How I Made My First $10K Selling Stock Footage 

That's the way to do it, Scott! Creating content that others haven't already is definitely a money maker!

@@JKCvideo I have an oddball clip that I shot years ago before I even thought about getting into stock that has sold 50+ times.

What platform you guys use to sell?

@@eduardobarradas8454 Blackbox

@@FilmshooterOH what camera model and settings(hd/4k/8k) do you use? is 8k workable at this stage? im thinking for 4k 60fps? need to buy one drone.

Haha, it is definitely not easy money! It takes a lot of time and effort but once you have the content set up, the money comes in on its own! Best of luck with your stock library as well ~ $600/month is solid money!

@@JKCvideo - I’m happy with it and it pays for all my equipment and related expenses.

What website is this "BB"? :)

@@soundchamberone - Blackbox Global

Thanks Tiina ~ best of luck on all of your creative endeavors!

Best of luck mate! Glad that I was able to get the spark of creativity going! :)

how is it going

Questions ​@@JKCvideo what platform do you sell the stock futage to?

​@@JKCvideowhat Platform do you sell your stock footage to..?

@@Christway1234 BlackBox.Global

Glad to hear how helpful the content was, I also have another video breaking down how I went on to crack $20K in sales! Best of luck with your stock footage journey!

haha, glad you enjoy my silly jokes! Rusty is loving his new allowance - so many designer dog treats!

Really appreciate the kind words, Dave! Hope we can keep you coming back for more insights ~ cheers mate!

​@@JKCvideo Can't wait for it, I'll subscribe just for this 😂

Be mindful of what you upload when you're dealing with client content! I address this in my $20K video but I don't upload ANY of my client content, they're paying for it and it's theirs, not mine to sell after the fact. I sell using BlackBox.Global ~ definitely check out my $20K video, I talk more in depth about the platform as well! :)

You are very welcome! I also dropped an updated $20K video if you want even more insights ~ best of luck! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eDv1YbBLFks.html&lc=UgwQLdS1k94ZUpiLeSd4AaABAg.9po0OH3CtiP9t77ysqBIFQ

Glad you enjoyed the video! I actually just broke $20K in sales and have another piece of content coming out soon :) It takes a while to sift through our old files and get them online but once you do it those clips just go and randomly sell theoretically for the rest of our lives! I'm obviously a big fan but it's not for everyone.

Glad you liked the content! I have more coming soon ~ I recently put together a $20K video so hit the sub button and you'll be notified of its release shortly!

It took me a long time to get through all of my archived footage but I'm finally exclusively filming content just for stock content. Best of luck working through all of your content!

Haha, I'm glad that at least one person enjoyed my awkward humor! 🤣

@@JKCvideo Definitely hahah keep up the good work buddy 😊

Glad you found the content helpful, best of luck on your stock footage journey!

8000?! That's amazing!! As you know, it's all about which clips are selling that month ~ wish we had a crystal ball to read the future. Thanks for checking out the video and hopefully it re-inspired you to continue curating, that long term game is going to pay off incredibly well for you over the years!

@@JKCvideo that's the plan! With lockdowns and everything full-time gig stopped happening so I put all my focus into curation in 2021 so most of that almost 8000 was from this past year alone. The last few months have been an average of $80usd so I imagine/hope it's only going up from here ahaha

@@skurskyproductions, wow that is A TON of content! Very excited for those sales to start ramping up for you! :D

Very true! That dynamic is actually part of why I started using BlackBox.Global - they allow me to share the work with other people. I can focus on the creative aspects and give 20% of a sale to someone that wants to handle the metadata curation. Win win for both parties!

@@JKCvideo have you been pretty happy with them? I've tried wirestock and had fairly mixed results so far. Most of my stuff has been sold through pond5. If I move my library to blackbox do I need to take my other libraries down?

@@vidsource I'm unsure about the fine details but I would probably leave your current content on wirestock and just start uploading future content to BlackBox IF you want to make the switch. I have no clue what advantages they have over one another but I do know that I've brought in a lot of money and that I owe a decent amount of the success to the platform!

