How to Make Videos So Good Your Dream Brand Chases You ft. Danny Gevirtz

51:09I try to be well-rounded, but I would definitely put myself in the shoes of someone who's like, technically like i i'm a director who like really understands the camera and like focuses on that as well um and i think as a director like as that you have to have more trust in your actors being able to deliver um and i like you're not spending as much time like micromanaging like whatever your actor is doing in that that scene or whatever but uh yeah i would say like good for them yeah if you can do both and be good at it sweet it'll stress me out dude yeah you're like acting and then you're like i gotta give myself notes pause yeah i'm gonna give myself yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah like i like i'm sure too like seasoned actors like they're on set so much they get it like they've been in this world so much they might even have more experience than a director who is is not like constantly on set as an actor or whatever so i think i yeah i think there's it's just like a different experience overall but people are definitely talented enough to be that like a what's his name uh jason bateman like amazing director actor um at the same time he proved it with ozark yeah if you if you're in a situation where you're not loving what the talent is giving you and you want to give constructive feedback, but also not make them hate you.

52:39I'm wondering if there's any advice there. I watched a video, a YouTube video by a guy named Max Joseph. Have you seen him? He's friends with Casey Neistat. He makes really cool YouTube videos. You would actually really like his stuff. But it was on the topic of being a director and do you need to be an asshole? And I, knowing you, feel like it would be really fucking hard for you to be an asshole, but I don't know. I can't be. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just guessing here. No, I can't be. And so he basically interviewed all these very famous directors. Like one guy has done a ton of movies and this guy in category would be like the asshole.

53:10Super successful guy, right? And then he interviewed all these other directors and they were very calm. And they're like, do you need to be an asshole? And they're like, Max, I don't know if you could do that. And he did a very big feature film, had Zac Efron in it. And he was talking about how he tried to be their friend. But he felt by the end of the film that they hated him. And he's like, I think I'm a nice guy. and he comes off as a very like genuine person on these youtube videos so i'm wondering if how do you balance that between like you have this vision you want to get something out of it you know what it is that you want because you do all this the hats but then they're also you're like not trying to make them uncomfortable not try to make them fucking hate you what is this line in the sand that you try to like work within to get the best out of the talent but also keep the vision intact Yeah, it is super hard to sit there and like watch the monitor as the scenes happening.

54:00And like you're watching your actor and you're like, this is not what I had in mind or like this is not going well.

54:06Danny Gevirtz:So it's really hard to sit there and like not just be like, you're terrible differently. Like you can't just be like, do it differently. So like my approach, like what I what I have done in the past is like you never want to do stuff like in front of other people. Like that's my main thing. Like, uh, like you're never like calling people out. Obviously if it's like a simple action, like, Hey, like I need you to like blocking, like I need you to walk this way instead of that way. Like, sure. Do it in front of other people. But if it's like, you're, you really need like a different, like a emotion or like, they're really not getting the scene.

54:43Um, you, you, you gotta like pull them aside, like act like everything's fine. Like, Oh, like let's adjust that light, pull them aside and just like be open with them. Like be their friend. like tell them really what you're thinking and like how you're feeling and don't try to like overly sugarcoat it it's like most of the time like if you're especially in narrative like if you're working with an actor you've spent like time with them already like uh and read-throughs and stuff so uh if they're like they're maybe it's like they're just forgetting their lines over and over and over again they can't like get out of that you just need to like like yeah like dude like come on like you're you're good at this like i know you're good at this like we hired you for a reason like just like go with the flow and if like you're messing up your line you can't get it just ride the scene out like don't don't just like stop and like get down on yourself just fucking be an actor and flow and like start riffing if you have to because that's gonna be better than them trying to nail your line and keep messing up and getting in your head so create like an atmosphere where like you can be honest with each other and no one feels weird like uh and then i get i guess there's times too when like maybe you don't maybe it's like a commercial or like a day or or whatever um especially like if you're working with athletes and like you're trying to put them through more of like an acting scene it's really hard for them they're not actors uh and it's hard to make them like speak on camera a certain way and i would say just like don't put them in positions to to like or where they can't be authentically themselves and you're like forcing a line or whatever you know so don't even put them in a position where they're not going to be successful and you learn those things by making so many of these films and you know what's not going to work you know by meeting this person what they are or won't be able to do so it's your job too to like not put people in positions where they're not going to be successful or, you know, maybe you didn't rehearse enough beforehand.

56:48Um, so that, I don't know if that's helpful. I think, no, I think, I think it's super helpful. I, and it kind of confirms that you are, you stay yourself. You don't like change to be this like other person that you're not. Yeah.

57:03Danny Gevirtz:The working with, the working with athletes though is an interesting thing because you're right. I didn't even think about that. Like if you are trying to do a commercial um or have them talk to camera even if they're you know even if they're used to doing like press conferences like reading lines or it's so foreign it's always bad yeah yeah it's always bad unless you're doing like a sit-down interview and they're like riffing candidly and like speaking conversationally you it's very very rare to get an athlete who's like delivering like scripted lines like well you know even if they've done it a million times like you've seen like all like the commercials like it could be like a car insurance commercial and like the actor is like or that's this athlete's just like the worst actor ever and you're like why are they doing that to them like they're making them look so corny and like i feel bad for the athlete because they're like put in a weird position you know to like have to act and that's not what they do and what they're known for okay taking it back to what you were saying about athletes and it being hard for them to like be on camera yeah some people might say that it's like they can look cringe but you say that cringe can actually be used as a bridge and I think you're more so talking about like your youtube channel and showing up on camera I'd love for you to talk about why cringe can be a bridge yeah so like And cringe is like, it's different from the athlete thing because like you're just putting them in bad positions.

