Today I am sharing 3 stories that made me think positively about our industry in the last few weeks.

The Life of a Sports Content Creator

If you want to know what it is like covering sports these days, don’t miss the videos that Peter Sarellas posts on his YouTube channel.

Peter is a sports photographer/videographer in Toronto, and with videos like this one you can see how exciting and demanding his job is on a normal day.

I was tired after watching it just by seeing all the work he had to do.

From Employee to Business Owner

Oliver Janesh Christiansen is a camera operator and director based out of the UK.

I don’t know him in person, but somehow he sent me a marketing email that I was about to delete, and then I decided to keep it.

While cold emailing your prospects might not be the best strategy, I admired Oliver’s initiative to invest in equipment and move from selling his time to a rental company.

More people in our industry should think about the possibility of creating their own business and slowly reduce the dependency on events.

From LinkedIn to Real Life

I met Scott Rinehart on LinkedIn a few years ago.

We became friends and I got to learn more about the amazing work he does at the University of Notre Dame.

After 4 years, we met for the first time in person at IBC in Amsterdam. Scott is an excellent professional who dedicates himself to helping students ignite their careers in broadcasting.

His posts give us a behind-the-scenes look at the high-demand college productions in the USA, and how many students get the rare opportunity to learn while producing shows that are watched by millions.

The world we live in is challenging, but it also allows us to connect with people who 30 years ago would have been impossible to meet.

Take the chance, grow your network, meet colleagues from different countries. You will find professionals who bring joy and knowledge to your life and career.

This is it for this week.
A different format that I wanted to experiment with.
Let me know if these kinds of stories / recommendations resonate with you.

This is not a paid ad in this newsletter (unfortunately).

But it is my favorite marketing action at IBC2026 in Amsterdam.

To me it was proof that the right combination of location and the right message…

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It was 2022, and I was about to tell my boss that I was quitting because I was moving to a new company.

It was a very complicate…

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And it is not like that.

In this business of broadcasting, many times we are guests at somebody else’s house. We get to work in fancy trucks, trucks rented by the company we work for. But usually they don’t belong to that company. So we get to the truck and there are two or three people there, the engineers in charge, and everybody is educated enough to treat them with the respect and the kindness you treat people with when you go as a guest to their house.

Same when you go to a production facility. You get there and yes, it’s true, you are paying, or the company you are working for is paying. You are still a guest.

We go to stadiums. We go to arenas. And we have seen people that don’t understand the value of respect and kindness (or at least understand it, but don’t exercise it) when they are guests at other people’s places.

Good, but rude

This is extremely important for freelancers, from my point of view.

There have been moments in my life where I have been faced with the decision of hiring person X or person Y. And the facility where we would be working said: Oh, we didn’t have a good experience with person X. Good, but rude. Treats people badly. Doesn’t take care of the equipment. Or is just not a kind person.

And then you are left with person Y, who is probably good as well, the references are good, but has the advantage that they are mindful about the equipment, mindful about the people working at that facility, mindful about the people around them, and leaves a good impression.

That is crucial. When your attitude, your kindness or your respect towards others determines whether you are hirable or not, that’s a big problem, and you need to be aware of that.

But it’s not only because of the commercial side of this. It’s just about you being a good person. The more you treat others well, the more they are going to appreciate you, the more doors are going to open for you, the more good references are going to come your way. And that is something you should not take for granted.

They are part of my team

One of the first things I have done through my career is to try to know the people running the facility, the EICs in charge of the truck I’m working in, and make sure that they understand not only that I am the client, but that they have my biggest level of respect, that I am there just to serve and to help as much as I can, and that they are part of my team.

And even when I’m not in charge of a production, when I’m just part of it, I also introduce myself to the people of the truck, to the people of the facility. They know who I am. And they are going to be in a better position when it comes to helping me later.

I don’t think it is a good thing when you are just trying to be THE guy. When you pretend that you are too important, or too talented, or that just because you work for X or Y network you are more important than those who own or work at the studio you are renting.

Long story short

A little bit of kindness goes a long way. It doesn’t only earn you respect, it speaks highly about who you are.

Because at the end of the day, it is not about being a good tech operator. It is not just about being good at your craft. You need to be a good person.

Be kind and you will have more opportunities. Especially nowadays, when some of the tasks you might be hired for can be done by a machine.

P.S. If you are the one working at the facility, don’t be afraid to respectfully call out those who are not kind, who are not behaving, even if they are the clients. It’s your house. This is a two-way relationship.

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It has been overused and even commoditized.

However, I still believe in it, and one of my favor…

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It is called Getting Things Done, by David Allen. The subtitle is The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It came out in 2001.

