If you’ve been subscribed to Assistant Directing, you’ve been part of something I’m genuinely proud of — a space built around the craft, the hustle, and the inner workings of the film industry. That’s not going anywhere.
But something else has been building in the background, and it’s time to give it its own room, which is why I have added you to this new substack.
Deep Wrk is a new publication focused on one thing: doing your best work, on your own terms.
Not film. Not production. Not tax incentives or call sheets.
This one is about you whoever you are, whatever you’re building — and the systems, strategies, and mindset shifts that separate people who stay busy from people who actually move forward.
The topics here will orbit around:
Focus — how to protect it, train it, and use it before the day eats it alive
Strategy — building a clear direction instead of just staying in motion
Branding — how you show up, what you stand for, and why people hire (or follow) you over everyone else
Scaling — taking what’s working and building something that doesn’t require you to be in the room every second
If you’ve ever felt like you’re the smartest, most capable version of yourself but somehow still not moving, this is for you.
Honestly? Because I kept having the same conversation with different people.
Freelancers who couldn’t turn their skills into a real offer. Entrepreneurs who had traction but no systems. Creatives who were brilliant at the work but invisible to the people who needed to hire them.
The problems were different. The root cause was almost always the same: they were doing a lot, but not doing the right things consistently, deliberately, and with a clear picture of where they were going.
I’ve spent a long time thinking about how focused, high-quality work actually gets done — not the motivational version of that, but the operational version. The version that holds up on a Tuesday when you’re tired and behind.
Deep Wrk is where I’m putting all of that.
There’s also a tool I’ve been building to go along with this: deepwrk.app — a custom platform for logging focus sessions, setting weekly goals, tracking your progress, and staying accountable to the work that actually matters. There is even a leaderboard that you can utilize to stay competitive.
It’s designed for people who want to do more than read about productivity — they want to see it reflected back at them in real time.
If you want to move faster, there’s also The Deep Wrk Method — an 8-session group coaching program for freelancers, creatives, and entrepreneurs who are done being busy without moving forward.
We work on your offer, your systems, and your 12-month plan. In a small cohort, with real accountability built in.
You’re receiving this because you’re already subscribed to Assistant Directing — and I wanted you to be the first to know about this new space.
If focus, strategy, branding, and scaling sound like things you care about (in addition to or apart from film), I’d love to have you here. You don’t have to do anything — you’re already subscribed.
But if this isn’t your thing, no hard feelings. You can unsubscribe from Deep Wrk below and keep getting Assistant Directing exactly as you always have. The two publications are separate, and one has no impact on the other.
The first few issues will go deep on:
Why most people aren’t stuck because of skill—they’re stuck because of structure
The single shift that moves a freelancer from “busy” to “booked”
How to build a personal brand that actually filters the wrong clients out
What a real 12-month plan looks like (and why most people never build one)
This isn’t a newsletter full of advice you’ve already heard, repackaged with a fresh headline. The goal is to be genuinely useful — the kind of thing you read and immediately want to do something with.
That’s the work. Let’s get into it.
— Brandon Riley
Schedule a free Deep Wrk Coaching Session
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.