Ep 31 AnnieWoodbury
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Sara Ferrer: [00:00:00] Welcome to Fearless and Flawed. Today’s guest is Annie Woodbury, a freelance video editor carving her own path in the creative world. From wedding films to podcast edits, she’s turning raw footage into stories that stick and doing it all while building a freelance business from the ground up.

Serena Reynolds: I’m Serena and I help bold leaders become the go-to experts in their space.

Sara Ferrer: And I’m Sara, an email marketing pro here to convert clicks into cash. Together, Serena and I are two women in charge, digging into the fearless, the flawed, and the fabulous journeys of female founders rewriting the rules.

Serena Reynolds: So let’s dive in. Welcome to our show, Annie. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. About time too.

Serena Reynolds: What made you go freelance and how did it all start?

Annie Woodbury: Honestly, just straight from [00:01:00] college. I actually started freelance in college ’cause I needed some extra money. I was doing dog walking and I was like, you know what, this just isn’t enough. I knew more money. Let’s just try and see if I can enter the, you know, film, world editing world industry

Annie Woodbury: earlier. So I actually put out an ad on Facebook marketplace for my services as a, as an editor. And it was like cheap, cheap work. Like I didn’t know how to price myself at the time. And this was probably 2021, I’d say. Yeah. ’cause I graduated in 2022, so 2021 and my first actually got two. People, which was very surprising.

Annie Woodbury: I was like, oh my gosh. I, people actually saw my message and thought, oh, she’s not some weirdo on Facebook marketplace trying to scam me for stuff. She’s actually gonna edit my work for, for me. Um, and so I got a guy, I dunno, I think [00:02:00] it was, I was on Upwork too. Upwork was like another uh, site that I used, and it was a guy who was a referee for soccer.

Annie Woodbury: And he was just like a V blogger and just wanted his, like a straightforward vlog done of like him refereeing his day in a life kind of thing. And another guy was a fitness instructor owning his own, uh, gym. And he just kind of wanted the same kind of thing, vlog style, kind of creative reels done for Instagram and.

Annie Woodbury: Those were okay. I mean, again, cheap, cheap labor. They probably were blessed to find me and I, I think I did decent work. I mean, if I did it now, I could probably do way better, but it was, it was a good intro kind of to what to expect with like working for people and with people. I learned a lot with trusting too, like with payments and getting [00:03:00] things on time.

Annie Woodbury: The one guy, like the, I think the soccer guy, he actually tipped pretty well. I was like, oh, I got tips. I get tips for this. Okay. But the other guy was more stingy. The fitness guy was a very stingy guy and was like, okay, can we pay less than what you’re asking? Like, I’m literally charging you $20. For a whole video, like how much more or less can you get?

Sara Ferrer: How much more or less can you get that is bottom of the barrel like that is, I know. Wow. Wow.

Serena Reynolds: But, but that’s a lesson Everyone always wants cheaper. That, that’s the lesson there. Everyone wants cheaper. So if you know that fess up,

Annie Woodbury: those kind of trickled out. Like nothing ever. I feel like a lot of the, uh, people I’ve worked with, most of them who aren’t companies are, they just ghost me.

Annie Woodbury: When they don’t want any work done. They don’t say like, Hey, hey, I don’t need your services anymore. Thanks for what you did. You know, that kind of thing. They just ghost. I’m like, I, I [00:04:00] don’t need, I messaged maybe a few times asking like, Hey, you still need work? And they’d say like, oh yeah, I’m, I’m getting stuff done.

Annie Woodbury: Like, sorry, I’m busy with, you know, other things because this isn’t, you know, they’re all uploading stuff as like a side thing. You know? This isn’t their main thing. They’re just trying to get quote unquote. YouTube famous or Instagram famous trying with, you know, all the new routine stuff or fitness stuff that they’re trying to include and you know,

Serena Reynolds: but you know as well as I do, it’s all about consistency.

Serena Reynolds: It’s not about showing up one, it’s about being there when somebody’s looking for you. It’s not about that. That one off show real, it’s never gonna be enough.

Sara Ferrer: So how do you survive during this time? I mean, like the one offs sound great as like a fun little side gig, but like how were you feeding yourself?

Sara Ferrer: Do you, do you, did you just keep going and you built this clientele or did you say, Hey, I need maybe more of a quote unquote corporate gig while like, what was the. What was the path? Because I think in theory we all wanna have this idea that you [00:05:00] get fresh outta college, you build this great clientele. Is that the way it worked or did you kind of have to forego some creativity to work for a big agency?

