Produced By - Capturing the Blitz: Adventures of an NFL Filmmaker | #38: Reece Beale

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

NFL aficionado (& self proclaimed nerd) Reece Beale, with over 6 years of industry experience, has traversed continents capturing the sport's electric pulse. From regular season clashes in London & Germany, to documenting Europe's burgeoning NFL Academy, he's taken his lens across the globe. Reece though, isn't just a camera operator; he's a storyteller, wielding both the camera and editing tools to craft captivating short documentaries for NFL UK. His seamless "cinematic storytelling," has been honed through years of working in camera - shooting, focus pulling and camera assisting, and he always takes the opportunity to learn more, striving to inject authenticity and depth into every frame he shoots. Prepare to dive deep into the heart and soul of the NFL with Reece as your guide. He'll reveal industry insights for aspiring filmmakers, unlock the secrets of success within the NFL arena and offer a front-row seat to America's gridiron obsession. This isn't just entertainment; it's your invitation to unlock your own creative potential. Tune in, get inspired, and let Reece ignite your passion for storytelling and the NFL! Elevate your online presence with the help of Trailblazed, your (and our) favourite digital marketing agency. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://trailblazed.digital/⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy the show, please, consider supporting it on Patreon or by buying a virtual coffee (or chocolate). ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ProducedByPodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/producedby⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Boost your creative career by joining our new Skillshare course and feel free to let us know how you liked it. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://skl.sh/3Rh7ZtY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date, get the latest news and much more. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7092551882589528065⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Reece: https://www.reecebeale.com/ https://www.instagram.com/reecebeale757/ https://www.instagram.com/reecebphoto/ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/reece-beale-2285a8133/ Clutch Down (Reece's NFL podcast): https://www.instagram.com/clutchdownpod/ https://open.spotify.com/show/0v18EmsH2cMoMZaxVN1QTN?si=97989dcfa3574b67 Connect with the host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the podcast: Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Web: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/41BiG5YvGIgITz1N14hF2E ⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe and share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. About Produced By: Produced By unveils captivating stories of courageous people who set out to pursue careers in highly competitive fields, despite often challenging circumstances. Enter the spotlight with our guests and get inspired, whether your interests are in the creative industries, personal growth or you simply want to have fun. Listen to individuals who represent a wide range of professional backgrounds, geographic locations and career stages. So come along to follow their adventures and learn from life's experiences as we kick off on this epic journey. Thanks for listening and see you soon! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Produced Buy. Just quickly before we begin, if we enjoy the show, please consider supporting it by joining our Patreon. You can choose from a list of memberships and we'll receive some exciting rewards. Thank you and back to the episode. Hello, Rhys, thank you for joining and welcome to the show. Thank you very much, happy to be here.

So, Rhys, can you please introduce yourself? Okay, so my name is Reese. I've been working as a camera operator in the branded content and sports sector of the industry is the best way to describe it. For six and a half years, I started off doing a lot more branded content, and the last few years have kind of moved more into sports, specifically, American football. So a lot of my work now is kind of operating and like shooting, PDing within American football.

Cool. Can we start with your background? Where do you come from? It's a background. So I was From the early days I was born in Essex Raised in Essex Then when I was younger I actually wanted to be an actor

Like all the way up until I was like a teenager I was just dead set on wanting to be an actor And then I got to around 15, 16 When I was in secondary school And the first video Really ever made was a Beastie Boys Sabotaged parody music video

Which was from my media class And Is it on YouTube? And it is somewhere. I message my mate every couple of years and I just say to him like, yeah, do you still have the link? And I think you still got the page up. So I'll find it and send it to you.

But yeah, so basically started with that and like went from being like loving the acting side to then like, oh, how you can show like comedy through like different shots or different actions and that and sort of started this transition over into being more into the shoot inside and then studied media at college. And then when it was in college got even more into just like the. camera side specifically. And then after that, went to Middlesex uni, studied for three years,

basically was like, I'll give myself a chance to, one, grow up a bit and to just enjoy myself a sort of party for a few years and kind of figure out where I wanted to go to the industry. And it became clear to me quite quickly when I went to university that the camera was what I enjoyed doing. Like, there had a couple of short film projects that are directed and just could never get my head like into that as much.

whereas like camera I've always kind of been more of more of a nerd with and more of kind of enjoyed doing that. So I just spent the rest of the time focusing on that basically. Yeah. And what was it that changed your mind from acting to being behind the camera? There was one thing which is I had quite an intense drama teacher when I was at secondary school. So she was she was great, but just it was a lot to deal with. So I kind of like wasn't looking for a way out, but it deterred me ever so slight. And then it was just literally going into a project, which was, let's say, this Beastie Boys parody and not really knowing all that much about, you know, how you shoot all that. I just kind of making it up as you go along.

And, you know, we just filmed it around the school and working out different ways to do shots and just come up with ideas to try and add to the humor of it was great rather than just kind of, you know, reading like a script or reading someone like that. like it was nice to be on the other side of it of just having a camera and picking locations and going okay actually if we do this shot here and this shot here we can show some humor there if we do this here then that'll be more intense you know a close up here works to show this better a little whip pan and reveal and it was just like all this kind of stuff that it's like it didn't really know but you almost didn't know why it would work you didn't know why just choosing these certain shots conveyed that in a better way but it just kind of as instinctive and I guess that That's kind of been the thing I've taken through like my career and that is the kind of instinctiveness.

And I guess it was probably that extinctiveness in the first place that kind of led me to then really liking it. And I suppose I never really got that with like the acting side. Because I never did anything like apart from at school active wise. It was never like I did any like auditions outside of it all that. So it wasn't like I was an A lister who decided to like change my mind or something. It was very just like aspirational. And I think that the kind of instinctiveness and the enjoy I felt doing that. that just that first small project, even at secretary school, was more than I kind of ever got from anything acting related.

And then it just kind of solidified that, that need to want to do something different and kind of focus on that instead. Yeah, yeah. So when you went to Middlesex, did you already go there with the mindset that you want to focus on camera? Or were we still open to everything and discovered it along the way? I was open to things. I think that I definitely had a kind of a sort of, a sort of, mindset rooted in camera. And it was more of a case of going, okay, this, you know, I want to go at a university, build up a bit of a bit of show rule, which I don't feel like I can do right now just as I am outside of university. So I'll do that, focus on building up a show reel. And then, you know, direct some bits and go from there. So, you know, it was always kind of just

directing, writing and cinematography were kind of my focuses. And then I think you just, yeah, as that first year went on, I just kind of kept shooting stuff and more stuff. And then, you know, my focus would be on the shots and lighting and things like that rather than anything else. And then, yeah, it was in the secondary uni. I directed one short film, which was, I'm fine to say, terrible. And I was like, it's all good. It wasn't very good at all. And I'm happy to say that.

But the good thing about that experience was it made me realize that, okay, you know, direct is not for me. Like with the work I do at the moment, like, it's, you know, some shoots, there's more of a directorial element where it's, you know, you're shooting, but also coming up with ideas and also, you know, directing the people you work with. And that, from that side, that's great. But, yeah, the full-fledged, like, directing with the, yeah, projects I just could ever really get into. Yeah.

So in the third year, were you working as the DOP on the main project? Yeah, yeah. So, literally, third year, all I did was, was shoot. Yeah, DOP'd two or three feel. I think it might have been two. and they did a bunch of like supplemental like camera roles on on other projects as well. So just completely focused on on that basically. And how did those film turn out were happy with the final results?

