Why You Shouldn’t Start a Filmmaking YouTube Channel

Good morning Runaways,

Lot’s going on this week, and we’re as excited as ever to have you here for the ride.

This week, we’re stepping away from weddings for a second and tackling something every creative filmmaker has probably thought about:

How to stand out online.

We sat down with Nate Taylor, a good friend of ours from the Full Time Filmmaker days, who has worked with big-time content creators like Parker Walbeck, Aaron Brimhall, and currently Kyle Nutt.

(Combined they have a ~10 million subscriber reach)

From a typical standpoint, he works more as a DP and creative director, helping shape high-level content for these creators. And despite having a pretty big following on Instagram… he barely posts.

He’s what we call a ghost creator. One of those guys who moves behind the scenes, directing and shooting for some of the biggest names while keeping his own presence low-key.

So when we had him on the podcast, we wanted to dig into two big things:

1. How to start working with bigger creators

2. How filmmakers should approach YouTube in 2024

And his answer to that second one? It was something we’d never heard before—but it made total sense.

“If you’re a filmmaker and you want to start posting on YouTube, don’t post about filmmaking.

Post about your hobbies, and the filmmaking will get noticed naturally.”

Most filmmakers default to making videos about filmmaking—gear reviews, tutorials, breakdowns. But unless you have a unique hook, you’re diving into an already oversaturated space.

And you’re going to be competing with Peter McKinnon, Full Time Filmmaker, etc…

Instead, Nate’s approach is this:

• Make videos about something you love (cars, fitness, history, music, whatever)

• Use your filmmaking skills to make those videos stand out

• Let people discover your talent naturally—without forcing it

By doing this, you tap into a way bigger audience than just other filmmakers. And ironically, people will still come to you for your filmmaking skills—it just won’t be the only thing holding up your channel.

It’s a brilliant strategy for anyone trying to break into YouTube without becoming just another tutorial channel.

If you want a case study of this, our best friend Samuel Hansen, a brilliant wedding videographer, started creating YouTube videos when we went to the range to shoot his guns.

He created a cinematic intro, a clean talking head, and simply talked to the camera about what he loved.

And it wasn’t long before his channel blew up. He is currently at 170K subscribers on YouTube in less than two years.

Our bet is that he will hit 1 million subs before 2027.

WILD.

You can check out his YouTube channel here

We go deep into this (plus his advice on landing high-level creators as clients) in this week’s Rundown Podcast episode.

Listen to the full conversation here: EP 71: Creator Tips with Nate Taylor

And if you started a YouTube channel today—but it couldn’t be about filmmaking—what would it be about? Hit reply and let us know.

Catch you in the next one,

Nate

P.S. I reply personally to all these, let’s have a chat.

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