58:34Danny Gevirtz:That's not, there's no good outcome. Yeah. But like when it comes to like putting yourself out there and like starting like a YouTube channel or like being like a person in front of a camera creating your own content or whatever it is. Or even like if you just want to be a filmmaker and like post your work, like it's going to be like super cringy at first because you're not good. like when you're starting out doing anything like you're obviously not good at it and it takes a really long time to get to that point um even if like you're a good filmmaker maybe you're not like good at being on camera or you're not good at either like me um but when when like you're it's cringy when like people like your your friends and family or the people who follow you on social media are like watching these things that you're posting and like trying to call yourself a filmmaker it's like it's in in like technical terms i don't know if it's cringe is a technical term but it's cringy but like those are the things that you actually have to do to like bridge that gap between like okay you're you're here you're amateur you're trying to post stuff to like oh people like all of a sudden like really respect what you're doing and like understand what you're doing and like there's no cringe factor anymore at all well for most people like there's i would say there's still people who probably cringe at what i do but i don't care because i'm at the point where i already crossed the cringe bridge but but like it just takes time like it takes getting over that phase in your life for you to actually like be known as that thing or and be good at that thing and for people to like be like all right like daddy's a fucking film director like he's not Danny who I used to run track with back in high school he's not you know Danny I met in freaking calculus class or he's not just Danny my nephew or whatever it is it's like this is what he does for a living and and he's like good for him you know he's he's making a living doing it to take it even a step further I just think that cringe is almost it's the entry fee it's the ticket you have to buy to get over the hump yeah for sure you have to be cringe but you also have to be willing to suck i think a lot of times i remember when i was first starting out and i feel like we can all relate to this your taste is more advanced than what you're capable of actually achieving and so you're like i want to make this stuff and then you go out to try to make something and it's it's not what you like want it to be but you have to put in the reps and you have to be willing to be cringe or be willing to suck at something yeah to cross over that bridge and actually have your talent meet your taste which is interesting and i still look at stuff that i should i look at stuff that i posted four or five months ago and i cringe at myself like i yeah you know but i i really cringe at the stuff that i was posting when i was younger i mean there was um there's the 2016 challenge going on because it's 2026 and so i opened up opened up the hard drives of when i was abroad because i was studying abroad in 2016 and i so badly wanted to be a travel influencer vlogger and and it was hard like i had to like stop watching some of the videos because i'm like this is so embarrassing dude i know but i don't get that person got you yeah yeah you should be shaking that person's hand yeah you should you from 2016 be like thank you for getting to getting me to where i am today i remember there was a there was a sam calder video that i screen recorded and then we went to the beach there was like four of us we're like little craters and we're like dude we're gonna fucking remake this and this is going to hit.

1:02:34And I remember like we're at the beach walking, dude. Arms are up in the air doing all this bullshit, like walking in the sand. We go back. I found the video the other day and I'm like, this is fucking crazy. Like I posted this willingly thinking this was so tough. And I'm like, this is like, this is actually crazy. Like I deserve to get roasted in group chats. And I remember we were there. One of the guys was like, I don't know how Sam does it, man. there's just something about how he walks and does this thing and i'm like we're not whatever we're doing is not it this is not working so we're missing the mark so funny dude also too like with what we do like with film and music similarly it's like something that like people regularly consume like their entire lives yeah so everyone knows what good music sounds like Like everyone knows what good videos look like.

1:03:27So when you're beginner starting out and like making those things, people don't know what that looks like. And when they see that, they're like, oh, I don't want this. And I don't like this. So it's like it's even harder for like people like trying to like make films and stuff because people who don't do that already have like such a strong opinion generated. And like we yes, our taste is advanced because we know what good stuff looks like.

1:03:53Danny Gevirtz:we just don't know how to make it is there a video you haven't made on your youtube channel or slash is there a short doc that you haven't made yet that you would like to make i know that you're saying you want to make another movie at some point yeah but we know that that is like far in the future as someone who's constantly making youtube videos and constantly working with uh you know brands and making branded content and and mini docs uh what is what is that thing that you're like i i can't wait to make that and maybe it's in the near future coming up whether it's a youtube video that you'd like to make or a short doc like featuring some sort of athlete i'm sure you'd love to make a little short doc on jalen brunson yeah yeah yeah like i obviously like any any like athlete that like i admire like anything like that would be sweet but for me it's like i've been like dying to do like a high school football documentary uh in like a really like real way but it's so hard and i haven't been able to do it because it's really hard to get permission to film like real stuff at that level uh especially if like you're not like netflix or or anyone you know like so it's really difficult to like let a school district allow you like a limited access to like high school kids um but like i think high school football is so fascinating because where i grew up and like and what it was in our community and what it is in certain communities it's like life it's like everything and like everyone dedicates so much to like their community team um and i would really love to do a story on like my high school football coach and like his name's Dick Beck shout Dick Beck um but like the most football coached guy's guy that you ever met in your entire life and like I really want to I really feel like he's like legendary in the state of Pennsylvania and like I really feel like I would do his story justice like as a former athlete of his um someone who really like respects the program and everything so I would love to do a high school football documentary, but I think it would probably be long form that I would want to do it.

