SIDE HUSTLE
S Q UA R E S PAC E x THE GUARDIAN x SWO O N N E W YO R K
HELLO! The side hustle movement is about inspiring our audience to pursue their true passions. It’s about taking things off the back burner, seeing an opening, and putting it within reach. That’s why we need to tell the story of people who are defined and moved by their passions. We all have that dream we want to come true. Let’s make it it happen. Danny Wantz + Ramon J. Goni Swoon New York, August 2015
CONCEPT Trailblazing your own path in life is no easy task. There is no instruction manual or stepby-step booklet of how to be successful. It’s a risk. It’s scary. It’s something that everyone daydreams about but few rarely pursue. We want this series to serve as an inspirational launch pad for young entrepreneurs to tackle their own life ambitions. We are going to tell the stories of our hustlers in an intimate way, from a perspective that has never been shown before, through insightful, cinematic, powerful storytelling with purpose. Side Hustle - a business that is not your primary source of income but uses your passions and skills to generate money.
CAMPAIGN In collaboration with The Guardian and Squarespace, we will document the lives of 4 driven individuals (3 in the US, 1 in Europe) who are driven to take their passion projects to the next level. Through a series of videos, we will capture the struggles, breakthroughs, and everything in between that comes with the pursuit of true ambition. Their stories will inspire a generation to pursue their passions, explore their prowess, and define their purpose. This is the side hustle movement.
TAKEAWAYS Not only do we want these episodes to be entertaining, we want them to have utility for our audience. We want viewers to walk away from each episode more inspired and more prepared to take on their own side hustles. How will we do this? Four key points: 1- Clear insights and advice from the coach. 2- Showcase the successes and shortcomings of the hustlers along their journey. The audience can learn from these experiences. 3- Cinematic, purposeful visuals that glorify the experience of going after your dreams. 4- Episode bumpers highlighting insights applicable to audience’s own side hustles.
INTERNAL It’s the part that no one sees. We believe that showcasing the emotional ups and downs of our characters will create an incredible opportunity to relate to our audience on a much deeper level. Our hustlers’ stories will inspire them to take action in chasing their own dreams. We will accomplish this through: video journal entries, challenging questions asked during sit down interviews, and VOs that serve as the internal dialogue and shed light on our hustler’s true feelings, concerns, hopes, and dreams.
EXTERNAL Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Our coach will push the boundaries of what our hustlers are used to. They are going to set hard goals that force our hustler to come out of their comfort zone in order to take their side hustle to the next level. This is incredibly important to our story. We need to test our hustlers’ resolve and document tangible obstacles holding them back. We need to show our audience the smart ways to build a side hustle, providing our subjects with the support and resources they need to tip the balance and succeed.
COACH Success is not guaranteed. In fact, the odds are heavily stacked against our hustlers. That’s where our coach comes in – to guide these pioneers as they bridge the gap between the safe path and the road less traveled. The coach’s story and background is important for establishing credibility with our audience. Maybe it’s just a quick interview to give their back-story, why they do what they do, and what they are bringing to the table. We will do this very briefly before they meet with their side hustler. The coach will set clear goals and objectives that push the hustler out of their comfort zone. Highlighting these goals and capturing the hustler knocking them off his/her list will drive the stories and give our audience something to root for.
CORE COACHING ELEMENTS 1- Show empathy and compassion. 2- Encourage and cheerlead. Build confidence in our hustlers and audience. 3- Set accountability and be rigorous about it. 4- Land the tornado. Thought structure of our hustlers is always spinning. Needs to be reeled in. 5- Strategic advice and planning for the future. Leave off with the hustlers looking over the horizon.
HUSTLERS X, X, X, and X are trailblazers. They are the reason news outlets have come to view Millennials as a generation of charged optimists. Sure, on the surface they look just like every other nine-to-fiver trying to get by. But nine-to-fives are how you survive and surviving is not enough for these people. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that they are movers and shakers at heart. Dig even deeper and you’ll see the internal and external battles that come with chasing down a vision of what life could be like outside the corporate world. Our hustlers are movers and shakers. They grind it out and make things happen regardless of the odds against them. We plan on developing a transition style in line with that thought. For instance, we loved when Breaking Bad started using sped up transitions in line with the story happening around it. Transitions are also a way of putting our stylized and unique thumb-print on this video series.
RANGE These aren’t just the CEO’s of their side hustles, they are the operations managers, they are the book keepers, they are the coffee runners sprinting to the 7/11 at 2am so their employees can make it through another all nighter, if they even have employees. Juggling workflow, managing employees, and making time for a personal life are all inherent parts of running a side hustle, especially a start up. We will showcase the wide range of responsibilities that go into making a side hustle take off.
LIGHTING + CINEMATOGRAPHY Dynamic, grandiose establishing shots coupled with tight shots at varying frame rates will add drama and intimacy. Think cinematic. We are going to mine the most inspirational parts of each hustlers story and couple them with a gracefully modern style that is in line with the quality that The Guardian and Squarespace have used to define their brands. We will be using two Red cameras, which will allow for excellent quality and an efficient workflow on shooting days. B-roll will be a mix of slider, steady cam, and handheld shots that vary between 24fps and 60fps. During live action moments we will be shooting documentary style but with a cinematic feel. One camera will capture a wide shot of the environment. The second camera will stay medium/tight. The cameras will “float” handheld in order to add a more realistic and authentic feel to the cinematic angles. Interviews will come two fold. Some will be sit down interviews with the subjects we are filming, while some will be floating “in the moment” interviews where we can capture raw emotion as its happening. Subjects will be cinematically placed within their environments. Each interview location will be unique to the individual we are capturing.
