Working in the USA

[BruceMcGowan]

Hi,

I am a DoP with twenty years experience in the UK. My background includes over 100 x 35mm tv commercials and four features amonst other stuff.

 

I am looking further afield for employment and wondered what the situation was like in the US?

 

Are producers interested in UK cameramen, or is there mass unemployment in the craft like here in the UK?

 

Regards,

 

Bruce McGowan

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

You'll be lucky!

 

Seriously, it isn't easy, at least from an immigration standpoint (Or I'd be there.) It's amazing how many camera types in the UK seem to be courting an American. There are other ways to do it, specifically via a student visa, but it's longwinded, and the fast alternatives are expensive.

 

As for work... well it can't fail to be better than here!

 

Phil

[WarrenYeager]

Don't come to the US....at least not to Los Angeles. There's a shortage of work here.

[painfulcrash]

As an international student , seing no one really know the answer to this visa problem gives me the chills.. I said to myself , just become the best dp there is and things will be okay and i'll become a citizen somehow (so i can stay in the states)

The closer I get to graduation my eye balls get bigger; i'm afraid that they are going to pop out one day.

After considering other options, I decided to concentrate on one of them:

After school , US gives me one year to find a job.. After that i'm kicked out.

In that year i'll somehow stick my humble head into a production house as a DP.Director and get working visa. (which is going to be really hard)

 

if there is any one out there that knows the trade of this visa problem for cinematographers, please educate us. I can not seem to find many other options.

 

any help would help ,

thank you ,

-crash

(aydin ozer)

[Brad Grimmett]

I have a steadicam operator friend who's been here for about 5 years (and working the whole time) and can't get a visa. He works, and is paid, through a corporation, but he still can't get a visa. He can't get in the union either because of this situation, even though he's more than qualified. I'm not sure he'll ever get his visa.....

It's very tough for citizens to get work right now, so I wouldn't really recommend coming here to try to get MORE work.

Of course, that could vary greatly depending on how in demand you are....

[painfulcrash]

so is your friend technically illegal ? :(

[Eric Steelberg ASC]

Getting a visa is going to be extremely difficult right now form what I hear.

[Brad Grimmett]

so is your friend technically illegal ? :(

Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't think so, because he's still trying to get a visa and the government is well aware that he is here. I think the only reason he can legally work is because he has a corporation that he pays himself thorough. I don't know all the details, but I know it's been very tough for him.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

If you have the money to set it up, that trick is frighteningly easy to pull. Set up a company, get the production to commission the company to "find" someone. I think it tends to fall apart as the obvious ruse it is if the INS bothers to do the slightest investigation, but so long as you give them no reason to do so...

 

Phil

[Mitch Gross]

There are a few ways to legally live and work in the US without a Visa. My wife (she's Canadian) obtained a Non-Resident Alien status and then eventually a Resident Alien status, which I believe is the same as what is referred to as a Green Card. Through this process she was also granted an Employment Authorization card, which allowed her to work on salary and pay taxes like any American citizen.

[Don Bachmeier]

I know of a talented British DoP that works out of Minneapolis and continues to hop back to London for his old clients. He works regularly.

 

Good is good.

 

I've often gotten the feeling that people think that someone from somewhere else is better. Sometimes it is just that it is different.

 

It can be done. You may have something fresh to offer.

 

Be warned that in some markets 'low balling' has made it more difficult to make a living.

 

All the best to you.

[painfulcrash]

Eligibility Information:

Who May Apply to Become a Lawful Permanent Resident While in the United States? :

http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/LPReligibility.htm

 

but i decided to see an Imigration Lawyer to sort everything out and take my actions early.

[Arnaud M. St Martin de Veyran]

Hi,

 

I follow a little bit your discussion and there is something i don't understand...

 

I read that a steadicam operator work through a corporation :

"he has a corporation that he pays himself thorough"

 

So it means that he created is own company and work through his company.

He employ himself?

 

I was thinking to do the same, what can you advice me...

 

Thanks.

[Morgan Peline]

Hi

 

I'm moving to LA to study at AFI on a student non-immigrant VISA - does anyone know easy or difficult is it to get a work permit or resident permit after my studies? The immigration officer was no very forthcoming!

