Why I’m Opening This Up
I’ve been flying professionally since 2013, back when aerial cinematography in Hollywood was still a novelty most productions didn’t know how to budget for. Since then I’ve built CineDrones into a company that’s flown for major studios and networks, holds FAA clearance to operate on the Las Vegas Strip, and works across film and TV, live events, and luxury real estate. A lot of people who want to build something similar don’t have anyone to ask the basic questions to, so I started offering direct 1:1 time to talk through it. This is a full rundown of what that actually covers.
Starting the Business: The Decisions That Actually Matter
Most people getting into this spend their early energy on gear, when the decisions that actually determine whether the business survives are structural: how you register and insure the business before you take your first paying job, whether you pursue Part 107 certification and any additional waivers your target market requires, what markets and niches you position around instead of trying to be everything to everyone, and how you price your first jobs so they don’t set a ceiling you’re stuck under for years. I can walk through exactly how I made these calls when I started CineDrones and what I’d do differently now.
Running It Day to Day
The unglamorous part of this business is everything that happens between shoots: scheduling and route-planning around weather windows, maintaining and pre-flighting equipment so a mechanical failure never costs you a client, keeping paperwork like waivers, releases, and certificates of insurance organized enough that you’re not scrambling the night before a shoot, and managing cash flow when jobs are lumpy and clients pay net-30. None of this is complicated, but almost nobody teaches it, and it’s usually what separates operators who last five years from the ones who burn out in one.
Insurance: What You Actually Need
Insurance is one of the first places new operators either overspend on coverage they don’t need or, more often, underspend and get exposed. I can walk through what a real policy needs to include — general liability, hull coverage for the aircraft itself, and the additional-insured endorsements that most production companies, venues, and real estate brokerages will require before they’ll let you fly for them — and how to price that into your quotes instead of treating it as overhead you eat.
Permitting and Airspace
This is where a lot of otherwise-competent operators lose jobs, because they don’t understand the airspace they’re flying in until it’s too late to get authorization. I can walk through how FAA authorizations actually work in controlled airspace, what it took for CineDrones to secure clearance to fly the Las Vegas Strip — one of the most heavily restricted corridors in the country — and how to build realistic permit lead times into a production schedule instead of promising a client something you can’t legally deliver.
Flying and the Craft Itself
Underneath all the business questions is the actual craft: composing a shot that serves the story or the listing instead of just looking impressive, flying smoothly enough that footage cuts cleanly with the rest of a production, and knowing when a shot isn’t worth the risk. I’ve flown everything from Hollywood productions to Strip residencies to real estate listings, and I can talk through the technical and creative decisions that go into each of those differently.
Collaborating: Crews, Clients, and Referral Partners
A drone operator who only knows how to fly doesn’t get hired twice. The people who build a real career figure out how to work inside someone else’s production — taking direction from a DP, fitting into a union or non-union call sheet, handing off footage in a format editors don’t have to fight with — and how to build referral relationships with agents, event producers, and other crews that keep the phone ringing between big jobs. That collaborative layer is often the actual difference between a hobbyist and a business.
Work With Me
If any of this is the part of the business you’re stuck on, I do 1:1 calls directly — a 30-minute session is $99, and a full hour is $189, enough time to get into specifics on your situation. Get in touch with CineDrones and mention you’d like to book time with me.
