For filmmakers, videographers, and editors

Build a commercial video business that helps fund your own films.

For filmmakers and videographers who can already make the work. Get three months of live group consulting to package your services, find prospective clients, and build a repeatable sales and delivery process.

Apply for a founding seat

Three months · Two live group calls weekly · $2,000 total for the first 10 clients

Your filmmaking skills are ready. Your client-acquisition process needs a plan.

Creative ability and client acquisition are different skills. A strong reel can show what you make, but prospective clients also need a clear reason to hire you, a defined service, and a straightforward way to begin a conversation.

The work begins by choosing the kinds of businesses you can serve, packaging your capabilities around their needs, and researching relevant prospects. From there, you need a consistent outreach and follow-up process that you can sustain.

The First Client System helps you organize those business fundamentals alongside the production skills you already have, so your commercial work can support your larger filmmaking goals.

Four steps, in order.

01

POSITION

Define a clear commercial video offer for a specific type of client, with a practical scope, outcome, and price.

02

MAP

Build a focused list of prospective clients that fit your offer, then research the people, needs, and opportunities behind each account.

03

APPROACH

Create a repeatable direct-outreach process with relevant first messages, follow-ups, and a focused portfolio that supports a sales conversation.

04

CLOSE AND KEEP

Develop a process for proposals, pricing, client communication, production delivery, and asking satisfied clients for appropriate referrals.

Use AI to support the work, not replace your judgment.

You will learn practical ways to use ChatGPT or Claude for routine business workflows:

  • Prospect research and preparation
  • Outreach and proposal drafts
  • Creative briefs and production planning
  • Client organization and reporting

You review the work, make the decisions, and remain responsible for every client relationship and delivery. The goal is a better organized business, not a fully autonomous one.

What happens after you apply

01

Apply.

Eight questions, about four minutes, costs nothing.

02

Book your call.

If it fits, you pick a 15 minute slot the moment you finish applying.

03

Decide.

You get a clear yes or no within 24 hours, and everything you need to start.

Live, together, twice a week.

The Strategy Call

Two hours live each week. Teaching plus hot seats: your positioning and your target list reviewed in the room.

The Execution Call

Two hours live each week. We write and send real outreach together, review responses, and work your active deals.

The Template Vault

The target list builder, outreach scripts, pricing calculator, proposal template, and shoot day checklist. Every document I use.

Between Calls

A private community space and async reviews. Questions answered daily. Every call recorded, so you never fall behind.

The 90 day support commitment.

If you do the work and a client has not landed by day 90, you stay in the program at no cost until it happens. Doing the work means: attend or watch both weekly calls, complete your thirty business map by day 14, send twenty outreaches a week from day 15, and log your activity weekly. These requirements and support terms will be written into your enrollment.

This fits if

  • You can shoot, edit, or direct at a professional level
  • You have at least one piece of work you are proud of
  • You can give the calls plus 3 to 5 hours a week to outreach
  • You want commercial clients, not festival luck

This is not for

  • Complete beginners still learning the craft
  • Anyone hoping clients arrive without doing outreach
  • Anyone who cannot attend or watch the weekly calls

A founding group of ten clients.

The first group is limited to ten enrolled clients. The program is $2,000 total for three months and includes two live group calls each week, practical business templates, and guidance on using ChatGPT or Claude to support your operations. The application is free and does not commit you to enroll.

Apply for a founding seat

Asked and answered.

Brandon Maldonado leads the group consulting calls and helps participants review the business systems they build throughout the three-month program.

Brandon, Founder, The Screenwriters Lab

Your first client is not a mystery.

It is a system, a deadline, and a room. The application takes four minutes.

Apply for a founding seat