Career change at 47? Apprenticeships?

Hey Paco!

It’s never too late to make a change!

At 49, I’m in the midst of pretty big career shift myself. At the end of last year, I split with my business partner of 17 years…our business was very successful (and stable), but our priorities had diverged and we were no longer on the same page. Without going into too many details here, 4 months later I have no regrets.

While I have been working on Flame for awhile (also SMAC and Combustion), I’ve been in my own bubble…like you, there’s not a big post industry where I live. So I’m currently in the process of networking/marketing to flame folks outside my area. There’s challenges, but it’s not impossible and I’m happy to share some of the things I’ve learned (I think we’re going to get to talk Tuesday night).

Some random thoughts:

Logik Hive Minds: I just wrapped this up a few weeks ago and it was awesome! Your post reminds me a need to write a Hive Minds review, but based on my experience you should definitely sign up. Renee, MB and Danny were great…it’s like your own private team of tutors/cheerleaders ha. Of course I learned plenty of cool Flame tips, but for me (and probably for you) the real value was building new connections and getting a better understanding of what sort of potential Flame work is out there.

Do what you can before quitting: Set up the new business, getting a marketing plan together, prepping a reel…all these things take time, might as well do them before losing that steady paycheck. I find setting goals (with deadlines!) keeps me organized and psyched up as I cross things off the list.

Diversify: You mentioned shooting and editing plus owning your own business, sounds like a pretty broad skillset. I’m working on building remote Flame work, but in the last few weeks I’ve also written scripts, completed two mograph projects, knocked out some freelance editing…the variety of work has been great and the checks cash just the same, ha. I too had a mindset “I have x number of months of savings” but frankly I’ve generated a decent amount of income just letting people know I was available. So don’t forget to think about what’s out there locally or ways to utilize other existing skills, it doesn’t need to be an either/or situation imo.

Do it!
Jason

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Hi Paco, and welcome. As you’ve seen, you’ll have a tremendous community & support here. Without a doubt the best way to learn Flame well & quickly-ish is to have an in-person veteran mentor. I started out knowing nothing about graphics, vfx, etc., but was able to learn from watching experienced artists & staying at night trying to replicate what they did, etc.

That being said, obviously Boulder doesn’t offer opportunities for that as far as I know. However, you would in fact double the number of Flame artists in town. There’s a great freelancer in Boulder (remote work only of course) that I hire regularly, solid guy. I talked to him and he’d def be down to meet up, talk shop or whatever. DM me if you’d like his info.

Best of luck, and do it!

GP

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@Jason_Kalinoski You’re right on the money. My plan is to slowly wedge my way in until I have enough work to keep me occupied and then pull the band-aid off. I’ve been such a generalist my entire career that I have a couple of different ways to make some side income to ease the initial pain.

I took a long, hard look at Hive Minds when it was launched at the beginning of the year but I felt that I wasn’t far enough along for it to be helpful to everyone else when it was my turn. I just didn’t feel ready for it yet. Next year, though; different story.

@GPM This, along with general fear, has been the one thing that I’ve seen as a major hurdle. I’ve read about the tape room person who read the manual, got seat time after hours, did some assists, etc. Unfortunately, in the markets that I’ve lived in (non big 5 markets) that opportunity didn’t exist so it’s been what I can piece together. Because of the high price and heavy hardware requirements, my attention and patience would wane as soon as my 30-day demo license would time out. But I’d keep coming back. I still thought it was cool.

I had no idea there was anyone in Boulder doing Flame work. If you wouldn’t mind shooting me his info, I’d love to reach out and get together with him.

p

Local geography only matters in regards to the ease of which creating relationships and trust. This can be overcome with time and effort. In the past 2 years I’ve worked only about 20 days with local clients to me. The other 500 or so have been in New York and LA. Just ask some of the smaller market peeps…Colorado, Portland, Tallahassee, Miami, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, for example. In those markets, the agencies and studios may pay less and may have a less caliber of work. I did have over a decade at a large studio from which to draw upon networking-wise. Targeting smaller boutique vfx studios that work in commercials would be my bet. Indie filmmakers and smaller market clients, in order to really be profitable, requires a bit more expertise me thinks. Plus, working on teams with multiple artists is very much going to accelerate learnings.

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