editorial shoot

Updates From The Creative Sphere

Updates From The Creative Sphere

Over at the Lost Creatives home office, we have been plugging away at our work and will have some project announcements and cast/crew requirements going live very soon. While this is being worked out, we have some announcements that as a team we are really excited about and wanted to share.

As creative director and head of makeup, JamesC, has been instrumental in the development of his new site and working on a consultation basis, for Sons of Adonis makeup (it will be added to his working kit), as part o this a limited edition brush was created featuring his logo and the brand: available from the Sons of Adonis site.

In terms of production and editorial, we have decided to add to our site holdings and will be launching a separate photography site that will feature the work of JamesC both his commercial work and the behind-the-scenes stills on film and TV shoots. The reasoning for this is to allow an expanded sense of his creative work and offer a different perspective on the work of a makeup artist.

Lost Agency is being formed and set around the needs of the main business and will handle the overall marketing, banking, and other elements of our work as an umbrella creating an in-house and full-spectrum setup that is own, controlled, and managed for the needs of the Lost team.

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing additional details on what is happening and casting/crew opportunities for smaller festival entry projects.

Tackling The JamesC Website

Tackling The JamesC Website

We have been talking (via Twitter) about taking down our creative director JamesC’s website and completely overhauling it with a mix of his work from previous shoots, and of course new editorials mixed with additional TV/character-based concepts. That is now in motion and for the next two weeks, we will be doing the wrap-up work with a view to having a profile with vShowcards that will be central to his marketing as a makeup artist.

Taking this step has been really scary, as you can imagine, but it was a necessary move that we felt was long overdue, and with so many changes in motion to the market overall, we did this with a view to the long-term goals of the Lost Creatives and it will give a more focused and cohesive look to his work. With this in mind, we are debating adding a further 3 sites to the Lost portfolio making the overall theme of our work more cohesive and taking much of our business internally which will give us a stronger control over the imaging, marketing, and projects we tackle.

For those interested in keeping up with the news and updates JamesC will continue writing for our blogs and is still on Twitter. The new site is mostly complete and will be focused solely on his artistry work, while The Lost Creatives expands with him at the helm we will be working on the development of TV projects, short films for festival entry, and photo projects, to name but a few of our plans.

A New Year A New Plan

new year new plan

In many respects, 2020 has been a lost year for a lot of people with the world changing dramatically. For us, it has opened up doors to a whole host of new potential avenues and given us a chance to reevaluate what we have been doing and look at how we can fit ourselves into the market long-term. To do this we have broken our work into key areas that will be public and those which will be kept private to the inhouse team.

In the public sense, we have two key areas we will be focusing on in the first quarter of the year:

Editorial and print: we have been putting this on the backburner in some respect taking time to look at locations, edit work already shot, slowly build up a series of images and work that will be released over the early part of 2021 with additional planned small shoots that will be a combination of artistic and commercial. *This will include product placement in behind the scenes imaging and video with brands such as Lord and Berry, Mykitco, and Brushwork Cosmetics to start. We are open to new potential brand partners for projects contact the team to discuss.

Film and TV: something that we have been doing since the start of Lost Creatives is supporting a range of festivals including Micromania and The Nepal Cultural and Film Centers' own festival. We do have plans to partner with a European festival and will reveal details on that soon.

Our initial goal is to work on 3 projects that will be shorts, designed specifically to go to festivals and as an opening gambit for our planned digital TV shoots in the horror/thriller market (for Which we have already spoken to several distributors and have options in place including the HOD TV route which is our number 1 choice).

In the coming months, our projects will be smaller in nature to help push forward and test the waters of the market and expand out. Our ties to South Asia (Including Nepal Film Production and our key actor contacts in India), will play a heavy part in our work as we are questioning how we will be able to work in Scotland and the UK in general.

Each of the current websites: JamesC mua. Lost Project and of course Lost Creatives will be receiving overhauls and updated images across the galleries, and the welcome pages, additional sites are being planned for our film/TV work to keep the Creatives solely about marketing and the background elements we have built.

