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Film School, or No Film School?

If your like me, chances are you probably want to find out how to get work in the industry you study. Or your considering pursuing film as a degree.

If your not in film school yet, don’t go. Your spending $100k a year to learn stuff you can find out on YouTube. The best reason to go to film school, is the connections. Professors often times have been on the field for much longer than most of us film geeks. And they know what they’re doing. Its also good to go to meet other passionate buddies like yourself. And thus, you form your own personal production team to pump out some decent projects of your own.

As much as it comes to mind, film school is better if you just find a film program in your community college. Because HD equipment is so cheap now that community colleges have the same cameras that name colleges have. Its a lot cheaper, and the local internships might be better for you to find.

And to be honest, most of the “job leads” are from someone searching on craigslist, and other job sites. They just make it easier for you by making a list of legitimate opportunities.

If your already in film school

Chances are, if your already deep in the system like me. Don’t fret, you just won’t have as much time on your hands to seek out the right opportunities.

You’ve probably made some good contacts, asked advice from your professor, and looked out for any film opportunity you can find.

But all of it is within the student community. And this is where your problem lies.

In order to move up the ladder from film student, you must become a PA on a professional set. At least you will be paid, and you will meet people with connections. A lot of film schools won’t actually teach you this.

If you have an uncle who is in the biz, then your one hundred times ahead of the student paying $30k a year to work on a student set.

But thats beside the point.

The Central Booking Service is a great tool to find some work in the film biz here in Boston. It’s very competitive but its certainly worth a shot to get your foot in the door big time.

Finding an internship can also help, but you may have to take a lot of time searching for legit ones. Remember, getting your foot in the door will help you big time.

Putting yourself out there

I myself, am on a quest to do the same as you. So how do you do this?

You stand out.

Make a website, and showcase some of your work. With the internet, you basically have a portfolio and reel ready to go and to show off to anybody. I recommend Webs.com because of its simple user friendly interface, and since I’m not really a website guy I needed this big time. Got myself a domain name and put myself out there. I don’t get frequent visits, but its a way to pin point all of my work into one spot.

YouTube is good for this too, but its better for you to have a webpage for yourself. Its more professional, and it shows you mean business.

Good reels and a resume are great, but a website to keep them all in one spot really helps you in the long run. So when applying to any film/video job, I send over my production company website Rain Rider Productions and they have a look.

It makes my work easier.

Anything Else?

NewEnglandFilm.com has some good places to start. Its better for casting posts for your own projects. But occasionally has the job posts for paid crew gigs. Use it mostly to connect with other people, find production companies and services. Network like crazy.

YouTube has become the new way to make a living. If you can stay consistent with your content, and pump out some really good stuff, you could make a good living off of it. People make $300,000 annually from ads on their videos. And they really just make videos with webcams and greenscreens. Imagine what you could do with your film school connections. I recommend YouTube celeb Freddie Wong’s article on how you can be successful too.

OnlineVideoContests.com explains itself quite well. Win some money or get exposure, and all it takes is to make a sweet video. Poptent is similar as well.

If you didn’t get the idea, just put yourself out there and get as involved as you can. And find your way onto a pro film set.

Making a Living Until my Dreams come true…

If you looked around on my site for a bit. I offer video services, and usually request that they sent me a budget quote, and I tell them what I can give them with that. Usually taking out my fee from that budget.

Other times, I just charge cheap for some simple video gigs. It ends up being fairly simple to do.

Chances are, people will give you a hard time about paying you more than 50 bucks for a video shoot that would usually cost more.

So when you price your gigs, think about a few things

• Labor costs – Is it a lot of work?
• Rentals – If you own a camera, and someone hires you to use yours, it counts
• Time – How much time will it take?
• Set a daily rate – Usually people would rather pay you with one fee, so charge them per day. The higher in demand you get, the more your price can go up
• Find a niche - If your good at doing one specific thing, or you want to do something specific, do that. Be a freelance editor, videographer, writer, etc. Do specific gigs like music videos, or weddings. Or be creative and find a market on something new, somebody actually makes money off of doing “day in the life” videos. People pay for this stuff, so the skies the limit. And don’t worry about being original, execution is key. Anybody could have come up with the “day in the life” idea, but if he’s bad at doing it, and your better, you will benefit.
• Be sure your paid - People will try to rip you off. Make sure they get nothing until the money is yours. Otherwise, people will take your hard work and not pay for it.

Passion will find you success, so stay passionate and you will find stability.

Best of luck!

-MC