About Working Creatives
Working Creatives is a home for freelance photographers and filmmakers: a place to be seen for the work itself, to connect with peers, and to earn from it sustainably.
The platform is built around two things: documentary films that follow leading creative professionals at work and live conversations where you meet them directly. Everything else: the archive, the replays, the growing library of contributed work, comes from that foundation.
Working Creatives is for photographers and filmmakers who want to learn through proximity, not performance.
Emerging creatives looking for the kind of access that assisting used to provide. Working professionals who want thoughtful shop talk and deeper insight outside the feed. Anyone drawn to the reality of professional creative practice rather than a packaged version of it.
It's also for the artists themselves. Working Creatives is a publishing home: a place where established photographers and filmmakers can host their work, reach a paying audience and earn real revenue without having to become content creators or build a course.
Creative work wasn't always solitary.
For a long time, learning and community were built into the workflow: through assisting, shared spaces like the lab, and informal conversations that happened around the work itself. As technology changed, much of that infrastructure quietly disappeared. Work became individual. Distribution became algorithmic. Community became something you had to build from scratch, alone.
At the same time, the creatives producing the most interesting work: including many building large audiences online, found themselves carrying the full burden of production, promotion and monetisation with almost nothing to show for it. Thousands of followers, millions of views, and no real income from the work itself. Everyone pumping out content across separate channels, competing for attention, converting almost none of it into a living.
Working Creatives exists to change that equation. Instead of every artist working alone for likes, we work together and everyone earns. One shared platform where every artist's audience strengthens the whole. Every new film, every conversation, every contributor makes the platform more valuable for everyone already on it. That's the model: collective leverage instead of individual grind.
My path into photography and filmmaking was long and indirect. I didn't come from a creative-industry background, and when I arrived in Sydney looking to learn, assisting was the only real way in. I found it invaluable. Watching experienced photographers work, being close to the process, learning things you can't get from a tutorial.
After two decades working independently as a photographer and filmmaker, I started making the documentary films that became Working Creatives. They began as a personal project: I chose the photographers I most admired as subjects and went in with a camera to find out how they worked. Because my approach is observational, the resulting films put the viewer in the same position I was in as an assistant. Watching the work happen in real time.
Those films resonated. But the model of making long-form documentary and distributing it through platforms built for short-form content wasn't sustainable. The effort didn't match the return. This platform is an attempt to change that, for me and for every artist involved.
Working Creatives is run as a publisher: curated, intentional, and built for depth.
50/50. Everything is split down the middle. Subscription revenue, conversation tickets, all of it. Artists and contributors are equal partners, not content suppliers. When the platform grows, everyone benefits equally.
Open. Live conversations are open to anyone, you don't need to be a member to buy a ticket and join a session. The conversations are informal, everyone is on camera and everyone can ask questions. It's a room, not a broadcast.
Growing. The library expands in two ways: new documentary films made by Working Creatives and existing work contributed by artists and filmmakers from across the industry. Guest artists join for live conversations, and some go on to become regular contributors. The platform gets deeper over time.
Calm by design. No ads, no sponsors, no algorithmic feed. A home away from the algorithm, built for attention rather than distraction.
The live conversations are the heart of the platform.
Every session is a 40-minute Zoom: open, informal and unscripted. The featured artist or guest is on camera. Everyone in the audience is on camera. Anyone can ask a question. It's the closest thing to sitting in a room with someone you admire and having a real conversation about the work.
Sessions feature our resident artists: Hugh Stewart, Gary Heery, Derek Henderson, Max Doyle. As well as guest photographers and filmmakers from across the industry. Some guests return regularly. Some go on to contribute films and editorial content to the platform. The roster is always growing.
You don't need to prepare anything to attend. You don't even need to be a member, you just need to be interested.
Members attend every session as part of their membership. Non-members can join any session with a $20 one-off ticket.
Replays of every session are added to the archive for members.
If you're a photographer or filmmaker, Working Creatives is built for you, not just as an audience member, but as a partner.
Right now, most of us are doing the same thing: producing work, posting it across half a dozen channels, building audiences in places we don't own, and earning almost nothing from it. We've each spent years learning our craft and growing our followings but the platforms we publish on weren't designed to pay us. The effort is real. The return isn't.
Working Creatives is a different model. A shared platform where your work earns real monthly revenue. Where the audience you've built actually becomes leverage, not just for you, but for everyone here. Every artist who joins brings their audience with them, and every audience grows the whole platform. Your work doesn't just sit here. It earns. And as the platform grows, so does what it earns.
Here's what's on offer:
Host your work. If you've made films, documentaries, or video content that's earning almost nothing on YouTube, host it here. Your work reaches a paying audience and earns a 50/50 share of revenue based on views. Non-exclusive, it stays wherever it already lives. No upfront cost, no commitment, no risk.
Live conversations. Join for a 40-minute Zoom session. Talk about your work with an engaged, paying audience. Ticket revenue is split 50/50. No preparation, no curriculum, no ongoing commitment. You do it from your couch.
Invent your own format. Portfolio walkthroughs, studio tours, behind-the-scenes of a project, magazine launch events, slow-day work sessions....if you can imagine a way to share your work and your process, this platform can host it and monetise it. You decide what you want to do. We split it 50/50.
Contribute. Become a regular contributor, the equivalent of a magazine columnist. Produce editorial content on your own terms and earn from it as the audience grows.
The terms are simple: everything is 50/50. No contracts, no lock-in, no investment required from you. Your work, your audience, your ideas and a platform that actually pays you for them.
The more artists who join, the stronger it gets for everyone. That's not a slogan... it's the maths. Your audience discovers other artists here. Their audience discovers you. The platform grows. Revenue grows. Everyone earns more.
If you're interested, get in touch.
$12 AUD per month, or $119 AUD per year (saving 17%). Membership includes everything: every film, every live conversation, every replay. Less than Netflix.
Yes. Anyone can buy a one-off ticket for $20 AUD. You get access to that live session and its replay. If you find yourself coming back regularly, membership is the better deal. All live sessions are included.
Live sessions are 40-minute conversations hosted on Zoom. Everyone joins on camera, and anyone can ask questions. Sessions are open, informal, and unscripted. Members join free as part of their membership. Non-members buy a $20 ticket and receive a Zoom link. Replays are recorded and added to the archive.
Observational documentary films following featured artists at work, contributed films from guest artists and filmmakers and replays of live conversations. The library grows every month.
No. Working Creatives is documentary and conversation-based, designed for access and community, not instruction. There are no modules, assignments, or certificates.
No. The featured artists all work across both photography and filmmaking, and the platform is for anyone who works in, or moves between, both disciplines.
Yes. Memberships can be cancelled at any time.
Working Creatives is actively building its roster of contributors: established photographers and filmmakers who want a publishing home for their work. Host your existing films, join live conversations, or invent something new. No upfront cost, no contracts, no lock-in. Everything is 50/50. Get in touch via email.
All revenue is split equally between Working Creatives and the contributing artist. This applies to membership revenue based on views of your content and to one-off conversation ticket sales. We calculate on net revenue after platform and payment processing fees (typically around 10%).
Working Creatives is a home for freelance photographers and filmmakers. A place to be seen for the work itself, to connect with peers, and to earn from it sustainably.