Produced By - #1 - Jakub Holub: How to Successfully Transition from Studying Film to Your First Job

Starting point is 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to Produced by our today's guest is Jacob Holu. Jacob is a freelance motion designer and animator with a backgrounded filmmaking, directing campaigns, Edwards, promo videos and more. Coming from Central Europe, he studied film at University in London, after which he successfully landed a job in a production company, until he found out that freelancing is what he enjoys the most. After transitioning to freelancing, he's been working in anima. animation and motion graphics, primary using after effects and plans to establish himself in this area. Listen to this episode to find out how remaining members of the famous music band Queen watch this work,

Starting point is 00:00:48 how he moved up from editing to directing within a year and how he got where he is without even needing a CV. Enjoy! Hello Jacob, thank you very much for joining us on this show. It's a must. Thanks a lot for having me. Let's start with your background. Do you still remember the first moment when you decided to pursue career of filmmaker in London? Yeah, I don't think it was necessarily just one single moment, but it was just a couple of things that sort of pursued me to.

Starting point is 00:01:22 First, study abroad and then second study film. Originally, the decision to go to England in particular I made because of my cousin, who went and did the Erasmus scheme basically he studied abroad for one semester and he went to England he studied in Hartfordshire and came back extremely exciting and that's kind of slowly what made me go to England and then also my sister actually as well

Starting point is 00:01:52 is a year and a half older than me and then she decided to go to England as well so from her experience of kind of being abroad for that one year I kind of wanted to go study abroad as well And why did all of you choose England? Was there any particular reason? I don't know about like my cousin, for example, or the others, but or my sister, I guess, for the same reasons as I, but myself, it was, I was thinking about a couple countries. And then when I kind of decided I wanted to go and study film, I was mostly thinking about one England and then the United States.

Starting point is 00:02:26 And like obviously, you know, being 18 or whatever 19, I kind of wanted to go to go. to a big city. I'd love to go to like LA or something or New York. I looked at, I remember I had a call with a university from in New York as well, but it just wasn't really possible from financial perspective. So England was much easier in that sense that you can get a loan and you have to pay all the student fees just straight up. So I knew I could do it with like help from my parents in terms of living costs. But yeah, the student piece would be much more manageable and they would be on me.

Starting point is 00:03:07 So if there wasn't this financial barrier, would you choose to go to US instead of London? Maybe. I don't know, to be honest. It's a thing that I've discovered or realized in the past couple of years to stock. Yeah, I don't know if I would go to the US or ended up going to the US.

Starting point is 00:03:26 Maybe at that time, yeah, if it was like, would have said, hey, mom and dad, I want to go to LA study film and they'd be like, sure, yeah, here's, you know, half a million dollars. Then maybe at that time, but I'm not sure it would have helped me that much. I'm kind of happy for the choices that I've made because both you and me, we've had, we know people now that we've gone to, like, the top university for film in the UK. They don't always come out with great jobs lined up straight away. It's quite often down to you and what you do. So I think, and one of my friends, she's actually been to one of the schools that I was considering in USA, just like the top film school.

Starting point is 00:04:12 And she said, you know, 90% of the people that came to study there were just sort of kids with rich parents or parents in the film industry and they didn't care about studies at all. So I think, yeah, maybe it would have helped in terms of connections. I would have met, you know, people with great connections in the industry and all that. But I think it would have really, really sort of clouded my world view. In terms of I would just be, continue to be raised in this sort of bubble where, you know, you're just like everything's sort of sorted for you. I must say that I agree that it's not really about, you know, the choice of the university, but it's rather about your approach, about you being proactive and, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:57 trying to stand out and succeed rather than just relying on the university on your CV and hoping that it will lend you your next job or something. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And you should just, even, you know, even if you wish you'd be at this, like, great university where you think that, you know, you just study for three years and then it's done, you go and start directing films or being at a DP or whatever. You know, you just need to kind of look at where you are, what you have and focus on making the most out of it and use that as an opportunity. Because if you imagine being at a mediocre university and then being at the top university, you know, at the top university you're surrounded by people who, like I said,

Starting point is 00:05:44 probably have parents who've worked in the industry for all their lives and all that. It might be difficult to stand out. Whereas at a mediocre university, nothing stops. you from approaching in a lot of effort and just trying really hard and focusing on yourself and then it might be so much easier to stand out. There's both ways, one way. Having a great university can maybe help for your CV, but that doesn't mean that going to the university isn't like a famous from having a great career.