Annie Woodbury: Well, think actually, like thanks to them, I was able to put something on my resume before even graduating. I was able to put freelance video editor. ’cause technically like. I could, like, I actually had clientele, like I actually had experience, so I was able to put that on there. And I was lucky enough to have my parents help me out during college, so I wasn’t just doing dog walking and these videos to just make buy.

Annie Woodbury: They were honestly just for extra grocery money. I was, you know, my parents were, I was grateful enough to have them cover, you know, my living expenses and my, you know, tuition. So I was really just paying for the extra stuff I wanted to do and groceries and. So I actually, my first job after college I, so I tore [00:06:00] my Achilles tendon.

Annie Woodbury: I was a tennis player in college, and this is my second Achilles tear on the other foot. And this was my very last match. Dev, like the most devastating thing, like I think back to it, I like cringe at like the feeling and just the thoughts of like everything going around me and the process, oh, hated it.

Annie Woodbury: Worst thing ever. Would not wish that on my worst enemy at all. But during that recovery process, I applied to my first job as, uh, for a wedding company called Complete Weddings and Events. And I was in the hotel room and I was applying to the job and then. Two days later, I get an email from them saying, Hey, we’d like to see your work.

Annie Woodbury: Can you do like a demo wedding video for us? We’ll give you the footage, we’ll tell you kind of like the easy guidelines, but ultimately it’s up to you what kind of low you wanna do. Took me, honestly, took me way longer than it would ever take me now, first ever [00:07:00] wedding video to ever make did it at my aunt and uncle’s house.

Annie Woodbury: ’cause then I went to recover at their place. And then I got, and then I got hired. I had an interview after that, I got hired and that’s been my first job, or was my first job. Still is my job as well, part-time. So that was the first thing that I, you know, went into. And luckily, I love it. My first job wasn’t like something I didn’t wanna do.

Annie Woodbury: It wasn’t like a not creative thing. Like I loved and loved the job that I got and have, yeah.

Sara Ferrer: Wedding video seems so high pressure as someone who like doesn’t do any, like you say, wedding video. And I like, am like, tensing up. ’cause I’m like, the pressure of like getting it right feels like something that, I mean, walk me through it where you were like, okay, like I just gotta get it done or like I’m super stressed out.

Sara Ferrer: Or like, was there, does that feels different than like a social media reel?

Serena Reynolds: Well, I, I would, I’m, I’m gonna jump in here as well. I, I’m going to put the creative spin on this. [00:08:00] Because it’s a creative job as well. I don’t think people appreciate the learning curve that we take on every time we take on a new type of work, a new type of job to get to that point where we’re actually thrilled with what we’re delivering.

Serena Reynolds: And, and that is so, that’s so important to me. I know it’s so important. To Annie. I’m not speaking for her, but, but it takes a huge amount of learning curve to get there and you can’t charge for that. I dunno how, I don’t know how to even get over that, that hump, that creative bowl that we kind of fall into when we get new work.

Serena Reynolds: So, sorry Annie, continue.

Annie Woodbury: No, yeah, you’re right. I mean, I had to find like a balance between pleasing the client. Still sticking to my editing techniques and style because for the company, it’s a company, it’s corporate in the long run, and you got 20 other [00:09:00] editors and you want it all to stay consistent between everyone, so then the client knows exactly what they’re gonna get no matter what editor, you know, the video’s given to the client doesn’t know that.

Annie Woodbury: The client just thinks, oh, my video’s taken from the day. Now it’s just sent back to headquarters and it’s. Something’s gonna be done to it. No one really understands what, no one knows post production really, unless you’re really, unless you’re in the industry. Right? And so you, there’s, there’s different wedding styles you can do, but unless the bride doesn’t spec, you know, specify what kind of style she wants, it’s up to us.

Annie Woodbury: And so it took, I would say, a good solid year. In the company to get just like a flow down before even trying to ’cause time management is also part of it before, so I had to get a flow down before being quick and efficient with my editing because the, the faster I was, I was, the more I could do, so [00:10:00] then the more I get paid and then the more either or the more free time I have at the end of the day, I don’t have to do any work, but I’m done working.

Annie Woodbury: Four hours of work. Great. Done.

Sara Ferrer: Like Serena had mentioned, like being a creative, and this is something that I think you can enlighten the, the listeners with is like we just assume. Like creativity is just something we label people, right? But there’s so many different forms of creativity, right? There’s, and there’s, there’s, there’s, you know, people have, have a niche, the wedding editor, the wedding videographer that you typically, in most professions, you wouldn’t have one person in all industries yet when it comes to creative, we’re just like, you’re creative.

