How Can I Work In The Film Industry?
Hello, if you're here you have either seen a film I've worked on, or maybe you are just curious on how to start working in the film industry, either way I'm excited that you're here!
I have been working in film since 2019, and am a costumer in IATSE Local 479. On this journey I've learned a lot(and am still learning), but I think it's important to openly share information and knowledge, even if I haven’t reached 10 or 20 years in the industry yet. Film is very interesting work, and it can be hard to understand how it all comes together, or how to break into the industry if you don't know where to start.
So let's begin with where I got my start.
I never really considered a career in the film industry until I went to community college and took a film course as one of my electives, I was fascinated in the entire process from script to screen. I noticed the more projects I did in the class, the more time I would spend on decorating the set, or making the costumes, and overall just putting all the detail I could into the entire process. After that, I decided to switch my major to Film & TV and transferred to Regent University in Virginia Beach, here is really where I began to figure out all the different departments within the industry and slowly but surely I gravitated towards Set Decorating and Costume Design.
I began exploring the craft through working multiple student short films, and through hard work and making connections with other students, a snowball effect happened where I met more people and started getting hired to do the work after only 2 1/2 years of learning it. I know school isn't the answer for everyone, and especially with Film & TV it can seem pretty pointless to have student loan debt over a career field where you don't even need a degree in.
However, there is a reason why I stayed in school.
Firstly, my university at the time had a good amount of quality grip, gaff, and camera equipment; resources like a full prop shop, wardrobe area, editing labs, sound booths, equipment courses on how to use things like a jimmy jib, and multiple film stages. There was lot to learn about and experiment with, and THIS is the main reason why I found it so important to stay.
When you have access to all these things, and have courses where you get to create different films or TV productions with other students, it allows you to have a lot of freedom to take creative risks.
Secondly, college was able to give me material I can use to build up my reel, reels can be very important to show off your work and the quality that you have when it comes to your artistry. Now, regardless of weather you go to film school or not most people in the industry start out as a PA (Production Assistant), and while yes this will get you started in the industry and be able to make connections, it doesn’t always give you the room to practice your craft and take creative risks. That’s why student productions and personal short films can be a great blessing to really show off the creative work you can do with a limited budget.
Thirdly, networking is really the foundation of the industry, everything is based on who you know, so in college I was able to connect myself with a lot of people by working on their productions and doing a great job, and those students or professors I previously worked with were able to recommend me to other people in the industry, because they knew about the quality of work I could do.
Now what if you can't afford a university like that, or none of them in your area have that type of equipment and resources, or you just really don't want to go to college for this career? Well, you can still find a good number of opportunities to learn and perfect your craft. What I would recommend is experimenting and researching.
There can be a lot of resources freely available online to read and watch, and also your public library may have some good books full of information for you to learn on your own, but the biggest thing is to just go out and make stuff.
When you’re just starting out, don’t worry about making sure you have all these techniques mastered or a bunch of savings to make something, just keep making things! We all know practice makes perfect, and in the film industry that means experience, and that experience can come in multiple different forms as long as you’re passionate enough about perfecting your craft.
Nothing you create when starting out has to be lavish, you can use whatever you have around or even cheap materials from the dollar store. (P.S. don't sleep on the dollar store, I have used so many things there to help me with my set-decorating and it always turns out looking amazing. It's affordable, and with a creative mind you can make just about anything).
If you want to be a Set Decorator, then first try and practice creating something with a room in your house, or you can even just illustrate something you want to create until you are able to secure materials and a space to do it in. If you want to work in costumes, dress your friends in different styles, or even recreate movie looks you already love! Film everything, take pictures, and post it online!
By doing this, you are able to creatively take risks, get feedback, and make a portfolio and reel of your work. It's not going to be the best work at first, but it's a start that will help you learn and grow until you make something you are really proud of.
In college there were many times my friends and I would just use my house to film in, and everything we got to decorate the space with was either borrowed, cheaply bought, or stuff we already had lying around.
Take this picture below for example:
This is from a short film called Breathe by Austin Smith.
We shot mostly everything in my house at the time with the cheapest materials we could find, and some borrowed from friends and or our school.
Breathe is a post apocalyptic film set in the 90’s; After the fall of society due to a viral toxin that has caused the air to become nearly unbreathable, one survivor goes to find his wife, while leaving evidence of his intentions.
ZHIYUN Annual Short Video Contest 2019
As you can see, the design of the film doesn’t utilize a bunch of expensive props or costumes, it’s honestly just a bunch of household trash strategically placed to tell a story of a man living in the apocalypse, and it completely works. Any of the other locations used in the film were freely given to us to use by neighbors we had asked around town. Yet, with a team that is passionate, willing to learn, and will do anything to get the best shot, we all made something great, and even won some awards for our work from various film festivals.
How can you find student films or short films to work on if you aren’t in college?
Many people and colleges post on Facebook about their upcoming projects, in either the local film groups, or post casting and crew calls on acting pages. Find some you would want to volunteer on and send them a message asking if you can help on the production. If you don't have work to show, or have much experience in a certain department, then it's best practice to start as a PA.
And let me tell you, you will get on so many productions this way!
Student films usually have no budget, and it can be very hard to find people to work on such a small production for no pay. So, if you ask to volunteer and help out, more than likely they will accept the help and give you a job. Now, if you do a good job, be respectful and courteous to the space, equipment, cast and crew, then they will continue to ask you back to work on more productions. All of which you can get credit for and put towards your personal reel and portfolio.
After that, just continue to experiment, volunteer, network, and learn.
This is what helped me eventually get to work on productions like Hulu's Dopesick, Discovery’s A Haunting, Swagger on Apple TV, and Starz P-Valley just to name a few.
I hope this could be at least informative and inspiring, and if there is anything else you would like to know about me, my work, or just techniques I've learned, feel free to ask me a question below!
Stay Tuned! There’s more exciting blog’s coming your way!