Further updates will be released over the course of the month. We are really excited about our plans for 2021 and look forward to pushing the boundaries of our work.

Festive Thoughts From The Lost Creatives

A slight departure from our normal scheduling but we wanted to get this post out before Christmas day and say a big thank you to all our supporters, the brands, and of course our readers as we share our final thoughts for 2020. From here we will be focusing heavily on the future and what will be happening for the team in the new year. We have been busy over the last few weeks setting in motion concepts, finalizing and in some cases reediting images for the various websites we run, there will also be a run of work that is designed specifically for editorial (we have some really fantastic magazines we have shot work for). We do want to look at the festival circuit, there will be an announcement of a new film festival media partnership in the new year, the goal of this will be to boost our video content and bring a little attention to talent. Naturally, these projects will be small crews/cast to keep the costs down and very much in the kitchen sink drama territory which will develop into other areas and our ultimate goal of tackling the horror/thriller market for TV, scripts are already earmarked for this.

One of our biggest supporters and our favorite writer, has offered us a development contract that will expand our portfolio to include video games for a variety of platforms which is an exciting prospect.

Our creative Director; JamesC, is working around different ideas and is editing, shooting, and managing our background work such as the brand placement and of course stock levels.

We will of course keep you all in the loop of changes and updates through the website and till then we want to, again, thank you for the support and wish you a Merry Christmas.

Location Scouting a Lost Boy Shoot Part 1

Location Scouting a Lost Boy Shoot

Finding a little free time our creative director (JamesC) decided to break away from his usual duties of admin and management to do some location scouting for a 3 part story built around The Lost Boys concept, with his trusted point and shoot camera he walked along the promenade and into town to find some specific locations that would fit the brief and in doing so has settled on 3 distinct locations that will add a touch of drama to the shots (with a video being planned to add to the drama of the scene).

“The images themselves will be built around derelict buildings, waste ground, and a fractured symbolism of nature. Each model will have his own story that will hint at both the inspiration of Pans Lost Boys to the more dystopic visuals of the backdrop to fit with the ‘council estate boys’ look of the models.”

A full and detailed explanation of The Lost Boys shoots can be found by clicking here. We are really excited by the concept and the fact we have the support of fellow Creative Director Shakti Sood founder and brand manager of The Sons of Adonis and the amazing Lord and Berry makeup line, both seeing the potential of what we are working on.

Source: https://www.lost-project.com/loststories/e...

The Full Depixym Kit

depixym kit

The team behind Depixym paints have been building the brand and it is now seen as a staple for many in the realms of fashion and print with film and TV artists also reaping the benefits of what is a multipurpose cosmetic grade emulsion that can be used to create a wide array of looks and fits neatly into a working kit. Taking the step to create what can only be described as a covetable working case housing the full collection of the Depixym paints, they have given the artistic a professional case, a full collection in one place of colors that can be blended to make anything that you may require as a makeup artist.

Depixym is a brand that looks at the artist and sees what they need, the tubes are styled to look like traditional art materials and work in any given situation, editorial and creative artists have taken the brand to heart and are creating a storm on social media while others are integrating the range into the more day to day elements of their business, a truly must-have range that needs to be seen.

The newly launched Pro Program (we have joined) offers an even wider incentive to the professionals and has opened the door to new and exciting possibilities, which for us is perfectly in line with the editorial goals we have in motion.

To learn more about the company or to purchase see:

Depixym Website.

Depixym Facebook.

Depixym Instagram.

Editorial Makeup Submission Featuring World Fashion Media News

magazine covers

Frustration is really kicking in for a lot of the creative talent out there (understandably) and it is gratifying to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who are returning to salons and for the photographic community this also means we can push forward with plans and marketing strategies with fresh, exclusive content for the digital market. The online magazine and long-standing supporter of the Lost Concept, World Fashion Media News has been hard at work creating new avenues for creative talents and revamping the website to better showcase artistic work from catwalks to individuals. Submitting your work has become a much easier prospect in the last few years and we (like many others) are getting our work collated ready to submit, promote and showcase our inhouse creative talents such as creative director JamesC.

