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Good sidejobs before getting any real work?


Riku Naskali

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Out of UCLA, I was a forms designer & back-up typesetter for Transamerica Insurance Group back in 1984-88, after which I went to graduate film school.

 

After film school, I worked part-time for about a year as a data inputter for a sound efx company.

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I've done it all. Worked at a gas station, delivered newspapers, cleaned silos in a brewery, driven a cab, bicycle messenger, spliced reels, been a projectionist in cinema, popcorn vendor, usher, ticket vendor, washed cars at Avis, clapper/loader, assistant cameraman, dolly grip.

 

What finally got me to give a up a 'real job', even though I really couldn't afford to, was that every time a film job came in on short notice I could never get leave from the job! I missed out on a couple of jobs like that - which hurts when all you want to do is be on a set. So I decided enough was enough and I'll just try to get by on whatever I can as long as I don't have to say no to any more film jobs.

 

My recommendaton is to have a job that can be done without affecting other people or that can be easily postponed if a film job comes up. This is easier said than done of course, since most jobs require you to be somewhere at a certain time and for a certain duration.

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I did the worst thing imaginable before I could shoot film full time: On-Air Promos for a TV network!!

 

Think of the horror! I did mostly movie promos. All day watching movies and re-cutting them into 30 second promos. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!

 

R,

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All day watching movies

Yeah - Can't get worse than that! <_>

 

Try to get work in the movie/TV business but in a lower position. Be a production assistant or do craft service or location dept assistant. You'll meet other people with the same dreams and you can rise through the ranks together. Those jobs are relatively easy to get, and the work will keep coming if you're any good at it.

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I agree with Tim -- there's no reason for your "real" job to be something outside the industry. The work will help qualify you for your film projects, and your film experience will help qualify you for promotions at work. Be prepared to hop jobs occasionally to take advantage of better opportunities, and give it time. Eventually you'll have enough qualifications to always be able to pick up some kind of film work somewhere.

 

After college I've only worked in the TV/film industry, while getting a lot of good experience. I had a couple staff positions here and there, but always ended up freelance again for one reason or another. I was a staff cameraman for a cable channel, while doing PA work and editing freelance at the same time. I was a production staffer at a small production company for a while, while shooting my own music videos on the side. On occasion I was able to edit my own projects with company equipment, back in the day before affordable desktop. And of course the people you meet and stuff you learn helps you immensely in trying to advance your own production experience.

 

I know a writer-director whose "day job" is with a company that does test screenings, and he's learning SO much about the process by dealing with the directors, producers, and studios of major films.

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Well, I can get easily jobs in the industry but nobody is going to pay any money for them! A couple of months ago I was working as a spark "trainee" in this low-budget (less than million) movie, where they had something like 10 trainees due to budgetary reasons. I failed to see how the trainee positions differed from the real ones, except of course there was no pay, And there's literally hundrends of students eagerly waiting to do these kind of jobs... You have to remember that I'm in Finland. About ten movies are shot per year and everything is in such a microscopic scale compared almost to any place.

 

This was my second feature I was working on, so I do have some experience. Also I've worked in about ten commercials. About two of them paid something. Shot a lot of stuff in school and some own projects.

 

I've decided I won't do it anymore for free, at this point I feel I deserve to get paid even something. And it is simply too much of a financial stress to move to a different city at my own cost and then work for nothing.

 

Usually when students do this kind of work, no matter how good they do it, they just can't get up the ranks. Producers just take some other free students for their next project.

 

I have no intention to make anything other my "real" job, but then again, how can you give it a time if you don't have anything to eat...

 

Adam's suggestion is exactly what I had in mind. I just don't think there is such a job, unless I'd have my own small business. And that requires way too much focusing. Ah well, maybe it's time to move into a cardboard box :P

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Hi,

 

Yes, I think a lot of this advice is very LA-focussed, where it seems to be disturbingly easy to fall into news camera positions which I'd consider very desirable and hard to get, certainly in London.

 

Anywhere else, it's entirely usual for people to do completely unrelated things on the side. This is why LA crews are so much more experienced; the people we have working in the UK are beginners by comparison.

 

Phil

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"Ah well, maybe it's time to move into a cardboard box "

 

If you can get one! I hear there are 1000 film students on the waiting list for cardboard boxes.

 

R,

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Yes, I think a lot of this advice is very LA-focussed, where it seems to be disturbingly easy to fall into news camera positions which I'd consider very desirable and hard to get, certainly in London.

 

Keep in mind I got my start in St. Petersburg, Florida; not exactly a hotbed of moviemiaking although some features and commercials did roll through to make use of the pretty locations. I took what PA and grip work I could on those for experience, but they didn't pay much of anything. Instead I made my money doing more regular video stuff like corporate video and the cable gig I mentioned.

