Life & Work with Sam Bartlett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Bartlett.

Sam, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my video production career close to 3 years ago. I’ve always been very creative, but never really knew what direction I would go. I fell in and out of love with different creative outlets growing up – drawing, writing, music – but once I picked up a camera I could tell I had an immediate connection. When I moved from Boston to Tucson one of the first things I noticed was the overwhelming amount of creativity and artistic inspiration everywhere. Murals, the music scene, the artisan markets, small businesses everywhere — It really inspired me to want to go all in on video production. I worked for an advertising company while I essentially taught myself video and photo editing on the side. In order to establish some connections in the city I did a lot of cheap or free work and eventually got connected with Marquez Price, my creative partner on our show “The People That I Know”.

I wanted to build something my own but also create a platform to highlight the people behind the art that I found so inspiring when I first moved out here. That was the basis behind the show and Marquez, being from Tucson, had so many connections with so many talented people that we were able to create it together.

Now, I freelance as a videographer and video editor, I do video marketing work, and I produce original content under my Squeeze Films imprint.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road. Trying to muster up the energy to try and learn all aspects of video production after an 8-9 hour shift has proven difficult.

There has been a lot of trial and error on video or photo shoots — Though that’s really the only way to learn. I picked a very expensive medium to create a business with as well so operating with what I had access to, while I slowly built up a professional toolset made things that much harder. On top of that, I’m in a new city with little-to-no connections, and I’m a bit introverted, so building a business has been really tough. It’s been a lot of learning experiences though and I’m happy where it’s gotten me.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Squeeze Films is a video production company – I do creative video shoots, social media video marketing, and in-house original content. A lot of the work I do is food videography highlighting restaurants on social media, though I really love shooting concerts and live music. I think Squeeze is really going to push on the in-house original content, as that is a way to set myself apart from others.

The work is all original ideas so I’m really able to say I’m doing what I love with it and I get to experiment and learn in ways I don’t when I’m hired to do something. It pushes me to be more creative and get out of my comfort zone. As of now “The People That I Know” is the first of many shows I’ll be releasing and I am very proud of the work Marquez and I have put into it.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I feel like everything up to this point has kind of been lucky.

I didn’t seek out any of this really, I kind of fell into all of it. I do feel incredibly lucky to have met my partner, Gabi (owner of Planet Gabu), who is equally as ambitious as I am and also is building her own creative business. Without meeting her years ago I wouldn’t have tried starting my own business and wouldn’t even be in Tucson.

Contact Info:

• Website: Moresqueeze.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moresqueeze/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thepeoplethatiknow
• Other: www.youtube.com/@squeezefilms

Image Credits
Sam Bartlett and Gabi Bonniol