While we are going down the exclusive route there are options to have editorials, covers, and tears with magazine logos that can be used to create not only a stellar portfolio of work at a low cost but a chance to experiment with new ideas and stretch your artistic muscles.

Our primary focus is going to be about exclusive content and will be shown across websites and as you can imagine with our ties to the HOD TV team, Horror concepts will be played alongside some other fashion portraits and of course we will be doing a full series of images and conceptual work with exclusive to our websites in amongst this.

In our capacity as a creative team and with the support of our partners in Nepal Film Production, we are structuring this to be a wider campaign based concept with a series of long and short term goals to be met over the next 12 months.

*To learn more about submitting to World Fashion Media News Click here.

 

Keeping The Creative Flow Going

While many are rethinking their place in the industry and how to progress, ranging from selfies to blogs, we at The Lost Creatives are working hard behind the scenes and taking time to reevaluate (as you will guess by our previous blog). A complete overhaul is underway and along with our partners in Nepal, this is pushing us to think about how we want to be seen in the market.

As you can imagine, social media plays a heavy part in this and it is really exciting to see Nepal film Productions opening a new account with Instagram which is a step forward as we see the restrictions being lifted and people slowly returning to normal and business becoming a part of their thinking again.

We are also putting the social media plan into action and will be reviewing our work and creative plans, led by our creative director JamesC, with a view to pushing forward which as we have previously stated means we will be looking at investment into editorial marketing with tears and covers which we are excited about and have to admit the design process alone is worth it to help clear our collective headspace.

Our film and TV plans are on standby and we are extremely grateful that we have HOD TV on our side with their platform for horror and thriller distribution. Which we fully intend to make use of and recommend those who have projects they want to sell check the link here for submissions.

As time moves forward we are going to push to show more of a commercial stance and stay away from more theatrical styles as we just feel it doesn’t suit the working look we want to create. From the portfolio plans to the film and TV projects we have in mind our goals are strong and we are pushing forward progressively and with mutual support from our remote partners.

Creating Something Fresh: A Portfolio Journey

In the last ten years, the media industry has changed and we focus our energy on creating curated websites and social media accounts that (especially in the UK) are designed to be our portfolio and showcase our work. However, we at The Lost Creatives can see that changing and the physical portfolio book will make a comeback for those in makeup and photography in particular. There will always be a three-tier system in place when it comes to business and we have our goals and understand that we will need to go back to an earlier incarnation of how we worked.

creating soemthing new a portfolio journey

We have been quietly discussing this in the background in our WhatsApp calls and Facebook messages as something we need to really push forward with hence our editorial plans. *Because we work primarily in-house (with thanks to creative director JamesC for his support) we can keep the team small and with the options available in the digital market it is possible for us to completely change our outlook to fit a new audience which is a major plus. We will maintain the websites as part of a larger marketing campaign but for meetings, we want to be able to show our potential clients or collaborators a book of work that will allow them to look at images which admittedly we have not done in many years and it is an exciting challenge to be in a position to create something fresh.

For this we do have a plan of action in place and have started working out exactly what we want and which magazines we will shoot for, there will be two portfolios of work focusing on key areas of the work we do and keeping them distinct and separate.

As our primary focus with any shoots will be marketing we will be starting with our fashion and beauty folio which will be geared toward tear sheets and covers (we have done some digging and can make this happen fairly easily), with a film/TV book being secondary and scripts being chosen to shoot for festivals to start and of course an array of Commercial projects that will include a showreel of the work done.

Something to consider as we move into a whole new arena of work in the coming months will be how to stand out in the market as an artist.