They were good, yeah. Yes, the two main ones I did was there's a film called the Langford Loop, which was directed by a friend of mine, Bain and Birds, as I say, when I've listened to this before, I know that Pottie the Plan came up, so he basically was one of the writers on that. and then wrote something slightly darker for third year. It was all about time travel and all that. And so that was one of them.

And then the other one was called, it was like a short dock basically, called So Others May Live. And there was a go on my course whose dad was in the Portuguese Air Force. And so she wanted to do a story basically about him and the Air Force and all that over there. And so we did like a short dog there, which was great because it got to spend basically 10 days in Lisbon, filming in helicopters and all that. And then, yeah, I think, you know, the end result was really cool. And I did a right.

I got nominated for something which was called a Monkey Breadtree Award for Cinematography. So it's just like an awards like... Is it specific for cinematographers? No, it was just a like... I don't know what you call on because it wasn't a festival, but I guess it was just like a... Yeah, I don't know how to describe it, but basically like a place and there was just nominations for writing

and all this kind of stuff throughout, like, student films and all that. And so I got nominated for a Cinema Award for that. And then another one for some random festival in California, I think, for so others may live. So I was like, you know, as a 21-year-old student who's just, like, figuring stuff out. I was like, okay, hopefully that means I'm on the right track. But, you know, they were, yeah, it was quite happy with them at the end. They were a good, like, learning step to kind of go from. Yeah, and I guess it's good to boost your confidence that you are good to interrupt.

Yeah, 100% because I think the thing is like I came into this industry in that like so cold in terms of like I didn't know. There's no family members of mine or anything like that who were in the industry. So it was kind of a real go through university and just figure it out kind of way. And then you know, you kind of are always doing your best to kind of learn and figure stuff out and keep on the right track. And I suppose it was a bit of a confidence base of, okay, at least, you know, I know my level of knowledge is going to increase into the future probably, you know, forever with this work and with all that. However, at least I know that I've improved and, you know, I'm starting to understand these things a bit more than I did, you know, two years ago when I first started university or even a year before. And before I forget, when we move out from the topic of university, what's the advice that you would share for either students? or people who want to study from your experience?

I think the, I very much saw university as an opportunity to kind of figure things out. I think specifically with a film course, like a year after you finish university, 99% of the project people do are forgotten about. You're moving on to different things. And so it's good to kind of use the university as a chance to kind of experiment with things. like when I directed the film I did in second year, I threw myself like massively into that and I tried to do some weird things with like lighting

and the way I directed actors and all this. And I found out very much so a lot of things that didn't work but also in the process I found out, you know, the focus on the things that did work and why these things didn't work and why I didn't want to direct and why I wanted to focus and what I wanted to do. So it's kind of having that humility

and understanding to try the different things and make those mistakes. and go a bit random with what you're going to do and understand that there's going to be a lot of stuff you're going to do that's terrible and you'll look back on it. I mean, I look back on stuff I did two years ago and think it's terrible. So looking back at university, I'm like at the time you think it's amazing. So I think it's just understanding that, you know, especially if you want to do this as a career, that university exists as it's one thing and throw yourself fully into it. Try things out and, you know, try and work out what you really want to do and what you're really passionate about. and then you can kind of make that your focus from there.

And in the process, don't worry about it. If you look at everyone else's films, like I worked with some people then who, you know, were massively better than me at cinematography and a good friend of mine still now. Like his lighten's always been incredible and the way he shoots is incredible. And it was like, it'd be easy to win.

You're at university. You're always going to be around people who are ahead of you. And then people who are not as good as you within those things. There's so many different experience levels. And it's kind of realizing that, you know, just experiment with stuff and stay kind of on your own path and understand that you're at the end of day, regardless of you, if you're working with someone who when university finishes doesn't do anything in the film industry. And if you're working with someone who goes on to win Oscars or whatever, regardless, those two things don't affect anything that you do. You know, it's good, obviously, to stay friends with the person who, you know, wins the Oscars and, like, keep them as a contact and chat. So, of course, to, like, use it as a good chance to network.

But it's kind of like, it's fine to be in your own. own lane in your own path and and you know take things at the pace that kind of kind of works for you and and in the process just experiment and kind of figure out more what what your focus wants to be you know what what avenue you want to take within the industry because there's quite quite a few yeah yeah i like this advice because i feel like from my experience that i should have experimented more and should have taken advantage of you know the resources facilities people time and everything So that is something I can definitely rely to and confirm that it's a good advice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I definitely think it's handy because it's easy to focus on everything around.

It always like look at something you're shooting and go, oh, you know, why doesn't this look like something they're doing? Why doesn't this look like, you know, this $100 million budget movie that I've taken references from? It's like, no, it's fine. You're just, you're learning stuff. It's all good. people generally like when you're starting out as long as you in the industry kind of have that humility and you're using the projects that you've done within university to just promote that potential that you've got and I think people can see that and they'll they're not going to look it and go oh well

you've just got a bunch of student films they're going to look it and go oh I see the potential yeah okay I see this oh this works oh I see you know that so yeah yeah I agree so when you were about to graduate, how did you start thinking about your way into the industry? So I, in a way, was lucky, but in a way also grafted. So basically, end of second year of university, so during second year of university, I worked on this short film called Potty the Plant, which I say you've had people to talk about before on this. By the way, great great.

film, especially if you consider it student film. So I definitely recommend to people to watch it. Yeah, it was, yeah, look at like, it's funny because I talk about this. So basically on that project, like, it kind of the guy who was supposed to doP it ended up having some like personal, like family issues around the time. And so wasn't able to, unfortunately, commit himself to the project as much as he wanted to. And so in the process, me and then a friend of mine, Rowan Lenniehan kind of stepped up. And we, in the end, kind of said, we code.

DOP did it, but it was kind of basically like he did a lot of the camera work and then I did basically all the lighting and there was one scene that I shot and then other than that, it was all him. So it was like technically co-DOP, but it was a bit of a kind of just like Camelot plus Gaffa situation. But regardless, like we just did what we did to kind of get it done. But yeah, it's funny because we'll look at it now and just like rip it to shreds in terms of the stuff that we did on it because, you know, as you progress, you just like I said, you noticed stuff and go, why on earth did I do that? Why don't like it like that?

That's so complicated. But yeah, so basically when we when we'd finish this project, like it then got nominated for a few awards and ended up winning a World Television Society Award, a London, like regional one. And we just kind of basically got invited to like a few networking bits off the back of that. So I spoke to some woman from film London and had some chats with her off the backup kind of that. And then there was a company which is one of my clients now that basically. basically held this kind of branded content like masterclass basically. So it was the two like directors of the company and then a few of their staff and then a freelance so they used quite a lot.

And I had an idea what branded content was like as far as I was aware it was basically like you do you know film TV commercials. That's kind of kind of it. And you know, I didn't really think of it other than that and like documentary. And then basically off the back of this like you found out all about this whole side of doing you know content for brands for like social media for internal. parts of their companies, all that kind of stuff. And I just used it as an opportunity to go, okay, this could be good.

And just walked up and chatted to both of the guys who ran the company and just tried to build a bit of rapport and chat with them and, you know, chat about all that. Got them on LinkedIn, got them, and then I met up by one of them for a coffee, just told her what I was after, chat to her about, you know, work and that kind of stuff. And then they basically got me onto a project. And then it was basically, I was down on the call sheet. as third AC. And I was like, I've not been in the industry, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. And I was like, okay, it's fine.