1:06:16But if we're thinking like doc stuff that like I'm dying to do, that's definitely the thing. When you think about getting that sold or funded, how does that work in your world? Like I've never even thought about getting a doc funded or something like that, but I love filming like docu style things. And I think that's like what a majority of the work that does come in but they're like like brands are giving me money to do it i'm not like making something for passion then being like okay how could i go get this like 30 minute thing you know some funding for like after i just spent a year of my life working on it yeah so so like traditionally so far on my youtube channel like when i've made like mini docs like this poster i don't know if you can see it you can't see it in my fx3 video that i'm recording but you guys can see it it's like the horse truck rider like that that was like a three minute really cool yeah three to five i don't even know how long it was but it was super short um but that was like something i saw i was super interested in trying to film and like had a sponsor for my youtube channel come in or i used that money from the sponsor that i was getting uh for the behind the scenes video to actually make that thing so a lot of times i'm like taking brand deals and like talking about like the filmmaking process in one video but I'm using that money to fund the actual film which is is nice because I can talk about that film in the dedicated filmmaking video whether it's like a sound design tutorial or talk a million note video where I'm talking about my process on pre-production like the money they gave me for that YouTube integration or dedicated video for the how the pre-production on a short doc video i'm using to fund the actual film that i want to be making um so that's kind of how i've done it traditionally and i think like i haven't made a feature doc yet i've been asked to just i haven't had like the bandwidth to do it because like docs are like you need a lot of time and you have to be in a lot of locations even if you're not using that for the story you never know what's going to happen so i haven't been able to fully commit but it's typically like i think i would like try to fund it like in a similar sense where i'm like doing behind the scenes content around it or like how i'm structuring my film and using that money from brand deals to build it but if you don't have like a big youtube channel or anything i would probably look towards like companies that would like support uh whatever genre or topic that you're going for like if you're like doing something like in uh like i don't know uh let's make something up here say i'm doing a high school football yeah yeah documentary it's like maybe you're reaching out to like producer like nfl producer or nfl players who want to be producers or you know like there's tom brady who has like a production company payment he has a production company all these like former players have production companies and are looking for interesting sports stories and if they see you're a director that they can trust they might be interested in like taking on that project and funding it for you.

1:09:25And there's other like, like there might be someone in the North. My high school is North Penn. There might be someone in the North Penn community who has like done really well for themselves in like healthcare or something and would be really interested in like hearing a documentary about something in their specific community who might want to fund it, like an angel investor almost. You know, I think there's a lot of avenues, whether it's involving a brand or anything. But at the core of it, it's like what we talked about earlier, like unless you've done stuff in the past that can prove that you've done this thing, like I wouldn't expect funding from any anyone.

1:10:02I would expect you to make it yourself. And sometimes like even if you have made it yourself and no one wants to give you money, just make it yourself still anyway. Just like where what are avenues that you can do to make this thing where you don't require any money? Like, yes, there's going to be a lot of sacrifice of your time and stuff, but maybe you don't need to hire a boom operator for a month. Maybe there's ways around that where you're really just working off your shotgun mic. You're trying to laugh people up as you go and working around it by implementing more interviews that you can cut in VO over top of B-roll versus like getting Verite style audio.

1:10:41So there's definitely ways to like cut costs and like make things for free if you can. And if you have a camera already, like there should be no reason for you to like be able to just like absolutely just like make the thing. Obviously, if it's a travel situation, there's a lot of travel expenses involved and whatnot. But if you have the access and you have the camera and there's not a ton of travel involved, I don't see why you aren't just able to make the thing.

1:11:12Danny Gevirtz:well also money wise bitcoin's on sale like a lot right now so maybe you know who knows when that's going to come back but put you know you can invest some of your money into bitcoin have that really grow do the shotgun mic situation over the next couple years and then bitcoin bitcoin pumps then you hire the um the sound operator yeah dude honestly i like i i don't even know like how do people even buy bitcoin like that like i don't even understand i'm the wrong person to ask i love he's i love the concept listens to people i'm just yeah i love the concept of blockchain like that sounds sick yeah yeah like i let's like let's like create a money system that isn't like ran by the government like that sounds awesome to me but i don't know how to start that's so funny okay you brought up how you want to make real stories about real people but i want to know your thoughts on ai and if you use ai at all in your workflow as like a filmmaker or youtuber um and what your thoughts are on it are you completely against it or are you are you like it's for some people it's not for me or are you kind of in the middle ground so i'm not I wouldn't say like I'm against AI.

1:12:31Danny Gevirtz:Like if someone wants to use it in their workflow and it works for them and there's like an audience out there that wants to consume AI generated stuff, like you guys do your thing. Like I'm not going to judge you. Like if that's what you like and that's what you're interested in, like sick. I personally like I don't want to use AI in my workflow or process because like I just like doing the thing. Like myself, like I like how hard it is. Like it's something that I always found fascinating about filmmaking. It's like, it's really difficult and like not everybody can do this and it takes a lot of hard work.

1:13:07And at the end, when you, you look at everything you went through, all the crappy shit that it took to like, get like this color port-a-potty in your shot. Like that's an issue I dealt with, with getting the right blue for a port-a-potty in a shot, like everything it took to get there. Like you sit back at the end and you, and you, you have all these stories and like, Like you can laugh and like talk to your friends that you made the thing with about like all the stuff that happened. And it's just like an experience that can't be like replicated. And that's like why I do it and why I like doing it.