Sara Ferrer: Do it. And right. Like, that’s kind of like the blessing and the curse of being creative where people are like, well, can you like video my wedding? Can you help me with the, you know, my, my, my business commercial? Can you help me with my podcast recording? Because you are creative. And so with that, with that kind of beginning [00:11:00] springboard and like you said, you’re working part-time for the wedding, um, company still, how has that, you know, in your experience now, obviously your portfolio has grown.

Sara Ferrer: I’m imagining, right, your ability to say, I’ve done X, Y, and Z, but I guess what I’m curious about is, you know, what does. Where does Annie see all this going? Is there like an end goal for like, I want such a robust portfolio that I am known as like the she can do it all. Or like, Hey, I’m kind of dabbling to see really what I wanna spend my eight hour days on, like creatively, where are you at with that?

Sara Ferrer: Because my mind is so jumbled thinking of all the shit you have to do. I’m so like, oh my God, her creativity’s gonna be like burnt out by the end, or no, is this. Fuel to figure out where the creativity is most aligned.

Annie Woodbury: Yeah. I I, I do wanna point out though that everyone who doesn’t know anything about production and post-production, post-production [00:12:00] is what happens after it’s filmed, right?

Annie Woodbury: Everyone thinks that we as editors are magic wizards and can fix every, they say, oh, fix it in post, if something goes wrong, like the, like the people filming did something. And you can’t fix it during the day. It’s like, oh, she can fix it. They can fix it easily. Like, no, you’re just making our jobs harder and there’s no promise we can fix it.

Annie Woodbury: You know, just because it was ruined when filming. We can try and make it as nice as we can, but there’s no promises. That’s like literally like editors, you know? That’s what we are, we’re like literally little minions like working behind the scenes, like trying to please the people. Like, oh, we can do, we can do it.

Annie Woodbury: I can do it.

Serena Reynolds: You totally are wizards. That’s exactly what you are. You are magic makers. The fact is sometimes you need the, uh, the props. You to be able to make this magic.

Annie Woodbury: Yeah. But back, back to your point about like kind of like what I want in the long [00:13:00] run is that my, I would say my, so my dream, and this is like, I’ve kind of come to terms with kind of and unreachable dream and nothing that I can really do to achieve at this moment.

Annie Woodbury: Just because of the industry. So my dream is to be a trailer, a film trailer editor. So making movie trailers and that’s, that was, that’s been my dream since I was probably in high school when I, you know, started thinking about editing. I knew like I wanted the short form kind of stuff that really punch the stuff that kind of like gives you goosebumps when you’re watching the trailer in the movie theater.

Annie Woodbury: And it’s like, it’s like a minute long and it’s like, great. Quick, powerful. Love it. I wanna do that. And I did actually apply to jobs when I was applying. You know, I was mass applying to everything after when I was in [00:14:00] college and you know, the day of graduation and after. And I actually did get trailer movie trailer company who just specifies movie trailers in la reach out to me, say, Hey, we’re looking for a pa.

Annie Woodbury: Would you like to come and be a pa? I was in a, I just had surgery and they needed me to drive. ’cause that’s what a, a PA for, like a, you know, a trailer company is just driving everywhere, delivering stuff, you know, doing kind of like assistant things. Not really, not actually editing, but. That’s your door into editing is being a pa.

Annie Woodbury: That’s literally everything in in the industry. You gotta start as a pa. And I told him, I was like, I’m about to move to Florida live with my boyfriend who I just promised I was gonna live with him and do forever with him. And I’m currently recovering from an Achilles rupture and you expect me to drive.

Annie Woodbury: [00:15:00] I can’t drive for like four months ’cause I have a boot on and I need PT still. I just, I remember sitting in the hotel when I got the call from him crying because I knew that that’s what I wanted. I knew that that’s the path deep down that I wanna take. But then the other part of me is like, but I already made all these promises to my boyfriend to move down.

Annie Woodbury: And then, and I also see like how people living in la, like no one’s living in la. At least all my friends who are a year older than me trying to make it in the field industry. No one’s living the life that they’re, they thought they were gonna live after college. They’re all working for research jobs or babysitting.

Annie Woodbury: They all try and make it, but it’s like extremely hard. I was like, dang it. I got my one shot to try and make it and I couldn’t take it because I already made all these promises. But now the [00:16:00] industry sucks. Like it’s tanking. Like literally. You look at the job market, you look at indeed, at, uh, LinkedIn, all the job sites.

