Christian Harris: How Patience, Spec Work & One Free Project Led to a 20-Part PBS Documentary Deal | One Thing That Worked

Christian Harris

Founder & Creative Director of Aqueous Films — on the patience of building a portfolio through spec projects, how one free project landed a 20-part PBS documentary, and why video creators have to embrace personal branding

Watch on YouTube Aqueous Films
17 minutes
Portfolio Building · Business Development · Personal Branding

About the Guest

Christian Harris — Founder & Creative Director of Aqueous Films

Christian Harris founded Aqueous Films in 2014, right after college, and runs it as a solo, contractor-based agency that hires out for pre-production, production, and editing depending on the job

Twelve years in, he focuses on documentary-style commercials for small businesses, international brands, and nonprofits — work that is emotional, story-driven, and built to move people to act

Established 2014
a solo, contractor-based production company now in its 12th year, flexible enough to staff each job from pre-production to edit
The PBS Break
a 20-part documentary miniseries on artists in Florida — his dream gig — landed on the strength of one spec project he made for free
Orlando to West Palm
after 10 years in Orlando he moved into South Florida, a far more competitive market near Miami, and had to rebuild his network from scratch
Where He Thrives
nonprofit storytelling — emotional, moving films made to inspire donations — alongside brand, corporate, and conference work

Key Quotes

“

So you can't just be good anymore. The people who are going to succeed in this industry are the ones that are doing better on the business side, not so much the ones that are doing better on the artist side.

Christian Harris
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Go out and do it. Whether that's for free or on your own time, do good work so you can show clients that work. You don't need to get paid for it. You just need to show that you're talented.

Christian Harris
“

You can be 10 years in and think that you've solved it and that you're successful, and a move or a change, you have to adapt to that. You can't just sit and be like everything is going to still come to me.

Christian Harris

Episode Chapters

0:00 Intro 0:52 Solo-Agency Model 1:54 One Thing That Worked 4:47 Restarting Sales in a New Market 7:45 How to Stand Out 10:12 Personal Branding in 2026 14:56 Work with Christian