Starting point is 00:06:17 Definitely agree with you. And do you still remember the moment when you told to your parents that you want to go to London and study there? maybe what was their reaction like? Yeah, I mean, to be fair, my parents were really supportive and they kind of wanted us to go go study abroad. They've never had the chance in their lives and then they've made sort of good careers for themselves

Starting point is 00:06:43 and I think they just wanted us to have the opportunities that they didn't so they were really supportive of that. And yeah, the fact that I kind of just wanted to go to London the reasons of I thought the best place in Europe for like film industry. It's the biggest. And then second, definitely for the fact that it sounded cool, sitting in London and living in London. And like I said, I guess both of us are from small towns in the middle of the Europe

Starting point is 00:07:11 in the Czech Republic. So they were really supportive. Especially considering the history of our country, that it wasn't as westernized as other nations. in Western Europe. So our parents really didn't have a chance to travel as much or career opportunities. So I guess it's great that they support each year. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So when it comes to the filmmaking, where you always seem to the filmmaking as a child?

Starting point is 00:07:39 Or how did you, why did you decide for this? I think I got that from my dad. He used to like film and edit on an amateur level. Like videos from from home, from work, all sorts of stuff. And then, you know, he'd show me, like, the editing software and all those things. So I think one of the first memories of me, like, interacting with filmmaking world, would be him sitting me down in front of iMovie and just like, it's awesome. So cliche now that I hear you back, you know, back at the time, it was like, he first got like an iPhone and then got an iMac.

Starting point is 00:08:13 So we had like iMovie on the iMac. And at that time, you know, I was like, I don't know, maybe 10 or something. And I've never heard. I didn't know anyone else who would have an iMig. And it was like, it was just so, like, new in Czech Republic. Everyone would have, you know, a Windows PC, because that was just so damn expensive, and it's still it over there. So, yeah, I think that was, like, one of the first times.

Starting point is 00:08:37 I remember that. There was this, like, transition that I really liked that you could use in a movie, which was, like, this water. I don't know what you call it, but kind of like a, look like a surface of a lake when you, you know, you know, throw a stone in there. And it creates these, like, ripples. and it's sort of like transition. Yeah, then from there on, just kind of experimenting with my own camera.

Starting point is 00:08:59 So is your death or was your death a filmmaker or was it only a hobby? No, just a hobby. So before going to the university, did you study anything film related in Czech Republic? No, no, nothing, just sort of from YouTube, I guess. Was it a good foundation for what came later on? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I kind of, like before I went to uni, I used to do like all sorts of videos, wedding videos as well, was like. And yeah, all kinds of stuff with a cousin that I mentioned as well.

Starting point is 00:09:33 They took me with their team to Germany for this big race. We spent like five or six days over there, I think, and I used to create these like recap videos from every single day. So I would just have my own hand cam and I would just record stuff throughout the day. and then I would edit it the same day, like in the evening, and then we would release the video at the end of the day. And yeah, these things were, like, super fun, I think, and that's where I learned, like, a lot about editing and filming as well. So, yeah, I think I had a good sort of base.

Starting point is 00:10:08 That sounds like a good experience and some kind of background, because I remember coming to university, having pretty much no filmmaking experience and feeling like that I don't really belong there, It was tough for me, those beginnings. It sounds like that you had kind of good beginnings before you went to the university. So were there actually obstacles that you faced? Or did you have any moments you were thinking about that you may not make it in the end or any doubt?

Starting point is 00:10:37 I think I was definitely like a bit scared that I wouldn't get accepted to any of those universities that I applied to. I was scared that like my work wasn't good enough to be accepted. only later I learned that they basically accept anyone as I wasn't like definitely didn't have to be scared apart from that I think I was lucky that my university my like road to university and going abroad was pretty smooth because I had the support of my parents you know I didn't have to do much to get there

Starting point is 00:11:07 I mean obviously like all the you know all the applications and all that I sort of did myself and in that sense I think it was pretty smooth I must say that I had literally the same feeling that my applications may not be good enough. Then I kind of found out as well that not saying that they accepted everyone, but in the end it wasn't as hard as I was afraid comparing probably my application and portfolio with yours. I think I had many more reasons to be scared than you.