It's going to be something camera related and then, you know, like maybe a bit of more running than anything. Like, so that's good. I was like, whatever I've got to work, I'm happy regardless. Turned up and it was basically this, it was this like hairdressing tutorial type shoot for a promotion for a company. And when I, when I got there, I was just, you know, helping set up with. things and all that kind of stuff.

There was two cameras. There was the DOP on one. And then there was the second one, which is the director, was the guy had met at this networking thing that they put on. He was the other one who was going to be operating the camera. And then for the first set up, literally DOP is on ACAM. And he turns and looks at me and goes, oh yeah, do you want to just jumping on B cam, keeping it sharp? And I was just like, oh, yeah, sure.

It was just like, ran over, like, jumped on, like, you know, did sort of, did it all that. and that it was all good. So basically what had happened in a kind of serendipitous way is he, he had been a festival, like, not long before that, and he was shooting, and he hurt his back. And so he jumped on for the first, like, few handhelds at us, but then his back was giving him pain. So he kind of just said to me, you know,

oh, would you mind jumping on B-Cam and just this? And then he was like, I could just sort of sit in direct. And yeah, then I just ended up operating for the full two days after that and just stayed operating through it. And then because of that, then, you know, they just became a client and they just kept doing more and more for them and then through that met other people and then just kind of built like a bigger client base off off of the back of that yeah that's that's awesome story like because you can see that people shouldn't underestimate the basically power

of the student films because thanks to the success of that film you got such opportunity and then because you you could be a cameraman look how it helps you. It's great, yeah. So have you been working with them throughout the third year as well? Yeah, so basically I did those projects over the summer, did quite a few projects for them over the summer. And then third year was this kind of balance between working with them and then, you know, trying to do my university studies at the same time. But it was just the level of, of, you know, knowledge I was able to glean from the people I was working with with that client just helped so much during third year and I think that also helped with the whole whole camera side of here.

But yeah, you're right about what you said about the, the kind of reason I went to university wasn't necessarily worried about the grade. I wanted to just build up a show reel and kind of figure things out and all that. I did because I so early on knew that I wanted to focus on camera, I was at least able to build up a decent enough show reel to kind of show to people to get work and, you know, with the understanding that, you know, I'm a 20 year old who is learning this whole process. but I'm willing to learn. I just need that opportunity and kind of took it from there

and then went from there. But yeah, no, third year I was still doing doing things for them and the odd chutes. So then I was lucky that kind of when third year finished and it just kind of launched up in terms of the amount of work. And yeah, they're still a client to this day and at least seven years later. So that's quite cool.

Yeah. So did you know throughout your third year that you were kind of in a comfortable position that you knew that once you graduate, you're going to have enough, you know, opportunities to work in? I think this is probably where my second piece of advice in is. I don't think I've ever in my entire career felt in a comfortable position. It's not from like a, like, I get like more than enough work,

but I've just always had this thing in my mind of, you know, I want to focus on improving and I want to focus on getting more clients and want to get bigger projects. So I kind of had this thing in my mind of, oh, you know, this is, you know, this is great. However, you know, I want to do more work for these guys. than I want to do more work for them and other people. So it was good to have that like, you know, kind of anchor point in terms of someone that you could rely on,

like if I ever needed a device, I could go to them and say, you know, oh, I'm doing this and all that. And through that, like I do operate and work, but then I'd also do assisted work. So I'd be working with these great DOPs who I'd just be kind of gleaning all the knowledge in the world off of. And so I think it was good to kind of have a, the way I saw it was just an opportunity to, you know,

learn more and also, you know, hopefully get more work for them and, you know, hopefully get more work with other people. But yeah, I think it's one of those things where it's always good to, I always treat every single shoot that I'm doing, every single thing I'm doing, you know, as important as regardless of what it is, if it's like a little, you know, 10 minute interview or if it's like a longer dock form or whatever, like I, even then and even still now, basically, you know, seven years later than that, I still just kind of try to see it as I'm in a comfortable position in terms of I'm getting enough work, but I don't want to ever take that for granted. And I always want to make sure I'm, you know, keeping on learning and keeping on trying

to get more work and keeping on, you know, building those relationships. Yeah. So once you graduated, did you basically continue working with those clients or did you reach out out to your network for work? Or what did you do once you graduated, actually? It was mainly that client. Like I just sort of would do tons for them. And then there was a couple of people that I met whilst doing tons for them.

Like I was always freelance for them, but it was like there was a decent amount of time where you could have looked here and gone, oh, you're basically employed by them because it was just doing so much. And it was we just had had a great work of relationship and we still do to this day. So I basically just worked more with them. I did some work for one of my old tutors as well, like you had a production company. So I did some bits for him. There was mainly this kind of one client I was doing everything for. And that was kind of, so I graduated in 2018. And then basically from 2018 to the end of 2018 to the start of 2019, it was great.

And then from there, so my tax year starts and ends in April, basically from April 2019 to April, well, near enough April 2020, where the dreaded COVID here. Like it was very, you know, it was very, very good. because that was kind of where a bit of a reset came around like workwise. So talking about the COVID, how was it during the COVID? Was there still work? Was it harder? How was it for you? It was definitely harder. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to branch out a bit because those first couple of years of working in the industry were great. And, you know, this client was great and I had so much work with them.

But then it was when when COVID hit, it was like, oh, okay, suddenly, If they don't have anything, then I don't have anything. And it was this realization of, oh, I want these as a client. But now, you know, I'm doing this as a profession. Like I need to have more clients so that, you know, when there's not as much for them, then, you know, or something happens in the world that is completely uncontrollable. I mean, I'm kind of more in control of what happens. And that was this time.

So when I got into first went to university, obviously like everyone, I was, you know, I remember, I'm not sure if I cringe at it now or I'm impressed with myself. But I remember literally our first day at university, like our teachers, the tutors were like, oh, you know, like, what do you, what have you come for uni for all this? And like, I think the first thing I said was, oh, I want to win an Oscar for cinematography. I was like, I was like, looking back on it now, it's like, cringy 18-year-old Reese, like just trying to like, satisfy something impressive. But like, basically when I got to the, when COVID's hit, like, I'd obviously spent, you know, a good year and a half, two years working within the industry, which was great. But it was the best. It was the best. branded content side. And there was this part of me that was like, oh, you know, I want to, I still want to experience, you know, the film and TV side and, you know, see, see what happens with it. And I'd done some EPK bits and some kind of behind the scenes, interviews and featureettes on some movies and TV.

And, you know, being around the sets and being around these things and all that, I was just like, you know, this is incredible. I lead to do a bit more of this. And so then I tried to just look at doing more of that. And I basically ended up working on Holby City for about six months. so I'm not sure if you heard of it, but it's like a UK, it used to be like a UK kind of soap TV show that ran for like 20 years that was based in like a hospital. It's a spin off of casualty, like similar to Gray's Anatomy, if you've heard of that.

Yeah, so basically that. So I messaged their, who's it, was their production coordinator, I think, on, or production manager on LinkedIn. I was just like, oh, you know, like here's both TV. Like I'd love to do some assisting in that. And so I basically worked as a second. see on that for sometimes daily, sometimes a bit longer up until the show kind of was finished, which was the December of that year. And then within that also then started doing

some some dailies for on some other bits and some other TV shows and that kind of stuff, which is great. And I kind of got like it was great because it filled such a hole that I had with work because of everything that had gone on. And that was one avenue where I also just wanted to learn more about camera and, you know, learn more about the technical side because I just have this thing in my head of, you can never know too much about that. It is a bit of a rabbit hole, but still it's a worthy rabbit hole to kind of dive down. And so I kind of use that opportunity to, you know, learn more of that. That I realized that, you know, the film and TV side wasn't for me and then kind of focus more on building the clients within the kind of more branded side

and like a social side. And then I've kind of hit my, hit my sweet spot where that's why I like work. in but then obviously the technical knowledge from doing that fed into that so much more that it just helped make me better at my job so i just was very grateful for although i didn't want to stay and want to you know focus on the film and tv side it fed into everything else i was doing anyway yeah i think it's great as from your experience to explore other areas so that it helps you to find out and figure out what suits you the most what you enjoy the most and as you said it helps you to discover the area that you focus on and that you enjoy the most. And just coming back to that TV series, did you get a credit for that?

