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Inside Abel Mutua's 17-man operation & how he sustains their pay

Filmmaker & content creator Abel Mutua has shed light on what goes on behind the scenes and the operations resulting in his highly engaging content.
Abel Mutua during a live recording in October 2023. Photo credits: Sidoh
Abel Mutua during a live recording in October 2023. Photo credits: Sidoh

During the recent International Creator Day held at the University of Nairobi, Abel said that behind the great content is a 17-man crew that ensures everything runs smoothly.

When it comes to shooting, he often used a 3-camera set-up with each camera requiring its operator.

He also has two editors who chop up the videos for the different shows or segments he has on his channel.

“There is someone who organises the entire shoot, that is the producer then aside from the YouTube shoots there are reels we produce for clients and I have a team for that,” he said.

Abel engages the services of a closed captioner who writes the subtitles to make the content consumable by people who may need help understanding the language he uses in his videos.

He also has a graphic designer who does his posters and thumbnails which are important for increasing his fans’ engagement with his content.

READ: How to hack it in the filmmaking industry: Lessons from Phil Director & Abel Mutua

Other than the technical crew, the team also include someone in charge of transportation, another person who ensures the crew is well-fed.

“Everybody plays a very integral role in this entire dance and it is very important,” he said.

All this comes at a heft price in terms of compensating the team for their skills and expertise.

According to Mkurugenzi, his shoots could take two days and cost him over Sh200,000 depending on the demands of the set.

With the success of his content creation venture, he is able to sustain his production team.

During the event, he encouraged upcoming content creators to start with whatever they have, emphasising that he also started his journey with only a smartphone.

“Let equipment not inhibit you from being great, you what you have at the moment,” Mkurugenzi encouraged the creators in attendance.

With time, he was able to upscale the quality of production. Abel started shooting his videos on a phone and editing them on the same device.

As his audience grew, he invested more time and money into content creation becoming one of the fastest growing creators in 2020.

Fast forward to 2024, he now has over 600,000 subscribers and over 750,000 followers on Instagram.

Abel also stressed the importance of creatives taking other upcoming talents under their wing and mentoring them to achieve greatness.

“It is through apprenticeship that names like DJ Shiti, and Njugush came to be,” he highlighted.

He revealed that he is in the process of opening a space which will be open to content creators for learning and mentoring.

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