@@JKCvideo awesome. Thanks for responding! I'm about to go on a trip to the Pacific Northwest and hoping to come back with a lot of content. I'll use it to get going on black box and see how it goes!

Thank you for super kind words! I've definitely sold content captured on my iPhone! Doesn't really matter how you capture it as long as it is unique!

Thank you :D

Best of luck ~ I hope it's a rewarding journey!

Much appreciated Travis! 🙏

Glad you enjoyed the content! I upload to BlaxkBox.Global and they send out my content to all of the heavy hitting sales agencies!

Rusty is such a heartbreaker, I love the little guy! :)

Thanks for the kind words, Tom! Slowly trying to build up the library of content for folks to enjoy. :) And yes, the meta data portion is by far THE WORST! haha

Thank you for the high praise and for being so articulate in an internet comment section! I truly appreciate it ~ hope you are well!

Honestly a great question! When you upload your content, be it directly to Shutterstock or through a 3rd party aggregate link BlackBox, you'll be prompted to write up a clip description AND include metadata. That's a set of words that are relevant to your clip. Definitely take the time to compile a list of good words that other people will use to search for your content, it makes a big difference!

No problem! I've also got a $20K video up that you can check out. Quickly approaching $50K now so another video is in store soon!

Right on! Good luck on your stock footage journey! :D

Very kind of you to say, thank you for the support!

Always trying to share the behind the scenes, just like your work! Looking forward to our next collaboration!

Best of luck!!

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate the kind words ~ lots more content to come! :D

Very kind of you to say, thank you! :)

Glad you enjoyed! :)

Takes patience and strategy but it's definitely possible! Best of luck with your stock sales!

how is it going? it's been a year since your comment :)

@@titosurf1 stock footage makes about $100-$200/month now! still building and growing it but i only have ~200 clips online

@@t3px149 Nice!!! keep it up 💯💯

I upload my content to BlackBox.Global and they send out my stock content to all of the other heavy hitting sales sites! :)

@@JKCvideo have you ever tried uplouded to the other websites yourself ? I used black box but I her they take over a "fair" commission I was just trying to seee the difference and if is worth it or not

Thanks mate! Just keep it mind, it's a long game. Best of luck with your stock journey! :)

Thanks for all of the support bro! Glad that you're also getting in on the stock footage game!

@@JKCvideo Always. Guess who has two thumbs and uploaded their first blackbox clip this morning? This guy!!

@@lucidheightsfilm HECK YEAH!!

@@JKCvideo Damn boy you broke 30K views on this video!! Congrats. Also, look how corny my above comment was 😂

@@lucidheightsfilm ​ RIGHT?! 30K is a lot for this humble channel! Haha, it's just the right amount of corny ~ hope you're doing well!

Thank YOU for watching! :)

It's definitely a numbers game!

@@JKCvideo and lack of logic

100% ~ that said, I've seen people create stock footage as a full time job and they make a ridiculous amount of money now because they already put in the upfront investment. That said, who knows how long those sales will continue for!

It's tough to get in the groove of but if you create stock in the slow times it'll pay off in the long run! :)

I‘ve looked into putting animated videos on stock sites as well! Does anyone have any knowledge/experience on how well it sells or if it‘s in demand that much? Thanks!

I upload to BlackBox and then they push my content out to all of the major platforms. Watch my next video, the $20K one, to better understand how the sales process works!

Wow, it took me a lot longer than a week to make my first sale! Best of luck in you stock content journey! :)

@@JKCvideo thanks man!

Man shutterstock needs to tweak their AI. I have images getting rejected for “noise” that have no noise at all. One is an amazing shot of the Milky Way core that they reject for noise. I think their AI is mistaking the stars for noise. Frustrating!

Thank you, Joseph! :)

Best of luck!

Thanks for watching and for the kind words, they made my day! :) Hope you enjoy the channel's other content!

Glad you enjoyed ~ best of luck!

