Max Partain’s Ego Death

Here is what you need to know about me

  • Emmy

    Award winning filmmaker

  • 10+

    Years in documentary film

  • Competetive

    I want to win

  • Passionate

    I deeply care

A person walking along a dirt shoulder beside a paved road on a cloudy day, with power lines and trees in the background.

Before I helped anyone else, I was a documentary filmmaker chasing donors.

I spent 10 years filming and editing documentaries for nonprofits and foundations where editorial decisions directly drove millions in donor funding.

Then a speaker asked me to edit their reel.

Same footage their last editor had. Same credentials. Same stages. The previous reel had been up for two years and produced nothing.

I restructured it the way I'd structure a documentary.

Angela Gargano's reel changed her inbound pipeline.

“I got two inbound inquiries in one week after the reel released. Both closed. One of them said 'we love her' and that was it.”

Angela Gargano
6x American Ninja Warrior
& female celebrity speaker

Close-up of a smiling woman with brown hair, wearing a white and light brown Adidas top, accessorized with a gold necklace with white pearl-like pendants, touching her shoulder with her right hand.

Angela is a 6x American Ninja Warrior, TEDx speaker, and one of the most compelling people you'll ever see on stage. She had the credentials, the footage, and the story. Her existing reel checked every box on paper. And it wasn't converting.

We rebuilt it. Same footage. Different editorial architecture. Problem first, sustained delivery in the middle, perceived value woven throughout. We structured it around the questions event planners are actually asking when they hit play.

Within a week of launch, two event planners reached out. Both closed. One of them told Angela's team "we love her" — and that was the entire conversation. The reel had already done the selling.

The rest of the story

Max Partain’s Ego Death

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