Annoyingly, I didn't in the end. So the way it would work is you'd basically get, there was a bunch of us. And for the show, we were called, as it, technical assistance rather than second ACs. So it was like mainly second AC with a bit of kind of helping the grip department and a bit of kind of helping out general camera and all that. So that's why it was such a helpful role because you kind of had your fingers in a few pies there. But the way it would work is that you'd get put onto blocks. So a block would be, I think it was six weeks of shooting.

And that would be, I think, one or two episodes. And then that would be the end of a block and then they'd move on to another one. But kind of when I joined, there was already a team of like really good technical assistance there. And so I would kind of do more filling in of like dailies. and there'd be times where they needed someone for like a week or whatever so i just kept doing that towards and backwards and so i was hoping that i would get credit at the end of it but i checked the episodes that i worked on and i didn't appear which was kind of annoying but you know it was like is what it is i guess and can you compare what is it like on the professional shoot like this to

university shoot i don't want to say university because it sounds unprofessional but what is the difference maybe something that surprised you something that is similar I think that that's a good question actually. I think it like a lot of the time, you know, when you're when you're shooting something like a student film, like it's very much, you know, let's say you've got a director, a DOP, a, you know, sound op and a gaffer. Like every one of them is someone who's still very much learning to just do that craft. like within that so a director is still learning their style you know a DOP is still learning loads about

light and camera and all that so you make it work but it's just kind of you know you're still figuring things out as you go along then when you're going to get to the industry obviously everyone who's within that role has the experience to just do that job like I feel like within whatever role you're doing you'll forever learn throughout you know history

and the history of your career like Roger Deakin's just said that before where I'll approach a new film and he'll say I don't really ever know how I'm going to do it because each thing projects and each thing's different and I think that's the thing. So it's just a difference between that initial level of skill was there, even if you are always kind of learning and progressing through, you know, your career. So there's just a bit of a high level of like efficiency and speed and all that, I guess, and kind of accuracy, which is to be expected. But yeah, and it's just you kind of just fall into that eventually and kind of, you know, build out yourself up to the. point where, you know, now the decisions I'm making a split second, if that's to do with, you know, the shutter speed I'm using or what frame rate of sure that I'll make that decision without really even thinking about it, just kind of doing it extinctively. Whereas if this was, you know, on a student film, it would kind of be like, okay, I'm going to swap and shoot something at 50 frames per second. Maybe just try and remember what shut are that supposed to be. Oh, no, my exposers change now. Let me just Google what happens and what I'm supposed to do. I still Google stuff now, but like less so as much as I did there. So yeah, just kind of, kind of.

kind of like a sort of speed level and efficiency level and all that because, you know, the level that people are at to be able to work in the industry is naturally going to be higher than university. So yeah, but that's just the kind of that challenge of taking that next step, I guess. If you want to boost your online presents, check out our digital marketing agency called Trailblazed. You can also add in a skill share course called the 10 tips on how to succeed in your creative career, which was inspired by the podcast. Lastly, Make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter called Creative Spotlight to stay up to date with the show and more. Links are in the show notes. Thanks.

Yeah, and you said that you got the opportunity because you texted someone on LinkedIn. So was it basically you randomly texting someone because you wanted to work on the specific project or you maybe saw that they are looking for some people to work with camera? or how did you actually make this decision? So this is one of the things that's so helpful when it comes to networking and keeping good context and all that. So the NFL client that is probably my main client now came from someone that I'd worked with.

She's a great producer, a great editor. We worked together loads, another client. I just kind of reached out to her and said, oh, you know, I'm looking at a branch out of there. you know, she knew I was a massive nerd when it came to the NFL and she knew some people there and then just, yeah, so just got that through,

through kind of speaking to people through there. And then the Holby City gig was actually, so I spoke to a DOP who I'd worked with quite a lot throughout the years and I just kind of said, oh, you know, I'm looking to do a bit more film and TV stuff and, you know, I have no idea how to do it, a sort of TV specific of this, I have no idea how to do this, like, can you just give me some advice?

and she herself basically had started off on Holby City years ago and then she just said she was like, it's a great place to start because you do this role, which is called the tech assistant, and you learn this and this and this and all that. And then she said, I'll just reach out to the production coordinator and see if you can find him on LinkedIn and reach out to him.

And it was literally as simple as that. I just Googled, you know, Holby City production coordinator, found the guy message him and said, oh, hey. I was like, have I got the right person? He was like, yes, you do. And I went, oh, great, by the way.

You know, I'd love to, you know, I'm really looking to do this, like his, you know, all that. And then he asked my CV. And then, yeah, I think it was a couple of weeks later that I started on it. So it was, yeah, kind of a good example of why networking is so helpful. And, you know, you can get the most random jobs and, you know, see the same people or the random recommendations from people that you, you haven't worked within years. And, you know, it's why it's so important to just sort of keep those connections. Like I've been recommended for shoots where it's been an editor that I worked with like four years ago who then they've just had someone say, oh, have you got a recommendation?

It's like, oh, this person. So it's just this was, this all came from, yeah, it was just a, you know, I sought out work in that time. Like I got a few jobs from Facebook like for some dailies, jobs and all that. But then, you know, then those jobs, it's keeping those connections, which then lead to other jobs. And so it's just that that whole networking aspect was kind of how I was pushed in the right direction, basically. Yeah, the power of network Oh, 100%. Name of the episode, you got it now.

So after your experience in this TV shows or TV show, then you knew that you want to focus on something different. So have you started looking for working in Reddit content and stuff like that? Yeah, so that was basically what I did. It's like it was the whole B-City stuff was concurrent with me having that conversation with the producer that I'd worked with a bunch and just saying, you know, I'm looking for sub-bolic clients and all this. And so then, you know, because of because of that, then I started doing more stuff with the NFL then throughout that part of the year.

I'm trying to remember what year we are in right now when we get that conversation. I'll start going through. Yeah, so, yeah, so I think 20, where are we at now? 2223, 22. So 21 was the first year I worked for the NFL. So I'd had that conversation and then basically, you know,

through COVID and all this had tried to kind of branch out a bit and then ended up like, what was it? 2021. Yeah, we're in 234. I'm getting mixed up with the years because it's like the first couple of weeks of January. Yeah. So,

yeah, so I basically, that was basically, I kind of had spoken to her and said, you know, I want to branch out, but then did a lot more of the film and the TV stuff with those daily.

and working on Obie City. And then after that, it was like, okay, I'm, I actually am quite happy with the work I do within the kind of more branded side. So I'll focus on that. And that was then I was having those conversations with people that saying, oh, I want to branch out. I want to do this. And so you just got various recommendations from people and kind of built my client base from there. And then, yeah, obviously, you do that first job for them.