Glad you appreciated the content! Sales are paid out video PayPal transactions and I imagine that they have workarounds for paying in more that the US dollar!

@@JKCvideo Thank you very much for your kind reply! Paypal is good transaction for me. I’ll wait for their reply of the inquiry about other currencies.Thank you!

Thank you, glad you appreciated the content!

You just blew my mind - now I need to reverse search images of Rusty!!

Thank you ~ I hope the transparent perspective is helpful! :)

Cheers mate, really appreciate you checking out the content and subscribing! The goal for 2022 is to release A LOT more insightful content like this so you've found the channel at just the right time!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed! :)

Thanks for the kind words, Aaron! Glad you enjoyed the piece and I wish you the best of luck in your stock journey! :)

Thank you! Rusty's really the creative brains behind the operation so it's about time that he got his time in the spotlight!

@@JKCvideo behind every good filmmaker there’s a good pooch. I have two!

@@TheFilmmakersWorkshop haha, it's so true!

I upload my content to BlackBox.Global and they send out my stock content to all of the other heavy hitting sales sites! :)

Glad you enjoyed ~ have a great day Sarah!

Some of the best selling content is time lapses! As you're pointing out, they take a lot of time/energy to create which means agencies will be more likely to license stock versions instead of creating their own.

That's a difficult question to answer! I've sold many shots of cities but New York is bound to have a lot of stock footage based purely on how many people live there. I'd go on stock sites and look up things you're considering filming, if you can't find visuals of your local landmark then you should definitely go and film it for stock footage!

Thank you ~ more content on the way!

A lot of people have asked this question! I sell through BlackBox.Global which is an aggregate site that sends my footage to all of the big players for me. As a result, they take a portion of the sales but I never have to track which sites my content is sold on, they handle everything!

Bet Preciate thank you I also started on black box this month hoping for the near future

Thanks for watching Brad ~ appreciate the support! :)

haha, too kind of you to say my friend!

Best of luck in your creative journey!

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the kind words! I personally upload my content to BlackBox.global which is an aggregate platform that then pushes the content out to multiple other platforms. If you go and sign up with them then they'll give you a ton of advice for length, how to process, color, etc! Best of luck! :)

What type of portfolio did you submit?

@@JKCvideo What are you thoughts on BlackBox vs WireStock?

@@James_m7 not gonna lie, I've never heard of WireStock! Looks like a slick platform but I can't really weigh in on it given my lack of experience. Overall BlackBox has been solid and has only improved over the years!

#NotSponsored

Glad you enjoyed the content! Plan your work and work your plan, there's definitely money to be made. I've just broke $20K and will be uploading another video with further insights soon!

It's so true! I've put in A LOT of time but I recently haven't spent too much time on stock content, yet the money keeps rolling in!

This video was actually recorded using our overhead shotgun microphone, the Sennheiser MKH 416 (amzn.to/3EQu2AY) but when we do use a pin/lavalier/lapel microphone we use the Sennheisver AVX set (amzn.to/3AwsIAw). Both of these are pretty expensive but worth the money in the long run. If you're saving money, you could get a cheaper shotgun microphone and still get great quality but the Sennhesier AVX series is SO NICE! The wireless channels automatically shift to avoid interference and in the 5 years I've been using them I've never had an issue. Best of luck navigating what gear will work well for you!

Best of luck on your stock content journey!

Plenty more content coming your way!

Thank you! I personally upload the footage in slow motion or rendered out as 24fps footage instead of providing the 60fps original content. When people are looking through stock sites to purchase clips, I don't want them to have to read the fine print to see if my clip is what they want/need. I want them to hit play and think, "Yes, this is what I need!"

You created the content which means that you own the original content. If you upload it to stock sites you are simply allowing others to license it, you still own it!

Thank you for the continual support and masterful flattering, Sara! I greatly appreciate the support! :)

Thanks Shane! Spoiler alert ~ I've recently broke $20K in stock sales and will be releasing an update video in the near future!

