It’s been a minute….

Oh my goodness, how are YOU?!

I realise it’s been 4 months since I sat here thrashing out my thoughts for what is meant to be a regular blog. But I have reasons, possibly excuses, for this hiatus. Some good, some bad. But I must say this feels good, and after a break I am ready to fill you in on everything that’s occurred! 

We’ll start with the bad, which is not really bad, it’s just a state of mind that I found myself stuck in which I am sure many can relate to! I was chatting to a good friend of mine about the age old topic of marketing and the lack thereof for most people running their own businesses. I actually started this blog as a marketing venture, but soon realised it was rather selfishly, pretty cathartic, and I’ve certainly gone off piste from the (non-existent) strategy I could have had in place. My friend, who is data mad and brilliant at generating organic engagement, and has a successful business because of this, kindly pointed out in the space of 1 minute and 55 seconds that my blogs are:

[12/11/2024, 12:57:28] Chris: Google just doesn’t think much of your existing content

[12/11/2024, 12:57:38] Chris: not relevant, not enough

[12/11/2024, 12:57:39] Rach: bastard

[12/11/2024, 12:57:50] Rach: Not you, google

[12/11/2024, 12:57:56] Chris: most of the blogs are short, and don’t link to anything

[12/11/2024, 12:58:03] Chris: they need more content that links up to other posts

[12/11/2024, 12:59:01] Chris: the blogs are all silo’d content, nothing points to it

This comes from a place of love, because Chris has supported SubMotion from day one and dispensed a lot of knowledge and money’s worth of advice in this short but rather brutal exchange. Much of it I have taken on board, but the blog stuff stopped me in my tracks. I genuinely enjoyed writing last year and I heard from so many people who read them and got in touch, it felt like I was definitely engaging with people. But apparently not Google. And it felt like I’d wasted my time.

I then struggled to think of something engaging and relevant to write about. I must say video production at least 100 times. I must talk about topics that are relevant to what we do. Google needs to find me relevant. Don’t waffle. Don’t be emotional. Don’t talk about failing. And above all, do not be yourself.* Geeeez. How utterly depressing! And as a result, I wrote nothing. The joy had been sucked out of what this started as, and I no longer felt like what I was writing was authentic. The last post I began writing in November, which I thankfully didn’t post sounded jaded, bitter and functional. When I read it to Rich, he suggested I sleep on it before posting, which is his very polite and gracious way of saying, “I’m not sure about this one Rach…”. Well thankfully I did sleep on it - for four months - and I have decided that if Google does not find me relevant, it can quite frankly bugger off, because I will not be consumed by data and if my business goes under because my blog posts were not packed with SEO, then at least I’ll go under in a happy silo’d bubble. (Although I have increased my website SEO, video production, video production, I love you google)

Ok, so this was the more negative side of my absence - but there is a much more real and exciting reason why I’ve ben rubbish and that’s because we’ve been BUSY! I have realised over the passed two years that if you can describe yourselves within the work space as busy, you are wholeheartedly a success. In fact, if you still have a business, you are a success. It’s been a bloody trying few years for the film, TV and advertising industry and I have sadly seen friends, colleagues, fellow production companies and agencies struggling immensely. So if you have or are still weathering this storm, I congratulate you. If you have left to follow pastures new, I also congratulate you and am slightly jealous, haha!

SubMotion have always remained small, but mighty. I’ve said before that the posh office and the hoards of staff has been appealing at times, but when things are quiet, I am so grateful that we can knuckle down on development work without needing to pay the mortgages and car finance for a team of staff. This industry can be stressful enough, this would quite possibly tip me over the edge. Thankfully we have worked with some wonderful clients over the past 4 months which has kept us really busy, and in the the gaps, we have been ploughing ahead on film work which has taken some exciting turns! Although money is integral to survive, and thrive, keeping mentally busy and working on things that ignite hope and passion for the future has become a priority over here. It can get a bit squeaky tight on cashflow sometimes, especially when project budgets seem to be taking a nose dive, yet expectations are still at John Lewis Christmas ad level and every video project is required in 6000 aspect ratios, but we are still here, truly grateful for our clients and making the most of any quiet to plough forward. I must also say our clients are as passionate and excited about our potential film mission as we are, and I love having them on the journey with us! I genuinely look forward to inviting clients to our film premiere, it’s one of the nuggets of excitement that keeps us moving forward.

So, in a quick nutshell on the film front - we have launched a new film & TV production company called Liminal Films! Founded by Michelle McCabe, who is currently a development producer, and myself, with some hefty creative input and drive from Richard. It was a natural progression from SubMotion which will continue to focus on commercial, corporate and brand focused productions, with Liminal concentrating on long-form. Our mission is to build a sustainable, long term film and tv production ecosystem here in the East of England, because at the moment, there is nothing here. No opportunities for students, freelancers, emerging talent, well established talent, studios, kit houses etc etc - and yet this region effervesces with greatness!! From amazing crew, locations, businesses and passion, we have so much to offer, yet because we have no regional financial incentive to come here, we have siloed ourselves and the talent is wasted, or worse, leaving. This is not a quick fix, and this company will require the support and collaboration of many companies, investors, governing bodies and education facilities within the region over the next 10 years, but its worth getting the ball rolling now so at least our kids can bask in the joy of a buzzing film and TV industry here.

We are currently raising money for the first feature film under Liminal called “you’ll have to stay tuned to find out” - which is a terrifying psychological horror/sci-fi about single Mum Beth and her mission to save her daughter from the impending dangers of AI and societies mindless sleepwalk into a technocratic society. It’s relevant, scary, emotionally charged and if we don’t make it sharpish, could possibly end up being a documentary! Wish us luck as we have meetings with investors over the next few weeks and really start to super charge this journey. I’ll write a much more detailed blog on all this soon!

Here is a sneak peak into the visual art and inspiration for our feature.

I have also taken on the fab role of Festival Coordinator at Norwich Film Festival which is super exciting and we continue to raise two great girls, one of which only eats dinner with makeup and attitude so thick it’s like living with Vicky Pollard. So business as usual.

Oh, and happy Valentines and all that jazz ♥️

* please note this was NOT Chris’s advice. This is my internal monologue of self-destruction.