Annie Woodbury: There are no good editing jobs out there. Not even like I look, I still look at trailer. If they’re saying trailer companies edit, hiring, nothing, not even a single thing. And that’s been the case for like two to three years.

Serena Reynolds: Hey, I have to tell you, the whole industry, the whole world has changed. And if I could, if, if.

Serena Reynolds: If I were starting out now, I wouldn’t be looking for job boards. I would be reaching out directly. I would be re sending to them, sending my resume, send, finding some way to stand out to these people. I would be following them on LinkedIn. I would be chasing them down. I would be their bestie. I would find out where they drink.

Serena Reynolds: That’s if I was starting now.

Annie Woodbury: That’s what I, and that’s what I did. That’s how that company found me is ’cause I mass sent out individual emails to hiring, to the hiring department in all the trailer companies. And that’s [00:17:00] how they found me. We’re gonna get, if we wanna get personal, is I have to think about my boyfriend, who is someone I wanna marry.

Annie Woodbury: His job is here. He can’t go, he can’t go anywhere else. He can’t relocate. And that’s why I’m lucky to get these remote jobs. So if, if a company, if they, if. The film industry in LA ever decided to really go more remote than they did in, you know, if they went back to like, you know, COVID remote times and ’cause now it’s all local.

Annie Woodbury: You have to be on site for everything. That’s what they want. Everything needs to be on site. Nothing really remote. But if there ever was something remote, I’d hop on it right away. I’d be sending crazy amounts of emails saying I’m the one for you. Please hire me. I’m the best you’ll ever get.

Serena Reynolds: But, well, I mean, I’m not telling you to do that because in case anybody doesn’t know, Annie actually helps, um, edit our podcasts every week.

Serena Reynolds: So I don’t want her to go off and do this. However, however, I think there’s, there’s [00:18:00] so many opportunities and you have shown so much versatility from, from doing your dog walking as. As a student to, to bring in income to now even working in, in your industry, doing the job that you are doing. As a freelancer, you know, gone out on our own.

Serena Reynolds: You haven’t, as far as I know, you haven’t actually been actively employed. You’ve done this all by yourself, so to put these barriers around you on what you say you can and can’t achieve, I think is is silly. You should just be, not to be rude, I think you should just embrace the fact that you have got so much more experience than when you first started out.

Serena Reynolds: And that there are so many opportunities out there that you just don’t even know about yet. Trailers in Florida, I mean they are go, they still make films there.

Annie Woodbury: Yeah, I mean, I, I did a small trailer for this, this person. So [00:19:00] on our, on Facebook, our college has like a alumni page for people to post stuff and someone.

Annie Woodbury: Asked, uh, they’re doing like a 48 hour film, festival, film, film festival, and they need, uh, some people to work for them. And this was in Florida and they needed an editor and it was remote. Didn’t matter if it was in, you know, I lived in Florida, but luckily they’re in Florida, so a little easier. And I reached out and they said, sure.

Annie Woodbury: So I edited their 40 hour film festival video. And then a few months later they said, Hey, can you make some trailers for us to send to, uh, film festivals? Other festivals. I said, sure. That was great. I love that. I was like, yeah, this, that’s how I knew. I was like, yeah, I love what I do. I love everything that I do.

Annie Woodbury: I love the ver like all the things, like I love how I’m not just stuck to one genre and editing. I’m like doing it all that. When I was editing the trailer, I was like, yeah, this is just home like this. This is the comfort zone. And so that was really [00:20:00] fun and like I loved it. I would take on more stuff like that in a heartbeat.

Annie Woodbury: I’m op. I’m literally open, like I’ve come to the last year. I’ve come to terms with myself, say I’m very content. If I never become like this great trailer film editor or anything in like the film industry, LA or New York, wherever it’s gonna be, I’m very content with editing, wedding weddings, editing podcasts, doing smaller stuff, more smaller reels for people.

Annie Woodbury: Because it’s also like, I have to think too about money. Like my lifestyle? No. Like honestly, my lifestyle is very chill. I’m not working like crazy hours. Like if I lived in LA and was push busting my ass for these companies, they’d be expecting me to work until like 12 at night, one in the morning trying to, because, because the deadlines, they’d want it all done.

Annie Woodbury: They didn’t, they don’t care about me. They wouldn’t, they just want the product.

Serena Reynolds: For me, [00:21:00] content is actually negative, not positive, but you are, you are saying it in a positive light

Annie Woodbury: because I know the industry and I know the struggles people face. I know how hard it is to actually be in it and to survive in it.

Annie Woodbury: And the fact that like the way, like what I’m making now, the cost of living, just I’m not stressing, I’m not struggling.