1:13:41Like I understand like that's not everyone's mindset or like people do want to use AI. But I for me, like it doesn't make sense to use in my actual workflow or process because it's not like what I want the end result to feel like at the end. Like sure. Like there's like forms of artificial intelligence. Like if we're not talking about like generative, like visuals, like autofocus is artificial intelligence or like like the just like tools that help you like in color grading and stuff like adding. like grain and halation to your image and post-production like technically like artificial intelligence right like the program like reading stuff or whatever i'm not like the smartest dude in the world when it comes to the stuff but like i'm not against like using like this stuff as tools or anything or i'm not against like using like those kind of tools in my workflow i just don't want to like type in a prompt and like get you know an image out or like replace an actor with uh some somebody that's not real uh a real like some people would argue it is real because they believe that stuff like is actually a thing but i don't know for me it's like i just like like doing it and like i if if the process isn't a part of it like i'll just do something else like i this stuff's like not worth doing if like it you don't feel like that sense of worth and like uh it doesn't feel like you're doing like blue collar honest work we're not doing blue collar work at all our hands are soft as baby shit but uh you guys you guys know what i mean what about what are your guys's thoughts and stances and i think um i think that there's there's an audience for every little thing and like i it reminds me of like shitty animation whereas like i don't want to watch shitty animation i want to watch toy story you know like i want to watch stuff like that but i think some people might watch it and like it doesn't bother me it's like whatever you know whereas like i am like you i like the i like like the aspect of making it but on the business side of things i think there's a shit ton of ways that i have been able to integrate it with like bookkeeping and different different ways in that sense more like the business side of it not as much as like oh i'm completely changing you know my workflow or like make a video.

1:16:13It's like that has stayed the same. Do you feel like the state of the YouTube filmmaker space has changed a lot? Because I really enjoy the way you still use a camera and tell stories. You don't use it as like a, like I feel like it has changed a ton in the sense of what people put out in like YouTube filmmaker land. Like I love the video of the trick writer that you put out. Like that stuff is so interesting. the BTS is super interesting I feel like the rest of YouTube filmmaker land I think has changed a lot since you know what I'm saying?

1:16:48Danny Gevirtz:The only thing is I would never Danny never really talked much about gear like he was very open about hey if you want to know about gear I'm not the right channel for you yeah but I like gear I like gear I fucking love the camera review shit but I'm saying like the space as a whole I feel like has changed quite a bit not just like oh it's all turned to like gear reviews and catching your bag and like that whole thing like i get it like people got to make money and stuff like i understand it but i feel like the the landscape of how we've got like the videos we've gotten i feel like it's changed quite a bit yeah i i think there's like just like there's some like youtube filmmaking like it used to be like one or two like styles one or three styles but now it's like there's so many different styles and avenues that like you can find kind of like the things that you like within the niche itself like if you like like documentary storytelling and like uh like kind of like solo filmmaking there's like that avenue there's like people who are just talking about gear and whatever there's people who just post like still imagery like still tripod shots and stuff like that um there's people who are just you know there's people who just talk about like like Higgs field AI or something.

1:18:12I can't tell you how many times they've reached out for a brand deal. I'm like, I don't know. I'm not like the right guy for this. Stop reaching out. Are they throwing bags at you though? They are, but like, it's, it's like not worth it to be because, because for me, it's like, I don't actually, I, I truly like only like talk about a brand if I'm using it because it's not hard for me to talk about it. I don't like feel guilty, like trying to get people to buy it because I know it actually helps me. so like i would be like like the lame is it just like know if you ever see me do some shit like that like i need money i am desperate as hell i'm bad i'm down bad on the house payment dude i need yeah yeah yeah like that so so uh i don't even remember what the hell i was saying

1:18:58Danny Gevirtz:just like the space of youtube filmmaking oh yeah yeah like there's just different avenues and different things for people to enjoy and like i don't think like there's one better than another there's obviously probably channels that like got into it more so because they wanted to like be seen and like wanted to be known like i think then there's also channels that like i feel like people gravitate towards more where like the channel kind of started from a good place of just like sharing their unique perspective on whatever lane that they're in um so it's just like it's like anything you know it's easy it's definitely easy to like sit back and be like oh like look at all this bull on on the internet these days um but you know there's like a lot of people just like trying new things or like trying to like do what they deem to be successful and like i don't blame anyone for for trying to do stuff like that uh it's like life is super hard and like we're all trying to like make money we're all trying to like make a name for ourselves and um i i think there's just like a lot more people trying to do this thing which is like creating like good really good stuff really bad stuff good stuff in the middle so um i i tried to just like not consume anything within my niche just because I don't want to I just want like my channel to just like always be just like what it is and like who I am like I don't I've never had an editor for my channel like I've never had like anything else helping my channel outside like Tyler Wells my business manager shout Tyler like he helps with like brand deals and stuff like that but like when it comes to like the creative of my channel like it's never been anything but me um and i like that it's cool and it's like even if i if i like i can't get a video out once a week and like i haven't posted a video in like three months like that's okay you know it's like i know it's just like me making the thing and like the youtube channel is just what my name is danny gewertz which is like my biggest regret with my youtube channel was using my real name why it's a good name dude why would you change it people are weird and will like you know like people who aren't so nice have reached out in like different ways that aren't acceptable so that's that's yeah that's weird you just gotta bully people dude i'll stay in these comments i'll got fucking time sometimes i'm like you want to say some mean shit i got time dude let me go shit on your videos yeah like dude the other day someone left a fucking mean comment i don't even remember what they said but it had real estate in my head for the whole day.

1:21:42And I was like, you know what, dude? I got some fucking time today. I'm going to go in on this kid. Just let him have it. I'm just like, dude, it's so funny because my girlfriend got a mean comment the other day. This is so ironic because this is exactly what I would do. She got a mean comment and she's like, should I say something? I go, no, no, don't put hate back out into the internet. Like, don't be that person that I like at night. I'm like, dude, actually, I'm just going to shit on this random kid in Iowa. I'm going to let him know today, dude. that's so funny it's really the Hawkeyes are terrible just kidding I think that's a great program on the topic of

1:22:23Danny Gevirtz:this career being tough you know it's tough it's super hard it really is I think the hardest thing about this career is it can give you so much and then also take away so much at the same time. You can have these months or even a year streak of where you're just winning, winning, winning, winning, winning. And then it can just punch you in the mouth and humble you. So you know what it reminds me of, honestly? I play baseball on Sundays in a men's league. And filmmaking reminds me a lot of baseball, if there's any baseball players out there, where you can be feeling so hot, you feel so good, and then you cannot hit the ball to save your life.