And then they're like, okay, this works. And then you know, this works. And, you know, once you've done six or seven jobs, suddenly you build that trust, then a year passes and you've built more trust. you just get bigger projects and that's kind of how it's worked for me sort of from the start going through up until up until now yeah and working with NFL was it coincident or were always interested in NFL or did you get interested because of that oh no I was so I I I've watched every Super Bowl since 2012 oh okay I basically I used to play rugby and when I was playing

rugby like I was just it was basically just my entire life for a period of about six seven years and I can play for Essex for a while and all that and then I got injured it wasn't like a bad injury or anything but it just stopped me from playing for a little while and in the process I kind of it was in a weird kind of same sort of time that I started to like the film industry and like shooting and it was a case of I was just like well actually you know there's no there's no there's no guarantee that I'll ever do rugby as a career I also don't want to do this as a career. So, you know, I've kind of just switched the passion to focus in on, you know, film and TV and all that and, you know, camera and that.

And then in the process of doing that because I've just spent so long committed to this sport. I was like, I want to watch something that's similar, but not exactly the same. I suppose to my brother and he was like, oh, you know, I've got, you know, I've started watching this like consistently, you know, the new season is covered up because you should give it a go and started watching it and then just became quite obsessed with it. because me and my brother are very similar in terms of we do completely different jobs. But we've just always been very stats orientated and like numbers orientated. And so with the NFL literally everything is broken down to within an inch of its life. So it's kind of brought into that quite quickly. And then, yeah, just sort of went from there.

And then, yeah, it was just by chance that, you know, that was 2016 was the first year I was watching it. And then obviously four years later, I'd worked with someone for a while. I would basically work to ESPN for 10 years. and in the process of her working at ESPN for 10 years, she then met some people who worked and basically did the shooting for anything NFL UK and Europe related. And then she just introduced me to them. And then it just kind of went from there.

So it was just a sort of luck of meeting people and then just meeting the right people and all that. And then kind of going from there and taking it. But it definitely helps being a massive nerd about the sport and shooting it at the same time. And I guess people can see an. appreciate if you are passionate about it. If you don't go there, just, oh, this is my job.

I need to film it. Especially if you enjoy it, I think it's different. And it's great that you found, despite your injury, to, you know, work with the sports that you were passionate about. Yeah. Yeah. And out of curiosity, have you started playing NFL again or you are behind the camera only? No, like, so I'd love to. That was always the thing when I, like, when I, annoyingly, when I stopped playing rugby,

then went to university. I said NFL. I'm in training. They're similar enough. It's understandable. Yeah, so when I stopped playing, and then after that went to university, I was originally,

I went to the first training session for, like, the uni team. And then basically the games collided with a, like, weekly studio session I'd have for, like, my course. And it was like, it's kind of point that's going to be university and pay it all this money. So they'd, like, swap this around or skip it. And so I was just like, oh, it's fine.

I'll just leave it. And then I always had the mind of, oh, I'll finish university and then start, you know, play rugby and whatnot. And then I got into, you know, American football and it was like, oh, I'd love to do this. I'd love to at least try it. And then because I became freelance and obviously in a physical job, it was just the kind of risk of injury meant that it's just never really been something I've been able to to kind of dive into at all.

But I'm okay. I'm okay watching it from afar and kind of like shooting kind of gives you enough of like a relation to it. It kind of scratches that sporting. hitch, I guess. Yeah, yeah. So can we dive more into you working on NFL? Of course.

I don't know where to start. Maybe what were your initial projects and bring us along the way to know to your projects now. Okay. Okay, so the first project I ever worked on with them, it was the summer of 2021. And it was basically this thing that was all about the, so each year the NFL plays, usually three games over in London and they're like actual regular season like games that count towards

the normal NFL season they're just played in the UK instead and in the June of I think it was the June of 2021 I basically did the first project with the NFL which was a game which is all about how the the London series is made and you know all the kind of how it goes from being

nothing to then the stadium and how they bring the teams over and all there so it was just like a bunch interviews and B-roll, one of the, the hotels that the players were staying out where they built like a practice field for the players and all this. It was kind of like a pre-process thing. And that was kind of the sort of first thing. And then I can't remember if there was anything between there and then the first London game, which was like a few months later, because the games are usually October time. And so then the next projects that I did was basically working the two London games. And so it's, it was.

a role called at LCC, which is basically live content correspondent or local content creator as kind of alternating names. And so it was basically you shoot everything that happens in the day. So it's a pregame, you shoot the players who arrive, then you shoot them on the field, and then you go from there and you shoot everything in the game. And basically, whenever you get a big play, like a touchdown or, you know, a turnover or, you know, a call shot where, you know, the players interacted with a member of the crowd or the players interacted with each other, you'd send that via an ethernet port on the side of the pitch to the teams and to the NFL, then they'd throw it out to basically wherever they wanted to use it.

And so I did that for basically the two London games that year. And then they went well, it was all good. They were like, oh, we'll see you again next year. Great. I was like, okay, cool. That's perfect. Did those games. And then after that, I kind of in my head thought, oh, you know,

because those two games are done, I probably won't have too much like work NFL-wise for a while. And it was literally the week after I started shooting some stuff with the same client for the NFL Academy. The NFL Academy is basically a team of like the best kind of young athlete American football players across Europe basically. And they put together and they train at Loughborough Uni and study there and it's with the hope of taking them from there to get in scholarships to American teams and all that. So it's like doing stuff with them and then there's more stuff after that. And it was kind of just various things throughout that. year and then the next year and kind of short projects where players would come over and then

you do bits with them like we did a project which was with one of the Saints players um to New Orleans Saints and then we took him to Goodwood Festival I did this whole thing of him at Goodwood Festival as those are kind of little projects peppered some podcasts and stuff like that um and then the that brings us into wait where year are we at 2020 2020 2021 2021 yeah no 2020 was definitely the year I was just getting confused with when that the London Games were all that kind of stuff. Because we're in 2020-4, yeah. Yeah, so 2030-2 did the kind of, you know, stuff for them, did the London games again that year.

And I kind of in, like, I'd started to kind of really get into the whole, you know, the NFL is all about the stories. And it was how to, you know, I wanted to improve how you, you know, do the story of a game day or you do the story of all this. And within my work, instead of being just Cam-op, I wanted to focus more on, you know, shooting, with a sort of story in mind and editing and all that. And so I started to do kind of more of that.

And then did the games that year. It was over in Arizona for shooting pre-Super Bowl last year. Oh, sorry, so you went there to Arizona. Yeah, yeah. So it's a 20-23 now. It was over in Arizona. Basically, the NFL took one of their, there was an influencer, like an NFL influencer,

who won this competition. And they took her over there. We did like a bunch of stuff with her. of her like Super Bowl week and all that, which was really, really fun. It was really cool. But yeah, I kind of was with those games that year in 2022, I was like, you know, I want to get better at shooting the sport. I want to do it to the level that I see all of these American shooters do, which is just

insane. And like the level of how they do it, and how they track the ball and how they shoot the story stuff like you watch it and just go, you know, this is the type of stuff I want to do and like on a consistent basis. And so I kind of had this mind going forward from there. of, you know, I want to be better at shooting the sport. I want to be better at shooting just in general throughout everything I'm doing with a bit more of a narrative

in mind, to all this. And that's where I've kind of moved from being sort of just cow up to kind of more of like shooting PD, which is what I do for a lot of projects now. And the most recent season, which I say is probably my most successful in terms of like game shot and all that has also been where I've shot, which I literally got back from yesterday. Still fresh. Yeah, still fresh in the jet lag.

