We were lucky to catch up with Garrett Hopkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Garrett, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
Positive self talk and teaching others.
Brief backstory: College film grad in Ohio, not much film work to apply for. Took up freelance videography/editing and accidentally started my own production company.
When you think of a production company you think of a full team of crew members, they have their own building, top of the line gear, etc… I was a one man band. I’d send cold emails, network anywhere and everywhere. Build client relations, show up to set and be the director, camera man, audio mixer, gaffer, runner, hair and makeup, and then take the footage home and edit the videos. I felt small, inferior, and like an imposter.
A year and dozens of clients later, I started tracing my steps backwards to see how I made it to where I was. I noticed 80% of my current clientele weren’t from cold emails or calling businesses, they were referred from past clients, satisfied clients.
It’s easy for me to look at myself as small and inferior when I’ve been on large bustling sets. I know what a full scale production looks like, and that’s not what I can offer. It’s all in perception. My clients have never been in a production studio, they don’t know the difference between a 1st AD and 2nd AD. Let alone what having them on set means. I pull out my film equipment (mind you I’m just starting out so it’s all low end hobbyist gear) and they say “Oh wow, I didn’t know how professional this was going to be” At the end of the day, the client wants me to film and edit a great video for their company. They aren’t judging me by the size of my crew, or type of gear I use. They simply judge and pay for the outcome of my product.
It took me a good year to realize and tell myself, they wouldn’t book you again and again if they weren’t satisfied with my work. Furthermore they wouldn’t recommend me to other business if they weren’t fully satisfied. Positive self talk looks like “You think you’re small because you know what big is. They consider you big because you make a big impact for their company. You are getting paid and being referred to others, you are not an imposter.”
A lot of positive self talk.
Then additionally, other creative filmmakers/videographers would come to me for advice. Once you’re teaching people who are standing where you once stood, and you slowly see them grow via your teaching and advice…Imposter syndrome dropped. If I’m helping other people succeed in the same line of work, that’s something an imposter couldn’t and likely wouldn’t do.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I started out in Ohio after graduating film school. I had plans to move to Los Angeles but I graduated during the 2020 pandemic and was mainly stuck in Ohio. Clearly not as much filmmaking occurring in Ohio compared to California. I adapted to survive and continued my artistic career in video through freelance video work. And almost by accident started my own production company. I worked on music videos for small artist, commercials for mom and pop shops, town parades, promo videos for community events, worked with nonprofits and growing businesses. After awhile I yearned for more, two years had gone by and the world was opening back up. A lot of my college classmates had made the move to LA. So I left my production company in Ohio and headed to LA to get back into film. I grew a lot in those two years. My first gig I made $75, and my last gig before moving out west I made $3k.
It does sting a little. Leaving what I had worked so hard to grow. And basically starting from scratch on the other side of the continent. But I didn’t want to grow old and think “What could I have accomplished if I had made the leap to LA”
I’m now here, started another production company but this time focused on filmmaking. Every month I’m either in preproduction for an upcoming shoot, currently filming, or in the post production/festival submitting grind.
Our production company is called Blood Money Productions. The very first film I directed and edited in LA had zero funding. I was new to the city, very broke, couldn’t even afford to pay the entrance fee into the festival. Aside from my day job working as a video editor, I’d go to the local plasma center and sell plasma. And boy did I sell a lot of plasma! Because that’s how we bought our way into the festival and funded the production. Bringing a very literal meaning to blood sweat and tears.
And since then, we have worked on many award winning films. From the Los Angeles 48 Hour film Projects, to the nation wide Collaborative Filmmakers Challenge. And the most recent film, which was produced for the Warner Brothers Employee Film Festival titled “Bachelosaur” Which Ironically releases…8 minutes ago on YouTube. Very excited for it to be out. I will link the YouTube Channel at the bottom.
All this to say, I now work at Warner Brothers, one of the largest film studios in the world. That wouldn’t have been possible in Ohio. I still work on my personal indie films and am always competing in film contest. And believe it or not I still work in freelance videography/editing and have built a clientele here in LA.
YT Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettHopkinsMedia
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Perseverance, Willingness to grow, Ability to ask for help.
I graduated college right at the peak of Covid19, and I wouldn’t be where I am without the enate perseverance I pushed through with. College is a slingshot, you spend four years there and each year you gain skills and network with colleagues, professors, and alumni’s, and all of that is your career slingshot being pulled back further and further. And when you graduate that slingshot snaps and you use all the knowledge and connections you’ve gained to fly high into your career path.
With Covid19 shutting down the world and especially the film industry, my slingshot never snapped. I spent years pulling it back and then it slowly just went back to where it started. Like a lot of my classmates I graduated, went back to my hometown, and was a twenty-something year old living in my childhood bedroom again.