Full Transcript

BTW: This episode of One Thing That Worked is produced by Beverly Media. Featuring entrepreneurs and podcasters who share the one decision, strategy, or habit that had the biggest impact on their business.
0:00 Intro
Christian The honest thing of it is video production, videography is such a saturated market now. Like there's so many talented filmmakers and it's so much easier now to get your hands on the gear and to make beautiful things. There's so much inspiration. So there's so much competition. So you can't just be good anymore. The people who are going to succeed in this industry are the ones that…
Sergey Hey folks, welcome to One Thing That Worked. Today my guest is Christian Harris who is a founder and creative director of Aqueous Films. Christian, welcome to the show.
0:52 Solo-Agency Model
Christian Hey, thanks for having me, man.
Sergey Tell us a little bit about your company.
Christian Yeah. So, Aqueous Films was established in 2014. This was right after I graduated college. I say we, but it's just me. I'm a solo entrepreneur, so I own the company on my own, and we're a contractor-based business, so we hire out for jobs, whether that's editing or production, pre-production. So it's really job-based. So, we're pretty flexible in that way. Yes, we've been around. This is our 12th year. And yeah, we focus on documentary style commercials for small businesses, international companies, all kinds of different types of nonprofits and different brands.
Sergey And I see on your website that you're award-winning video agency and nothing to be shy about, Christian. And I see you have a really really big names in your customers list. So let me proceed to asking the focal question of this show. What was the one thing or what decision, idea, move that significantly boosted your business?
1:54 One Thing That Worked
Christian Could I answer that in two parts?
Sergey Absolutely.
Christian Yeah. So the first thing when we first started, like you said, we have worked with some pretty big brands throughout the existence of Aqueous Films. That didn't happen upfront and we were working with really small businesses and like really small brands for really low prices at the beginning. So my first answer to that is like you really have to put in the time and the effort to build a portfolio that is respectable. Because big brands aren't going to look at you if you're just doing small projects that are low quality. So we, throughout four to five years, we built a really strong portfolio through spec projects and small businesses that trusted us. And eventually we got a couple big jobs and then it just kind of snowballs from there and the main point to take from that for me was just it's just being patient and like putting in the work and constantly pushing forward. And eventually you'll get that one big break.
Christian And for us, for me, my big break was working actually with a PBS who was looking for somebody to do like this 20-part miniseries on artists in Florida. Documentary, which is what I got into this for. And so it was like a dream gig for me and it was a good paying gig and they had seen something I had done for free and someone had referred me and I showed them something I had done for free, this spec project that I did on my own time and they loved it and that was the reason they hired me and so I was able to do this like huge series for them and really prove myself to other people who were looking at my work. And if I hadn't done that spec project on my own time I don't think I would have got that job because I didn't have any paid work that was worth me getting anything at that level. So that's another piece of advice I give is just do good work. Go out and do it. Whether that's for free or on your own time, do good work so you can show clients that work. You don't need to get paid for it. You just need to show that you're talented.
4:47 Restarting Sales in a New Market
Christian And the other part, or was it the second one?
Sergey Yeah, thanks for reminding me.
Christian Yeah, so another crucial part to me and I had to learn this the hard way. We actually were in Orlando, based in Orlando. We worked nationwide and all throughout Florida. We've even done international shoots. But our base was Orlando for 10 years and we just moved to West Palm. And I had such a strong network in Orlando and to pick everything up and move to South Florida, which is a really competitive market. Like we're 30 minutes from Miami, which has some of like the biggest production companies in Florida down there. So I was moving into a completely new place. And one of the things that I had to find out the hard way is I couldn't just rest on my laurels and continue to think that I was just going to get this work coming to me like I was in Orlando. Because with Google and SEO and stuff, everything changes. So you're essentially a new company down south. So I had to really start thinking about my company in more of like a business sense where I had to network and prospect and reach out and do sales, which I didn't have to do in Orlando because I had such a strong network and people were just coming to me and people were finding me on Google and it was just coming in.
Christian It was so easy in Orlando and I moved and all of a sudden it's like I almost felt like I was starting over. So I really had to put a lot of time into going to networking events, meeting people in the area, cold reaching out to companies for need of video. And it taught me the lesson that like you can be 10 years in and think that you've solved it and that you're successful and a move or a change, you have to adapt to that. Like you can't just sit and be like everything is going to still come to me. So I almost was like, it was a lesson in business for me where I had to learn that it's not just going to come to you. Like you really still have to go work for it. Even if you're 10 years in and you've put all this work in, you have this beautiful portfolio, no one really cares. Like if no one knows who you are, you're not going to get any work. So we came here two years ago. We finally like kind of feel like we've established ourselves here. We're getting a lot more work down here. And now it's like we've expanded to the point where we have those Orlando clients and our South Florida clients. And it seems to have built on itself. But that wouldn't have happened if I didn't put in the work and the effort to network here and reach out to people. And it's been a lesson I had to learn the hard way. It's a business lesson.
Sergey And it's sad to hear this because you would think that when you have 10 years in the business you don't have to do a lot of cold calls or outreach, right? So go to market and business development is still super super important, right? Do you think we should always be in a position to get back into this driver's seat and this explorer seat where as founders, do you think we can ever relax or there always going to be something new and something where we'll have to go and find the clients again and do this one more time?
7:45 How to Stand Out
