To Our Music Video Community,

It’s Labor Day, a day on which we recognize and respect the different types of work everyone does in our country.

For us at We Direct Music Videos, this is the day we collectively put WDMV’s Pitching Guidelines into effect. As we all take this big step forward, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how far we have come in our first year as a community.

WDMV’s First Town Hall Meeting in Los Angeles

Exactly one year ago, I wrote a Twitter thread about the challenges of making music videos. I thought it would be a funny anecdote and that would be that. Instead, the response from directors was overwhelming. I didn’t know what else to do but to create an email list under the moniker We Direct Music Videos and see how far that would take us. In my 10 years working in the industry, I had seen other attempts by music video directors to organize, but they all petered out for one reason or another. I had no idea we would be able to make so much impact in such a short amount of time.

One year later, WDMV is run by over 40 volunteers from around the world. In an industry that once had no community, now over 9,000 people have a platform to connect, talk about issues, and create change.

*Our Pitching Guidelines for standardizing the industry have been viewed a total of over 7.8k times. * 1,778 industry professionals and companies have pledged to support the Guidelines. * We’ve created several educational resources like our treatment database where anyone can learn how to create music videos treatments, fostering our goal of creating a more transparent environment. * Every week we receive positive messages from directors who have seen firsthand a change in the pitching process for the better. * We have made enough noise that labels and commissioners have been eager to openly discuss how we can make the process better for everyone. (More updates on this coming soon!)

To all of you who have already joined our movement: this is all because of you and your hard work. I can say with confidence that our little movement has already gone farther than any other attempt in the past. Your passion, your stories, and your commitment brought us this far, and for that we should all be very proud.

Be persistent. Stay active. A recent study found that if 3.5% of any given population actively participated in a movement, change was inevitable. This isn’t just 3.5% supporting a movement, this is 3.5% of active participation. Ask yourself, how are you actively participating?

There will be many times where labels and commissioners will push back. There will likely be moments where you get flat out rejected for advocating for yourself and the community at large. Do not let those moments dishearten you. Instead, think of each of these moments as an opportunity to educate, and remind people that what we are asking for is both common sense and completely achievable.

When things get too difficult or communication breaks down, you can always reach out to us. While you are on the ground fighting an unfair system project by project, WDMV will be advocating for you as we continue our conversations with labels and commissioners at the top. By fighting for change as individuals and as a community, change is inevitable.

To the veterans who have lost all hope that we can make a difference: We received a message from director Jamie Thraves who said he was talking with other directors about doing something like this back in the early 90s, but never made it happen. He ended his thankful message with a little regret: “Well done to all of you for finally doing what some of us should have done years ago for the benefit of everyone who came after us.” We cannot let yet another generation of directors come and go through the current system. We are sitting on a very special opportunity where the industry is finally listening and finally ready to talk. Let’s put aside our pessimism and doubts, and do everything we can to seize this moment.

To new directors who are afraid of losing work: I understand, you’ve just joined the industry and you fear that by speaking up for yourself, you will lose jobs and the potential for a career as a music video director. But, if you are excited about the possibility of one day becoming a full time music video director, I urge you to look at what your future will look like if nothing changes. Right now, only 6% of music video directors make a living in MVs, most have no choice but to quit or stagnate. Even the “successful” directors burn out.

Potentially turning away work is a very terrifying prospect, but it may be the only way for us all to create change. This might make things harder in the short term, but the long term rewards will be greater than the initial sacrifice. When I started in music videos my directing partner and I rarely compromised, and that lost us a lot of jobs. I always felt discouraged when I had to pick up side hustles to get by financially. But looking back, I see now those side gigs meant I had more financial leverage that could empower me to be bolder in the pitching process. These sacrifices — turning down work and rarely compromising — were what eventually gave us our career today.

Though everyone’s situation is different, I urge all of you to empower yourselves financially like we did and use that leverage to ask to be treated fairly and respectfully. If enough of us ask for the same treatment, you will be surprised how often they will listen. We are all coming together now to make sure there is a future industry worth working in. Help us pave the way.

To those who are outright opposed to our mission: Though I can understand that change can be scary, I cannot pretend to fully understand your stance. All we are asking for is to turn an often chaotic and exploitative process into something with open communication and respect. What we are asking for is common sense and common decency. I urge you to take a step back and consider what makes you resist this change.

One of the shocking things we have found: pushback is coming less from labels and commissioners, and instead more from director reps and production companies. Though the amount of pushback has overall been small, it has still been troubling to see as we believe reps and production companies should be directors’ allies and doing everything they can to protect their rosters.

If you are a director represented by people who do not believe in our mission, I urge you to respectfully continue the conversation with them. Remind them that they ultimately work for you. Remember that if enough of their roster pushes for these changes, they will not be able to ignore you. But if they continue to ignore you, that is a red flag. Why would you want to work with someone who values holding onto the status quo over our mental health and well-being? If they do not see the value in protecting you or your work, how they can properly represent you?

WDMV Town Hall in NYC

I want to finish this Labor Day message by talking about the strength of collective bargaining and its importance in what we are doing at WDMV. We have to understand that when we advocate for change, we are doing so not just for the music video community, but in some small part, for all laborers. Our generation has been taught to devalue the importance of collective bargaining. We were told we could be and do anything as long as we worked harder and proved we were more talented than everyone else. Unfortunately, this individualistic mindset has run us all off a cliff. Our competitiveness has empowered employers to push wages down, to cut benefits, and to treat us as disposable. Now, labor union participation rates are at record lows: only 6.5% of the private sector workforce is unionized. This should be disconcerting considering all of the data that backs up the benefits of having strong labor unions.

Since starting this organization I have had many conversations with musicians, photographers, dancers, and other creative laborers who are being treated just as bad as, if not worse than, music video directors. My hope is that we can inspire them to push for better conditions in their own industries and start a bigger conversation about the importance of believing in the power of collective bargaining. But before any of that can happen, the music video community must come together first.

We have to understand, in many ways, it’s no one’s (or everyone’s) fault that we got into this mess, and it’s going to take all of us working together to get us out of it. We must make sacrifices to form a larger, more powerful voice to make music videos more sustainable, more creative, and more of an inspiration for anyone who wants to be a part of them. Alone, the status quo will prevail.

Together, we can change everything.

-Daniel Kwan, Filmmaker & Founder of We Direct Music Videos