Perseverance is being able to put your head down, be humble, and keep pushing forward. Perseverance is not knowing what the future holds or how to get where you want to be, and trying anyways. The second you stop trying its over. Unfortunately a lot of my talented classmates stopped trying and never entered the careers they went to college for. Covid bit hard and they accepted it. We all missed out on internship opportunities, businesses went from hiring entry level workers to letting go experienced workers, it was one of the worst times to graduate.
Willingness to grow can simply be understood as doing what’s necessary to grow. People stop growing once they’re comfortable. For me, that meant moving three thousand miles away to the film capitol of the world. There was nothing comfortable about it, I was alone, broke, and living in what felt like an endless concrete jungle. That discomfort is what forced me to work harder and make sure I grew.
I’ve had conversations with people who wanted to achieve XYZ, and they had a list of things they knew they needed to do in order to achieve XYZ. Then four months later I talk to them excited to hear how far they’ve come, just to find out they never took the first step. You can have the entire gameplan laid out for you, and agree that it’s the best way for you to achieve your goals. But if you don’t want to walk into the discomfort of growth, you won’t grow.
The ability to ask for help sounds obvious. But a lot of people don’t do it. They don’t want to ruin their ego, show their cards, seem small and helpless, or just don’t want to burden others. Just ask for help. “Ask and you shall receive” There’s a reason that saying is so often used. And I have a great example.
I spend $40 a month on LinkedIn Premium. Full blown rip off. On the free version, you’ll look for jobs, think you found one worth applying to…NOPE it’s restricted to premium users only. Being broke, unemployed, and forced to pay money to look for jobs is insane. Nonetheless, I do it. If anything, I justify it by saying it’ll help me connect to other industry professionals. But the only messages I get are from colleges trying to randomly recruit me into enrolling in their schools. That, or people cold messaging me asking if I need to hire an XYZ. I’m not here to hire anyone for a job. I’M the one looking for a job. And then! I get a message from Chloe.
A random girl named Chloe. I assume it’s a scam or someone selling me something. I check her account and it all seems legit. She’s from the midwest and recently graduated film school and just moved to LA. Which is all right up my alley. No idea how she came across my LinkedIn but she messaged me and said my profile looked interesting and she was seeking guidance on how to get started in the film industry. She wasn’t looking for me to give her a job, she wasn’t selling me anything… She just asked for help. I have a lot of connections and told her, if she’s serious, I’ll put her on a film set the very next weekend.
She was, and I did. I talked to a friend of mine who runs a few different film networking events and is a producer himself. Asked if he had anything filming the following weekend, he did, and Chloe got to work as a production assistant for the first time. And she was thrilled. Later on she thanked me and said she was very blessed for the opportunity and made some of her own connections on set. And I’m sure her network will grow from there.
And all she had to do was ask for help, It CAN be that simple.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
When employers ask what are my weaknesses, the main answer I give is that I always say yes. Regardless of my current health or how busy I am, I say yes to every opportunity. Which then leads to me having a very full plate. When I realized this about myself it was shocking because I realized… I am my father. He was always stressed out and busy and my mother would always yell at him for agreeing to do so much.
Best way to combat this is to stop yourself before you even become overwhelmed. Well sure but how can you tell it’s coming before it does? Here’s the answer, when you are doing so much, achieving so many things, and are winning…So much to the point where you can’t enjoy your wins…That’s your first signal to slow down. Win you’re too busy to enjoys your wins, slow down.
I never like to say no because you truly never know where one door might lead you. I never say no to a new project because I never know who I might meet, what I might learn, and where that experience might take me. Problem is, it doesn’t matter where that opportunity might take you if you’re too busy with your next gig to even get there. That’s all very generalized, here’s an example:
I was asked to direct someone’s film, it’s very validating to hear someone recognizes your strengths as a director and wants you onboard. So I say yes no questions asked. We make an amazing film, at the same time someone ask me to be the assistant director for their film. I loved the script and said yes. Each set I meet new people make connections etc… The first film makes it into a festival, it’s nominated for awards. But that award show is the same time as day two of production for the second film. There’s a little time in the award show where I can make it, so I go. While at the award show our main character for the second film calls and says he has Covid. As the assistant director I’m now calling everyone, organizing PA’s to pick up Covid test, have people tested, reschedule things, we can’t even film if the main character is M.I.A And I spent the entire award show on my phone putting out fires. Unable to enjoy my wins.
And along with those two film productions, I still had freelance work, my personal indie film productions in pre and post production etc… So that was my red flag of “Hey, Garrett, you’re doing great but it’s time to start saying no” It’s great to have these opportunities and to have people think of you for work. But if you can’t enjoy your wins, it’s time to stop adding to your plate.
I’m sure this looks different for everyone and their own careers. But the principle can be applied to everything. Even just your personal life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettHopkinsMedia
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garretthopkinsmedia/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GarrettHopkinsMedia
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