Sara Ferrer: So refreshing. Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but like as you’re saying, I’m like, you’re such an old soul. I love this, this. Wait, lemme wait. I, I really don’t mean to interrupt, but I, Serena I wanna challenge you on this because I think the idea that she’s content, there’s always that little bit of like, you can’t be content.

Sara Ferrer: You hustle culture, hustle culture, hustle culture. But we’ve heard other women talk about how hustle culture brings stress ruins relationships, uh, mental breakdowns, overreach over. What is wrong with, because I don’t hear [00:22:00] content as being non ambitious. I don’t hear content as being, I don’t have goals and dreams.

Sara Ferrer: I hear content as at this stage in my life, there’s satisfaction. I grappled with it myself. Quite honestly, when I heard that word, ’cause my first association was like, oh, content equals mediocre. Mediocre equals not ambitious. Right? But, but I, but I had to kind of rethink this as you’re talking and I’m like, holy shit.

Sara Ferrer: That’s what we all want. We all are working the long hours and burning ourselves out and coming home and yelling at everybody because I’m working for a better life. But wait, what if Annie’s saying I don’t want the 12 hours, but that’s really refreshing to hear. Someone has to work the nine to five is what I’m trying to say.

Sara Ferrer: In fact, I think it’s really a detriment that we think everyone has to have a side hustle in society. I think it’s a detriment to think that if you’re not a solopreneur, if you’re not out there, somehow you’re failing. I [00:23:00] think that what makes this country and many countries work are people who figure out a schedule that works for them.

Sara Ferrer: So I’m hearing, and correct me if I’m wrong, that’s where you’re, when you say condemn, that’s what you’ve built. Maybe am am I interpreting this correctly?

Annie Woodbury: No. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I’d say I’m still following my dreams. I’m, I’m still doing what I love. I’m still editing, like I’m doing exactly what I wanna be doing.

Annie Woodbury: Just because it’s not in the movie industry doesn’t mean that I’m not loving it. Loving life editing. I love editing weddings. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful stuff. I love editing podcasts. It’s so interesting and it’s a change of pace with the weddings. Like the more, like different things I get to edit, the happier I am.

Annie Woodbury: Granted, I don’t love Florida. I’d love to live anywhere else except Florida, but it just so happens to where I ended up because my boyfriend lived here and I, I don’t wanna live in la LA looks horrible. Like I visited in la I [00:24:00] used to live in California, like Monterey closer San Francisco area. It’s more expensive there.

Annie Woodbury: Cost of living’s crazy. Like I’d be being, I’d be a PA for probably at at least two years before being promoted. But then it goes pa, assistant junior, editor, editor, senior editor. So like how many years is that gonna take to get to the top? To actually get a salary that’s actually worth it. ’cause like with my salaries now.

Annie Woodbury: I’m getting paid like twice more than, you know, a PA or a assistant editor’s gonna get down in LA and it’s going farther, not living in la. That money’s gonna go up fast if I live in la you know what I mean?

Sara Ferrer: No, you’ve carved a, a great little plan. Let me ask you something though. ’cause so much of your job is like you, you seem like you’ve got it squared away.

Sara Ferrer: You kind of, you know, know thyself. That’s something that’s a lifelong process and I commend you for saying, Hey, [00:25:00] this works for me. And at the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for is, does this work for, for me? But as a creative. What if you have a creative block? Like what, what if you’re like, I can’t channel it, or like, you’re a human being, you have a bad day, there’s a family emergency, something else is on your brain and someone goes, wave your magical wand and create, um, walk, walk us non creatives through, or walk even if you are creative.

Sara Ferrer: It’s different when you’re getting paid to do it versus like, I’m just gonna do this in my leisure. Maybe Serena, you could add, add in a little bit of flavor to this too, as it as very much a bonafide creative. What the hell do you do? Do you listen to meditative music? Do you look at a bunch of, like, like your past work?

Sara Ferrer: Do you, how do you get inspired? Do you take a walk? Do you beat your head against the wall? We don’t know. I dunno.

Serena Reynolds: I have no idea how, how, how, how do we find [00:26:00] inspiration?

Sara Ferrer: No, because you have to have some type of process. I’m sure it’s happened more than once. I’m not saying the process has to work, I’m just saying what do you do?

Sara Ferrer: Do you remove yourself from it? Do you Google other like, okay, other wedding videos? ’cause I can’t, do you talk to a creative friend, like there has to be something you do, whether it works or not. I

Serena Reynolds: can add here that for me personally, it’s stepping back and breathing. And not being so focused. The moment I’m so focused, it’s as though, like I, I go into a tunnel and it all closes in and then I have nothing.

