Making Real Money

Are you a photographer who has an amazing portfolio but still struggles to land the jobs you want? Maybe you’ve been a professional photographer for years but you still haven’t connected with advertising agencies or international brands. Maybe you feel that your photography business is stagnating and don’t know how to grow. In Monte Isom’s new tutorial, Making Real Money: The Business of Commercial PhotographyThis tutorial will give you an insider’s view of what it takes for advertising agencies to land work in the largest magazines and campaigns around the world. This tutorial gives you an insider’s view of the most prestigious level in photography. We will answer all of your questions.

Monte Isom: Who are you?

Monte Isom is a commercial and advertising photographer based in New York City. Over the course of his career, he has photographed everything from Hollywood movie posters to massive global advertising campaigns for many of the worlds most prominent brands. Adidas, Nike and Gatorade are just a few of the clients that Monte has worked with. Before Monte started photographing for himself, he assisted many of the most successful photographers including Sandro Miller, Gregory Heisler, Albert Watson, Peter Lindbergh, Timothy White, and Martin Schoeller to name a few.

Since years we wanted to create the ultimate tutorial on commercial photography. However, we had to find the right instructor. We wanted to team up with someone who was not only a well-accomplished photographer but someone who understood the industry’s best-kept secrets. Monte Isom is a true master at marketing and he has a complete understanding of how the industry works from all sides. Monte has made connections across all aspects of advertising for the past twenty years and has used these contacts year after year to secure large-budget jobs. For the first time in his career, Monte is finally sharing everything he has learned that has taken him from being a photography assistant to one of the most sought-after photographers in the world.

This Tutorial Covers Various Topics

• What should you put on your website?
• Marketing to the Right Persons
• Mailers, Emails and Cold Calls. Non-Traditional Marketing
• How to Stand Out in a Conference Call
• When to work for free versus when to demand payment
• Designing Impressive Decks and Treatments
• SEO: Win the Game
• Understanding the Different Contact Points
• Drafting Competitive Estimates 
• Understanding License Usages
• Making Money Copyright Infringements
• Avoiding the IRS and Tax Audits
• Budgeting for the Shoot and Paying your Assistants
• Working directly with a brand versus working through an advertising agency
• How photographers agents work
• Celebrities working with us
• Find More Money In Editorial Work
• Carnets and Working Overseas

Interviews with industry insiders

Monte is a huge expert on the advertising industry. But it was important to include other professionals. In this tutorial of 15 hours, you’ll hear from Monte as well as nine other creative professionals working in various areas. These interviews often involve art buyers or other creative professionals. “gatekeepers” The advertising industry. These are the people you must win over in order to secure the top clients and high-paying positions. Each interview is an invaluable insight into a different aspect of the industry.

Monte interviews creative professionals from the industry. Many of them are highly skilled and have worked with some of the best clients and most expensive photographers around the globe. Collectively these interviews should give you a great understanding of how each aspect of the industry works and what types of photography budgets each industry has for a campaign.

Jim Surber – Deputy Editor at ESPN Magazine Jim offers some of the most important information about shooting editorial work. Jim is a long-time sports editor and shares his knowledge about the editorial publication fee structure as well as the best ways for you to get in the door. This interview is an excellent resource for anyone looking to enter commercial or advertising photography, but who has not explored the benefits of shooting editorial work to enhance their portfolio and branding.

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Adrien Bindi – Creative Strategist at Facebook Adrien works as a Creative Director for Facebook’s Creative Shop. Facebook has evolved to be a hybrid agency, allowing brands to communicate their ideas and photographers to execute them. Adrien explains in detail how he helps clients find photographers as well as tips that can be used to help you win the job and not just bid on it.

Nicole Dieterichs, Executive Vice President at Cold Open – Nicole is one of the highest officers at Cold Open, a massive movie poster house based out in Los Angeles. Nicole manages the account directors beneath her but is ultimately responsible to present every movie poster composite she has received from her agency to the networks and movie studios. Nicole talks about the costs and day rates that photographers in the entertainment business charge and the skills needed to produce big-budget movie posters.