1:23:03And you've done the same thing the same way for a decade. You slumping right now? No, I'm batting 500 in baseball. I'm like actually unreal, right? 458 if we're being honest. But I'm batting insane. But in softball, I can't hit the ball to save my life. And it's like that's preschool shit and I can't hit the ball. I literally cannot hit the ball and I'm raking in baseball. And it's very humbling. But it reminds me of filmmaking because there's just moments where you get so many wins in a row. And then your inbox could dry up for a second. Or you could make a mistake. They're like, I never make that mistake.

1:23:35And I made that mistake, you know.

1:23:37Danny Gevirtz:Or as you're building a company and you're building your career, it takes a lot of time. It's not like it's a nine to five where you can clock out. And at six o 'clock, you can, you know, eat dinner with your wife or girlfriend or fiance and turn off work. It's it takes a lot out of you in that sense where there's always something more that you can be you could be doing. You could be working 20 or yeah. Or you get an email that's like, you know, it's at eight o 'clock and I'm like, I need to respond to this because they pay our bills, you know? Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the other day, like it's like 630 p.m.

1:24:14We're like in the middle of dinner. I'm like, I have to call this person back.

1:24:17Danny Gevirtz:I'm so sorry. Like it sucks. Like it really is like you are your business and your whole identity is wrapped up into the thing. so that too like when things like aren't good at work like things aren't good in your personal life because you are like who your work is um and like the hardest thing for me is like when we're making these films like it's always it's never like you're like always like like obviously the career is always building but when you're like working on specific individual projects it's like it's it's like there for like a couple weeks or a couple like a month or two and then you finish and then you have to restart all the way back at zero on whatever the next project is and that's like the thing that like really stresses me out and like being stuck in this loop where you're just like constantly on a treadmill of like all right i don't even i can't it's hard to enjoy like that i just finished this thing because i need to be focused on like starting this next thing or like when is the next thing and how am i going to get this next thing and starting completely at zero with like a blank pre-production board where you got nothing on it and it's now time to start with just like an idea or whatever it is so that's like for me the hardest part and like why i can never relax even after finishing a project because i'm just like i need to start thinking about something now because i know how hard it is and how much time it is to make a film yeah and if i don't start on it now i'm not gonna have something to post early i'm not gonna be able to make this project for months you know yeah that's it yeah that's a weird thing too i think about a creative business where every other business guru online is like you remove yourself from the fucking business and it's like yeah this is a little different than that you know i can't just like not shoot it because then it won't be what we're pitching because the videos you're seeing are mine yeah no one's doing the work no exactly so it's a very it's a very weird industry I think to be in because yes well you can like maybe outsource the editing and things like that like that is I think something that's like helped us a lot where it's like I'm not editing everything anymore and that's like been really nice but then there's stuff where I'm like I really want to edit this and like I'm gonna block my calendar for this week but then if something else comes in it's like damn I can't do that thing and that thing would be also really cool so it's this owning a like a creative business is weird because you yeah you're wearing a lot of hats you are like i also hate the financial side of that stuff it's just like not like i want to make money with it but i also am like not i'm not like an accountant so that's like yeah it's it's just a weird uh interesting game that we play being in the creative world and also like monetizing it and making money from it it's weird well you're not an accountant but like you have to kind of be your own you have to be your own accountant yeah exactly yeah you can't be like we made no money on this.

1:27:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:27:16Danny Gevirtz:My question to you, this is my last question, is there something you learned in your 20s of grinding, doing the branded work, building your personal brand, building your YouTube channel, making a movie? Is there something you learned in your 20s that, maybe something you did in your 20s that you're not taking into your 30s to make your life more sustainable? Like, are there boundaries that you've set for yourself? Or how are you how are you thinking about your career now that you're a little bit older, quote unquote older? Like, yeah, you told us that you want to be making movies, you know, through your 60s and 70s.

1:27:53Danny Gevirtz:And so how do you how do you build a life and how do you build a career that is sustainable to be able to get to that point and to do this for decades without burning out and feeling like you can't do it? honestly like i felt like in my 20s like i had the energy like i literally could just work all day like i could stay up late and work and like whatever like i i'm not even like making decision i literally physically can't do that anymore like i get i need like a fun drink after like 30 minutes of working or like i need to like go outside and like hoop or like fucking work on the yard and just like not sit at a computer anymore i just like i literally don't have like the physical and mental capacity to like like drive as hard as i did in my 20s like if i do that i'll like end up underneath my desk laying on the floor staring up at the bottom of my desk where i taped my passwords to um because that's elite security in my eyes uh but like i like i feel like i don't even have the choice of like being able to grind as hard as i did in my 20s like into my 30s and that's good like that i don't have that anymore and like that's like like expanded like more interest in my life well buying a house has expanded more interest in my life because i've like i'm very prideful in everything i do obviously like you guys probably are too just as like creatives and business owners so like even just like buying a house like like my landscaping needs to be perfect i need to like figure out like you know i i just painted the house black with like brown accents i'm getting like these sleek modern windows and like making sure everything like is like as it should be like as a reflection of me and my family so i i think you just like learn to like not drive yourself into the ground or you your body tells you you can't and you start to just like naturally i think just calm down and just like enjoy the world around you a little bit more as you get older and what i've been experiencing like sometimes like now i just like i just like standing in the grass and i'll just stare up at a tree for like 30 minutes and just think about like what kind of tree this is and like what animals that are inhabiting this tree and how it works in the general ecosystem as a whole like that's more interesting to me now that it wouldn't be when i was 20 like now when i'm on youtube like i'm not watching like camera reviews or like you know whatever i'm watching like how did they like build this world world world war ii bunker and like you know it's like stuff like that that i think you just like become more curious about things outside of what you're doing and maybe it's because i've done it so much and like uh i've put in the work of like getting to a certain point that feels comfortable but I don't know I I think just like continuing to be more appreciative of just like general life around you and not just like fully being only a filmmaker because if that's the case like you're not a you won't be able to be a storyteller because you won't have perspectives and you won't have experiences and you won't have like an appreciation for things outside of what a camera does so I think just like the older I get the more I'll be able to appreciate that the the better writer i'll become like we talked about in our pre-interview which was like 10 minutes long it wasn't really a pre-interview but we like we chatted about like yeah like i wrote my first movie when i was 20 26 27 and like the writing's not good like i know it's not like obviously the movie turned out pretty decent but like i know like if i wrote a movie now it'd be like the writing would be so much better like so so much more eloquent like so much like like a more immersive or whatever it is and like follow better like writing techniques or whatever it is um and i know that's going to continue like as i get older like uh you're just that's like something that's going to continue to get better i might not be able to jump as high or run as fast but like i'll be able to write better and like process the world better um as i get older i love that man This has been such a fun episode.