I personally upload everything as 24fps but I don't have concrete data for which frame rate sells best. I take the approach of "Let's make it as easy as possible for another team to use this footage" so I think 24fps is the way to go. I'm sure there are some solid articles out there about this topic!

@@JKCvideo thanks man

I upload my content to BlackBox.Global and they send out my stock content to all of the other heavy hitting sales sites! :)

Those are some pretty good sales for the amount of clips you have online! Well done!

Thank you my friend! I actually just broke $20K in sales and will be uploading a video soon all about that milestone!

@@JKCvideo my pleasure 🙂. Wooooow $20k ohhh my god You are great 👏👏👏 Keep it up

Higher quality clips definitely sell for more and uploading higher quality content now will ultimately mean that the content will still be relevant in the future BUT we still sell a lot of 1080p content. If you can capture unique content, people won't mind what the pixel count is.

Filming in a log profile can help you in color grading but I personally tend to film in a straight Rec709 profile. My experience is that if you're being intentional while filming then you won't need to "fix it in post" very much. Hope that's helpful!

You're very welcome, best of luck!

Thank you for the high praise, Scott ~ glad you enjoyed the content! :)

RIGHT?!?!

The GH6 will definitely work! A LOT of my content was filmed on the GH5. Our team has recently upgraded to the S1H but we can't even upload 6K media so it's not offering a whole lot more to our stock footage game. I almost always slow down the high frame rate content to a native 24fps so that the editor can see what it's like in true slow motion before committing.

@@JKCvideo thanks Jacob

1. Yes, you still own that content! However I would NOT sell content that you capture for a client. 2. I've had high yielding sales from cell phone footage. Worry less about the gear and more about creating content that people need! 3. Yes but if you do what I do and upload your footage to BlackBox.Global then they will share your stock footage to multiple sites automatically!

I use BlackBox! My content varies a lot; time lapses, gimbal work, aerials.... really spans the gambit!

@@JKCvideo Thanks for the answer! Can you please tell me if you work with models? Or is it mostly filming without people? What footage is more in demand?

@@AleksandFettsov I do film people from time to time but most of my content doesn't feature people!

I personally upload my content to BlackBox.global which is an aggregate platform that then pushes the content out to multiple other platforms. If you go and sign up with them then they'll give you a ton of advice for length, how to process, color, etc! Best of luck! :)

Great questions! If you sign up to a site like BlackBox.Global then they have documents that walk you through that entire process. Can't have audio, 6-60 seconds, H.264, etc ~ they help you through the whole process!

Thanks!

That's a great question, Tomas! I think a lot of the industry is moving towards 30fps for digital distribution + a project in 24fps or in 25fps can utilize 30fps footage. May be work filming/selling in 30fps to be more widely accessible but with that said, a vast majority of my content is in 24fps and the sales speak volumes!

Depends on what your goal is! As pointed out in the video, a majority of my shots have never sold and honestly probably never will. You really just need a handful of sought out clips to make money. That said, a good clip to you or me may not be what the marketing firm is hoping to license. All I can really say is, you won't make money from those 20 shots if you don't upload them and if you do then who knows, you could bring in some rainy day money over time!

I personally upload my content to BlackBox.global which is an aggregate platform that then pushes the content out to multiple other platforms. If you go and sign up with them then they'll give you a ton of advice for length, how to process, color, etc! Best of luck! :)

@@JKCvideo Thank you so much bro 🙏🏽

I've never tried photos and I'm sure there is still SOME money to be made but photos are so much easier to get ahold of these days, it still takes a fair amount of effort to find the perfect video clip.

@@JKCvideo your portfolio looks awesome.... The hard work behind your work is amazing....❤

@@mathiyalaganloganathan7659 very kind of you to say!

I upload my content to BlackBox.Global and they send out my stock content to all of the other heavy hitting sales sites! :)

You should check out the BlackBox.Global platform. You'll only need to upload your content once and then they'll push your stock footage out to multiple sites. Unfortunately, the coloring process is time consuming and you can only do it so fast. Creating content is a marathon, not a sprint. Go slow and set realistic goals!