It's nearly always the first question someone asks when they first get to know you: what do you do? And they don't typically mean in your free time. They are asking what you do to make money - which is kind of weird when it's said like that.
Most of you already know that I started a new gig with Baas Creative late last year. Since, I've been asked the, "What do you do?' question on a regular basis. That's cool... I love talking about my job, so lets talk about it a little bit more: I am the Project Manager for Baas Creative.
WHAT IS BAAS CREATIVE?
Baas Creative is a small design firm that specializes in film production, design, branding, and marketing development. Our sweet spot is film production and currently amounts to around 60% of our work. Other work includes web design, brand development, and brand design. In order words we make short films, create websites, and come up with cool graphics. I manage all those projects.
WHAT IS A PROJECT MANAGER?
I like to compare the role of project manager to an air traffic controller, except instead of directing planes driven by pilots, I'm working with creatives (photographers, designers, film makers) to fly our projects to their destination - our clients desks. My day consists of a LOT of emails (about 100 on an average day) where I'm communicating with clients and our vendors. The purpose of most of my emails cover: scheduling, managing client and vendor expectations, creative briefs, and passing along deliverables. I am the coordinator for our team, the customer service representative to our clients, and the glue that holds it all together.
WHERE IS YOUR OFFICE
Currently, you can find me working in one of three spots: The Factory, a co-working space located downtown in the same building as San Chez right on Fulton. Our team pays a monthly fee to be members there. We use the space mostly for team and client meetings and to print things. On days we don't have meetings I'll do one of two things: work from home (it gets easier and easier every day) or I'll hunker down in a local coffee shop. My favorite is The Lantern off Commerce. On shoot days however, there's not telling where we could end up: retirement communities, sand dunes, corporate headquarters, grocery stores?
WHO'S ON YOUR TEAM?
Only the coolest people... Baas has a small internal team of 6: 3 who work under the Baas name (2 full-time and 1 part-time) plus 3 exclusive contractors. On most projects, however, we typically pull from our vendor list of about 20. For example: when we work on a larger film we add colorists, sound editors, lighting crew, and more. The size of the team that works on each project ranges depending on the size of the body of work. Teaming with outside vendors allows us to stay flexible.
WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?
Our clients range across the board. We work with international furniture manufacturing companies (we are based out of Grand Rapids after all) as well as small non-profits. We work with a number of medical offices, local churches, and many independent projects too. Really, there's no 'type' of client we limit ourselves to.
EXAMPLES OF BAAS WORK
This is the first film I worked on after joining Baas. I remember sitting in the sound studio thinking, "This job is going to be so awesome."
This is a film for our client: I Like Giving, a non-profit that inspires people to live generously. How can you not enjoy your job when working with people like Evelyn?!
Evelyn and me on our last day of shooting I Like Being 98.
For more examples of work visit: BaasCreative.com.