1:32:15Ladies and gentlemen, this has been episode 210 with Danny Gewurz. If you're still here, please hit the subscribe button. Drop us a subscribe. Leave us a like, and we'll see you guys all next week. Peace. Dude, round two with Big D. Come on, man. Dude, your niche is hiding in plain sight. It is. It's right there. It's right there for the taking.

1:32:32Danny Gevirtz:Yeah, so you should be filming what? I should really just be shooting a bunch more sports, it seems like. Yeah. I shoot a lot of sports. Are you going to film softball? uh not gonna do that i could film women's softball i'd be sick but not men's softball on wednesday nights not gonna do that i don't know if i fully agree with this because you're terrible at shooting a basketball i i that is true so you shouldn't be shooting lebron you just need to understand your strengths and my strength wasn't dribbling it it was shooting it that's the that's the difference i'll give you that that's the difference maker you know what your strength isn't it tell me bowling you got i beat your ass you got i don't know if it's beat my ass i think it was like four pins and you played the game your life dude i didn't play the game of my life because it wasn't my high score and they gave you a spare when you didn't get a spare i slipped a guy at 20 when we were going into the door lucky strike uh-huh and i was like listen you know i'm gonna i'm gonna be putting up a game a bet yeah five dollar bet big bet on the table i need you to help me out here that was what that spare was but speaking of or talking about how your niche might be hiding in plain sight.

1:33:39Danny Gevirtz:I love that Danny grew up, he's so passionate about sports. He loves sports. And I don't think we really got into that the first time we had him on. No, he loves sports. Oh, yeah. Crying after he lost his high school national championship game. It is all good. It's all good. But dude, he's an athletic guy. He's fast. He got his big break when he was running next to OBJ, which is sick. but the fact that he is shooting sports makes it fun because you're fusing your two passions or his two passions which is sports and filmmaking and i love that he also is the definition it's funny because we recorded a pod the next day with um zachary guy and he's another like awesome dp makes a lot of great youtube videos but they both are the perfect example of like you go make it the brands come later like you gotta you gotta go make the thing like no one's ever gonna call you and say, Kostas, you're, you're, we're, we're coming up to the big leagues, man.

1:34:35It's your time to shine. Like no one's doing that. Like you have to make the thing and then maybe the brands will pay you for the thing, man. You know what? What are you going to say?

1:34:44Danny Gevirtz:I must just be an anomaly because I never shot a concert and I got called up to the big leagues of EDC. The other guys that they were going to hire. Yeah. I was the, I was like the option. They're like, this guy's not as good as the other guys, but he's a little more normal. We're going to let this guy have a chance. That's so funny. But it is true. Last thing I want to say about the niche kind of hiding in plain sight. I have felt this really personally because building coastal and shooting hotels. I actually made a video about this not too long ago, but I grew up getting to travel a decent amount.

1:35:16Danny Gevirtz:My dad loves to travel and my grandma was a travel agent. So we got to stay in really cool hotels. hotels my grandma would get to stay at like very nice hotels for free because she had a certain clientele and so they wanted her business and so they were just like hey do you want to bring your family and stay at these sick hotels to try it out and if you like it you can recommend it to your clients brilliant and because of that I got to travel a decent amount and got to stay at cool hotels and so now that I'm shooting hotels and content for hotels it was kind of in plain sight Like I grew this affinity for both travel and hotels.

1:35:52Danny Gevirtz:And now that I'm shooting it, it kind of just makes sense. And for a while, I wasn't sure really what I wanted to shoot or what I wanted to niche down on or focus on. And it was kind of, it was hiding in plain sight.

1:36:07It's super interesting because now all that you're doing, man, is filming all these really cool resorts.

1:36:14Danny Gevirtz:And you know what I did to be able to shoot the resorts? Tell me. I had a proof of concept. I went into a hotel and I made a free video. Gotta make spec, dude. And you gotta make spec. And Danny, I mean, Danny took making a spec to the whole next level. He's like, fuck it. We ball. I'm going to make a movie. Danny monetizes the spec stuff, though, via YouTube, which is also really smart. I'm telling you, dude, the number one thing you guys can do in 2026 right now, best investment you'll make is to build your brand online. Not just the work that you do, but build your brand. I think that it's so cool to see the people that we have on this pod have built YouTube channels, a lot of them, or just like Instagram pages where their work, people can see their work, people can interact with it.