Starting point is 00:11:34 Thanks, but no, I think it's the comparison to what we are used to from the Czech Republic as well, from the system in our country, right? Because getting to university isn't as easy as it is here in the years. UK. I think partially it's also because, you know, in the Czech Republic, you don't have to pay for universities to the state pays for you. So then they want to make sure they only accept people who kind of are somewhat serious about it, about studying, whereas here you can just pay for it. So for them, it just means money, right? So why wouldn't they accept? Coming actually to the university, how was it? Did you enjoy it? Didn't you enjoy it? How did you

Starting point is 00:12:14 find it? You can summarize your experience there. Someone was thinking about going to university, if it's worth it for the price. Yeah, it's tough. I think if I were to speak in relation to film industry, like whether it's worth it up or not to go to study film at a university, I think it's not any choice. Like you hear a lot of people, especially on YouTube, telling you that you don't need to study university to get into film.

Starting point is 00:12:41 And I think you don't need to. But then going to the university just gives you, even if it doesn't matter but it's a great uni or bad uni or it gives you just a great understanding of how the film industry actually works and i never uh you know got that from youtube for example what roles do even exist on a on a film set i didn't know any of that and how do you get to do those roles and only after like you learn about how the industry actually works what roles there are in like which directions or which paths you can take to sort of climb up the the letter. Only then I feel like you understand that you don't need a film uni. Because to become a

Starting point is 00:13:20 production assistant, you don't need a university. You just need to be reliable. You just need some sort of personal qualities to get that job. And then knowing, you need to know that that job even exists, which I didn't know before going to uni. So I think uni definitely was worth it for me, from my perspective in terms of giving me the understanding of how the industry works. But I'd say don't expect it to like it doesn't turn you into a good cinematographer or a good director or a good writer it gives you like a great starting base I guess but you need those jobs those early on starting jobs to give you the experience this is where maybe some of the like top universities in the world can actually make you into a good camo cinematographer sound designers sound editor

Starting point is 00:14:09 editor, whatever. We both have a friend who's in like one of the top universities, which is in Prague, actually. He studies cinematography and yeah, you can tell like the teachers, there's five of them in the whole class, for one. And then, you know, all the teachers that teach them are like the best cinematographers in the country. So yeah, I believe that like he's going to come out with loads and loads of knowledge and actual skill and be able to just go and work as a cinematographers straight away. But that's just like some of the universities. So I think it is worth it for giving you like a good understanding of the industry and then helping you decide which way you want to go.

Starting point is 00:14:49 But then again, it's down to you what you do about it. I agree with what you said. And I must say it's also about it being lucky because there were some teachers that I found them really helpful that they gave me a lot during my studies. But then there are, you know, other teachers that I felt like, I don't want to say it was waste of time. but I don't think it was really worth the money, but that's something you never choose. It's kind of being lucky and there are always both types. Yeah, I agree. I agree 100%. Because it's always going to be like that.

Starting point is 00:15:21 You can never pick how many good teachers you'll have and how many bad ones you'll have. You will always have a one good teacher and you will always have a one bad teacher. It just depends what they're going to teach and who they're going to be and how much you'll have to interact with them. Can you try to highlight a few points that were positive about university and few points that were negative? Something that you enjoyed and something that could have been done better. In general, when it comes to university, not necessarily specific to the one you went to. I think positive points would be some of the teachers, some of the good teachers,

Starting point is 00:15:56 who actually had some Euro-war experience from the film industry. And also, yeah, you just need to make the most out of it. You just need to kind of find these teachers that are really good and what they do and actually have some experience and just absorb it from them as much as you can and ask them questions and just spend time with them. What's negative about film university? I think most film universities can't give you the connections that you need to really get into the industry, mostly just because they don't have them and also because the industry doesn't really want students. Like it's, I mean, you know it as well. the industry is so much about connections and who you know. If you've got a friend who's a camera assistant or whatever or a spark,

Starting point is 00:16:40 then he can get you on a set on a job quite easily. You know, he's just going to go to his crew or whoever hires him and then go to be like, hey, I know this person, he's really reliable. Can he come on this job? You know, that's kind of like how it works much more than you apply with a CV or something. Maybe you don't even need university if you've got a friend or someone from your family on a set and then they just know you and kind of will get through the job. Yeah, yeah for sure. I think a lot of people were angry at, a lot of our classmates were

Starting point is 00:17:11 angry at this the way how the industry works and the fact that it works like this because it makes it really hard for you to get the jobs unless you know someone. But on the other hand if you look at it from perspective of other people who work in the industry, if you're on the film set there's not much tolerance for for errors and you need people who are reliable and you constantly work with people unless you're like an editor or a grade. Even then you work with people. But on set, it's really, because so many people around you and you work with them every day, they need to be easy to work with. And you'd want to hire someone you know and you trust as well rather than just a random person. If you have the opportunity

Starting point is 00:17:50 to hire someone you know and you trust. We know how competitive the industry is. So you really want to do the best job you can because quite easy to replace you since There are so many people waiting behind you for the same job as you have. Yeah. How was your transition from education to work? When did you start applying for work? Or how did you look for work? Was it through corrections or applications or send it CVs?