Choosing our Editorial Path

Editorial is often used as a means to test new styles, try new techniques and work with new people but if you are smart it can also be a way to create new business and a smart proactive tool that will draw attention to your business and bring new clients to the table. Which for us is the primary reason we are being selective about the magazines we are choosing and calculating our approach carefully and strategically to ensure we get the maximum from the work. When we look at a magazine we have certain criteria that we are looking for and markers that will put them higher on our list:

  • Branded tears.

  • Covers.

  • Minimal costume requirements.

  • Minimal image requirements.

  • Cost of submission.

Starting with these factors we then spend time pouring over their content and style as part of phase two, of our plans, we prefer simplistic and clean looks with priority going to men’s magazines at a ratio of two shoots for our male models to one for our females. *The reasoning for this is simple, we have core team members who are actors and models and they are our priority in marketing as this will have a knock-on effect in the spread of our work over time with social media advertising. Our preference is for digital magazine first but we will (for certain clients) be working toward print at a later stage. The reason we prefer online is fairly straightforward: reach. A print magazine can have an overall reach of 20,000 in terms of people buying the magazine whereas digital can move into the millions of views between social feeds and website stats, which for us makes it a more profitable and farreaching prospect.

At this point we have it broken down to a total of 2 magazines that are being marked as priority for us and will be used to promote the business overall building to what will be a series of shoots with our remote team headed up by creative director JamesC.

Choosing our editorial path is in truth is 1 part art and 2 parts commercial with our team plotting out how we can maximize the potential of the work undertaken.

Using Editorials and Tears To Market The Lost Concept

Creative frustration is starting to kick in for many of us in the arts and while we are all on hold it is a good time to plan for the future and marketing your business once the restrictions are lifted and we can submit fresh work to the various online and print publications out there. For us, we do have several concepts that are part of a larger-scale and ultimately long-term project around The Lost concept.

Our goals are split into two areas:

  1. Photo Stories and editorials.

  2. Single image and portrait.

There are magazines that we are looking at with very specific designs and concepts, thankfully we have talked to a few of them and they have opened up the single image option (tears and covers) that will be integral to our marketing over the coming months along with our partners.

For us its the single image option that is the biggest challenge as we want that image as a standalone to tell a story or at least inspire the imagination which is the intellectual challenge part that we are eager to get into, none more so that our creative director JamesC who has been instrumental in much of the marketing planning underway and has offered insight based on his experience of the industry both good and bad.

Our style of work is going to change dramatically and we will have a more refined and focused look that is a different creative stream than what we would do for our private sector and commercial clients. Conceptually The Lost Concept is a mixture of styles and will strangely, benefit from the current lockdown as it has forced us to reassess how we look at images, models and who we will book for shoots especially for our in house projects.

We fully intend to keep the team small on shoots and make the maximum use of the locations around our current base with an emphasis on simplicity of look touching on the more creative with darker touches brought into play.

From a marketing stance, we are enjoying the plans being put into place and our budget is going to reflect this across our 3 main sites of JameC mua, Lost Project, and of course Lost Creatives.

Digital Versus Print Editorials and Tears

As the economic and social climate changes the digital magazine market is going to be where we find our fix of fashion and beauty news for the ease and convenience of access through our mobiles and other devices which for makeup artists, photographers and creative staff (designers, stylists and so on) will change to some degree how we all work and require multi-tasking. For the lost team, that is not a big hassle as we already work small and aim high with the work we are doing, the goals in place and will be back to work as soon as possible tackling the list of magazines we have decided to shoot for.

Focusing your mind on goals is key to finding a path and putting your business into a new arena. With editorial for the lost team, it is a secondary consideration to our real goals of TV production but we do have a clear sense of the value of a tear sheet or cover with a good magazine that can be promoted which is why we focus on digital over print.

The big advantage of digital is overall social media reach, an image and a link to a website that can be shared and has more value (to us) because it becomes simpler to promote and has exponential reach with either paid postings on Facebook or Instagram or if you have a good audience and SEO through your website (ideally you have all three in place).

