The other day one of my colleagues came at me with an interesting question: “How do you organize for a shoot?” A loaded question, with an even more loaded answer!! I wanted to break down my system, because I think it’s actually pretty efficient for getting things done when doing a trade shoot with other fetish models (or hiring them, for that matter).
Keep in mind that this is all based on my own personal experience over the past 9+ years. I also have an advantage in that at I live in an area pretty populated with models.
So! How to plan a shoot! Let’s get started.
Pre-Planning The Shoot
I’m going to assume that you have already found your next co-star for a shoot and you’re now just trying to work out the specs. I try to be extremely up front with models when it comes to planning a shoot: what I shoot, what I don’t shoot, what I expect to get (4 clips is always my bare minimum goal for a trade shoot, regardless of duration). This goes both ways, though. I want to know their limits, their goals, etc. It’s pretty important that you’re as specific as possible about limits and expectations ahead of time…you don’t want to waste anyone’s time (yours or theirs), so the sooner you get this out of the way, the better!
Shoot scheduled, but now what?
This is where I get “creepy.” I start getting to know the character I’m going to be shooting with. I don’t mean getting to know the person, I mean getting to know their character/persona. How they present themselves to clients, what their content looks like, their strengths & weaknesses. Where do they sell their clips? What seems to be their most popular content (you can figure this out by seeing what their top 5 clips are on c4s or what’s been purchased most/reviewed most on sites like ManyVids or IWantClips)? What do they film a lot of? I don’t do this because I want to copy what they do…I do it because I want to know what to expect and how to “play” to my business’s advantage. See, if someone films a lot of mouth fetish for themselves, I probably don’t want to do that for my store because I’m going to over saturate their market or copy something they do a lot of already. That can lead to fewer sales, and let’s be real: We all want to make money!
What to shoot?
What to shoot?Now that you’ve done your research on who you’re shooting with, you can start to really plan the shoot. This is where it starts getting fun for me! I know their limits, I know their strengths, now how can I make this work for me?? A few things I consider before planning my clips:
- Does the model prefer a dominate role or submissive role, if either?
- Do we have similar physical attributes (big tits, big butts, tattooed, etc) that we can combine powers with?
- What kind of “look” do they have going? I.e., girl next door, alt girl, MILF, etc.
- What is selling for me right now? 1 month ago? 3 months ago?
- Where will the shoot take place?
- Do my ideas require specific wardrobe?
Considering all these things, I plan out my clips. I don’t just mean writing down basic ideas… I write out full descriptions. My videos tend to involve a lot of talking and role playing, so I want people to be prepared for it.
Call me old fashioned, but I still hand write most of my ideas out on paper!
Ideally, I send these out a week before a shoot so that they’ll have time to prepare. I have a layout that I use, which people say helps them plan:
So what this does is allow for a model to say “hey, I’m not comfortable with that” or ask any questions they may have. Sometimes if we’re shooting at a location I’ve not shot in before, I’ll ask for photos of space and then include specific location into the “pre-description.” Usually, I’ll come up with 1-3 extra ideas, just in case we have more time or we work well together and can make it through more than my list, which also gives me wiggle room in case they’re not comfortable with one of my original ideas. Or, if we don’t get around do those ideas, they can be recycled for a future shoot!
Other stuff to discuss
There’s a couple other things that it’s good to know in advance:
- Does the person you’re shooting with have lighting, or do you need to bring your own?
- Will you be tripoding videos or is there a camera person?
- Does the camera person need direction to get specific shots that your fans like?
- Do they have a camera or do they need to use yours?
- How will you transfer files to them after you’re done shooting?
- Are you doing shared content, exclusive content or are you hiring them? (I recommend reading this if you’re not sure what that means)
In conclusion…
Hopefully this helps you plan your next shoot! Remember to keep an eye on model travel notices on sites like Twitter & Fetlife so that you can get in touch with them to start planning. Good luck 🙂 If you have any questions, please feel free to either comment below or send me an email!