1:36:55And then they can go and sell that stuff to these brands and make a little double dip. Because there's times when you're a full-time creative that work will be slow, but you could have this other thing to rely on, which is honestly really cool that a lot of our guests crush. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's something to really think about.

1:37:14Danny Gevirtz:something that dan it was a rule that danny has that i love that you should probably take okay um inspo from tell me something stupid is that he won't ask somebody on set to do something that he wouldn't do himself and i just feel like you're asking talent and crew to do a lot of stuff that you wouldn't do yourself listen i'm i'm the dp that carries the fucking stands okay i'll put combo stands on my back i'm gonna start a world record for how many c stands i could carry one go oh yeah because that's what i'm willing to do i'm willing to go the extra mile i love it that's the difference maker yeah dude i went to the nba finals though we're gonna we're i feel like that wraps up the pod the pod was pretty insane that was a great pod it was i'm trying to think we're looking at our notes is there anything else um i don't know just a great pod and and danny We could talk about this episode all day long.

1:38:10Danny Gevirtz:I love Danny's content. Yes, he's kind of wrapped in the filmmaking land, but I love that he doesn't talk much about camera specs. He's one of those people who's like, gear doesn't really matter, which I don't always agree with. But I love that his mindset is just, I want to tell the best stories possible and I'm willing to grind to get there and to get the shot and to make the best possible film. Listen, you can make good stories with an iPhone. That's what I did this weekend. Yeah, you did. Bro, so I got hit up. Tell me. 7 p.m. the night before the game five of the NBA finals for the New York Knicks.

1:38:49We get a call. This client has Uber as one of their clients. They're telling us this crazy story about how they're going to take Charles Oakley, who is a former Knicks player, and he's banned from MSG to the game. Yeah. Okay? And we're like, I don't know if this is even going to work, because how are we going to get to San Antonio in time to make this whole thing make sense? We look at LAX, no flights. We look at Ontario, no flights. There was a few flights, but you would get in at like 6 p.m. Not going to work. Game was at 6.30. That's not going to work. They find one flight out of San Diego via Southwest at 6.30 in the morning.

1:39:22By the time we get on this call together as a team and we're like, this is confirmed, it's booked. We had booked the flight. It was 9 p.m. So I'm like, do I go to San Diego right now? And do I get a hotel at like midnight, basically, when I would be able to get there after I pack all the gear up? I'm like no we're just gonna send this uber at 2 30 in the morning so I go to bed that night pack up all my gear it's like 12 31 when I finally went to bed then I couldn't sleep because I'm looking over at my phone like did I make sure that this alarm is checked so I grab Chloe's phone make another alarm like backup backup backup alarm you know what you also have to double check

1:39:57Danny Gevirtz:if sound is turned on does your fucking iPhone do this dude it lowers the sound what is up with that bro it lowers the sound all the way to the bottom and i literally went in there and that shit was at like 0.1 on the soundbar unreal we got to talk to apple about i've never touched that setting before neither have i never touched it i looked at it the other day because i i had set alarm for something and i'm like that thing's not going off and it was just so so quiet who who decided that was a good idea idiots but i triple checked i couldn't go to sleep then i can't even fall asleep because i'm so excited i'm like oh my god i get down there my uber driver it gets me and we're on the freeway.

1:40:33We've been on the freeway for like 30 seconds. Cops stopped the freeway. Like cops stopped the whole freeway. I'm like, this is -

1:40:38Danny Gevirtz:Oh, oh, oh, didn't stop your - No, no, no, no. Stop the whole freeway. Individual car. So I'm like, okay, five minutes goes by. I'm like, I'm fine. I was going to be there two hours before, like when I left. Now, 15, 20, 30 minutes goes by. I'm like, oh, we're cooked. How much are you carry on? Do you just have a phone? No, I had to bring a change of clothes so I looked sick for the finals. So I couldn't bring my clothes in my backpack because my backpack had like a suction cup mount in it. It had all that stuff. And then my camera gear was in the other box. So I needed to check a bag. Regardless, I was like, I need to check a bag, which is super annoying.

1:41:09I fly Southwest, don't have status on Southwest. Problem. Get to the airport. Finally get there. We're 90 minutes before. So I'm like, I'm feeling calm, cool, and collected. Still a little stressed, but calm, cool, and collected. I'm like, yo, I think you dropped me off at the wrong terminal. He doesn't speak English. He goes, no, no, this is right. I go, but you live in LA. Like, you don't drive to San Diego. Like, I don't think this is right. I think I'm at terminal one. We're supposed to be at two. He goes, no, no, it's okay. I'm like, all right, I'm just, I'm going to figure this out. So I'm like, how far could it be?

1:41:38Can't be that far. It's got to be like a watt. Far? Of course it's not. No, of course it's not. That'd be too easy. So I call the lady. I'm like, excuse me, ma 'am. It's also, there's no one at this airport. This is like a desolate airport. Yeah. Very quiet. On terminal one or whatever it was. Go to the lady. I go, how do I get to terminal two? She goes, you got to take the shuttle. Comes every 15 minutes. I go 15 minutes. I go, okay, well, hour 15 still before. I'm going to be good. So I go to the shuttle. Bunch of other people. Same situation. I go, are you supposed to be at this one? He goes, no, my Uber driver said this was the right one.