We have of course mapped out a plan of action and thankfully there are one-stop-shop sites that offer a creative outlet that is managed: you can find the submission terms, costs, and image requirements in one place with the option to handle multiple submissions. A major plus and reduces the amount of time you have to spend on research.

*See our previous blog on Luminar Photo Editing for a good option for editing images on a budget.

Our creative director JamesC makeup is itching to get started again and has a book full of concepts and ideas ready to roll and we are happy to see he is keeping busy not just with the blogs but also with his creative work.

A more focused plan and set of goals are being worked with our overseas contacts (primarily South Asia) for casting and of course production which we will talk about in another blog very soon.

Delilah Cosmetics a Professional Overview

We will be keeping this particular blog shorter than normal but we do want to talk about the Delilah range from a professional stance. Looking at the brand’s heritage and of course the overall professional aspect of the line as a pro makeup artist with ties to the bridal/salon industry in our past and potentially our future. Founded and defining themselves as a much needed British brand in the beauty market it is really easy to see the direction that the brand is taking, the founders all have the kind of credentials that would with just a cursory glance let you see that they are serious about the business and passionate about the cosmetics (quote from The Lost Stories):

“With the passion of a makeup artist (Rupert Kingston), the savvy of a beauty buyer (Hannah Nicholson) and the artistic eye of a photographer (Juliet White), the Delilah brand has some the best and brightest across the industry coming together to create a line that optimizes British Beauty and it is easily seen when you look to the details and consistency of the imaging that is both classic and simple showcasing the beauty and the products without drama.”

In the world of spa’s, salons and bridal artists, retail can be a major plus to your work and income and the Delilah team have taken that into account and offer a retail option (click here for details). A sensible approach to the retail side and allowing artists and salons to offer a range that is designed by some of the top creators in the business, which is immediately visible in the imaging, creative direction and above all the beauty of the makeup itself.

The cosmetics themselves are of high quality and speak to luxury, which when you are working from a salon perspective is a major plus and allows you to incentivize your staff, create a new customer base and if you are a bridal salon give your customers a cohesive experience and heritage brand from the UK that is designed and built to suit a more sedate beauty for the busy woman. *An interesting subpoint is they do have a youtube channel that offers up tricks and techniques based around the line.

A definite range on our watch list for potential future business endeavors, Delilah Cosmetics is a UK brand worthy of note from both a pro and a consumer stance. To learn more about the company and their range see:

Delilah Cosmetics Website.

Delilah Cosmetics Instagram.

Delilah Cosmetics Facebook.

Delilah Cosmetics Twitter.

Delilah Cosmetics Youtube.

*Images courtesy of Delilah Cosmetics website and Facebook.

Commercial Shoots and Editorial Goals

We are really excited about the upcoming photo project we are creating and have been carefully selecting clients to work with to augment this and take it in a more commercial direction, with a deal being worked alongside a Scottish clothing designer and a fashion media house in London that will see The Lost Creatives and The Lost Project, taking massive strides toward the creation of our goal of multimedia work.

Structuring the planned work round behind the scenes capturing the collective work of the Lost Creatives and the brands we will be working with to give an increased sense of cohesion and showcase not just the in house talent but also the brands and creatives we meet on our journey.

Within the next few months, we will be adding to our South Asian Stable of clients and collaborators with a new casting service that will be based out of Mumbai, one of our creative director’s favorite places to work incidentally. We will be continuing to work with the team at Nepal Film Production and pushing boundaries with them in what is set to be a hugely important aspect of the business we do. More on this soon.

Our business is naturally evolving and we are starting to see more and more interest from companies and we plan to offer packages for brand placement within the various behind the scenes for editorial/advertorial shoots, our TV series plans (we have 2 fantastic scripts in place) and on a smaller scale 3 short films we are currently planning for the festival circuit combining our in-house artists and actors with talent from other fields.

If any brands are interested in knowing more then please drop us an email to discuss.

Marketing using Magazines and Behind the Scenes

With the creative development work being done and a much more solid sense of the future of the Lost Concept, we are shooting content and work that is specifically tailored to marketing and will be slow-released as we set out our editorials and other magazine elements in the coming months.

