Taped Before a Live Studio Audience: Good Ass Job* Posted by Chris Black on August 28, 2014 in Taped Before A Live Studio Audience Contributor Post Tweet





*Good Ass Job was supposed to be the name of Kanye's My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy and it felt appropriate.

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What it do IMVDB heads!

It's ya boy CB aka Kenan Thompson's stunt double aka Yung Long Read. Apparently IMVDB felt the hate mail we receieved (we received A LOT) wasn't enough to warrant them pulling this column from me so I guess I've made it! Thanks to everyone that's shown ya boy some love.

I want to start off by saying that I want to tell you guys something. I haven't told many people this because of some alleged stigma I created. Only my closest loved ones know about my secret. Here it is:

I, Chris Black, director and producer, have a day job. There! I said it! More on that in a bit.

"If my manager insults me again, I will be assaulting him, after I fuck the manager up, then I'mm shorten the registers up..."

It's one of Yeezy's best lines ever because it captures that raw feeling of having that job that you know is just a means to an end. We've all got that dream career we're working toward every weekend, before we have to go back to our day job on Monday. And your coworkers could care less about the music video you shot for an artist they've never heard of, but luckily, my coworkers are supportive of my career path.

In the days of yore, music videos had insane budgets. We're talking about millions of dollars! I've heard stories of commissioners and directors and everyone else involved making so much money just from a music video. Those days are over! But that's not to say you can't make a living from music videos. I spoke with director Tim Nackashi about this and he told me, "My day job IS music videos, which I'm still shocked to realize sometimes."





I asked a few of my director friends if they knew of anyone that directs while holding a day job. The responses were pretty much the same across the board that they didn't know of anyone who had any sort of retail or restaurant job. One common theme I found though was the freelance is the norm for a lot of music video directors. A lot music video directors are about that freelance life - freelance editing, freelance treatment writing, VFX, etc.

I knew that I certainly can't be the only one with a day job, so I dug a little deeper. David Helman, a director signed to Pulse Films, was until recently a full-time editor for a commercial production company. Now freelancing for the same company, he's able to focus more of his time and energy on directing. According to Helman, the hardest part of having a day job and being a music video director is "living off little-to-no sleep five days a week. He says:





"For me, the writing process is especially time consuming and with a day job, your window of time to write is limited. So when I was pitching, I often wouldn't finish my treatments until about 4:30 in the morning and then have to get back up at 8:00 AM to go in for work. It's not healthy."





For those that make a living off of music videos now, the transition from day job to full-time director isn't always a smooth one. Dave Ma, another director signed to Pulse, told me about what his experience was like making that transition from day job to full-time directing. He said:

"It was a real gradual transition over a few years. I was working upwards of 60-70 hours a week doing shift work at a kebab bar/restaurant in East London while making the most of my spare time. Nights off or days off I'd pretty much devote to ether stencil graffiti, or photographing and filming local East London musicians. As the photo work turned to video work and got more involved and more demanding, I started saving all my holidays up for videos shoots or going on tour with Foals who I'd met during this time. It was amazing. I had no social life but I was doing what I'd always wanted to do. It was exhausting but addictive."

For Dave, his grind paid off and when opportunity came, he made the transition:

"Leaving the restaurant was a little scary, but ultimately an easy decision because I'd found my calling and it was around this time that Jamie Clarke at Pulse films asked me to join which was the final straw for me, knowing I was gonna be with like minded people with a common goal. I thought, 'Fuck It' - there's always a bar or gas station for me to go back to if all of this goes away. I miss cleaning toilets at the gas station sometimes..."

Dave makes a great point! Which brings me back to my secret. I never made it known to a lot of people because I always felt there was a stigma attached to having a day job and directing and producing. Maybe that I'd be seen as a wannabe who's tryna live that music video director/producer life. But when I really thought about it, I've made some dope shit. It doesn't matter that I have a day job because what ultimately matters is the quality of my output. I also realized that my peers and I are on the grind. You do whatchu gotta do to eat. There shouldn't be any shame about how you take care of yourself. Sure, the goal is to make a living from music videos, but it's a challenge. If holding down a day job is whatchu gotta do then I salute you.

You probably want to know what I do. Well, for the past 7 years, I've worked at an elementary school working as an aide with kids with special needs. The videos I produced for Abteen Bagheri were done while I was employed. I had to tell more than a few lies to get out of work those days we shot, but I made it happen. I love working for the school district. Matter of fact, I worked this past Tuesday and took my school ID photo.





Ladies, holla atcha boy!





There came a point when I could no longer find the balance between the two because I was getting more involved with music videos. I had no choice but to leave the school site. My coworkers understood because they knew where I was headed, but the thing though, is that I love working with kids and my job keeps me grounded and humble. Yeah, music videos are dope and all, but they're not the end all be all. So rather than leaving the district completely, I changed my status from permanent, full-time employee to part-time, substitute. It give me the flexibility to focus on music videos when I need to and gives me the ability to support myself. I can't say, however, that I'm looking forward to being a full-time director because when it's all said and done, CB is for the children!

Sometimes having a day job though, is beneficial to your career. As Helman puts it:

"without the day job I'm not sure a lot of my earlier films would have been made. I invested plenty of my own money into those projects and was able to borrow equipment from my job to help keep costs low."





The advice I'd give to the young director holding down a job and trying to direct is to just do it. If you want it bad enough you'll make the time to make it happen. I made a lot of sacrifices to get to where I am. I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I'm in a good position. Dave Ma says it best:





"If you have to hold down a day job, then you gotta find ways to turn your spare time into productive time. Don't sleep. Be insane. Get things done. Find that band or thing you love and make a video about them. Get it wrong and do it again. Get your friends involved and be prepared to lose a few 'friends'/ 'girlfriends'/ 'boyfriends', along the way. Get it wrong again. Try something different. Revel in people thinking you are lame for not coming down to the pub every night because you are home plotting how you are gonna take over the world. Then take over the world any way you can so you can finally tell your boss to suck a tailpipe."





Couldn't have said it better myself Dave!





Black, out.