1:42:06It's not. I go, classic. We're all in the same boat. There's like five of us. They're on the same flight. Knicks vans going to San Antonio. So I'm like, all right, all right. It's us together. Us against the world. Y 'all flying Southwest. Yeah, only flight available. Okay, okay. So we go to the first terminal. I have never seen a longer line to drop your bags in my life. I'm talking like it was wrapped around all the way to TSA. Everyone's stressed out. Everyone's frantic. Of course, my credit card won't read in the thing. It's not a tap. So I'm like, oh my God, like how is it not working to tap?

1:42:38Declined? No, no, no. Won't swipe, bro. So I'm like, all right, let me last ditch try my debit card, which I never use. I never use a debit card. Thankfully, because I haven't used this thing. It swipes. Get the thing. Okay. Now we're in the back of the line. people are trying to cut into the line. Like it's a whole thing. No one's making, no people are going to miss their flights. Thankfully dropped my bag off 56 minutes before like you had to. So I had like five or 10 minutes to spare. Okay. Clear and pre-check run through the thing.

1:43:05Danny Gevirtz:Because you have to drop it off 45 minutes before. I think 45 minutes before. So I got, I was good. It was like 10 minutes. Thankfully get that going, make it there, make it to San Antonio at 11 o 'clock. Charles Oakley lands at 1115. You would have thought it was a coming home parade in the airport. I mean, this dude got stopped like 30 times in the airport. People were like, oh, Clay's at the game. Like, let's go. I was surprised because I saw your guys' video. I was surprised. Maybe I'm just not up on Nick's culture and how much he is beloved by the fan base. He was getting stopped like crazy.

1:43:35That was only a quarter of the time.

1:43:37Danny Gevirtz:Yeah. There was like, he stopped at least 100 times to take pictures. Is he massive? Yeah, he's 6 '8". He's a big guy. Me and him are like similar in stature and build. but we get over there and we don't know obviously where to go in the arena so we're walking around and i'm like walk by i'm like oh shit that's scooter brawn sydney sweeney are in this section because it's like this section of san antonio where you could go get drinks and stuff is for like the lower level seats or whatever so we're walking through and every fan is like oh i'm your biggest fan i love you dude so we got a bunch of great sound bites went down there i'm sending Yuli clips from my phone trying to get on Wi-Fi, get on the Wi-Fi, send him stuff out.

1:44:19So he's live editing as this day is going on. And we posted this video at halftime. Wow. Got it out. And it is sitting at like 840-ish thousand views, like 40-something thousand likes. And that's why you hired Bluestripe.

1:44:31Danny Gevirtz:That's why you hired Bluestripe. It went crazy. I love that you posted or you sent me the video and I believe you still posted the story of you tracking the ball. Oh, dude, I still I got it. You still got it. Still got it, bro. Someone commented that you still got it. I'm like, is there a doubt? Like I didn't stop shooting, bro. Come on. It's like I still shoot every week. But how was it being in the building? OK, the Knicks fans are like nothing I've ever seen before. They just wanted more. That stadium was 60%, maybe 56, 60 % Knicks fans. And did it feel different than when the Lakers would just go play at MSG or when the Knicks would come to town?

1:45:04Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a whole, there's so much more on the line. And you could feel it. when they were doing like, let's go Spurs. Right after that, I'd be like, let's go Knicks. Equally as loud, if not louder. Wow. And I knew when that was happening, that was early. That was like before the game even started. They started their little chant. Knicks fans are going back and forth. I'm like, bro, this is going to be a battle. Low key, really low scoring game. I think it was like 94 to whatever.

1:45:29Danny Gevirtz:Well, the Knicks, I believe only, I think the Knicks scored less than 20 points in the first quarter. Yeah, they didn't score at all. It's like 13 points in the first quarter. Everyone was cold in the first quarter. and Spurs were doing well. I mean, like you said, they were leading for like 78-ish percent of the game, and then fourth quarter comes around. Knicks fans start getting louder. I'm like, oh, my God, this is actually going to happen. This is going to go nuts. And that place erupted. And then when the ceremony started, it sucks that a win on the road. Bro, MSG would have. They would have exploded.

1:46:02You don't get to have any of the streamers or anything. The confetti. Yeah, so the game ends, and you're just like, They're obviously going nuts in the middle, but I'm like, damn, this kind of sucks. Yeah, because there's no light show because the Spurs aren't going to give them a show. I actually want to look this up. You know what I mean?

1:46:18Danny Gevirtz:What percentage of NBA finals were won on home court? Oh, I bet it's going to be high. I feel like it's always game six. I could be wrong.

1:46:36Danny Gevirtz:71%. Yeah, that feels right. And those fans were so fired up, dude. They were hyped. Oh, my God. It was cool, too, because it all worked out beautifully. Charles was there. We had great seats. We're in the third row. Right in front of me was a guy from Breaking Bad, Giancarlo. Yeah. He was having a great time. And there's another actor to his left, David something. I can't remember his name. But they're right there. I saw Ben Stiller. I saw Timmy Chalamet. saw Scooter and Sydney Sweeney which was pretty funny and just an electric game after the halftime though I was like I can actually watch the game now because I was like because work was done work was done I was on film duty for the whole time I was locked in saw Rohan who I used to work with at the Lakers just a cool bunch of other NBA folks I used to work with so felt like a homecoming I was like dude I'm back they're like yo you're in row 3 what's going on dog you've been doing that well like not on my dime man doing pretty well but That's cool, dude.

1:47:35Danny Gevirtz:And it's cool that you guys got to work with Uber because that's a massive client. Yeah, it was so sick. And they did a collab post. And I think Uber peeps are really hyped on how it turned out. Oh, cool. How fun. I'm stoked. Yeah, it was overall just an insane experience. I was just watching literally at home. And I'll tell you, man, I remember because I was – who was I texting? I think I told you I got a haircut. I stupidly got a haircut.