I'm so my eyes are properly bloodshot. Hell. But yeah, we basically took three sets of, like, creators over to three different American states and basically tried to show this NFL journey of these different creators coming from, you know, know nothing about the sport to then at the end of it knowing lots more about the sport. And so we did, well, the first one was in Nashville, second was in Dallas. And the one that I got back from about 24 hours ago was one in San Francisco, which is great. So it was, you know, it was literally the perfect marriage.

of the story element within the sport and the sort of producer-redirector side of building that narrative as well as also shooting the sport and tying those two things together. And that's kind of what I've tried to make more of my focus now is doing more of those projects with the hope that eventually moving to the States and doing more NFL stuff kind of on a longer-term basis over there because the stuff doing the UK is great and it's amazing. it but obviously because there's only three four games basically in Europe a season it's hard to be able to have you know be able to work on you can't work on a game week and week out for for that reason so it's just kind of all this back on my head if i love the stuff i do and i want to do more of it

basically and these projects you filmed in the u.s in san francisco is it going to be like videos yeah so it's basically the longer form one is is a little like doc that'll go on youtube uh to the NFL YouTube and then there's a bunch of rules and stuff that I cut out of it for you know the UK socials and then the the people we've shot with post and and all that and it's yeah it's basically kind of this series on on YouTube at the moment are you also editing it yes yeah oh really so what is it going to be released um I'm aiming for so basically the way the NFL season works is that the so we did this one's for the San Francisco 49ers and they're um their team

wrapped us something which is called the one seed so they were basically the best team in their conference which means that there's four weeks

of playoffs but they skip the first round and they play the worst team remaining in the second round of the playoffs so they basically they don't play this weekend

now it's the NFL playoffs second of third weekend of Jan but they'll play the week after to try and to get it kind of four around around then

to kind of before they play their game then so yeah I've got a a week and a half I think to go to do it Yeah, cool. So maybe we'll be able to share it when the podcast goes out. And if not, I will share it on Instagram for sure. Because I'm curious. So that people can watch it as well.

Yeah, yeah, no, no, definitely. That sounds great. Thanks. And also, I'm curious, if they bring you over to the US, is it that, you know, they trust you and because of your skills, that it's still better for them than to find someone actually from the US? because I can imagine it's not easy to bring someone from Europe to the US to film it if it wasn't easier just to hire someone from there I think there's two things there's one which is because it's for because NFL UK itself is its own kind of like entity so that's like sort of more of a specific like the people who I do the work that I do for so it's for NFL UK and then sometimes when I've done a lot of the actual games

that I've shot within London those have been directly for the NFL It's just one of these things that's a bit of like an umbrella of different people. And sometimes you shoot stuff for both, sometimes you shoot for one. So because this is directly for NFL UK, that's why it's something that I've done rather than just finding sort of like a local op in the States or something. So I think that's one element of it of who it's for. But then the other element is I like to think it's a trust thing as well because that's the thing. Like, you know, it's, I've been lucky in terms of, you know, the start of my career where the first client I had, was they took a big leap on me.

You know, they could have, have hired me this 20 year old student for a couple of shoots who was, you know, terrible to work with, really unprofessional. Like, it's, you know, it's,

that doesn't, you know, happen often or having that experience that myself, like often, but it's more of just, it's still a leap of faith regardless. And I think that when you have a new client, there's,

there's still that thing of, okay, you know, we can see your work's good, but we don't know you at all. So, you know, it's happened now where it's kind of like I've worked so much with,

with them. various people with the NFL and with NFL UK and and all that like you kind of just build those rapport over time so instead of it being like oh let's get that freelancer recent it's just let's get recent because we know and we trust him and he's done this before so yeah that's kind of where it's it's kind of a combination of of both of of you know the it's such a big company the NFL that you have the you know the kind of American side and the NFL film side and all the docs and bits like that and then you've got you know there's an NFL Germany and Brazil Brazil like there's just it's that there's such a to like across the world.

So because these projects have obviously been for NFL, UK and for promoting the sport, because that's, you know, what we try to do basically with everything we, we shoot is it's trying to grow the sport in the UK so that, you know, there's fellow other people that know no doubt to it rather than just me and my group friends. Yeah. And although I, honestly, I don't know much about NFL, but although it's not big either in UK or Europe, as far as I know in America, it's a big deal, right?

NFL. Yeah. Yeah, it's massive in the States. You know, like I was reading a graphic that came up on Instagram the other day of, I think it was 97 out of 100 broadcasts. It was either across America or in the world. I think it was across America, which obviously is quite big. And they were 97 of the 100 top broadcasts were all NFL games. So there was one which was, there was like a political thing. Then I think there was the Academy Award awards. And then something else, I'm not sure. But yeah, like just to show up big, you know, an average NFL game might get between 10 and 20 million viewers and an average NBA game is around six or seven or not. I wouldn't quote me on that, but it's just basically to show there's a discrepancy. And it is getting a lot bigger in the UK. Like,

you know, that's the thing. It's like now, say you get three games in the UK and like lost this most recent season, there was three games in the UK and two in Germany. And, you know, next year there's likely be three of the UK, at least one in Germany. And there's definitely, definitely one in Brazil. So it's kind of, it's not even just getting built kind of throughout America. It's like building up even more throughout the UK and the kind of world off the side of that has been talks of, you know, having games in Spain and having games in, you know, Japan and like all that kind of stuff. So, you know, that's why I'm hoping that kind of the growth of it in the UK and building those connections kind of within the NFL and within NFL UK as well,

it will kind of be like as the sport grows, then there could be a big attempt to be a big part of kind of helping with that growth because as someone who loves the sport anyway and, you know, follows the sport just normally to then be able to shoot with it. Like you said earlier, it gives you that kind of enhanced passion for the work you do. And, you know, when you look at something, instead of getting a brief that says, oh, you know, we want to grow the sport already in your head. You're like, yeah, I just want to do that anyway. So this is great. Yeah. Yeah. And I think another great proof of how popular it is is when you look at the numbers of a Super Bowl and when I heard, for example, how much the adverts are during the Super Bowl. How much it costs just to get

your advert shown? Those numbers are just crazy. So it's in the millions for like very short, like short like 30 seconds if that like amount saying it. So yeah, no, it's it's a it's a big sport and yeah, hopefully and hopefully getting bigger in the UK as well. Yeah. And so tell us about what as I said, I don't know much, but I'm curious, what's your favorite team and why? Who's your favorite player and why? For my sins, my team is the Las Vegas Raiders. They used to be in Oakland and they moved to Las Vegas a few years back. But yeah, basically the year that I started watching the sport, like fully on like a consistent basis,

they had quite a young team. They had some really good players. You know, they had a lot of history. They made the playoffs that year for the first time in like 13, 14 years. And it was just one of these teams that I could kind of buy a team. into. And there's always kind of a story with the team and all that. And so I've just

kind of followed them ever since. I've been to a couple of games in Vegas of theirs to see as well. So yeah, a favorite player. It was a guy called Hunter Renfro who's basically this wide receiver for the Raiders. But he's kind of not really been used much over the last two seasons. So there's, as I said,

the thing with NFL is just the amount of stories that there are. So for the Niners, for instance, there's a quarterback called Brock Purdy and he was drafted. He was the last in the draft last year. So generally, you know, players kind of picked in the opening rounds of the draft are slated to do better or at least have a higher level of potential than players going later in the draft than especially quarterbacks.

And this guy Brock Purdy basically was picked. Last pick of the draft, there were some injuries to the starting quarterbacks on the 49ers, which meant that he stepped in and basically just had a historical run as a rookie. And it came a game from making the Super Bowl. And then this second year, his second year of the league, he's just bored. out. I'm fantastic. And so as the first player that kind of come to mind with the 40 light is fresh in my head as well.