 

Even if there isn't film work where you live, there is almost always a local television industry of some sort. It may not be glamourous, and they may not be hiring entry-level positions right away. But such is any field.

 

Straight out of college I met the guy who taught the local cable access class, something I was even qualified to do at the time. He was able to introduce me to the "local origination" arm of the cable company, where I got a part time gig as production "crew," which involved everything from lighting to camera to pulling cable at live truck events. Also not a high payer, but it was an "in" to regular job in the industry and kept me going.

 

Better free-lance gigs followed, and I began climbing my way up the production ladder in a "small pond." I kept this up for TEN YEARS before moving to LA.

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Nah, Phil is bang on with this one. You have NO idea how competitive it is even for the undesirable, unpaid jobs over here on n o-budget productions, and even 95% of that is restricted by nepotism and association favoritism.

 

I don't usually like to comment on all this stuff, it stinks of bitterness and attention seeking from anyone who speaks up, and we all KNOW it's a highly competitive game dictated by luck. However, it must be made clear that in the UK especially, it's a big accomplishment winning the opportunity to shadow a PA, let alone getting a DAY JOB as one! I hold a day job that isn't what my future is, but it gets me (a little bit of) money to go to London and do lots of unpaid work which I do on weekends, plus I'm helping out on other big film related projects. I'll do 8-12 hours at the crap house, then come home and work another 4-8 hours organising my unpaid work on the phone and computer, followed by weekends out of town working. I hate to burst your bubble if you thought otherwise, but most of us from the UK who aren't lucky from London/rich or just plain lucky do this, and often for many years until we're blessed by luck and an opportunity. It filters out many wannabes but it also can financially stiffle/cripple the people the industry needs, many of whom I've seen lost, which is devastating. Then again, this country has never been at the forefront as far as vision is concerned...

 

I recommend getting casual, temporary employment. You can take the time off when you want to, which is the only reason for doing it. You can dump it ina heartbeat or say "tomorrow, I won't be here till the week after next". The downside is the work is unskilled, soul crushing and mindnumbing and the pay is minimum wagish- but it's a small price to pay really if you are serious about getting into the mad world of media!

 

Determination and Perserverence (the letters DP, incidentally :) ) alligned with luck will keep things moving slowly forward!

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"Then again, this country has never been at the forefront as far as vision is concerned..."

 

Excuse me but have you never heard of the "British Empire?"

 

While Europe and the US where tearing themselves apart, the UK moved forward with more vision than any one in history. Just think a tiny island in the North Atlantic that owned 1/3 of the earth's total real estate. The UK may be quite different today, that's true, but it wasn't always this way.

 

If production work in the UK is so bad move to Toronto, then at least you can work on US features without actually being in the US. Should be easier for you to enter Canada than the USA. Plus there are no remnants of a "class system" in Canada.

 

R,

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Hi,

 

> it also can financially stiffle/cripple the people the industry needs

 

That's my greatest fear when you see all these young(er than me, even) people coming out of A-levels and film school and expecting it to pay the bills... and it just won't, ever. I was asked just the other day how to get into the film industry and I had to reply "Don't, because you will never have a pension or any property or any hope of a comfortable life; just don't bother." Sad but unavoidably true.

 

Phil

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Dear old disgruntled filmmakers,

 

Stop whining and get new jobs. If you're not where you want to be, blame yourselves. Not that I'm anything important in this world, I'm not, but I don't think the younger members of this board are buying into your cliches about the film industry. Why? Because there are young and older filmmakers alike out there with positive attitudes that take them to the top of their game. It's your own damn faults for being, ultimately, lazy pessimists.

 

Love,

Jon

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hi, I was just wondering what kind of odd-jobs you have done for living before "getting in". Who knows, maybe some good ideas will spring to my mind, too ;)

 

I remember David working several years selling insurances, or something like that.

 

You can always sell yourself on the corner...

 

Make your own hours, get cash.....

C?mon guys I bet there are a few of ya out there that just might consider goblin to pay the rent!

 

HA! Stop your whining....boo hoo why cant I do this, Why cant I do that, Why cant everyone recognize me as a great filmmaker!?!?!

 

Why cuz yer all still wet behind the ears, you dont stop to pay attention and listen instead your trying to hock your tired A*S at every trade show on earth and most of all you think you are a filmmaker because you shoot your little sisters b-day parties, cut on your Mac and burn a DVD for grandma.

 

PICK UP A FILM CAMERA AND MAKE A REAL FILM FOR A MOMENT WILL YA!

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