Going to Grad School

So I got into grad school. This coming fall I'll be starting my MBA at the University of Oklahoma and hopefully earning/developing my business school superpowers.

Having an MBA in my pocket won't get me hired as a cinematographer, but the reinforced business background is a long play. In my experience, learning to navigate the business side of creative work is just as important as constantly improving my artistic skills.

Not gonna lie though, taking on student loans again makes me want to puke.

Going back to school – business school specifically – is flat-out an investment in my business infrastructure. No question those small business loans and credit lines for gear purchases over the years helped improve my business revenue and opened up opportunities I'd have not had otherwise. The student loans I'll be taking on for an MBA will be comparable to what I borrowed for my first RED camera back in 2012. Again, not super excited about the new student loans, but it's reassuring to know I'll not need to replace that graduate business degree three years later.

I've already connected with my CPA about Tanner Herriott Inc. paying for my grad school costs; businesses send their employees back to school all the time. Turns out my employer (me) sending its employee (me again) back to school for a business degree doesn't exactly work out as a direct business expense. It's a tax write-off for me to go to a filmmaking conference or training due to my business setup, but tax-wise it's looking like business school for a filmmaker is off the table. Again though, it's all about the long game.

If by chance you're also a filmmaker applying to MBA programs and desperately searching around for personal statement examples, here's mine 'cause I'm cool like that.

I've already had clients ask if I'll be working while I'm doing business school, and yes, I'll still be doing the thing (and being married, a parent to two house fires, etc.). OU's Online MBA program is synchronous, meaning classes are taught via Zoom in the evenings during the week, so we'll figure that out when I have work conflicts. Not super worried though because the program is full of working adults, the classes are recorded, and we'll have access to them afterward if necessary.

Eating Up the Art Kids

Hot dang it's been another minute. If you've been around a bit you'll have noticed the growing gaps between these blog posts. There was that solid season were I was cranking these things out once a week, but now seems I'm leaning hard into this whole "once a quarter" nonsense.

If you've stuck around too – or if you read the previous post – I'd mentioned something about going back to school for an MBA. Well, here we are almost two months later and I've got four applications started with different Masters in Business Administration programs here in Oklahoma. I spent nearly all of March studying for my GRE (Graduate Record Exam) and relearning all the high school math I'd packed away with my varsity letter jacket. Being on this side of adulthood, I can promise you I've never had to calculate the area of a circle based only on the length of two sides of an interior right triangle. Freakin' hats off to the good kids at Khan Academy for helping me hobble through all the maths with their video tutorials.

In addition to studying for that freakin' test, I also hustled a handful of people I've worked with over the years into writing me letters of recommendation for my grad business school applications. There's also the financial aid nonsense to work through, plus the resume and personal statements to write up. I'm not too worried about that 500 word essay considering why and how long I've been interested in going after an MBA. That damn resume though...

Being a full-time freelancer in the film industry, I've yet to have an employer ask for a legit resume. It's normally a potential client asking for my demo reel and possibly previous work history and examples. All those goodies are on my website, but that doesn't cut it when reaching outside the circle I've been in the last twenty years. I'd rather mow every yard in our neighborhood with nail clippers than try and cram my professional experience, qualifications, and recognitions onto one 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.

But here we are.

Hopefully I'll know more and have another update in the next few weeks. Surely too I could go into the whole thing as to why as a creative professional I'm looking to get an advanced business degree.

"Businessmen drink my blood, like the kids in art school said they would." - Arcade Fire

On an actual cinematography related note, I smashed the soul out of my Mavic 2 last week with an "unplanned landing" and subsequently upgraded to the Mavic 3. Wish I'd have gotten the Mavic 3 Cine, but I couldn't find one in time considering how far I'm from either coast. Still, I'm digging the new drone but hating the basic remote it came with and the incredibly dumbed down software.

I also got to shoot on the new-ish Canon C70. It's tough to judge a camera based only on one two day shoot where you're actually never working with the footage. Buddies of mine have sung that camera's praises, but I'd still much rather run around with a RED or Alexa package any day.