Our goals have become really clear and we are determined to push forward with an agenda of creative commerciality that was our goal from the start of our journey.

All the strategies we are using require a certain amount of investment both financially and in terms of time but will ultimately bring into place what we want and can be used by a wide range of people to accommodate their own business model from makeup staff to the filmmakers themselves.

For us, we are focused on film and TV with a minor but none the less important aspect in fashion and print for the marketing value. *There are sites that are dedicated to magazines that offer different packages that with careful checks and a little effort will make good marketing tools for business.

The logic we are using to work this is we are a business, we want to create content that sells and promote ourselves in the best light with key members of the senior team organizing and looking at the different aspects structuring the photoshoots around the magazines to maximize the potential of the work across the board; this does mean we have had to calculate a budget to cover the costs and will be talking to a Google rep this week about SEO.

Our preference overall is for digital magazines and online content sites as the overall potential reach is higher when you combine the magazines reach and our own social networks (this can be a smart method of driving home your brand and giving validity to your skills).

From cover images to interviews, the options are endless and we are going to be adding behind the scenes stills and video to our arsenal with our script work in motion and a solid sense of the future of our company it is going to be a fun few months as we finish our additional sites and creative director JamesC reopening his portfolio site with fresh content, after 20 years in the job and his various travels the time feels right to relaunch his site, he will still be a heavy influence on our blogs but will also be influencing the direction of the business more strongly in terms of the look which we are all very excited about.

Starting The New Year With a Social Media Shoot

Sunday was a breath of fresh air for the team as we finally got out and did some shooting with one of our regular models Burhan Javid, who asked us to help create some new content for his social media accounts. For us, it was a really good excuse to take dig out our little bridge camera and take some shots while we picked his brains over potential avenues we are looking at for advertising using editorial submission.

While we did keep the whole shoot casual and simple, it was still fun and gave us the chance to dust off the cobwebs a little and take the time to use an old friend of the company as a sounding board for ideas.

Interestingly, we have found several really smart options that will allow us to be creative and market ourselves with a minimal outlay for the fashion sector which as any business owner will tell you is a real bonus and will allow us to push a narrative of creativity that will be commercially appealing as well as visually.

*A little side note to this is we are going to be putting out casting calls very soon through one of the major networking and booking sites, our plan is to give new faces from the modeling world a chance to be showcased.

With so much potential for 2020, we felt this was a really good start to the year and will continue working on the new developments and concepts.

Digital Magazine Research

In the grand scheme of editorial, it is a great tool for marketing when you handle it correctly and put a little effort into the background work of creating and then the marketing after the image(s) are published. Over the last week, we have been really carefully planning around this idea and thanks to certain websites, we have pulled together a list of potential magazines we will shoot Marketing content for.

We are putting together a budget for this, as its a marketing tool, we will be spending a little extra time and money to make this work the best for us as a team.

looking at this as part and parcel of running a business, we decided that alongside our social accounts, website and film plans (a separate blog will come soon on this), editorials are a great tool for putting out your information and showcasing the work we do and what we are planning for 2020.

Each of our planned shoots will be built around themes that suit the magazines we are targetting and interestingly there is an option that will give us front cover style images that can be showcased across the board on our social media accounts.

An option we are looking at which a few of the magazines do look for is behind the scenes stills and video to be included in the submission, which admittedly is a great concept and allows a greater degree of marketing to the images and opens up an interesting dialogue about shoots that we do love.

As creative director and head of makeup this also allows flexibility in changing up the products used, JamesC is looking to downsize some elements of his kit and bring in new products including the My Beauty Brand range for one shoot, in particular, offering an overall experimental feel to the shoots we have planned.

More updates will be coming soon on the forward momentum of The Lost Creatives.