Starting point is 00:18:17 So it was definitely a big slap in the face. I think it makes you realize a lot of things. But how I went about it, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do after you. Like what specific role in film? I kind of just knew I could edit. I did enjoy like directing a lot, but you don't really finish uni and go start directing films. Anyone's going to hire you as a director straight out of uni

Starting point is 00:18:40 because you just like experience, real world experience on set and you don't have the connections you need. People need to trust you a lot to hire you. So that's the reason for that. I thought I would start just freelancing as like a videographer after uni. I kind of, I don't know, it kind of came on its own. because I thought I would just have like a normal holiday after uni, like during the summer. I would do much and then I would start applying in like September or August September.

Starting point is 00:19:07 I would like start applying for jobs for studios and things like that as like assistant editor. However, I managed to get some through some connections at uni and through one of our teachers as well. I managed to like get some jobs over the summer and made a couple of connections. And then one of those connections, a friend of mine, recommended me at a company, where he worked. So they hired me for some freelance editing at first. I started doing some editing. And that was like a big opportunity for me at that time. Because like all of a sudden some real company wanted to pay me and work with me. So that was great. I learned so many things as well. I realized how professional the working world actually is. Again, you can't really make

Starting point is 00:19:51 mistakes and everything needs to be like really good and you know like I would edit and I would have mistakes in my like exports and you know I would overlook things and things like that and you just can't send an edit to a client with so many mistakes and tell them oh we're going to fix it in the next you know you just need to like watch your own like these these little things were a bit like realization for me I think I proved myself to them with sort of just my my approach to work and they ended up getting really busy over like September October November so then they offered me a full I'm job as a filmmaker and yeah I accepted that so it was kind of happened quite quickly and I didn't really apply to any other companies in the end because first I was happy that I had

Starting point is 00:20:37 this like freelance gig for them and then like a month later I started working you know I got a full-time offer so I started as an editor and then worked myself up a bit as a camel did you actually have to send them CV or cover letter or was it based on that connection and then work relationship? So obviously the connection helped a lot. I didn't have to send a CV, I didn't have to do a formal application. I did meet with the boss

Starting point is 00:21:05 of the company, or one of the bosses of the company. I showed him my CV and we just had a sort of quite a relaxed chat about me, my work, what I did, or experience I have, things like that. I think at that time my reel was fairly okay for just finishing uni.

Starting point is 00:21:21 I think because I've been sort of playing around with the camera for so long before you know like four years I sort of developed a good eye for composition and those sort of things so my shots at least looked okay there weren't any massive breadflex so I think that's why they ended up hiring for me because it wasn't a job where you'd need like 10 years of experience or something at first like the the edits that I was doing were quite simple and straightforward since this is quite important part of life especially for students. Can you give some advice how to prepare for this transition for work?

Starting point is 00:21:58 When it comes either interviews, CVs, cover letters, when to start looking for a job, about expectations. Because for example, I remember teachers telling us during the university that we should stay realistic and not to expect that once we finish university, that the industry will not be waiting for us. Because there is such a competition and you are just a student, one of many, you should stay realistic. apply in advance and prepare as much as you can yeah for sure I think no one's really waiting for you to finish you and work out for you and job you know I think it works like that in other industries or there's not enough just the workforce and people but definitely doesn't work like that in the film industry it's difficult

Starting point is 00:22:42 for me to give advice on CVEs and cover letters and like interviews because I've never really had to do many of them I think you should ideally try to just develop those connections over your years at university so that then you don't have to do, you know, send CDs and cover letters and all that. In terms of when you should start looking for a job, to be fair, you should start as soon as you get to uni. You should start thinking about it because it takes a lot of time and especially if you don't want to go down the traditional route of sending hundreds of applications.

