Marketing and Branding Skills

We’re in Converge 2023: Highlighted on Insider UK We’re proud to announce that Screen Hustler has made it to the semi-finals of Converge 2023, the annual competition for innovators and entrepreneurs in Scotland’s universities. Screen Hustler has also been highlighted on Insider UK, a leading media outlet covering business, finance, and technology news. The success of Screen Hustler would not have been possible without the guidance and support of the brilliant minds at the University of the West of Scotland Innovation Hub team. Create Change Challenge Screen is competing in the Create Change Challenge category, which is for innovators looking to use their creativity as a tool for change. We offer a comprehensive suite of marketing services to selected clients in the UK screen industry. Its primary target market is university students, recent graduates, freelancers, and entry-level professionals who are struggling to market themselves effectively. “Our customer-centric approach enables us to work with our clients at every step to establish a personal brand that truly reflects their values and empowers them to stand out from the competition,” says Fairouz Dridi, the founder of Screen Hustler. “We are thrilled to be competing in the Create Change Challenge category and to have the opportunity to showcase our innovative solution to a wider audience.” Bridging the Gap in Personal Branding for Emerging Creatives The problem that Screen Hustler aims to solve is that many young creatives struggle to market themselves effectively, which leads to their talents being overlooked. Personal branding is essential for success in the screen industry, yet many creatives are hesitant to promote themselves. Screen Hustler aims to bridge this gap by supporting its clients to gain more visibility and recognition for their work to achieve their professional goals. Next Steps Next up, we’re preparing for the pitch, and we’re pumped to showcase what we’ve got! and we will continue to empower the next generation of screen professionals by helping them build a strong personal brand, establish a professional online presence, and realise their career potential, resulting in the development of their unique voice and message. This can lead to increased confidence and self-esteem, especially to individuals who may be struggling with the pressures of the industry, enabling them to pursue their creative passions with greater conviction.

The Art of Creating Engaging Film Posters One of the most important aspects of promoting a film is creating a compelling poster and key art that will capture the attention of your target audience. An effective film poster can generate buzz, build anticipation, and ultimately help drive ticket sales. But how do you create a poster that stands out from the crowd? Here are some tips and best practices to help you create engaging film posters: Understand Your Film’s Unique Selling Point Before you start creating your film poster or key art, it’s important to understand what makes your film unique. What sets it apart from other films in the same genre? What’s the core message or theme that you want to convey? Understanding your film’s unique selling point will help you create a poster that effectively communicates its value and appeal. Use Visual Elements to Convey Emotion Visual elements such as colour, lighting, and composition can be powerful tools for conveying emotion and setting the tone for your film. For example, a dark colour scheme and ominous lighting can convey a sense of mystery or danger, while bright colours and warm lighting can create a feeling of warmth and optimism. Consider the mood and tone of your film and use visual elements to reinforce it in your poster. Choose the Right Typography Typography can also play a crucial role in creating an effective film poster or key art. The font you choose should be legible and easy to read, but it should also be consistent with the tone and genre of your film. A horror movie, for example, might use bold, jagged fonts to convey a sense of danger, while a romantic comedy might use a softer, more playful font to convey a lighter tone. Simplify Your Design The most effective film posters are often the simplest. Avoid cluttering your poster with too much text or visual elements. Instead, focus on creating a clean, eye-catching design that will stand out from a distance. Focus on the key elements A great film poster should convey the essence of the film in a single image. Consider the most memorable and visually striking elements of your film, such as the main character, a key scene, or a defining visual motif. Use these elements as the foundation of your design. To Wrap Up In conclusion, creating an engaging film poster and key art requires a balance of artistry, marketing savvy, and a deep understanding of your target audience. Give your film project the best chance for success by including the information in this article, Screen Hustler can help you design an engaging Film Poster, head over to our design services and get started with creating your film poster with the help of experts.