Sarah Manna – SVP, Director Art and Print Production at Deutsch – Deutsch is a big league traditional advertising agency based out of New York. Sarah discusses the best ways for photographers to get their work noticed and accepted by art buyers at an agency. She also discusses the invoicing process, including creating budgets and estimates as well understanding purchase orders.

Peter Stark, Partner and Creative director at Bond – Peter is the lead creative director at one of the hottest media producers in Hollywood. Peter is responsible for overseeing all print and digital work on television, film, or other digital media. Peter discusses how to present your work, create images that stand out and beef up production on your own shoots. He also talks about the retouching process for several movie poster composites his company designed.

Andrea Johnson – Photo Producer at Lion’s Gate You will need to work with many producers when you are working in advertising or commercial photography. Andrea is a photo production manager for a movie company. This means that she acts as the liaison between Lion’s Gate film sets (and any other photographers hired to produce images or assets) and the production. Andrea has a unique perspective on the process of hiring and working with photographers, from pre-light to final production.

Perry Fair – Vice President Brand Creative at Beats By Dre Today’s market is seeing more brands bypass traditional advertising agencies and hire photographers directly. Instead of relying upon an agency to facilitate communication between brand execution and execution, this means that you can hire photographers directly. “direct to brand” Campaigns are developed and created directly with the brand. It is common to work directly with brands in large markets, but it is more common to do so in smaller markets where companies rely less on agencies and hire photographers directly. Perry Fair is an incredible brand creative for Beats By Dre. He explains exactly what he is looking to hire photographers to shoot brand campaigns.

Finding Success in Smaller Markets

We interviewed creatives from some of the most successful and well-respected companies in the industry throughout this tutorial. However, it was important to hear other perspectives from smaller markets. We include interviews from Charleston in South Carolina as well as those from New York City and Los Angeles.

David Wood – Creative Director, Blue Ion and Partner This tutorial will focus on the business practices involved in commercial photography at its highest levels. We thought it was important to highlight the business practices that are common in smaller markets or emerging markets. David is responsible for the hiring of photographers and creating commercial campaigns for smaller brands in Charleston, South Carolina. David’s unique perspective will help you leverage your market and apply the information you find in larger markets to work you might produce in smaller markets.

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Brennan Wesley, Lifestyle and Medical Photographer Throughout the tutorial, we interviewed many different photographers who work in the commercial sector. We thought it would interesting to hear about the success stories of local photographers in smaller markets. Brennan Wesley is a photographer who works in both the commercial and editorial worlds. His perspective helps us understand some of the difficulties that photographers face when trying to make it in emerging markets. You can find success in any market, regardless of where you live in Atlanta, GA, or Breckenridge CO.

Story Time with Monte

This tutorial is a major departure from other Fstoppers tutorials in that it is built around a lecture style format. We wanted to focus 100% on the business of commercial and editorial photography, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a bit of fun as well. We created a hilarious series called Story Time With Monte that is sprinkled throughout this tutorial. Story Time, which Monte hosts in a pub-inspired living room, is where he retells some of his most memorable stories about getting into commercial photography and assisting the best photographers in the business. It also teaches him life lessons that will help him make photography a career. These candid bar room narratives are filled with outrageous photography story after outrageous story only capable of being told by Mr. Isom himself.

What’s included in the Digital Download:

• 14 1/2 Hours of Video Content (1080p, 23.9fps, H.264 mpg4, 20GB of material)
• Monte’s 20+ Real Job Estimates, Invoices, Emails, Carnets, Lawyer Letters, and Treatments
• 9 Interviews with Art Buyers. Creative Directors. Art Editors. Producers.
• 7 Episodes with Monte Story Time

• Facebook Group Access to Monte’s Private Business of Photographing