Starting point is 00:23:15 I think I personally sort of started in my third year of uni where, well basically before the 30 or even one of our teachers came up to like the whole class right and he said i might have some like jobs coming up over the summer if anyone's interested in let me know i ended up emailing him and ended up working on a couple of jobs and thanks to him over the summer and even that helped me a little bit create those connections that's where i met the other friend work with him who then you know recommended me in this company you know that they kept telling us networking networking networking and that's the most important thing and like looking back i 100% agree with that i remember it was probably one of the first lectures we had at university and teacher asked us what is the most

Starting point is 00:24:00 important to succeed in the film industry and the most important thing was networking i still remember it answered today can you tell us a bit more about the company you started in just so that we get a bit of overview what kind of company was it yeah it was it It was a very small production company focused on online content and their main niche was crowdfunding videos. So they managed to make a name for themselves in this space of crowdfunding videos and make some connections again. So they were able to get a lot of jobs from crowdfunding platforms.

Starting point is 00:24:35 They recommended them to the companies that wanted to, you know, do a crowdfunding campaign. So it was a lot of that and it was a fairly small company. Like at the time that I joined, it was the two co-founders. There is one employee and then me, so it was four of us. What were the roles that you tried? I assume that you started, you know, one on the bottom and grew up? Yeah, yeah. So because it was such a small company, you cannot do a bit of everything, right?

Starting point is 00:25:01 Like I mentioned before I started, they hired me as an editor, so I started editing first. And then after about two, three months, they sent me on a couple of jobs as a chem-op. And then I proved myself as a chem-op. So I started filming most of the shoot. and editing as well. And then, yeah, they kind of asked me what I want to do. And I said, I want to try directing some of the videos and maybe even writing some of the crowdfunding videos or online commercials.

Starting point is 00:25:30 And, yeah, they sort of gave me the opportunities. So they introduced me into directing some of the shoots and, you know, directing clients and then working with some factors as well. And kind of picked it up quite well, I think. And then I think because I did well in all of those jobs, and the other employee was really talented and really good. And I had loads to learn from him as far. They had this really strong core team,

Starting point is 00:25:54 and they were able to expand. And they hired more people, hired some editors and things like that. So, yeah, then for like the past year in that company, I was basically just directing and writing as well, as well as doing some editing. And then that sort of leads to me discovering the world of motion design and animation

Starting point is 00:26:14 because I started doing some work in After Effects and things like that. Yeah, that's what got me too, what I'm doing now. That sounds like a great experience right after the university, that you ended up doing what you wanted, being a director, and you also tried all kinds of different roles, actually, in your real life. Sounds like a good job. How long you spend there? Almost two years.

Starting point is 00:26:37 Where did you go afterward? After the job, I decided to go freelance. I was just going to say that, like mentioned, and it was like a good experience straight after you and it definitely was. It was a great job to have just because I could try bits from everything. And that's what kind of made me realize even

Starting point is 00:26:54 because originally I really wanted to pursue directing as a career. But then this job kind of made me realize that you just sort of need those connections and also it be realized that if you don't have great connections, it's very difficult to become like a serious director at a very young age. And very, very often, and lots of the big directors on commercials or whatever,

Starting point is 00:27:15 they first started somewhere else. You know, they were, whether it's art directors in studios or even DOPs or whatever, and then they made their own project or their own film and then got into directing. I sort of realized there's lots of place how you can get there, and I don't need to be in a rush or anything. And I also really started enjoying doing animations

Starting point is 00:27:38 in after effects and motion graphics and motion design. So I decided to go freelance as a motion designer. For how long have you been freelance now? I'm about for five months, six months, almost six months. Do you feel like it was a good decision? Oh yeah, absolutely. I think maybe I should go back here a little bit. So because I used to do wedding videos and jobs like that before and throughout your name,

Starting point is 00:28:03 I kind of mostly worked as a freelancer. And then both my parents worked as sort of managers in companies. so they had sort of the freedom of time in a way. So that's what I knew was the norm for me. You know, I didn't grow up with parents who would just go to work, 96, every day. That wasn't really the norm for me. So I think I'm much closer to being freelance than to being a full-time employee. And what kind of made me like motion design was the fact that I've always fascinated by technology

Starting point is 00:28:36 and I feel like I'm a bit of a geek and I like the fact that you can just create. something using only a computer, you know, out of thin air. And that's what fascinates me about coding and 3D animation and all these sort of things. And then motion design is what I sort of got the opportunity to do a bit of during the joke that I had. Yeah, I just felt really passionate about it, the fact that I can just turn on my computer, create something out of nothing. For someone who maybe hears this for the first time, can you explain in a simple terms what is it, motion design and maybe even animation? Yeah, so motion design is basically a combination of graphic design and animation and designing motion in animation or for graphics. It's a fairly new industry, but the work

Starting point is 00:29:23 ranges from lower thirds that you see on news channels or any sort of animated graphics you see on TV to a bit more to the hand-d drawn animation as well, to the animated short films and There's loads and loads of things. Explain the videos. They are part of that as well. I was going to say that sounds like there is a big future for this. That it's something good to spend time on because it's likely that there will be a lot of work in the future. Yeah, I think it's become a massive thing in like the past 10, 15 years.