The Film Pitch Deck That Will Get You a Green Light A film pitch deck is a sales presentation that includes all the information about your project. As a filmmaker you need to sell your big idea to production company executives, potential investors, crew, and even to your film course professor to give you a green light. Pitch decks are used in situations where an elevator pitch has probably already gotten you in the door, and now it’s time for a more in-depth sales pitch, to convey the complete picture of your cinematic vision. A pitch deck presentation offers a visual representation of your film’s storyline and establishes tone and design choices. A pitch deck should be more visually oriented than a bible or film treatment or look book. We’re gonna walk you through exactly what information needs to go into a deck and how it needs to be presented. Cover Image Your cover page needs to feel like an opening of the movie. Pitch deck cover is the first impression that someone gets of your film, so not only do you want your cover to look professional, but you also want to look and feel like your film as well. Everything in it needs to look high quality and well designed. Choose the image and the words on your cover wisely, try to include images that are emblematic of the tone of your film.You want the person seeing your pitch deck at a first glance to know your creative voice and the creative tone that you’re gonna take with the project.  Creating a strong cover page in your pitch deck design process will significantly increase the chances to engage your audience quickly and give them a reason to stick around. And don’t be afraid to get some creative help to make something unique and attractive. If you have an upcoming film pitch presentation but you don’t have the skillset of a professional designer, don’t worry, you can access professionally designed free pitch deck cover page templates by Screen Hustler that will act as a guide for you to create your next impactful pitch deck cover page. Our tip to creating a strong cover is to use an expressive background and choose fonts and colour schemes strategically. If you could boil your entire film down to just one or two stylistic choices, they should appear on the cover page. Emotional Hook page This is about selling your pitch with the written word. The right words with the right image will create the type of emotional response you want to conjure in your audience. Choose words for your emotional hook page that are memorable and unexpected. Use bold fonts and colours to make the page visually stunning. This emotional hook page could be a quote, a question, or a line of dialogue from your script that demonstrates the value of your project and gives the reader a clear idea as to why this is an important project. This is the intangibles of your project, it’s the magic of your film and it’s why people are going to connect with it. This is a really important slide and it’s what sets you apart from other people. Snapshot page A pitch deck is the highlight reel of your film project, this is the document that allows potential collaborators and investors to read in five minutes tops and get a clear understanding of what this project is about, and show it to anybody else that needs to see it and can make a decision as to whether they are going to green light your project and write you the check or pass.  Use your logline and tagline as a reference to build your project snapshot. The logline is your story distilled into one or two punch-packing sentences. It introduces the film’s core concept, protagonist(s), and the stakes in 25 to 50 words. Unlike the tagline, which is a dramatic, provocative statement, the logline should lean descriptive. Therefore your project snapshot should be short and create warmth. Moodboard Page Filmmaking is a visual medium, and a pitch deck helps take the script to the next level, from something that you read to a piece of art that gets your audience to see your vision and hear you loud and clear. The Moodboard page allows you to envelop your narrative, visuals, storyline all into one place.  Moodboards should introduce the theme, the fonts, the colours, the images that you are going to use. Everything needs to match and be cohesive. Photos can speak to the mood of your film, nostalgic, joyful, severe, or adventurous.These images can shape the direction and guidance for your cinematography vision.  