Depixym Paints A Freestyle Artistry Dream

When it comes to creative makeup there is one artist that stands out above and beyond: Linda Mason, her freestyle work has inspired many shoots for me and I will be working on something new with The Lost creatives soon to showcase this. When I came across the Depixym Paints I knew the time was right to start working on something fresh and outside of the commercial norm that could be an editorial piece.

Opening the doors to a wide range of potential looks, the paints are designed to be used on the whole body (externally), a creative must, they are reminiscent of the traditional paints you would find in a fine art studio and have a vintage, tactile look that makes you want to play. The color spectrum they offer is perfectly suited to mixing or using straight from the tube. A truly multi-purpose range the scope is endless.

We will be looking into booking a studio soon and naturally we will be doing some clean beauty work and experimental with a freestyle paint shoot, simply because it will be fun and that is ultimately what makeup should be.

Taking this forward we can see the potential of the Depixym paints and will be testing these out during the shoot for the sheer and simple joy of working with something designed for creativity and thinking outside the box.

*A little side note to the Depixym Paints is they would fit perfectly with period makeup as they are close to the original makeup used on early cinema and consumers, making them ideal for the ’20s to 50’s looks or pin-up work amongst other options. Which we will consider for our future film/TV projects.

To learn more about the range see:

Depixym Paint Website.

Depixym Paint Instagram.

Putting A Value On Assisting And Earning Your Craft

Being an assistant can be a big game-changer for your career and allow you to learn new skills, meet new people in the business and if you're smart about it you will gain more work and credits.

“Being an Assistant is not a negative thing.”

many people think that once they have a certificate they can walk onto a photoshoot, a film set or into the backstage area of a fashion event and immediately become the supervisor. Sadly that isn’t the case. Like any job you need to learn the ropes and there are multiple ways to do this but the best and most sensible is observing and assisting, you get all the advantages of being involved without the responsibility of being in charge.

Something I hear all the time is people feeling disappointed that the job (makeup artist, creative director, camera tech etc) is not what they expected or as glamorous as they thought, the reality of early mornings, late nights and dull corporate gigs can be mundane but pay well. Its, not all glitz and glamour, its called business for a reason, bear that in mind when you start touting for work.

The right people to deal with have done their time as a trainee (myself included) and know that what you learn in college is important but there is more to the job than what you learn in a class so you have to come in with an open mind, and be a team player.

It is not a denigration of your work that you are an assistant it can be a really smart move, especially when dealing in the film and TV realm.

If you are working, being paid and doing the job you are passionate about that is the important part. use it as a chance to learn a new skill or add to your CV. It’s better to get a credit as an assistant on a shoot be it film, TV, editorial or event than not get any credit at all. It shows you are proactive in your work and can be a part of a team.

No matter your age or status being an assistant can open new doors, create opportunities and if you're smart, look at the situation and put a value on what you are being offered and use it as a chance to advance your own work.

All We have is Now

When I was asked about the motivation behind The Lost Creatives, my answer was simple. All we have is now. Over the last few years, we have seen a dramatic change in the industry both from an observational standpoint and as a hands-on member of crews for film projects.

Not all have been good experiences and made me realize that the only way that would change is if I did something to rectify it and move forward.

Professionally I see my work and that of the Lost Creatives taking a more film and TV-based route geared toward something solid that can be sold, creating projects from a commercial stance may seem against the grain for some but that does not stop the artistic process contrary to the myth you can be artistic and commercial.

It is not easy to build something solid and takes time, earning credentials and getting started is a scary process but for me, that is half the fun.

Taking the stance that “all we have is now,” I plan to keep moving forward and taking creative and personal risks in business whilst supporting the arts. Each step we make will be a triumph and give more fuel to the business.

*We will give consideration to taking a team to an off-schedule London show during fashion week if we can work the marketing to suit.

Progressing forward we are now looking at additional script ideas for festival projects and editorial concepts that we will use as promotional material over the coming months and then in the new year (watch out for this one) our big marketing push. Creating a new narrative is what we are about.

The expansion will be over time and give us a more solid base to work from with a range of placements coming up which will be designed to give professional experience in the media and fashion arena.