What Does It Mean to Film for a YouTuber?

When you think of filming for YouTube, what comes to mind—a ring light, multiple cameras, tripods, a script, and a studio? Or an unscripted, camera-on-the-shoulder film shoot, bolting from location to location and capturing every shot without missing a beat? If you thought of some combination of the above, you’d be right. For Colt Kirwan, filmer for Kelly Wakasa, every day looks different. 

Kelly Wakasa creates lifestyle, travel, and adventure content for his 1.1 million followers, like serving ice cream to strangers in NYC, and sharing day in the life vlogs. He is also a part of the content group Ur Mom’s House.

“Filming is a very fun job to have. You’re constantly on your feet, running around, and each video brings entirely new experiences,” Kirwan told us. 

“Doing things that make you uncomfortable is the best way to gain new skills, and even though it can be a challenge sometimes, working for Kelly has really improved my creativity and I’m able to apply what I learn when I’m creating my own videos.”

Kirwan graduated last December from SUNY New Paltz and started working for Kelly two months before then, beginning full-time work for the YouTuber this April. Kirwan has also filmed for other creators in Ur Mom's House, and was recently featured in one of Anne Marie Chase’s videos.

He spoke with us about how he learned to film, and advice he’d give to those aspiring to film for themselves or another creator.

This is the conclusion of a series where we highlight the faces that make up the creator economy—getting a detailed look at the people and operations behind some of our favorite creators. Check out earlier editions here and here.

The following responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

How he got here: 

YouTube has been a big part of my life ever since Casey Neistat started his daily vlog back in 2015. It has been a source of entertainment and more importantly education. From editing to how to work a camera, I’d say the majority of skills that I’ve learned are self taught from Youtube videos. YouTube is home for me and I think it was a natural progression for me to get involved in the creator space, whether that be working for creators or becoming one myself!

In February 2021 YouTuber Steezy Kane hosted a snowball fight in NYC. He posted on his Instagram story that he was looking for an additional filmer to capture extra angles for his video and a couple DMs later I found myself filming for Steezy Kane! That was the first time I had worked with a creator and I loved it! A couple months went by and Steezy was back in NYC, August of 2021. 

He called me back to help film another video for a YouTuber who lives in NYC, SNEAKO. Fast forward to October, Kelly Wakasa was moving to NYC with some friends to help form a creator house, now known as Ur Mom’s House, and he posted an Instagram story stating that he was looking for filmers in NYC. I sent him a DM stating that I was interested and that I had worked with Steezy and SNEAKO before, which were friends of his.

A week went by and I honestly forgot about it until one morning while I was in class I got a message from Kelly that read “r u free!?”. That was one of the best days I’ve ever had and from there we did a few trial filming days. I would film for him later in the week, occasionally skipping class to drive down to the city. He ended up liking the work I did and has kept me around ever since. It’s crazy to think that it’s been 8 months since that first filming day and I love the work that I do.

Career goals:

At the end of the day, I’ve always wanted to be a YouTuber myself. I feel that I’m in a good spot to eventually achieve that goal. The work I do for Kelly puts me in a unique spot where I’m surrounded by and meeting other creators. Just being in that type of environment motivates me to be creative and I learn a lot about the ins and outs of YouTube from a creators perspective.

Best advice:

I would recommend creating a “portfolio” of your work so that the creator can see the skills that you offer. A lot of people want to work a camera or edit for creators but haven’t even created a video themselves. Having a medium that showcases your work shows the value that you can bring to a creator. 

A couple of other things that I found worked for me are: be reliable and stay focused. There’s an exchange of trust when a creator offloads a part of their creative process to you, and being able to show up when needed is important to building that creative synergy between you and the creator. 

Especially with filming, it’s important to always be focused on composing the shots. There’s no worse feeling than something important happening and you miss the shot because you were distracted. 

Lastly, being easy to work with is an important skill to have. There’s a lot of moving parts working for creators and you being one less thing to worry about will go a long way.

Our Take

One of the special things about YouTube is that it can be your teacher; you can learn more skills there than on any other video platform. And if you want to work on YouTube, all the tools to get there are right on the platform—that’s what Kirwan utilized to grow his skills.

And surrounding yourself with others that have the same goal can help you sharpen each other and cultivate the skills you need to succeed, whether you work for yourself or another creator.

Sponsored by Epidemic Sound

The Soundtrack of Your Favorite Creators’ Videos

Epidemic Sound is the number one music choice for top creators, agencies and brands all around the globe, such as Adobe, Getty, Colin and Samir, Peter McKinnon and Shameless Maya.

They not only provide creators with kick-ass music, but they also set out to fuel the ecosystem of creators. They want to inspire, educate, and continuously provide work opportunities for smaller creators and freelancers starting out.

With 35,000+ tracks and 160+ genres, the Epidemic Sound library goes far beyond cookie-cutter background music—their premium selection will bring your video to the next level. As creator PeterMcKinnon puts it, “the musicians' passion for sound, my passion for photography, smashed together creates something pretty damn cool.”

Make something pretty damn cool with Epidemic Sound. Go here to start your free trial.

🤝 CREATOR SUPPORT

Publish Press readers share a problem they're facing and creators Colin & Samir respond with their advice.

Facing a creator problem you want help with? Share it here→

🔥 PRESS WORTHY

• Does the theory of 1,000 true fans still hold up?

• TikToker Elyse Myers opens up about how comments have affected her mental health.

• Facebook is becoming more like TikTok. 

• Creative Companion is a weekly newsletter designed to help creators turn pro.*

• TikTok launches a how-to content series for brands.

• Why MrBeast is always yelling.

*This is sponsored advertising content.