Consider the colour and style of the images as well. You aren’t going to be able to just start grabbing a few images here and there off the web and put them right into your mood board template. Designing your moodboard takes far more than selecting image, colour, and font combinations that look nice. This means that a deep understanding of the psychology of the elements of your moodboard and knowing how to use each element strategically to produce specific desired effects, is a core component of a successful pitch deck. You can take shots for you moodboard on your own, try to find elements in your life where you can show that you are connected to the material, or if you are looking for inspiration, we’ve put together some links for you to get started with: – Shot Deck– Film Grab– Source Creative– Adobe Stock – ShutterStock People Page Pitch decks should introduce the people who are involved in the project, including cast and crew. You have to show that you’ve attached the right people to your project, and that your team will have an impact on the market. You can throw in a brief description of the character. You don’t need to be exhaustive here, this should serve as a teaser. Use faces and figures in your cast page,

How to Impress Recruiters With a Killer Showreel A show reel is typically a montage of all your best work. They’re used to showcase your talents to the people who might potentially hire you for a job. Showreels are great for directors, cinematographers, motion graphic artists, actors and video editors because their work  is highly visual. A showreel is a portfolio of work, but more importantly it’s a marketing strategy – it’s designed to showcase your skills and services in the screen industry. Screen Hustler spoke with Creative Scotland, BBC, Spotlight, and ScreenSkills, about what makes a great showreel. Here are five tips to to make your showreel as powerful and as impactful as possible so that you can make a good impression and get as many clients as you want for your work: Keep it short Your reel should be about 45 seconds to 2 mins long, get rid of that fluff in the reel and only include the very best shots. The reality is when someone is watching your demo reel, most people are not going to make it all the way through to the end, so if they’re going to watch a little chunk of it, make sure your absolute best clips are at the beginning of that reel. You want to make sure to get a good first impression, that first impression is everything, it’s going to be the judgement that they make of you and your ability to deliver for them right out of the gate. https://vimeo.com/799430038 Reflect who you are as a creator Your reel will be different depending on what role you play within the industry, if you’re a director your reel is going to be a little more story driven, maybe you carry the reel through with a dialogue of a specific scene or something that you wrote but all the shots kinda align with some kind of story. If you’re an editor your reel might be a little more flashy and flexible on the whole edit thing, if you’re a cinematographer the goal is just to communicate that you can produce beautiful images. Showoff what you want to be hired for Starting out your career in screen, you typically do a lot of types of work, maybe you’ve done some commercials, some short, some real estate shoots, some wedding shoots, and you want to show off everything that you’ve done. However, this is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make, because if you have a website that has too many different things on it, it’s going to make it harder for your client to know what you’re really focused on so you have to give your clients the confidence that if they hire you, you will do an amazing job, and the way to get that confidence by seeing a consistent track record of quality work. No more broken links  If you’re trying to get clients to pay you high prices for your work and get premium clients who are going to work really well with you, you have to show off a professional side and show that you are someone who has attention to detail that makes things look nice. Having a personal website with a custom domain is very important. It improves your name recognition, increases credibility, and gives you a more professional and polished look. Having a personal website, you can give your showreel to your clients front and centre so they can find it immediately. By using a personal domain, you make a strong personal brand statement in favour of your skills and services.  To wrap up Your demo reel is what clients will ultimately look at to determine if they can trust you to be able to do the job that they want you to do for them. It’s one of the most valuable pieces of marketing that you have. Post your reel out on your website and social media as a reminder to everyone that you’re still crushing it and still making really good art. Email it to potential production companies or directors that you would possibly be working with, send it over email with a brief little introduction of yourself and a link to your reel on your websites.

