An Open Love Letter to Filmmaking

I love the career I chose. Sometimes it feels like it found me, drugged me and dragged me away helplessly into its confusing overwhelming world. But despite its roller coaster nature I love video production and filmmaking nonetheless and couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life.

I love the freedom it gives me. I can pour exactly as much or as little as I want into it. I can build whatever life I want around it. I can choose who I work for and with, how much I work with them, and when to give them the middle finger and never work with them again. I can choose to work my butt off, take every last ridiculous low budget gig that comes my way and collapse knowing I put it all out there. Or I can choose to be strategic and hunt for only the gigs I’m excited about. I can make as much money as I want. Yes, this is based on a lot of factors going in my favor, but the potential is unlimited. And if I want, I can choose to walk away entirely.

I love that it can scratch my creative, technical and theoretical itches. I can tell a story, use beautiful imagery and troubleshoot the technical issues of highly complicated gear all in one project. I can build an FPV drone, assemble a custom editing PC to my own specifications and decide what camera best fits the needs of the project and how to best rig it to tell the story. I can tell stories of people and places that may not be told otherwise and definitely won’t be told in the same way. I can craft an artistic image with lights, colors and composition, following basic framing rules or breaking them entirely. And none of this is outside the scope of my career.

I love that there’s no right path and no one right way to do it. I’ve never been a “do it by the book” kinda person. I like to explore and think about processes in a different way than may be taught in curriculums. This career lets me operate and thrive by doing things in a way that cater to how my brain works and understands the world. Video production and filmmaking has endless points of entry and once you’re in there’s no one right path to success. You can go to film school after coming out of the womb holding a camera. Or, like me, you can fall into it chasing another dream after never having touched a camera until midway through college. It can be overwhelming hearing that there’s no one right way to do something, but I find it refreshing. Sure, it’s hard, but also the possibilities are limited only by your imagination and the tenacity you use to follow it.

I love that I don’t have to go to the same place every day and punch a clock. I realized in my early jobs while watching the clock tick by second by agonizing second that I didn’t want to be in a job that required me to fill a void and look busy until the day ended. My career gives me the chance to work based on goals, not on predetermined hours.

I love that I get to travel and see different cultures. My career hasn’t been full of globetrotting adventures (so far) but I have gotten to see and experience every obscure corner of the USA and it’s given me a different perspective than I would have had taking a full time job in my hometown. Everyone has a different story and point of view. A farmer in rural Montana has a different outlook and different experiences that a doctor in downtown Salt Lake City, UT or a fisherman from Wisconsin or a mother of a child with down syndrome in Florida. I’ve been given the opportunity over the years to tell all of their stories and learn from each of them. Even within the confines of my one country the diversity is staggering and I wouldn’t have gotten to see it without this career in freelance video production.

I love the people from all over the globe I’ve gotten to meet and work with. I’ve met and shared beers with people towards the ends of their career who taught me lessons I’ll never forget. I’ve grown up with people at the beginning of their careers and watched them become amazingly creative camera operators, producers and engineers. I’ve met some real assholes who have taught me how NOT to treat my fellow creatives and seen other people overcome that same time of person and grow as compassionate professionals themselves. This creative community is one of the most unique and amazing groups of people you will ever meet in any profession.

And I love that it’s a battle. I write a lot about how hard this life can be. And I’ve fought through so many ups and downs. Many times I’ve thought about giving up and finding something that relied less on how much I was willing to pour into it. Something “stable” and less risky. But it gives me so much pride and sense of worth to see how far I’ve come, what I’ve created along the way, the triumphs and adventures I’ve gotten to share with so many beautiful people and all we’ve collectively overcome along the way to continue creating.

I love my career. It’s f@%$ing hard! And I struggle daily with the flood of highs and lows that come along with it. But I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

Galen Murray

Owner of Visual Vagabonds and Freelance DP