Hello. My name is Courtney Parks and I am currently a junior in high school. For several years now, I have been interested in film and just the entertainment industry in general. I don't know where to get started and so I came to these forums for help from those who have a lot more experience in the industry.
1) How hard is it to make it into the film industry? I've been googling this question for awhile now and the collective answers I have been getting has been so skewed it isn't even funny. Some say that finding a job is really hard once you graduate from college. Others say that it is as hard as you make it. One person even said "If you don't have a relative that is already in the industry, give up now". This really doesn't give me much hope.
2) How hard is it to stay afloat in this industry? I have heard that the film industry is one of the most unstable ever. You can do a project, and then be out of work for months. While I'm not looking to become rich or anything, I really would like to be able to support myself. I wouldn't want to go to bed wondering if I'll have enough money to pay the bills.
3) Getting a job? I would have put this in question 1, but it didn't seem to fit for me. Anyways, from most people, I've heard that once you graduate college, you should generally try to get internships or jobs on small films so you can gain experience so you can show people what you can do. You'll progressively get bigger and bigger jobs until finally one day, you'd have a stable job. I'm most definitely willing to put the work in but how long would you say it would take? Actually, I guess the question would be would you recommend getting a second job while you wait to get bigger and bigger products?
4) I'm interested in becoming "the guy that holds the camera". The reason I say it like that is because "cinematographer, videographer, and director of photography" seem to imply the same job yet mean different things. Can anyone explain to me what the difference between these are? If someone were to ask me what I want to go to college for, I would be scared to tell them because I wouldn't know if I were saying the right thing.
5) How would I go about becoming "the guy that holds the camera"? I live in Georgia and would be interested in going to the University of Texas or the University of Florida. But... in my tenth grade year of high school, I goofed off and my GPA suffered. Now I don't think I'll be able to get into those (maybe UT since they don't look at your GPA) but what would be my backup plan for the film industry? Is the college you choose that important?
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