Serena Reynolds: I’m just in a black hole and that’s it. So that’s, that’s my process is to not get too caught up and just let things hit me. Have it sitting in the back of my mind of, and, and then I’ll see something and be like. Oh, now that, that kind of makes sense to me. And so now it’s Annie’s 10. I’ve, I’ve said my piece, [00:27:00] just not to focus too hard on, on what it is.

Annie Woodbury: I would say the exact same thing. I, I, I would kind of, when I edit, I either listen to music if I can, or with editing you. There’s exporting, there’s rendering, there’s all these things that take a dang long time once you’re done or why you’re doing it. When that’s happening, I watch tv, I put in a show, you know, another screen on my computer, and it’s just like, it’s just a nice little brain mental relaxation.

Annie Woodbury: Like, I’m not like forcing my brain to do anything. I’m like, okay, I can veg out and just mindlessly watch g Grey’s Anatomy, you know? But, ’cause yeah, with the, with for example, with the weddings, it’s the same thing every day. Same kind of thing. You see the getting ready. The, the portrait shots, the ceremony, the reception, the toasts, same kind of timeline every single day.

Annie Woodbury: So it does, it does get kind of [00:28:00] like, oh my gosh, okay, I am, I am, I can’t do today. This one’s just another country wedding and they want the same country music. What am I gonna do to be creative and change it up, you know? And. And sometimes I can find like the creative changes, like I find new music to add.

Annie Woodbury: I’m like, great. Oh, this kind of like amps it up a little bit. This changes the pace a little bit in my, like, not for them, they don’t, they don’t know what else, you know, I’ve done, but for me in my head it changes it up. So kind of finding new little things, like new music, maybe like new fun little effects to add.

Annie Woodbury: Uh, changing up kind of even just slightly changing, changing up the pace of things. Just so my brain just gets a little bit like, okay, I’m getting the creative Annie twist that I need on this video, but I’m still pleasing the clients and what they want. But if I need to get to that [00:29:00] space, like Serena said, just taking a step back, thinking about it before ev, before anything happens, like, okay, I can do this.

Annie Woodbury: I do this every day. I can cha, I can put my own spin on it as much as I, as much as I want. I’m relaxed, I’m calm.

Serena Reynolds: I, I also think sometimes, and Annie, please, please feel free to jump in here. I think sometimes having that A to Z process takes the pressure off you to. To be creative so you don’t have to worry about what it is that you are physically doing that is robotic.

Serena Reynolds: That’s the same. It’s, it’s the little bits in between that you add your personality to and stuff like that, but the, the a z process really helps you not worry about that part of the detail. It took me a really long time to learn that. And [00:30:00] to actually have a process, a, a workflow, a a system. You know, whether that’s creating logos where you sit there and you draw a hundred logos, and then you pick out your f, your top five, whatever your process is to know that you’ve got that process to rely on when you are not being creative.

Serena Reynolds: Creative people aren’t always creative. We have, we have really bad, I have very bad down days where I, I really, honestly, I couldn’t, couldn’t do a thing. Um, so having that, that process to support it is, is, is, is fundamental for me.

Annie Woodbury: I would agree. And honestly, having thousands of video of weddings under my belt, it’s just like, then you having that, you just go into robot mode.

Annie Woodbury: Honestly, if you can’t be creative, you go to robot mode. I’m just like, okay. It’s done. This, this, this timeline of everything done doesn’t mean if feel like if I [00:31:00] wasn’t pleased creatively in what I did, my, my just editing brain of like how many I’ve done thousands of them, like you said, like A to Z, just like from start to finish.

Annie Woodbury: It’s just put out there. So. That’s just how it can be.

Sara Ferrer: Sometimes you just gotta work through it. It sounds like, like that’s kind of like the thing is that, to Serena’s point to what you’ve said, like creative people need processes, right? Like you need to have some type of process to make sure that it’s getting done.

Sara Ferrer: And let me ask you, like through your creativity, what I find is very interesting, regardless of what you’re editing, is up. You’re probably dealing with a lot of different types of people, right? And different cultures, different wants, different needs. And this is gonna lead in, this is gonna lead into my question for you from our previous guests, because being creative is a language, right?

Sara Ferrer: You are. You are evoking imagery. They say what a picture’s worth a thousand words. So there’s a [00:32:00] message being conveyed in your work and what you do in your end product. But my question for you, my dear, from our last guest. Who was a lang, she was a, um, translator. Correct. Serena, am I, am I correct? A translator.

