HOW TO SHOOT A SPEC COMMERCIAL | And Get Hired

A spec commercial can help get you in the door to do legit, well paid commercial work. This video will give you some tips on producing a spec commercial for your reel, and beat that pesky Catch 22 we all face at one point: “I can’t get a job without experience, and I can’t get experience without a job.”

MY FILMS

MY GEAR

BMPCC OG Memory Cards (that work)
Sandisk Extreme 512GB 95MB/s - €150 - $25

Kingston Canvas Select Plus 128 GB 100MB/s - €16 - $26

Sandisk Ultra 128 GB 80MB/s (no 30 FPS RAW - ProRes: OK) - €21 - $21

RESOURCES TO HELP

DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting me so I can continue to provide you with free content.

#shootcommercials #speccommercial #willvontagen

[sean_benton]

NEVER CLICKED SO FAST ON A YOUTUBE VIDEO

[spebat]

Very encouraging, as I’m midway through the edit on my first spec commercial. Appreciate the notes.

[mutumbilungu]

Subbed! Seen a few videos about spec but this has by far been the most informative.

[TheEliasNoel]

Bro you got to keep making videos. This is by far the BEST YouTube channel for step by step videos on how to break in as a filmmaker. Once I get my podcast up and going again I’d love to have you on to discuss your work.

[MathTeacher]

Glad to get a another video. Keep them coming! The behind the scenes footage of your commercials was neat to see. One sarcastic question though: wasn't it Uncle Joey (not Jesse) who said 'cut it out'?

[buknar]

Great video! Thanks for putting this together Will! Any thoughts on choosing brands to make specs for? Large companies vs small local companies that you admire. I've heard of making specs for made-up companies as well. I went with a small local tech company for my first spec....but it seems most people go big...Gatorade, Jeep, Nike etc.

[FilmSpook]

Thanks for this, Will! The kind of content I'm looking for. Many Thanks :)

[wakkowarner]

I just subbed because you offer so much content.

[diaryofacameraman]

Thanks so much sir, have learnt from you

[djfellows]

I wish I was able to get my hands on this book, lol. Thank you for this great info nonetheless.

[JaredRG]

Bro works at an agency and undercut crew to make his spec.

[oddbirds]

Thanks! Question: "I have a few new spots on my reel", but at the same time "do not stitch spots together". Which one is it? Do we send a reel or a portfolio of spots? The benefit of the reel is that we can easily cut in other things, like from our shorts.

[superpowerpictures]

Subbed, nice vid . So what I'm hearing is there is no way to pull this off if your bank account is in the negative. Gotcha. 🤣 Besides that, I'm a loner so where are you finding these crew members ??

[PolarisCastillo]

This is all amazing and is filling me with inspiration! Thanks so much. However, how would one go about simply emailing production companies about looking for work/sending them your reel? From what I've researched it's tough to find a Submissions page let alone an email to reach out to. Any suggestion on this? Thanks!!

[AFuller]

A how to camera video with almost no spec

[filmedbyhenryclaude]

Very informative


@filmedbyhenryclaude