INTRODUCTION We open with the background of the side hustle movement and an overview of the series.
EPISODE 1 Our 4 subjects meet in NYC to take their side hustles to the next level. They discuss their passion projects with our coach and set 2-3 tangible goals for the series.
EPISODE 2 We see the hustle happen. Our subjects get back to work (3 subjects in US, 1 in Europe). We document their struggles, ideas, and breakthroughs.
EPISODE 3 Back in NYC, our four hustlers meet with the coach to reflect on progress and celebrate success.
EPISODE 1 We will open with creative and cinematic introductions. It’s important that our audience connect and relate to each hustler. These aren’t the Mark Zuckerburgs, these are the Joe Shmos that are proving that with the right attitude and work ethic, anything is possible. Brief introduction to our coach. Who they are, why they do what they do, why they are qualified, maybe a little but of their game plan. Very quick. Our coach meets with each hustler to define a strategy. Hustler explains the obstacles that he/ she needs to overcome to make sure their side business take off. Coaches detail the hustler’s objectives. Must be clear cut. Ideally 2-3 objectives. We will1- feature their work. If they’re an event planner, show them enjoying and working at a launch party. 2- guage where they’re at. For example, If our hustler is wants to start a design company, show them 3- show where their inspiration came from. We want to know, in their own words, what sparked the hustle. We will capture the moments in their life that keep their hustle burning.
EPISODE 2 The episode begins with a quick recap- our hustler’s unique challenges and the goals they created with the coach in episode 1, They might need to design a new logo, pitch to a game-changing client, or throw a party that trends on Facebook. Then we see the hustle. This is where we highlight the exhilerating ebb and flow of running a side hustle. Interviews with our hustler and their team intercut with footage showcasing the struggles, suspense, and triumphs. Episode 2 relies on dramatic tension to engage our audience and make them feel the elevated rush of a side hustle. Work is in overdrive, all the pieces are in motionCut on a high tension moment.
EPISODE 3 Episode 3 is all about results. We recap the last Episode’s rising tension, and we finally reveal the payoff, the results of all the hard work. The party was a blast, the new work space is done, and the campaign rolled out. Or the project wasn’t funded, the meeting was a dead end, and Steve Jobs stole their idea. Our hustler meets the coach to pick up the pieces and make sense of the last month. Whether they made well-deserved progress, experienced a breakthrough, or learned a lesson the hard way, we want to underline the thrill of the side hustle. The coach will keep the momentum going by identifying areas for improvement and looking forward with a new 3 month plan, new goals, and a new hustle. The side hustle doesn’t stop. Viewers can follow our hustlers’ social media to recieve updates, learn from their experiences, and join the movement.
NARRATIVE OPTIONS 1- Add a competitive element. Hustlers will need to complete their objectives to survive knockout rounds, leaving only the strongest willed, most dedicated side hustler to achieve their final goal. 2- Bring all 4 stories together. All of the hustlers meet our coach to recieve final goals, which they will have one day to complete. This jam packed grand finale would create an intense, high energy, everything on the line dynamic that culminates in the final minutes of the series. 3- Introduce hustlers to each other throughout the series. Sending our hustlers on crossing paths would create the potential for interesting collaborations, dynamic storytelling, and honest dialogue about their shared challenges. 4- Create side objectives. Assigning goals that are outside of hustlers’ typical operations would test their resolve and allow us to steer the plot in
MULTIMEDIA Coach AMA - Live Q&A with our coach to give a wide audience the opportunity to recieve insight and advice about their own side hustles. Progress Reports - Quick updates via Instagram or Twitter from our hustlers between episodes to keep our audience engaged. Video Journal - Using their phone or laptop, our hustlers can flexibly capture crucial moments. Maybe it’s 3am and they have too much on their mind to sleep. Or maybe something huge happened and they can’t wait to tell everyone. We can use them as teasers for the upcoming episodes. #WhatsYourSideHustle - Lets have fans of the show upload videos of their side hustles. The submission with the most likes is featured in an article or invited to join our hustlers in NYC for the final episode.
TARGET AUDIENCE The dreamers. The visionaries. The ambitious starry-eyed romantics. Our target audience is anyone with a goal of achieving more than life has handed them. This series will hit a nerve that exists in everyone. Corny or not, there is real truth in that. There isn’t a person on this planet who can’t relate to the rush of chasing a dream.
REFERENCES
THE GREAT ABYSS
https://vimeo.com/90667610
MARGOLNICK
https://vimeo.com/104513080
LE DÉPART
https://vimeo.com/99042228
TONY ANDERSON
https://vimeo.com/110353629
THANK YOU Thank you for considering Swoon New York. We believe in this project and the potential it has to be something really great. Looking forward to hearing your feedback. Danny Wantz + Ramon J. Goni Swoon New York, August 2015
WWW.SWOONNYC.COM