Sara Ferrer: Um, Aida Ramos. Wonderful, wonderful guest. What would be your most memorable interaction with a person that you didn’t share the same native language with?

Annie Woodbury: So like, if I put this into what I do for work, I’ve gotten quite a few quinceaneras, quite a few kind of. Arabian or even Pakistani weddings where they’re very different and a lot of the times they’re in their native language and it was hard at first.

Annie Woodbury: It was really hard at first, and for Spanish, I kind of know a little Spanish. I’m better at understanding it than speaking it. So the quinceaneras were not. So bad. And luckily Google translates [00:33:00] a thing, so if there’s a speech just put into Google Translate. But yeah, with like the really out there weddings that are a whole different culture other than, you know, ’cause I mean with America we’re closer to, you know, Spanish than any other culture probably.

Annie Woodbury: It, it was hard. It was hard to understand and really it was hard to please. I’d also say. Hard to please the client ’cause they know exactly how they want it. ’cause they know the day, how the day went. They know their culture. I don’t know their culture. I don’t know like what kind of, if they don’t, most of the time people don’t specify what they want, they just kind of leave it up to us, which is one kind of actually annoying.

Annie Woodbury: I like a little bit more like context, like, Hey, this is your video. Do you actually want these things? What kind of music do you actually want? Do you want cinematic? Do you want country? Do you want pop? You know, and so with people like that, I, we all [00:34:00] wanna please our customers. And so it’s just harder to please them not knowing exactly the traditional wedding kind of style

Serena Reynolds: you might have.

Serena Reynolds: You might have accidentally snuck in somebody saying something nasty about somebody.

Annie Woodbury: Exactly. I could have put in a bad word accidentally or some like really horrible thing that like a brother said to their, uh, to another brother, just as a joke. But they never wanted on actually in a video. You know?

Annie Woodbury: That’s the thing. Yeah. But I, those are like some, like some moments for the wedding, but in real life, I, I’d actually say this, this is actually last week, but the people. Who come and mow our lawn. ’cause we, so we rent our house and the landlord has someone come in and do the trimming of the lawn. And Bushy and my boyfriend has come really become like a good friend of the guy who comes in.

Annie Woodbury: He doesn’t, he speaks very little [00:35:00] English. My boyfriend knows less Spanish than I do, but they kind of, they communicate kind of on their own level of like showing of like, I guess what’s, what’s the word I’m trying to think of? Um.

Sara Ferrer: Thumbs up, please tell me they thumbs up because I’m a big fan of the thumbs up.

Annie Woodbury: Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s like, they have like their own way of like communicating, um, to know like what each other’s saying. And the other day I was outside doing some yard work, uh, planting stuff and the guy’s doing his rounds was coming in our backyard mowing. He starts talking about politics with me.

Annie Woodbury: Little does he know, he doesn’t know what my stance is on politics. If I was him, I would think that I was, you know, a hardcore Republican. ’cause I live in Florida. The words that he kept repeating was Trump reign, uh, hunger food, money. A bunch of different country [00:36:00] names, kind of like comparing us to like Canada, I think Mexico.

Annie Woodbury: And I was like, I was understanding, I was like, oh, he, he, he’s not happy with what’s going on. And I’m like, yeah, I agree. I agree. And so all I did was lots, lots of nodding. I was like, this is, we are connecting, but all we’re doing is nodding yes. And I said, see, see? Yes, yes.

Sara Ferrer: Amazing. You know, the nod, the nod is universal.

Sara Ferrer: Like the nod is like the, the point and then the nod, you know, it’s like you Yes. I love that. What question would you ask our next guest? It doesn’t have to be as, as it, it doesn’t have to be related to your job naturally. Aida’s question was related to your Let’s go political. Go on. Let’s do it girls. No, I’m joking.

Annie Woodbury: Oh, I got a good one. I’m gonna keep it light. Um, my question would be. What’s your favorite movie and why?

Sara Ferrer: What’s your favorite movie and [00:37:00] why? I love that. That like has like a nice universal feel to it as well as like the movie trailer aspect. Yeah. Well, what are your favorite movies? A League of Their Own.

Sara Ferrer: A League of Their Own. That is my favorite movie, Tom Hanks. There’s no crying in baseball. It’s my favorite. Yes. I watch it all the time. If I’m on a plane, it doesn’t matter if there’s a new movie out, I’m watching a League of their Own. It’s about a women’s baseball team During wartime when all the boys went off towards, based on a true story.