Like he's a fantastic guy to follow and it's a fantastic story. And I suppose it's the kind of the friend of mine that I talk to a lot about the NFL, like his thing with the NFL is the stories. Like he says, there's always a story. There's, you know, from kind of every player and their public profile

all that, there's always something. And so I think as if anyone who hasn't watched it or maybe looks at it as a sport and goes, you know, it's very stop start and all that. It's kind of just like, you know, you watch a movie for three hours because you buy into the narrative of it. So it's a similar kind of thing with that. So, yeah, but I'm not sure about a favorite player, but that's the first guy that spring to spring to mind with my head so fully into the 49ers at the moment. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I don't know any of those names, so I would

need to do homework afterwards. Oh, yeah, I should have gone for something more like, yeah, like Tom Brady or something just because at least someone's heard of it. Rather than going, this is the problem. Like, someone asks me a question. Instead of it just being a simple thing, it's like, oh, no, I'll go into the full nerd out mode of like this and the narrative and all that. No, no, I like it. Afterwards, I will have a look. But did you say, uh, riders? Raiders, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Las Vegas Raiders.

Yeah, because I was thinking about it. I was like, Raiders, Raiders. And, um, I, I like to listen to Ice Cube and I, I scoop the American rapper. I think he supports them. And actually, I've seen, I don't know why, but like lots of people with merchandise of Raiders. I think actually I have a t-shirt as well of Raiders So I don't know why

But they seem to be very popular Even like on new eras or t-shirts or everywhere So yeah I think I think the is the NWA wasn't it The Ice Cube was with origin Yes I think exactly yeah I haven't seen straight at O'Connor But you know I think that kind of really launched up The like apparel waste layer like merchandise of the Raiders

And ever since in like popular culture It's been quite common So you'll want to pass a prime mark And sometimes they'll have like Raiders jacket or yeah I mean it was funny actually because I remember when I was at university obviously I was supported and then and wasn't aware of like the kind of you know NWA reference and like you know how that had helped kind of with the Raiders and people like you say with ice keeping that and I remember like a friend's friend I was just chatting to them and I was like

oh he's got a Raiders thing on his hair like hat that's awesome I was like oh yeah see you're a Raiders fan man he's like what I was like oh no he's like I just bought this at a shop like I did know. I was like, oh, fair enough. There's a hard lesson on that day,

but yeah. Yeah. So no, I think that's the kind of reference. And it's cool. Like it's, you know, black,

you can't go wrong. Or silver and black, you can't go wrong with that. So yeah. I'm basically happy to hear you might have a Raider's shirt though. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm probably one of those people that, I'm not going to like, I don't support them because I don't watch it. But if I was about to choose a team, I would probably choose them because of Ice Cube and because of the reference. it's in the rap, in American rap. I kind of like them.

That's good. You dig at like, especially as a British fan, like sometimes you get the most wild stories of why someone's like support the team because obviously not living, like I don't live in, you know, Nevada or anything. I didn't live in California or when I started supporting them as Oakland. So you find your little connections. Sometimes it is literally as loose for someone from like England or Europe or whatever when they go, oh yeah, no, I just had a Raiders T-shirt.

And so I was like, I might as well start supporting them. and then 10 years down the line you've supported him for 10 years and all that. Yeah. And also I'm curious, why did actually NFL... Why it actually started in Europe? Was it just to increase the awareness of the brand of the sport? I think so.

Like the first game, I believe, that was in the UK, was 2008. It was a Giants game. I can't remember where they played. But I think there was just... I think, you know, as things have gone from... you know, the 90s and so on to the way the internet is in that now, suddenly actually being able to watch, you know, sports from different countries has become a lot easier.

Like even with me, like, you know, I have various ways of just like, like various subscriptions so that, you know, when a game happens, I can wake up at the morning and put it on, you know, 20, 25 years ago, there was, it was much harder to do that. And so I suppose it kind of in that more digital age, it was, you know, bringing teams over. It was just like, okay, you know, let's see how this works. And just every year the games are just a resounding success. So it's kind of gone from, you know, that single game to then, oh, two, so, oh, three. Oh, you know, actually, let's see where else we can do this.

And, you know, 90% of the time, or 99% of the time, they sell out or at least basically near full capacity for, you know, these games, which is great. I was really surprised because I, during university, I used to work in a pub in Central London. And sometimes I saw tourists with NFL jerseys. And obviously you talk to them and you can notice from the accent that they were Americans. And I didn't know why. And then I found out that they flew from America to watch NFL there. And I don't know. I couldn't probably understand why would you fly over the whole world to watch it?

But then it kind of makes sense if you are a big supporter and you can connect it with holidays in London. I think it's a great experience. And when someone is insuit that much that they flew over the whole world to support it, I think it's really nice and it might be a great experience in general. Yeah, you get some very big fans who are like, you know, as I say, I've been to Vegas twice. It was with, you know, a part of like trips. The first time I went, I then traveled down to Tampa and did Tough Mudder with a few

America mates of Biden. So that was interesting. And then the second time I went, it was like a kind of road trip that being a friend, of mine started in San Francisco, funny enough, and then went down to Vegas and then sorregate with all that. But like, like you said, it's almost like the reverse of that is if you're American, and obviously a lot of Americans

really like British culture as well. And like British history, like being able to go, oh, I'm going to go support my team and see my team play and also just enjoy like a week in London. Like it's kind of you know, it's a good selling point like kind of either way. Like, you know, I've, if

you know, I love America and all that. But you know, I'd quite happily travel to Denver to see a Denver game, whereas maybe I wouldn't necessarily have an interest in Denver if it wasn't for that. So there's kind of slightly pockets of random places that you would, I'd go to because of the kind of connection to the sport. And I guess that's the thing. It's like I did one of the games recently, there was the three in London, there was one in Frankfurt in Germany. And it's like, so I got to explore Frankfurt for a bit. And Frankfurt's a place that I probably wouldn't have, you know, wouldn't have been,

like, top of my list to go to. But, you know, you kind of see these places. because of that sports connection, which is great. And I can say in terms of actual tourism in England, obviously it's a fantastic thing if you've got X amount of fans coming over from different places. Yeah, I absolutely agree. If you can match both your job that you enjoy and maybe explore a local culture and see the place. Yeah. A question I'm curious about.

When you film something, for example, the video that you are just working on and editing, and it goes on their YouTube and then probably thousands or millions of people watch it what's the feeling like how do you feel? It must be awesome it's a funny thing because

like I've been asked kind of a similar question before because like I've said the last two of these projects they've had tens of thousands of views on YouTube which is great and one of the clips I got it was a shot of basically

where Miami played Kansas City in Germany. One of the Miami players used to be on Kansas City. And I was in the right place and got this moment of basically him saying hi to the coach and saying hi to the quarterback of Kansas City and all that, which ended up getting about 3 million watches on Instagram, like through the NFL page. And I spoke to, so one of the guys that worked with it in Dallas, like as a creative himself, he just kind of said he was like,

oh, you know, how does it feel like, you know, and something that you've put out, you know, the suburb shot kind of gets that. And I just said, to be honest, I was like, because it just like,

it's just kind of, because my job is to kind of get the, the, you know, the, the shot and get the content and all that. Like, it's,

it's great. Um, but it's, it doesn't make that much of a difference. Like, it's like, I see kind of, you know,

I go 13,000, 15,000 people have seen it. That's cool. Three million have seen. Okay, that's cool. But it's more of just like, I hope that the people I've seen it can,

kind of just like enjoy it and if I've put something out that that many people can enjoy that's the kind of cool part I get from it because like you know as as as it being a passion like not with just the NFL but with anything else I shoot like because my passion is within this if I then do something where you know I speak to the client two months later and they go oh you know everyone loved that and everyone already enjoyed it I'm like that's awesome because you know I'm getting to basically live my dream and do my job which is my passion and if in the process of that I'm shooting things that I enjoy shooting but then people get something out. out of then you know that's great if five people watch it or you know 10,000 people watch

or whatever like I like the fact that hopefully those people are getting something out of it you know it's it's cool to see you know when you put the hard work into something and see that people enjoy it and you know and take something from it like especially these bigger projects where it's like a couple of weeks edit in and you know quite a hard very intense period of shoot in and you're kind of figuring out as you go along so yeah it's quite cool I suppose is the way I'd describe it. Yeah, yeah. And just a few last questions.

