Sam Divey

Thanks for your input guys. I've briefly considered attempting to start out on my own, but the thing that's made me reluctant to go through with it is that I'm not one of those "business" types of people. What I am is one of those "too nice for their own good" types - ask me for a favour and the only thing that goes through my mind is whether or not I think I can do it. How it works out for me and what I stand to gain later on are rarely even an afterthought. When I did used to work in a bar, I used to feel guilty receiving tips. So I know I'm not the kind of person that's naturally cut out to be their own boss. But I suppose it's nothing I can't teach myself to get better at, and my current attitude certainly hasn't paid off so far. I'll definitely put more thought into that idea from now on. As far as equipment goes (it's looking more and more like I'm just gonna have to get something and figure out the consequences later), does anyone have any recommendations on some good quality, reasonably priced entry level gear? From the research I've done I'm leaning towards the Nikon D3200, but if there are other video-capable cameras in that sort of price range that you think I should consider, I'd love to know. DSLRs are something I have no hands-on experience with and I think it's time I did something to change that.

Thank you for your reply, Phil. I was holding off before I came back here just in case anyone else had something else to day, but it doesn't look like it so far. Leaving the country to find work isn't an option for me unfortunately, at least not in the foreseeable future. I think your evaluation of the industry here sounds a bit cynical, although I'm aware that the line between "being cynical" and "being realistic" can sometimes get blurry and maybe I just don't know any better. Regardless, I do appreciate you giving me your honest opinion. It's helped me realise that I need to take things more seriously than I used to. I know that there are a lot of people in a similar situation to myself all competing for the same jobs, and that the odds are stacked against me. I've been trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to improve my chances, but besides trying to gain more experience I'm not sure what else I could do. Also, I don't know of any other good ways to get the experience and knowledge that people are looking for, other than from learning on the job (which I'm not getting in the first place). I've looked into training courses, but that involves having the money to pay for them, which leads me back to the "what kind of job is close enough to what I want to do that I can use to earn an income in the meantime?" question that I'm struggling to answer. I could go back to bar work or working in retail just to get some money together. But if there's a different type of job I haven't considered that involves skills that are more transferable to the film/TV industry, I'd much rather look into something like that.

I'm not really sure about the best way to start this, so I'm just going to jump right into it. I studied film at university and graduated back in 2009. Ever since then I've known that I wanted to do something creative for a living and films felt like the best option. Having worked on a few amateur shorts (some while at uni, others since graduating), I know that the areas I'm most interested in are cinematography and screenwriting. Of the two, I think cinematography has more potential for offering a more stable income, so I'm hoping to build a career around it while carrying on with the writing as a hobby of sorts. The trouble is it's now 2014, I'm 25 years old, and I have very little to show for it. I can count the number of jobs I've had in the past 4-5 years on my fingers. I don't really have any equipment of my own or the money to afford it. The only people I know who are interested in film-making are friends from uni, who are all at least a 1-2 hour drive away so as much as I'd love to spend all my free time making films and practicing the craft with them, it's not the most practical option due to petrol costs and my current lack of income. I'm applying for every runner/production assistant/camera assistant/kit room trainee etc. job I can find, but in the rare cases that I do hear back from or get an interview with employers, I often end up as the "we wish we could have hired you both, but..." runner-up candidate. Something about my approach isn't working - I'm not getting the jobs, or the opportunities to learn and gain experience, that I want and need - and I don't know what the solution is. My current thinking is this - I need some way of generating income so that I can afford to get some equipment together. Once I have a camera and some lights and everything else, I can start practicing in my own time and do something about my lack of experience and limited skill-set. With more knowledge under my belt, I stand a better chance at getting the kind of jobs that I want. However, I need some advice on what kind of jobs to be looking for. I don't want to end up working somewhere that eats up all my time, keeping me from being able to jump on opportunities for film work as and when it comes up. I also don't want to get stuck somewhere where the only skills and experience I'm gaining are largely irrelevant to what I want to eventually do. I don't imagine that sitting in a cubicle, 9 to 5, punching numbers into a computer teaches you much about being a competent camera operator or DP. I understand that some sacrifices will have to be made, but I don't want to make too many just to get something, only to later find out that all I've accomplished is wasting more time getting nowhere closer to my end goal. I guess that's everything. I'm sorry that this turned into a bit of a rant, but as you can probably tell I find my current situation incredibly frustrating. I feel like I have all this potential, and it's going to waste because I don't know how to make use of it. I don't imagine I'm the only person in the world who feels like this, either. Anyways, if you've read this far then thank you for taking an interest. Absolutely any advice that anybody can offer, even if it's something you don't think I'll want to hear, would be massively appreciated. I just need to figure out how to change things for the better.