Building a Crew
Using a personal brand to create a team
With the emergence of social media and the pandemic halting in person interaction, recruitment is going digital. The Office for National Statistics reports that vacancies reached 1,102,000 million from July to September 2021 (Evans), and in a sea of jobs, how can you find the right people for your team?
In the world of filmmaking, award winning filmmaker, Max Barrett, uses personal branding online to target recruitment towards the creative community. With such a broad range of industries to pull together for a project, he shows us how creating a personal brand became his secret to success.
Q- How was a crew built pre-social media?
A- Before social media, people would build their film production crews through word of mouth. You work with someone on a project, get to know their circles and build from that. The film industry is very community based. There are also lots of major production companies that you can become a part of, and you built up a repertoire. Previously it was harder, where having your name on the credits was the main way for people to find you.
It was a lot harder in the early days of film to be recognised because film is an industry was barely recognised itself. It took some time, for not just the people in the industry, but the industry itself to become credible. Even when it was, accessibility options were not easy to acquire. Film schools weren’t an option until the 60s and 70s so until that point you were relying on the raw creativeness of film makers using the medium. It was far more inaccessible due to how difficult it was to make a name for yourself.
Q- How did the pandemic influence your recruitment style?
A- We had to downsize crew numbers and people had to become more multi skilled. You had less people on sets, so I had to prioritise people who I knew could do two or three jobs in one. Everyone was using Zoom, and word of mouth was lost over lockdown because productions weren’t happening.
Now, people are still using the social media to share work, like during the pandemic, but now it’s supercharged because you have a mix of being back on a film set, whilst social media use in the industry is maintained. You’ve now got people with incredible online social presences, and they’re also promoted via word of mouth in the industry. It’s two-fold, meaning it’s the easiest it’s ever been to be discovered.
Q- Which social media is most effective for personal branding?
A- Instagram is best for self-branding in the film industry. Its visual and you can see peoples work, screenshots, art and behind the scenes. You can share the actual screenshots from your movie or posters. Your stories on Instagram can be more rugged and conversational, so you have two levels of interaction with your viewers.
Facebook’s forums are also a great way into the industry, helping you to directly find work, which is great for freelancers. It gives you the ability to pick up work if you just want to start working straight away. It’s less about you and more about finding the job, and then getting noticed from your work.
Q- How does personal branding correlate to finding a successful crew?
A- Good profiles attract good people. Lots of people message me when I start a project and the way to find candidates is through conversation. Good people will reach out because they see your profile and they respect you. It separates experience levels, with someone extremely new to the industry potentially not reaching out initially due to a difference in levels.
From there, I conduct interviews on zoom with actors to make sure that they have got what it takes through having conversations with them. You want to see and talk to people before the project happens as much as you can because otherwise you don’t know what sort of person you have hired. You can look at their social media, but you’ll never know everything about them from that alone.
Q- Do you use any specific approaches to reach a wide pool of talent for your projects?
A- In your bio, mention you are a person looking to network via social media. Then, when you’re posting stories, people are going to be more receptive. You need to start adding people because it snowballs. I have a strong portion of my Instagram dedicated to just actors so when I post acting jobs they always get gobbled up.
Showing behind the scenes content reveals the personality of the people involved in a project. I also post screenshots from projects as well, just to give flavour and variety, but then I’ll post links to the full projects themselves. Then the next time I’m hiring for roles after I finish a project, it’s interesting because people will mention that they saw what I did on my last project, showing their engagement with my work.
I focus on behind the scenes more because I’m selling what I’m doing behind the camera, and the full content then gets feature on the client’s profiles, which they can find through mine.
The result
Recruitment is digital. Max Barrett’s self-branding paid off, winning the 99% award, an individual award, at the Rob Knox Film Festival in Bexley for his work on the short film FRANCO. By forming a successful public image and being present in the field as a force for creating community, you can benefit from this new style of recruitment in your work life as well. So, when will your crew building start?
Works Cited:
Interview: Maximilian J Barrett, 06 November 2021.
Images: @maximilianjbarrett Instagram
Evans, Tom. “Vacancies and jobs in the UK: October 2021” Office for National Statistics. 12th October 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/october2021 Accessed: 3rd November 2021.