What are your next maybe aspirations or goals or where do you see yourself in a few years? That's a good question. I think so I'm going to be doing over in Vegas for the Super Bowl this year again, which is going to be awesome. So kind of a similar type of project to what I've just been doing.

But yeah, in the kind of lead up to the Super Bowl. which is going to be cool. And then I think to be honest, it's kind of just a mix of kind of building more clients and doing more of these kind of projects. Like I found the, you know, it was like a weird thing that kind of clicked in my brain where it's like, okay, the matching of not just shooting stuff, but shooting stuff where, you know, you've got a narrative of, okay, we're going into this piece where we want to show the journey of these two people from not knowing about the NFL to, you know, knowing about

it or, you know, wherever it's shooting something for. a client that's a bit more corpority of, oh, you know, we want to show how much people enjoy our products. Like, suddenly, instead of it being just, I'm just going to shoot some pretty looking shots is, oh, I want to show this narrative and I want to, you know, think of how it working an edit in my head and all that.

And so I want to do more of the kind of shooting PD work, which is, you know, as you're going along, asking the people of the questions, you know, what you think about this? Like, what are we doing here and coming up with those ideas and being a bit more connected to like the projects I do, rather than camera operating, you're more kind of just strictly focused on the operation side.

But it's nice now because like I've spoken with my clients and kind of said and, you know, with the work I've done recently, like I'm trying to sort of say like, you know, I'm well up for doing more of the kind of shooting PD work and all that. So more transitioning and doing the kind of, we're not transitioning, but keeping on doing the work I'm doing and doing more of that like sports doc stuff and, you know, doing it with, you know, the NFL and other sports and in different ways and, and, you know, kind of focusing on doing the kind of shooting PD work within that kind of documentary side because, you know, I just find myself connecting to the projects and being able to kind of dive

really headfirst into it and, you know, come up with ideas of the way. Like we were in, when we're in San Francisco and, you know, the team I worked with are amazing and, you know, they already had a bunch of ideas. And one of the ideas I threw out off the back of that was just, you know, why don't we try to do Golden Gate Bridge at sunset and shoot a bit there? And then so we shot Golden Gate, we took the guys there, shot a really nice thing there. and like, you know, it's just those little ideas that you kind of come up with, whereas if it was just kind of treating the project as a kind of cam off and that's it,

then I kind of be like to be able to dive in. And it's just so it's a rewarding when you work with like great people. Like I've been able to at all these projects and throughout my career. And, you know, when you've got this like common goal of wanting to do something great and that you're trying to achieve and focus on. And I feel like now that by, as I said, I try and learn more. and improve every single year basically or every time I'm doing anything. And I feel like that I've got to a part where I've, I'm able to go,

okay, my skill set is this. But I think I can, you know, as well as the shooting, you know, do more of that kind of stuff. And I can give value to projects by kind of using my experience and the bits I've gleaned for different producers I've worked with and different directors to kind of work within that. So yeah, a lot more of the, if I was doing more of this kind of work that I've been there recently, which is the kind of, you know, shooting and editing those kind of short dock style. Therefore, longer docs eventually in the future, like that would be great, basically. Yeah, that sounds, what can I say?

It sounds awesome. It sounds exciting. And fingers crossed that it works out, especially as it's something that you enjoy watching and working on it. It's just great. I appreciate that. So can you tell us where people can follow you if you want people to follow you or to watch your work? So my website is www.reysbill.com. That's got a bunch of the projects and bits I've worked on.

And, you know, my CV, if you really, let's take a look at that. Just because I referenced it because it's on there. My Instagram, which is probably the most active, like, social media platform I'm on is at Reesbill 757. And I also have a photography Instagram that I post stuff on, which is at Reesbill. be and that's kind of my main hub of things that I'm with and then yeah I say there's quite a few

you know the most recent projects I've done with the Nashville and Dallas and all that are all on NFL UK's YouTube and there's usually some random thing that I've shot kind of appearing on their social at some point so yeah that's kind of the main sort of main places yeah

and off the back of that actually like as well like I'm always more than happy like as a person who when started within the industry i kind of had no idea like when it came to rates when it came to like how to kind of you know approach things and just sort of figure it out and so i'm always very much like if there's ever any you know someone who needs a bit of advice or pushing in the right direction or is just you know trying to figure things out then you know feel free to message me because you know i definitely don't know everything within this industry and you know there's there's people who've

been in this industry for 50 20 years who you know i aspire to be at that level and you know aspire to have that level of knowledge in 10 years time. But in the process, I've at least gleaned some nice things over the years and, you know, figured stuff out and found kind of a good idea of things that work. So I can impart at least my level of knowledge onto people. So, you know, if anyone listens to this and it's like, oh, actually, you know, I'd kind of like to do this or, you know, I'd kind of just want a bit of advice on this part of the industry. Then, you know, feel free to message.

I'm always more than happy. I'll always reply. Yeah. I will share the links and also we'll check your social media because based on our conversations. I have big expectations. I've set myself up for failure now. So the last question, is there something that you want to share or something I forgot to ask? No, I think it's been really nice, to be honest. Yeah, I think that it's for me, like it's for anyone

who wants to get into this industry, whether it's the more of the site that I'm in, which is the branded content side and like the sport side or if it's more of broadcast or whatnot. Like I think the thing is if you, if you have the right mindset, there's an area that works for you. Like, you know, if you don't want to do anything that I do and want to do more film and TV, you know, you can find something there. If you don't want to do film and TV and do more of what I do, if you want to do more documentary, you know, there's something and it's just kind of, I think the realization for me, especially since working with the NFL and, you know, working on something that, you know, I never in my wildest dreams, when it just finished union was

kind of working things out for what I've been in this position is to just kind of that classic of like you know you can make it happen if you make those connections if you talk with the right people if you graph them but the hard work and like you can get to a point where you know you're doing the kind of things you want to do and that is such a you know rewarding industry to be a part of and you know the relationships and the people and all that are great and so you know if there's people from middle sex unity study in film who are kind of figuring things out or people from many you need to be honest who are just trying to find whatever whatever their avenue is. As long as you've got the right mindset and the right kind of work ethic and all that,

all those classic kind of, you know, hallmark type tick boxes. Like as long as you've got all those things, you know, you'll find your place in the industry and you'll be fine. Yeah. Yep. Thank you, Rhys. I think it's a perfect note to finish. So thank you so much.

I wish you good luck in your career and we'll be looking forward to seeing your a little documentary on YouTube for Anatol. Excellent. Yeah, thanks very much, man. It's been really fun talking. Appreciate you having me on. Thank you for listening. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast app, get in touch to provide your feedback or share any ideas for future guests. Thank you and see you soon.