Film-maker websites built to win the next commission.
Custom Squarespace sites for film-makers — reel first, credits visible, and an enquiry route that works from inside the work. Fixed price agreed before we start, and you own everything.
Most film-maker websites are an archive when they need to be a pitch.
The work gets uploaded, the site becomes a list of everything ever shot, and the person commissioning has to work out on their own whether you can do the job in front of them. Meanwhile the reel sits three clicks deep and the contact page is a mailto link.
Most film-maker websites
The archive problem
Everything shown, nothing framed. A producer scanning for one specific capability gives up before finding the piece that would have won the job.
The invisible problem
Commissioners search by discipline, sector and city. A site that is one embedded player and a name appears for none of it.
What we build instead
A site that opens with the reel, frames each film as a commission with a brief and a result, names your collaborators, and puts enquiry one tap from the work.
- Reel
- The first thing they see
- Films
- Framed as commissions
- Collaborators
- Named
- Enquiry
- One tap from the work
Built for how commissioners actually choose a film-maker
Every element below exists because it changes whether the reel turns into a conversation.
Reel first, instantly
Playing within a second of arrival, at the top, without a click. Attention in this category is measured in seconds and spent on the first frame.
Films framed as commissions
The brief, the constraint, the outcome. It is the difference between being hired to operate a camera and being hired to solve the problem.
Credits and collaborators
Roles, crew and clients named properly. Commissioners check who you work with as closely as what you shot.
Discipline pages that rank
Real pages per genre, format and location — commercial, editorial, documentary — targeting how work is actually searched for.
Enquiry from inside the work
Reachable while someone is still watching, because interest peaks during the film and decays the moment it ends.
Fast with heavy video
Properly configured delivery so films start immediately rather than buffering. A stalled reel is a lost commission.
A film-maker we did this for
Timothy Blacketer Films
A fashion and editorial film-maker whose pricing lived in a PDF. We rebuilt the guide as a page on his existing Squarespace site, keeping the style and mood of the original.
From PDF to page
Rebuilt for mobile
“Great to work with. Went above and beyond.”
Timothy B.
Timothy Blacketer Films
How your film-maker website gets built
Four stages, in the same order every time. How long each takes depends on the size of the site — you get the timeline in writing before anything starts.
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01
Discovery
One call and a short form. Which work is most profitable, which you want more of, and what clients ask before they commit.
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02
Copy first
Every page written for you and sent as a document to review. You approve what the site says before you see how it looks.
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03
Design & build
Built custom from a blank canvas — desktop and mobile — with SEO, schema and analytics wired in as we go, not bolted on after.
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04
Launch & handover
If you have an existing site, every URL is redirected so rankings hold. Then training, 30 days of support, and full ownership in your name.
We launch, rebuild, grow and maintain film-maker websites.
Two fixed-price projects to get the site right, two monthly retainers to keep it working. Most clients start with a project, then add one retainer.
You have the direction. We build it properly.
For companies with their design and content already settled, or moving from another platform without changing the substance. The thinking is done — this is the part where it gets built and lands without incident.
Everything reconsidered, then rebuilt around it
For companies where the site is not just dated but wrong — the wrong message, the wrong structure, aimed at the wrong buyer. We start with what it should say and work outward from there.
Visibility that compounds instead of resetting
Fewer buyers reach a results page at all now — they ask an assistant and act on the answer. Being the source that answer draws on is the work, and it is won slowly rather than switched on.
The web team you would hire, without the headcount
For companies that want the site run rather than repaired. Someone who knows it inside out, works to your rhythm, and gets to things before you have noticed them.
Grow and Maintain can run together after any project. Not sure which you need? The discovery call settles it in thirty minutes.
Questions film-makers ask us
Will we lose our current search rankings?
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No. Every URL is mapped and 301-redirected before launch, and rankings are measured either side so anything bringing in commissions keeps working.
Will our films load fast and look right?
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Yes, and that is where most film sites fail. Video is served through a properly configured player and host so films start immediately on a phone rather than buffering. A stalled reel loses the viewer regardless of the work.
Where should the reel sit?
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At the top, playing without a click. Attention in this category is measured in seconds and spent on the first frame, so a reel three clicks deep is a reel nobody watches.
How should individual films be presented?
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As commissions — the brief, the constraint, the outcome. It is the difference between being hired to operate a camera and being hired to solve the problem, and it moves you up the budget bracket.
Do credits actually matter on the site?
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Yes. Commissioners check who you work with as closely as what you shot, so roles, crew and client names do real work. Anonymous films read as spec.
Do we need pages per discipline?
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Yes, plus location. Producers search commercial, editorial, documentary or branded content plus a city, and a single embedded showreel competes for none of those searches.
Should the enquiry route sit inside the work?
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It has to. Interest peaks while a film is playing and decays the instant it ends, so contact needs to be reachable without navigating back to a menu.
Who writes the content — and can we review it?
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We write every page and deliver it as a document for your review before design begins, which is when project and discipline language is easiest to sharpen.
Can we add new films ourselves?
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Yes. Films, credits, stills and journal entries are all editable in-house, with a recorded walkthrough of your own site. If updating keeps slipping, there is a management retainer.
What does it cost, and who owns the site?
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Projects start from $3,750, with the exact figure set by page count, functionality and whether existing content is being migrated. You get a fixed number in writing before anything begins — no hourly billing and no scope surprises. Full detail on the pricing page. You own the result outright: the domain, the Squarespace account and every piece of content are in your name from day one, with no agency lock-in.
Be the film-maker
they commission.
Thirty minutes, free. We work out what the site needs to do and tell you straight whether we're the right team for it. Not ready to talk? Have us pull your current site apart on video instead.