Christian Listen, yeah, that's a great question. Honestly, the honest thing of it is video production, videography is such a saturated market now. Like there's so many talented filmmakers and it's so much easier now to get your hands on the gear and to make beautiful things. There's so much inspiration you know like Instagram is filled with talented filmmakers who are doing new things and trying new things and even compared to where I was when I started, it was easier but now it's like a lot of people can do it so there's so much competition so you can't just be good anymore, you have to be, it's so much more on you to be good at marketing and business and sales like that's such an important aspect of it now and I just learned that this wasn't something I knew from the start. Like this is something I had to realize coming in these past like three years was that the people who are going to succeed in this industry are the ones that are doing better on the business side, not so much the ones that are doing better on the artist side.
Christian And yeah, I think you have to constantly challenge yourself and the industry is changing every year. So you're constantly having to shift. Like a big shift that we've seen lately is a lot of companies are a lot more into like the personal branding than the big company style. Like if you can be front-facing and people know who you are and you have like a strong personal brand on social media and even on your website to where you are showing your face, which to me was like so crazy because I am not used to being on camera. I really don't like it. But I knew that it's changing and people love to see a person now rather than a company. So I've kind of mixed those two things. I'm starting to do a lot more like personal marketing and marketing videos for my company to put myself out there and show people who I am as a person and as the director of the company. So yeah, you're constantly having to shift like it's like anything if you don't change with the times you're going to get left behind.
10:12 Personal Branding in 2026
Sergey So yeah, I had Chris Do on my Be Yourself podcast and Chris called himself a loud introvert. You know Chris, right? We all know Chris Do and he said that with personal branding in 2026 you have three pillars, three main things to follow. First of all you have to have the courage to be disliked, right? Go against the grain. Put yourself out there. If you're not comfortable on camera, people might hate on you in the beginning. Secondly, you got to have still high standards for the product because the main thing that people associate with quality is aesthetics, is the beauty of the thing that they see. Therefore, just what you said about the portfolio, you can only go so far without like a portfolio, right? So sometimes, you know, I think you hire people as well as I do. Some people send their portfolios and you see one, two, three videos that are cool and the fourth video is awful. So you got to be really on point with everything that you put out on your portfolio. And I forgot what was the third thing. But these are things that according to Chris will help all of us who are behind the cameras, right? We got to go be more public, I think, right?
Christian Yeah. And two things on that. To the first pillar he mentioned. It's such an odd thing because when you first start putting yourself in front of camera, you're right. Like you're so scared of what are people going to think? A lot of people are like, oh, why does he want to, he's so self-involved, why does he want to be the face of. But if you're in the industry, you know that this is necessary. Like this is how marketing is done now. It's not like, hey, here's my demo reel and that's it. Like if you want to stand out, there's a personal part of that that helps you so much. And when you start it's yeah, there's a little bit of a concern. I mean I agree with Chris like I'm a loud introvert I guess too where it's like I do not want to have a personal brand. I don't want to be in front of the camera but like this is a business decision not like a decision based in vanity where I want to show my face and stuff. It's really just, I don't think I'm necessarily great on camera but it's like a necessity for me where I need to start doing that more because that's how the industry is changing.
Christian And then to the second point about putting only your best work out. That's a constant fight that I'm having where I'll put like on my website I'll have like I think I have right now like 16 of my best videos. But we've done like I don't know how much honestly much work we've put out. But that's like probably hundreds of videos left on the floor that people maybe have never even seen. So you're constantly trying to figure out like what videos do I want to show because I only want to show my best work. What videos do you need to show? Because you need to show that you work in that niche. Like hey, I can do conference videos. It might not be my best video to show, but here's proof that I can do it. So it all comes down to like yeah, you have to have really good work and you have to have a voice and you have to have taste. I think that's the big thing. Like good taste is probably what sets you apart a lot nowadays. And you have to mix that with business decisions like well I need to show maybe this video might not be my best but if it's a conference video and someone's looking for a conference I need to show proof that I can do that. So it's a mix.
Christian And yeah, I just can't emphasize enough how many people out there now, like you see on social media, there's just so many talented filmmakers out there now who are doing such good work and you're bombarded with this work and you're just like constantly challenging yourself to be like, I need to be better because there's people who are better than me. And I'm 35 and I see like 22 year olds putting out stuff that I'm like, how are you doing this? This is like so good. Like you were 20 times better than I was at your age. So you have to have some sort of like competitive fire in you to be like I need to get better because I'm seeing kids do better work than me. So you have to have that competitive fire and you have to challenge yourself to the point where you almost be angry with yourself if you're not putting out great work. So that's my view on it.
14:56 Work with Christian
Sergey Yeah, man. Absolutely. Absolutely. So as we're wrapping up what type of customers are you interested in if you even have the bandwidth right now and how can people connect with you?
Christian Yeah. So we work with all kinds of industries and niches throughout, so we do a lot of different work, but we definitely thrive in like the nonprofit space because our videos, our storytelling is really emotion based. We like to tell like emotionally moving things. That's why I wanted to do this in the beginning. I love making people cry and feel something that moves them to do something. So nonprofit video was really, that's what the whole purpose of that. The ethos of nonprofit video is to move someone to the point where they will donate to your campaign or to your fundraiser or to your nonprofit to further it and to keep it going. So we really thrive in that space. So nonprofits, I think, tend to have a really good experience with us and it's a really good partnership. But we do everything. We do brand commercials, corporate, conferences, all kinds of stuff.
Christian And then if you're looking to connect with me, my company name is Aqueous Films. So the website would be aqueousfilms.com and pretty much look up Aqueous Films on any social media platform, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and we're there. And yeah, again, like we work with people all across the country. We potentially might be doing a farming documentary in Kansas in October. So we're open to working with anybody that wants to tell a moving emotional story. So, yep.
Sergey Awesome, Christian. Was great talking to you, man. Thank you.
Christian It was great talking to you, man. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.