And before b…

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You have probably heard it plenty of times, especially from veterans who remind you that this is a thankless career, one where whatever great thing you did yesterday might not count if you screw up today.

To be honest, it is a good way to keep yourself on your toes. You are challenged to leave your ego aside, to remember that any glory is already part of your past. Your success will buy you extra trust (and hopefully money), but it won’t matter if you don’t perform today.

As with everything, there is another side to this saying. What happens when your last show was a failure?

How do we overcome that terrible mistake that put a whole team’s work in jeopardy? When will people stop pointing their (imaginary) fingers at you? When will you feel that they finally stopped talking about your mistake?

As I have shared with you, I believe my career is a successful one. But I’ve had my share of failures too. Some have been more visible than others. Some have been on bigger stages.

Just like many of you, it has been hard to process, admit, and let go of my mistakes. Some of them still chase me to this day.

I lost over 25 minutes of one game in the most important women’s national team competition in the North American region. I did not see the problem coming, and some of my decisions helped cause it.

It was in Monterrey, Mexico, a few years ago. That moment of complete silence, when the truck went dark and we could not find a way to bring it back up soon enough, stayed with me for months.

I felt like the only one responsible for the mistake. The person ultimately accountable for the production. Literally the one who turned off the generators, even though I was about 50 meters away from them.

One of the first phrases that came to my mind was, of course, “you are as good as your last show, kid.”

If that was true, I was terrible at my job.

Right after the game where we had the issue, I felt awful and my thoughts were extremely negative.

But as the weeks passed and we finished the tournament we were delivering, I realized the saying works both ways.

The good thing about this business, though, is that in many cases we quickly get another shot to prove ourselves again. One more game, another series, the next concert, or the call for a studio show.

There is always another chance to show that a mistake should not define you.

The key, however, is how much you learned from the issue you faced or caused. If your next show is a success but you forget the recent error without learning anything from it, the risk of falling into it again is right around the corner.

If you owned the mistake, identified the causes, and learned how to avoid it, you are on the right path.

Regaining trust

When your last production was a nightmare, or you made an error that affected air, trust is one of the first things to take a hit.

Your self-confidence erodes easily. Your mind starts playing games with you, and you see that error replayed on a loop in your head.

On top of that, you start to feel that your boss, your colleagues, your team, all lost their trust in you.

That double punch can be hard to manage.

But I can guarantee you that, in most cases, your teammates are not nearly as focused on what happened as you are. They moved on quickly. They had other things to think about. And you have some credit with them.

You have helped the team deliver multiple amazing shows. You have taken bullets for the team. You are a good person your colleagues appreciate and want to support. (If you are a jerk, forget that last part and start worrying, because it will come back to bite you.)

So, to get that trust back, start with yourself. Go over the problem. Write down how many times you have been the one “saving” the show. Put a name to your fears.

Slowly, you will realize that the mistake haunting you, the one eroding your confidence for hours, is not a life-or-death one. You are not a doctor. This is just TV (or streaming, or digital, or whatever it is now).

And to regain that confidence, remember: YOU ARE NOT AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST SHOW. YOU ARE MUCH MORE THAN THAT MISTAKE, OR THAT SUCCESS.

If you don’t do it, the fast pace of live production will remind you that you need to move on and get back on your feet quickly, rain or shine.

Never forget it.

They always knew it would be like this. Their contracts were event-related.

Still, that doesn’t make it any easier.

Uncertainty, professionally and personally, is not good company.

But besides being a very scary moment, you can also see it as an opportunity for your career.

In the end, what can you lose?

So take the opportunity. Ask yourself:

1. How long can you go while you find the next job?

2. What options do you have?

3. Who can help you?

4. Do you have to stay in the same lane, the same industry or area as your last contract?

5. What other events could be out there for you?

I know it is easy for me to say this because I am not in your position. That is true.

But I admire every single one of you who commits to a short-term project, gives your best, and, at the same time, has to plan your life after the contract ends.

That takes guts.

My experience with freelancers like you is a positive one, and I believe you can pull it off one more time.

And if this is your first time as a temporary contractor, I still believe you can do it.

Because you just did.

P.S. If you are looking for good people for your next project, I have a good list of contacts who I will gladly recommend. Just let me know.

For some others, life requires a pause in between projects.

I am with the second group.

After a big effort, my body and my mind need me to stop.

For many years,…

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Some of these I learned. Some I already knew and the last 74 days just car…

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They were minutes old. They were desperate to see their mom and to be fed. My wife was still in the surgery room, recov…

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There will be positions you don’t get because you don’t know the right person.