Sara Ferrer: I cry all the time at the end when all the old ladies get together and reminisce at the, at the baseball museum. Watch it. Love it. Gina Davis Chef’s Kiss. What about you, Serena? I

Serena Reynolds: actually do not know. Actually do not know. I don’t think I have a favorite.

Sara Ferrer: I thought you had like a favorite, like ’cause you’re so visual.

Serena Reynolds: No, no I don’t. Not that I can think of right here, right now. But I can tell you that King Kong makes me cry and everyone thinks that’s really funny. I don’t like watching that film. [00:38:00]

Sara Ferrer: I see. Well, we’ll we, we’ll have to put a pin in that and see what the next guess is. ’cause I feel like people either have it like waiting on deck, like that question is like.

Sara Ferrer: Kind of like, what’s your favorite color? Some people are like, I don’t know, I’m really indifferent. Or like, my friend Julie is like purple. Everything has to be purple. Like some people like they lick it. Their nails are purple. I dunno. Purple’s also that color where like people really go in, right? It’s like universally.

Sara Ferrer: I I can see your friend the moment. You said purple. I know what she looks like. Purple hair. Purple. Purple. Nails. Purple toes. Purple outfit. Purple. Yeah. Everything. But I feel like. That’s kind of like the movie question where people are either gonna give us the 20 minute answer and like detail it like I did or they’re gonna be like you and like I know there’s a couple ones I kind of like.

Sara Ferrer: So great question Andy. ’cause you open up the door for Annie.

Serena Reynolds: So what’s your favorite movie before we move on?

Annie Woodbury: Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It was directed by Ben Stiller and he started in it [00:39:00] and. I mean, it was, it’s not like an indie film. It’s pretty big, but it’s still not common. Like I, I guess it just never became like a very, very blockbuster movie and the, oh man, that movie is just gorgeous.

Annie Woodbury: It’s just such a beautiful message too. And like I say this like being majoring in film as in college, you know, majoring in film, you, you see so many movies whether you like them or not, you. You study so many different things, the history of film, current films, different genres, how to make them, and so I’m thinking like with that brain, but also like, I don’t think with that brain anymore.

Annie Woodbury: I think of like, just like I, I love a good cheesy rom-com and a film major probably would never say that, but I love a good cheesy rom-com. But Secret Life, Walter Mitty isn’t, isn’t is a, it’s, it’s an action Romcom maybe, or just RO action comedy. But it’s really good. It’s a really beautiful movie. I [00:40:00] would recommend it.

Serena Reynolds: I’m, I’m gonna have to like look that up now. I tell you who I too, uh, I do have a favorite director and it’s not really going to be a surprise. Probably the same one as your purple friend. I. It is Tim Burton. I absolutely love Tim Burton so much. Yeah, love his films. Just, I love his, his gothic twist, his slightly dark, but so beautiful and cute and pretty all at the same time.

Serena Reynolds: So there you go. That’s my, I. So anything but Tim Buton, I think. Wonderful.

Sara Ferrer: Annie, for anyone who’s listening, how can they find you? How can they say, Hey, I need something edited. Hey, I work on a movie set. We need a movie, A reel editor. Like, how can people find you? How can they contact you? How can they look at your work?

Annie Woodbury: Yeah. So I have a Vimeo page, and I think you just look up Annie Woodbury, maybe. I actually haven’t tried to look up myself on. Vimeo. It could probably, you could probably put a link in on your thing for, for my Vimeo.

Serena Reynolds: We will, I’m gonna put the wrong one so that they can’t [00:41:00] contact you. ’cause what would I do if you left Annie?

Annie Woodbury: I’m, I’m a great multitasker. I love edit doing more than, you know, two things at once. I, I have my editing reels kind of promoting, you know, everything I do and one video all on YouTube, Vimeo, my LinkedIn. Also my Instagram is probably a good place too, which is Anniem_w.

Sara Ferrer: You seem to know what you want. You seem to have a path, and we can’t wait to check in to see kind of where that path takes you.

Sara Ferrer: Who knows, you know, sometimes the improbable, if sometimes it’s luck, sometimes it’s timing and sometimes like, you know, there is something to say just about putting your head down and, and getting stuff done. That opportunities. Sometimes find you, sometimes you find them, but sometimes it’s just a matter of timing.

Sara Ferrer: So we’re excited to see where this takes you,

Serena Reynolds: or even putting it on a podcast like fearless and flawed and then letting us spread the word. You never know what happened. It’s amazing how things that have happened by [00:42:00] accident. Annie, you’ve been

Sara Ferrer: wonderful to chat with. This has been great, and thank you for sharing your story.

Annie Woodbury: Yeah. Thanks guys. I loved it.