Starting point is 00:29:55 And I think it's also because it's really versatile. And all these companies can now create loads of marketing content without the need of actually filming things. And it's just so much better. animation or motion to catch the attention of people in the world of like social media and all that and online years. I think that there's a big future for it. What software do you use for that? After effects mostly and illustrator quite a bit of the Adobe. Was the learning curve? Is it hard difficult? How long does it take to master it? Tough to say. It didn't feel that difficult to me. But I think there's a lot of aspects to it to motion designs. So you can focus

Starting point is 00:30:37 on just animation. You can be just an animator. So yeah, you just want to kind of master basics of animation and motion and fundamentals and then software as well, after effects. And then you can work in studios where, you know, they've got designers, they design the whole thing and then you just go and make it move and animate it. Or you can be, you know, you can try to be proficient in design as well. So then you're able to, for example, that's kind of what I do as a As a freelance motion designer, I sort of try to accommodate most of the aspects of the video. So if someone hires me to create a video, I have to sort of design it and then animate it or sometimes even wrapped it as well. So yeah, but learning the software, it's like any other software.

Starting point is 00:31:22 You can take a lot of time. After FX is quite complicated, but it's definitely doable. It's just like anything else. It might take like five years to master it, but it's going to take half a year to learn in a decent level. And I'm sure there are plenty of tutorials and videos online that help you to master the. Yeah. When it comes to motion design, I've learned everything from online tutorials. And then when I had, when I saved up some money, I ended up buying some courses online,

Starting point is 00:31:51 which definitely helped a ton. It was much easier to have to follow the course than to watch endless YouTube tutorials without any clear learning path. That makes sense. Can you compare what is it pros and cons of working in a company, as you were before and as a freelancer. Maybe if someone was thinking about pursuing a career of a freelancer as well. I think it's really about what do you want and what suits you better.

Starting point is 00:32:16 I can tell you why freelancing is better than being full-time, but then that doesn't mean it's better for everyone. There are definitely people who are going to prefer one over the other. For me, freelancing is just more natural to have the freedom of my own time. And I don't get too bothered by the instability of being. freelance. If you're full-time, you just have this stability that you know going to get paid every month, the same amount, and then once in six months or a year, you're going to get a race or something if you do well, or you can climb ladder. Whereas freelance, it's just prefer the

Starting point is 00:32:50 fact that it's just up to you. Yes, it can be difficult, it can be unstable, but if it's unstable, it's because of you. So you can work hard and make it stable, and you can also work hard and you don't have like a ceiling to your sort of opportunity. to what you can do with it with your time. People should try maybe both. I think they don't think about it too hard after uni. Just anything you try is good experience and it's better than doing nothing.

Starting point is 00:33:17 And even if you don't know what you want to do, just do something, because at least it'll help you figure out maybe what you don't want to do. If you really have no clue what you want to do, just go try to get a job anywhere, apply for different things or whatever. And then if you get that one job, you'll at least it'll help you figure it out.

Starting point is 00:33:34 Maybe you'll start in trying to try to do. train it and you'll find that that's what you want to do and then you can continue on from there. Or you just find out, okay, this is not what I want to do. Let's try something else. It will definitely help you type what you want to do. What about some negatives or challenges that come to freelancing? Because I'm sure that there are plenty of people intrigued by the idea of being my own boss, but I'm sure that it's not that easy.

Starting point is 00:33:59 So can you share some challenges or something that it's not that easy that it may seem? I think there are definitely challenges, but it's really hard to say, because to me it comes really natural, feels like the way it should be. So the things that others see as challenges, I just see as normal things. For example, the fact that it's unstable and I don't know how much money I'm going to make, and if I'm going to make any money, if anyone's going to hire me, to me, that's normal with the net. Like you just need to keep trying and get like job. There's solutions to all of those things. you can build a good network of people that you work with and then you'll have enough stable job

