videos, or podcasts but also to newer media. Through such materials, the artists, mainly the newcomers, may get a clue as to the sorts of contracts they should look at.
Treating Practice as Much Fun & Work as You Would Normally Expect
The reality of being an independent creative artist is rarely portrayed at all. People are used to seeing just the act, movie, song or film on screen while the, backstage, which includes things like the spreadsheet, follow-up email or a neatly stored contract, remains unseen for them.
Even so, those little things carry weight. Having an official email that you can use for business contacts, sorting through your piles of documents and monitoring your engagements through these ways are examples of actions which, as small as they are, will lead to a rock-solid base for the future opportunities that you are already pursuing.
In most cases, you don’t need to rely on the presence of some big-name agent, producer or management company to start improving your work habits. The moment your creative output begins drawing offers for agents, invitations to festivals, collaborative proposals or brand inquiries from the media you will see that it is a good time for you to develop more sophisticated work methods.
In some cases, professionalizing your work can start by just offering people a straightforward and trustworthy way of contacting you – and ensuring that you are present when they come to knock.