5 Interpersonal Skills Every Film Crew Member Needs At its core, filmmaking is a highly collaborative process. To build a successful career as a filmmaker, you need more than technical skills. That’s where interpersonal skills come in. These skills are earned from all aspects of life, from close relationships to work experience. Now more than ever, employers are seeing less value in a person’s degree, people with interpersonal skills are favoured over those with credentials. That’s why it’s wise to leverage the right interpersonal skills for your career path. Let’s walk through all you need to know about interpersonal skills and which ones you should look to develop dispensing on your role. What are interpersonal skills? Interpersonal skills are the behaviours that dictate how we get along with others, how we manage our emotions and attitudes, and how we communicate (both verbally and non-verbally). The screen industry requires consistent interaction with people, so it’s crucial to know how to interact with everyone. Even if you’re a video editor who spends most of your time on the computer, you still need to interact with other production crew members. There are various types of interpersonal skills, look at the list below of common interpersonal skills with examples of what they look like in action. 1. Empathy Empathy is a critical interpersonal skill for film crew members because it enables them to connect with their colleagues on a deeper level and build trust and understanding. As a film crew member, you may encounter various personalities and emotions on set, and your ability to empathise with your colleagues can help you navigate these situations with grace and professionalism. For instance, let’s say you’re working on a film set where the weather is unexpectedly hot and humid. Your colleague, a camera operator, is feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with the challenging conditions. In this situation, empathy can help you understand their perspective and offer support. You might actively listen to them as they express their frustration, validate their feelings, and offer practical solutions to help them feel more comfortable. 2. Conflict management Conflict management is a critical interpersonal skill for film crew members, especially for those in leadership roles like directors and producers. It involves communicating views professionally and respectfully while considering the opinions of others, even in challenging situations. On a film set, conflicts may arise regarding creative differences, scheduling, or logistics. Effective conflict management means navigating these situations without compromising the project’s integrity. For instance, as a director, you might use conflict management skills to provide constructive feedback to an actor struggling with their role. As a producer, you might use these skills to resolve conflicts between teams while staying on schedule and within budget. Developing conflict management skills can help build a culture of collaboration and respect among team members, ultimately leading to better outcomes for film projects. 3. Collaboration Collaboration is essential for film crew members to achieve a common goal by cooperating, synergizing, and respecting each other. Effective collaboration involves communication, adaptation, and leveraging each other’s strengths and expertise. For instance, the artistic collaboration between the cinematographer, production designer, and director can help build the film’s visual language.  Collaboration can also involve effective problem-solving, where crew members work together to overcome challenges that may arise during a film shoot. For instance, if there’s a technical issue with the camera equipment, the camera operator may collaborate with the electrician and the grip to find a solution quickly and efficiently. By working together to address problems, crew members can ensure that the project stays on schedule and on budget, while still maintaining the quality of the final product. 4. Receptiveness to Feedback Being open to opinions and ideas that may differ from your own can help you grow as a professional and contribute to the success of the project. On a film set, receptiveness to feedback may involve actors receiving feedback from the director or other members of the cast and crew. For example, actors may receive feedback to improve their performances, and they should listen carefully to what is being said and act on it. Similarly, a cinematographer may receive feedback on the lighting or framing of a shot and make adjustments accordingly. Receptiveness to feedback also involves refraining from getting defensive and being willing to take ownership of mistakes or areas for improvement. By accepting feedback gracefully and using it to grow and develop, film crew members can enhance their skills and contribute to the project’s success. 5. Communication On a film set, communication can take many forms, including verbal communication, body language, and written communication. Crew members must be able to interact effectively with others, such as giving and receiving feedback, providing direction, and conveying technical details. For instance, video editors may need to explain technical details to other crew members who may not have the same level of expertise. Effective communication can also involve reading and interpreting scripts, understanding the director’s vision, and conveying that vision to other members of the crew. In addition to conveying information clearly, effective communication involves active listening, being receptive to feedback, and seeking clarification when needed. By actively listening and responding to others, crew members can foster a culture of collaboration, build trust and respect, and ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal. Simple action steps you can start applying to build and develop interpersonal skills Practice active listening by fully engaging with the speaker, asking questions, and summarising what you have heard to ensure understanding. Take time to understand different perspectives and viewpoints, even if they differ from your own. This can help build empathy and understanding. Be aware of your own communication style and how it may be perceived by others. Strive to communicate clearly and effectively to avoid misunderstandings. Be open to feedback and use it constructively to improve your skills and performance. Foster a collaborative mindset by encouraging teamwork, valuing diverse perspectives, and actively seeking out opportunities to work with others. *** To stay on top