Starting point is 00:34:39 like it's not impossible to have a stable freelancing career what are your goals and aspirations or some future plans when it comes to your job at career i wish i knew or even a short term the short term goals yeah creating a table option designed career improving my skills and hopefully working on some really interesting projects. I think at the minute I'm trying to get myself on the path to a creative director, then maybe go back to directing in the future again. But there's loads of other things. Like I enjoy the business side of things of being freelance as well,

Starting point is 00:35:18 because you kind of run your own business, you want to your own name. I've got some other interests as well. Like I'm working on this app with two friends of mine. It's just like a passion project, but it's a simple iPhone app. for people who like to shoot analog film, like a logging app, and like I've made a couple of apps or games with a friend of mine during like high school and during uni as well in the past. So this is like a thing that I've enjoyed as well. And I'd love to do one of those a bit more seriously, like an app or something in the future. I think I'm at the point where I'm still trying to figure things out for myself.

Starting point is 00:35:55 Is something important to mention as well, how hard it is or it was for you to find a job, as a freelancer and how do you find it if it's true connections again or maybe some advertisement I think as a freelancer you need to focus on providing the best service possible if you just make it so amazing to work with you like if a company hires you or something and it's just like the results are great communication is great the feed is great and all that that's the most important thing for me I'm currently taking this course which is focused on a bit more on the business side of things. It's specifically for promotion designers. It's called Motion Hedge Client Quest.

Starting point is 00:36:37 And it's about how you get clients, how to get regular clients, built sort of a good funnel for an attracting new client. And when I came to realize that mostly I'm getting all of my jobs at the minute from connections, from my network, or at least most, pretty much all of them. For me, that's really good. It's just a bit unpredictable. I don't know when those people are going to go and ask me for a job. But they just sort of keep. coming somehow but I think I'm lucky in that sense that I don't need to try to part to like go out and can get new clients and all that even though I am I am trying because I do want to want this to be quite stable and I want to have

Starting point is 00:37:15 a bit more jobs and all that I think seeing other people in the course as well it definitely is hard to get your own clients that doesn't mean it's impossible and anyone can like figure it out you know if you just keep trying For me, I don't see that's the most difficult thing. I think it's as difficult as finding a job, a full-time job like a McDonald's or something that might be easier than getting freelance clients. I like the mindset.

Starting point is 00:37:40 I think more people should be thinking like that. Yeah, like if you think about it, anything that you want in life can be figured out. You know, you can figure everything out how to get it. It's just like about doing it. A quote that I read in like an email newsletter that I subscribe to. But really like resonated with. me because I think it's important to realize that you can figure anything out.

Starting point is 00:38:02 As we heard your story now, can you summarize some points for young people who want to succeed or at least try similar career path? When it comes to any trade, skills, experience, anything that comes to your mind that might be helpful and those people should focus on? I think it's very valuable to focus on yourself a lot and develop your own qualities and personality and approach to work and work on. your mindset because that's just going to pay you back a lot and it's just going to come in handy being able to focus and to be disciplined and productive and I think that's very useful and it's going to be

Starting point is 00:38:40 useful in any job that you get try to probably work on your connections on networking try to connect with people make make connections doesn't always have to be on like a personal level on like a work relationship or business level where you just do some work for someone they're happy and then that's it or something, you know, where you can go to networking events and just meet people. I feel like you never know where something it's going to come from in terms of network. It will always, like, surprise you.

Starting point is 00:39:08 Someone you talk to, you showed your work two six months ago, is now they got a new job and they're making a video and they are hiring people. And then they remember you or something, that sort of stuff because people's lives go on as well. So, you know, your network keeps evolving and so on as well. So the connections you make now may be highly valuable like five years from now or ten years from now. Especially when you're meeting people who are driven and are sort of improving their own positions as well.

Starting point is 00:39:39 And just try to make the most out of uni if you're still a uni. And don't be too worried. Don't compare yourself to others. That's the biggest thing that I learned. Because everyone has their own path and everyone gets where they are differently. and you can't just follow a path and get to the same exact position. And if you think someone's doing better than you are and you should be doing better right now

Starting point is 00:40:03 because look at them, look at what they've got, look at what they've achieved. You know, you never know their full history and how they got there. It's just different for everyone. So don't focus on that at all. Just focus on yourself and on your own journey. I think those are some great points to keep in mind. Now, can you tell us a bit more about yourself? if you want to. We know that you enjoy filmmaking, animation, graphic design and building apps.

