Why Talented Filmmakers Are struggling - And What the Ones Winning Are Doing Differently
Are you still building your career for an industry that no longer exists?
A lot of creatives are still chasing a version of the industry that no longer has the same success rate.
For years, freelancers were sold a simple dream.
The new game is not about only being talented.
The new game is about building leverage around your talent.
What is "leverage around your talent?â
Being good with a camera is no longer enough to create a substantial amount of money in a freelance career by itself. Now, âsubstantialâ can be different from person to person but for this reading lets call it 350k-1/M a year after taxes.
Freelancers and small business owners were taught âGet better at your craft and the opportunities will come,â but now, even talented people are struggling because the industry itself changed.
Most video/photo freelancers surviving this shift arenât relying on just one skillset anymore.
Theyâre:
building direct relationships with clients instead of waiting for agencies
creating audiences online instead of waiting to get discovered
learning business and money management instead of only learning cameras
using commercial work to fund narrative projects or give them leverage when bidding/pitching.
building brands, communities, or products around their creativity
I used to think the âYoutube creator lookâ would devalue a person.
Then a few years later, seeing many bring in their own clients, brand deals, while Freelancing, streaming, etc. I realized they saw a change in the film industry very early.
Need Proof??
Itâs going on even with the top tier Directors and Cinematographers in our industry.
Shane Hurlbut with Filmmakers Academy
Masterclass partnering with elite directors, writers, actors, and cinematographers to monetize knowledge directly to audiences
Roger Deakins launching the Team Deakins podcast and community
Peter McKinnon building an entire business ecosystem around filmmaking and photography
Natash Braier ASC member created Deep Light mentorship programs
This is ownership. This is leverage.
Old vs New
The old freelance model depended heavily on constant client work, referrals, and being chosen by the right people.
The problem is that when the market slows down, budgets shrink, or industries change, many talented freelancers suddenly feel stuck living project to project again.
Thatâs why the new generation of creatives is starting to think differently.
Instead of relying only on talent, theyâre building leverage around their skills through direct client relationships, recurring revenue, personal brands, audiences, investments, newsletters, products, and multiple income streams.
The goal is no longer just to stay booked.
The goal is to build a career that can survive even when the industry changes.
This doesnât mean filmmaking is dead, it means the career path became less linear. The people adapting the fastest are the ones treating filmmaking not just like art, but like a long-term business and survival strategy too.
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My Personal ThoughtsâŚ
The discouraging part is that a lot of filmmakers were trained for an industry that doesnât exist the same way anymore, including myself.
The new industry is rewarding people who build proof, audience, relationships, and business infrastructure before anyone picks them.
That doesnât mean talent doesnât matter. It means talent alone is becoming harder to survive on.
The Business Literacy Layer
Underneath all of thisâŚ
A lot of freelancers are not actually struggling from lack of talent.
Theyâre struggling because the industry they were depending on became unstable before they built an infrastructure outside of it.
This is why Iâm always on Instagram talking about being more than your day rate.
Itâs not so you wont be the best at your position, because trust, I am putting in my hours; but since the industry has shifted and I want substantial money⌠not âdecent moneyâ, naturally we are forced to learn things many never thought theyâd need to understand:
investing
taxes
audience ownership
brand positioning
licensing
business systems
marketing
contracts and negotiation
client retention
networking beyond Hollywood
personal branding
sales and pitching
distribution
content strategy
sponsorships and partnerships
retirement planning
how algorithms and platforms affect visibility
social media strategy
email lists and owned audiences
how to turn one project into long-term opportunities
how to operate like a business, not just an artist
Creatives didnât become greedy, itâs that survival has changed.
The old industry rewarded access.
The new industry rewards leverage.
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Stats / News
LA on-location production fell 22.4% in Q1 2025, with TV down 30.5% and feature films down 28.9% year over year.
FilmLA reported LA finished 2025 with 19,694 shoot days, down 16.1% from 2024.
Hollywood employment has reportedly dropped around 30% since late 2022, with roughly 41,000â42,000 industry jobs lost depending on the report.
Michiganâs film incentive program was eliminated in 2015, which is a major reason Detroit has talent but not the same production pipeline as states with stronger incentives.
Michigan lawmakers and industry advocates have been pushing to bring back credits, with proposed plans offering up to 30% tax credits for qualified in-state production.
Sundance still matters, but the market is weaker. Sundance 2025 was described as slow, with fewer bidding wars and more measured acquisitions.
Even Sundance 2024âs box office was concentrated: roughly half of its reported $57M box office came from only three films â Thelma, A Real Pain, and Love Lies Bleeding.
Sources