3 ways To Crack The Hidden Job Market in The Screen Industry Finding a job is a lot more work than actually having one. The unstated reality is that the film and TV industry is an aggressive culture that relies heavily on hidden networks and privileges on-set experience. These barriers represent a challenge for young people to enter the industry and established professionals to progress their careers. International studies show that advertised job postings only represent approximately 20% of available employment opportunities. more than 80% of employment opportunities exist in the unadvertised market, commonly referred to as the “Hidden Job Market.” The diagram below shows how job seekers typically look for jobs and how employers hire. Unadvertised opportunities exist in the green part of the pyramid. Only 20% of jobs are advertised, and yet you spend most of your time and effort tapping into the advertised jobs, registering with websites, actively searching for new open positions. So if we do the math here, you’re spending 100% of your time where there’s 20% of the action. The hidden job market is not really hidden, it’s not covert, you don’t need any secret password to get in there, you just need to use a little bit of courage and a plan to navigate it. So how do you navigate it? To get started, let’s first take a look at how production companies, studios, and media corporations hire. How do companies hire 80% of the time? Let’s take the example of a production company that needs to hire a video editor. First, the company owner will look internally, if anyone from the existing staff can make a lateral move into the video editor role, then what was a vacancy for a split second has now moved to be filled. Now let’s assume that everyone is already working to full capacity and no one within the company can do the job. Then the company owner will ask the existing employees for recommendations. And company owners like recommendations from their existing employees, because employee-referred new hires tend to be better performers than nonemployee-referred new hires. Plus the company won’t have to use a recruitment agency or post ads, and it’s a shorter process for them as they will go through a shortlist of portfolios compared to 500 applicants if they advertise the video editor vacancy. As it’s all still happening in the green part of the vacancy pyramid, wouldn’t it be so much better to be a friend of someone who’s in that company and be on that shortlist straight away? Here are some rules to get yourself into the green part of the vacancy pyramid of the triangle and on that shortlist. Showcase Ask for advice not for a job Investigate & offer to help Let people know what you can do and what you want to do People need to hear about you from somebody else and recommend you, but first, they need to know what you can do. You must identify your unique value depending on your industry and role and communicate that effectively. You shouldn’t make people think of you as “I think they have a degree in filmmaking or whatever.” It’s easier for you to go into LinkedIn and click Easy Apply, but it is much more challenging to come up with a plan to organize your thoughts, choose your niche and build your brand identity around it, and effectively communicating what you can do and want to do. No potential recruiter is going to sit down with you and brainstorm about what you can do. However, at Screen Hustler, as part of our job to craft your portfolio, we focus heavily on helping you identify your unique value depending on your role in the screen industry, you’re welcome to see our services and contact us for a free consultation to chat about your brand identity. Now going back to the vacant Video Editor position, assuming that none of the recommended people appealed to the company owner. Moving up the pyramid, you still have a chance to crack into the hidden job market, let’s uncover that in the following rule: Networking is not asking people for a job Forget about networking events, you don’t need to be in a room full of people introducing yourself to others as if you are in a job interview but standing around with a glass of wine. Networking is telling people as you possibly can who you are, what you’re good at, and what you want to do. It takes a bit more guts and planning to reach the right contacts in your industry and chat with them, this is not an easy world for introverts, but even as an introvert, you have more contacts than you think you do. For example, get in touch with your university career center and ask them for alumni contacts in your field. Those alumni are probably well advanced in their careers by now. A rule of thumb, don’t ask for a job, ask for advice instead, people will help you if you ask them any other questions other than “got any jobs?” and most importantly, leave them with the main keywords that best reflect what you can do and what you want to do. They might not remember what your major is, however they are more likely to remember that you are talented in short-form video content creation for social media, and you are eager to magnify your skills to work on long-form video content creation. Career Scene Investigation You need your research skills, be inquisitive and nosy. Lack of industry knowledge makes it harder for especially young professionals to tap into the hidden job market, and this goes beyond technical skills and industry trends. Let’s say you hear about a short film project that had a successful funding campaign, and they are about to start production soon, they might have already hired all crew members, but they might be having a problem with some extras cancelling.