Starting point is 00:40:30 So is there any hobbies or do you want to tell us more about something? I think I pretty much covered it. Those are all things that I enjoy. At the moment, I'm just trying to figure out what I really want to do in the next 5, 10 years, what I want to focus on. Because you don't have an unlimited amount of time and I think you need to. It's good if you can pick something to focus on, because if you really want to get it good, good at something it's going to take you years to get there so I'm sort of trying to figure that out I do enjoy all these things that in relation to tech I am fascinated by them and by like the future that it can bring to us and like we're really

Starting point is 00:41:08 starting to see that with all those like AI tools these days and yeah so I don't know where all this is quick to lead me but I definitely want to stay a little bit I want to keep all these multidisciplinary interests I guess like they the apps business motion design creative side of things as well directing and all that so i'm just trying to figure out how i can combine all these things while keep sort of progressing because you can't really be good at everything you just need to focus on on some things that you really enjoy or will bring you the most sort of value so i guess that's that's what i'm trying to do and it sounds great to me that you manage to find you know a job that you enjoy and at the same time even that

Starting point is 00:41:51 business side of things because I heard many times that people to be filmmakers but don't really enjoy this business side and I hope it will continue later. Thank you. Can you highlight some moments or some projects you are proud of for some collaborations or anything from your career? Yeah, there's definitely been a couple that I didn't expect be so enjoyable, do quite well as well. One that comes to mind is this online commercial that I directed for a, fashion brand called Bandula London. They do handbags, quite crazy handbags. And they did this collaboration with the band Queen for their 50th anniversary. They collaborated with the band and created this range of handbags. And I got the opportunity to direct that commercial. And it was super fun and I really

Starting point is 00:42:43 enjoyed it. And I think it looks great. And I was super happy with it. I still am. And apparently even like the two guys from The Queen saw it, Brian and Roger. So they saw your name in the credit? They've seen the video and apparently they quite liked it. Maybe something comes in the future. Maybe. That was definitely really, really cool to hear. I mean, that was the end of it.

Starting point is 00:43:05 Like, it's not a biggest thing. And I was quite happy with it. And can people watch it somewhere if they want it? Yeah, I think it's on YouTube. If you just search, went to Long London Queen. We'll try to put it into the show notes if someone wanted to watch it. Yeah, the video is quite. called Queen X Ventula.

Starting point is 00:43:23 Any thin else? Or is this like the biggest one or the best one? I think so. Yeah, there's all other projects that I'm quite proud of. But yeah, there's this one sort of Kickstarter video for these Hong Kong-based watch, smart watch company that I wrote and directed. And I think that one looks really professional and turned out to be really great. We work with some great actors, two kids. It was super fun. It was great experience on set for me to direct little kids.

Starting point is 00:43:51 It must have been difficult. Or was it or no? Yeah, maybe at times, but it was quite fun. I wouldn't say I'm best with kids, but then I got some great feedback from members of the crew and from the producer that I worked really great with them. So I guess it was good. I didn't think I was doing that well at that time. But yeah, I think they enjoyed it as well. It was pretty fun.

Starting point is 00:44:13 So I'm quite patient and the next person. Was the campaign successful? I don't even know, to be honest. I was meant to go Kickstarter, but I don't know if it ever happened. I just knew we finished. So if someone wanted to follow your work, do you want to share links with us, either social media, your website or showreel? I'm really bad with posting on social media.

Starting point is 00:44:37 You can find me on LinkedIn. If you want to follow my work, you can find me on Instagram, both just my name. You can find me on Instagram where I mostly just post a bit more personal things. from my personal life rather than just work stuff. Yeah, if you want to follow what I do, what I work on, or if you want to connect or talk to me or whatever. Can people get in touch if they wanted some advice or... Yeah, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:45:03 Yeah. And what about websites? Do you have website? Yeah, just my name.com, jacobholod.com. Yeah, you can see my work there or you can even find my email there if you want to get in touch. We'll add it to show notes as well. As we are just finishing, is there anything? that you would like to add, you would like to come back to, or maybe I forgot to ask you.

Starting point is 00:45:24 I think we covered it pretty well. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for, thanks for having me. I thank you for one of the first episodes. I really enjoyed it as well. It was great to find out more about you. And also, I learned something, got some useful motivation, and wish you good luck in your career. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Produced Bipe. Subscribe to our podcast and your favorite podcast app. Leave a review or send us your For more information about the host, links from the episode and ways to connect with us, visit the show notes.

Starting point is 00:45:59 If you know someone who would be an ideal guest for our podcast, please get in touch. Thank you and see you soon.

Produced By - #1 - Jakub Holub: How to Successfully Transition from Studying Film to Your First Job

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