 

Thanks

Morgan

[Adam Frisch FSF]

All I can hear is how many productions abandon LA each year due to cost. Despite probably being more expensive to shoot in than LA, London has done very well the last couple of years with Shepperton, Leavesden, Pinewood, Elstree being very busy. So much so that the defunct Ealing studios have now been resurrected and put back to work.

 

Prague's been busy for years. So has Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Other former eastern bloc countries are seeing more and more action like Romania and Bulgaria and I hear Mission Impossible 3 is setting up in Berlins legendary Babelsbergs studios.

 

Now this is mostly true for features, but I suspect the commercial scene isn't far behind. So I think it's easy to believe the grass is greener on the other side, but I'm not sure it is. I do know some big famous DP's who are very busy in the states, but that's because they're hot of some award winning commercial or something. It's a fickle business at the best of times.

 

I moved to London from Sweden about a year ago, and work is finally picking up a bit. But it's been a tough couple of months financially. Especially in a town this insanely expensive. And another thing is that when you're new, you have to start at the bottom again with freebies and such, just to get a foot in the door and get to know people. You can only do that so many times, so I would be very reluctant to pack up and try my luck elswhere again unless I'm wanted or asked for there. I've dreamt of working in Hollywood since I was a kid, but now, I'm wise enough to know I'll wait until I'm invited.

[Matthew McDermott]

I'll turn this around on everyone.

 

I'm a US citizen but after briefly going to school in London and falling in love with it--I feel more at home in England than the US--would love to be able to work in the UK. There may not be as much work as LA but I absolutely hate Southern California; everything about it just drives me mad... Too bad we can't just trade citizenships/working papers. It's not like we'd be taking work away from anyone, two people in the same field just switching places.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

You don't happen to look anything like me, do you?

 

I do a very good Southern Californian. Dude.

 

Phil

[Matthew McDermott]

I pick up accents whether I like it or not--if I'm in the southern US I start drawling within days--I can manage a convincing generic British accent indefinitely and with a little bit of effort do regional accents. A little plastic surgery and we may be on to something.

[Brad Grimmett]

Hi,

 

I follow a little bit your discussion and there is something i don't understand...

 

I read that a steadicam operator work through a corporation :

"he has a corporation that he pays himself thorough"

 

So it means that he created is own company and work through his company.

He employ himself?

 

I was thinking to do the same, what can you advice me...

 

Thanks.

Sorry, I can't advise you on this at all. It's a friend of mine that does it, and truthfully I'm not sure whether it's even legal or not. I just know that it's a way for him to be able to get a paycheck from a U.S. company. I would certainly advise you to find out more before you do anything like that, and make sure you do everything legally. Beyond that I can't really help you.

[Felipe Perez-Burchard]

After school , US gives me one year to find a job.. After that i'm kicked out.

In that year i'll somehow stick my humble head into a production house as a  DP.Director and get working visa.  (which is going to be really hard)

 

I'm in exactly the same boat, my OPT will start this coming October (!)

 

My question is what kind of companies hire DPs as staff other than one you start by yourself.

It seems to be that even companies that shoot projects with the same people over and over hire based on the freelance system (it makes sense from the company end; they don't have to pay benefits or anything like that).

I was wondering if big films that shoot for a long periods can hire in some other way (of course getting on a big film is difficult).

 

A friend of mine got a student academy award this summer which automatically gave him an O visa (outsanding person visa), so thats another way, but well, thats difficult too.

 

My wife (she's Canadian) obtained a Non-Resident Alien status and then eventually a Resident Alien status, which I believe is the same as what is referred to as a Green Card.

 

Mitch if you don't mind me asking, how long did that process take, and is she involved in the film/tv/graphic world?

 

Thanks everyone for their input.

 

-felipe.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

It's perfectly possible to work in the US for short periods; get a friendly limited (incorporated) company to act as intermediary in your home country, and have them accept the cheque from the Americans. This works for up to 90 days, but it's dicey at least - I'm sure the INS would have a seizure if they found out the actual situation.

 

The main problem for me would not be winging it for a single job and possibly getting thrown out, but getting blacklisted against future entry.

 

Having ambitions on an industry in which the only place to advance will not allow you to work sucks.

 

Phil

[Jason Maeda]

"the food here is terrible....and the portions are so small!"