There will be shows you don’t get booked for b…

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“That is not part of my job.”

Sometimes it comes out exactly like that. Sometimes it is quieter. A request land…

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What’s the recipe? What has been the key for you?

For many years I thought this was a very compl…

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Three years later, every word still holds. With one update I want to be honest about.

A couple of weeks ago a college student from Texas asked me a…

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EVS operator. Director. Camera op. Graphics. Audio. Lighting. Production manager. Whichever one you picked, the pat…

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I have been reading it everywhere. Industry reports. Email threads. Forums. The comment section under every post about broadcasting, AV, concert production, live events.

When someone asks, “should I get into this business?”, the loudest voice in the room is a veteran telling them no.

The pay is bad. The schedule eats your life. AI is taking the jobs. The big companies are firing. The middle is disappearing. Run.

This week I read a thread on 4Wall’s blog, where the production community was asked one question: what advice would you give someone breaking into live events? They got 771 comments. 28 of them, give or take, were variations of one word.

Don’t.

And then, almost every single one of those same people, in the same comment or the one right after, admitted they could not imagine doing anything else.

One commenter opened with “RUN!!!!!” in capital letters. Then came a whole paragraph. A 35-year career. A production company built from nothing. Projects to be proud of. One regret: not enough time with family.

That is the shape of the whole genre. The veteran tells you to run. The veteran did not run. The veteran is not running.

1. I am not telling you to run.

I have read enough of these reports to know things are changing. Some roles are in extinction. Some markets are harder than others. Some companies that used to be a safe play are not the safe play anymore. The automation conversation I will dig into in next week’s edition is the wave coming for everyone whose job is one thing for a living.

All of that is real.

What is also real, and what almost nobody is saying loud enough: millions of people around the world still put food on the table because of this industry. Live sports. Live events. Daily news in dozens of languages. Streaming sports broadcasts. Branded content, YouTube channels. New platforms with new formats that did not exist two years ago.

The pie is not shrinking. It is being recut.

The veterans telling kids to run are not lying. They are looking at the role they had ten or twenty years ago and noticing it does not exist in the same form anymore. That is a real grief. But the role they would build now if they were starting fresh, that role might be the most interesting one in a long time.

Look at what is happening to late-night television. The pundits have been writing its obituary for years. In the USA, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert signed off this past Thursday after eleven years at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In one of his final episodes, Colbert reunited with his fellow late-night hosts and asked Jimmy Kimmel the question that sounds a lot like the one being asked of our industry: make a case for late-night. Why should it continue to exist?

Kimmel’s answer:

I look at the figures, and the fact of the matter is more people are watching late-night television now. We have a lot of shows. People watch it on YouTube now. People have a lot of different options, and yet they keep coming to us.

Jimmy Kimmel, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

That is the whole argument in four sentences. The format people are mourning is not the audience. The audience moved. The audience is bigger than it has ever been. The seats moved with them.

2. Who should actually run.

I want to be honest, because telling everyone to come in is also a lie.

If you came into this expecting a 9 to 5, you should run. You will be unhappy.

If you came in because you wanted fame or quick money, you should run. There are faster industries with better odds.

If your body cannot take the loads, the hours, the time zones, listen to your body. There is no medal for breaking yourself for a show.

If your relationships at home are not built for this lifestyle, no amount of professional success will offset what you lose. Build the relationships first.

But if none of that disqualifies you, and you still find yourself reading a newsletter like this one on a Saturday morning trying to figure out where you fit, you are probably one of us.

3. What I would tell a 22-year-old today.

Do not apprentice yourself to the role that is disappearing. Apprentice yourself to the craft that is durable.

The craft is: solving live problems under time pressure. Reading rooms. Reading rigs. Hearing when something is about to break before it breaks. Being the calm one when the feed drops.

The role can be live sports today and a live podcast network tomorrow and something we do not have a name for in 2030. The craft travels.

Pick a corner of this industry that is growing, not the corner you grew up admiring. Live sports is still there. Live events are back. Content creation has built a parallel production economy from almost nothing in ten years. New platforms with new formats need people who know how to build the unrepeatable moment.

The good corners are obvious if you look at where the money and the attention are moving. The hard part is letting go of the corner that already shaped your identity.

One line I keep coming back to

The veteran tells you to run. The veteran did not run even that her/his industry changed from tapes to files and from SD to HD. The veteran is not running.

The industry is changing. It is not dying. The veterans who are honest with themselves will tell you the truth in their second sentence, after the first one made the joke.

One question for you this week: What would you do if your kids come to you right now telling you that they want to work in the same industry you have been years?

See you next week.

Oscar S.

They line up on one nu…

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