In which city do you reside?

@RyanPW

Your topic is an interesting one to me; that’s why I’m responding. Take what I say with a grain of salt or not.

I’ve been a director/cameraman for over 25 years. Christ in a basket?! I’ve always felt it was part of the job to mentor some people along the way - and I have. I tried teaching [what I do] in a college one year, but it didn’t work for me, because I’ve still too much to learn.

Loved the students, loathed the institution.

Most of those “kids” I’ve mentored are working full time at the top of their game. In short, they now have my job. Makes me happy, but would make me happier if I could make ends meet. I’m a dop on the union and a director on the union (actually the dir. Guild booted me for not paying the dues) None of this makes a difference. I do handyman jobs( breaking concrete can be as satisfying as getting a great take) in between huge commercials and goofy corporate videos and very little 2nd unit stuff on big films. Whoop – de –do!

I’m a lackluster pavement pounder and distrustful of most “content” producers. That’s MY problem. And I’m working on that.

I’m working on it here: by grabbing a gh2 and turning my “profession” into my hobby, my art. I’m doing it backwards.

My brother is a stills guy and I think he got it right at the start by learning and loving and shooting and learning… Then he started to work for pay – and Mum do they pay him!

Right now in Vancouver, every street corner has a guy or gal with a dslr, tripod, and slider, day and night. It’s a desired career and demo reels abound. I love that all these new filmmakers are around, but they take up space, so getting paid to shoot and cut something is more difficult, eh.

The gist of this is this: Don’t be cynical! Do YOUR thing if getting paid isn’t working, or the whore factor is too high.

Hell! A film about DSLR hipsters in competition with old scallywag chemical film dogs like me would be good fun and right in front of you.

Give’r while you can Ryan and all others!

What everyone else said is great advice. However, it can take you a long time to find your big break. In the meantime if you have good ideas and friends that aren’t busy try making short films or sitcoms and post them on youtube.

If you can’t grab attention on youtube then you probably will have trouble grabbing the attention of some famous producer if you ever get the chance to show them your stuff.

If your videos on youtube are good then people will watch them and you will get paid by the ads that appear on the videos(don’t expect it to be a lot though) . If your work is good enough it will grab attention and help you get your foot in the door.

There are no guarantees with anything. However, going out there and showing your work to as many people as possible is a much better option than grabbing coffee for someone.

Do a 27-sec TV ad for free. Consult, concept. script, shoot and post. Make a contract with the client so it gets good runs.

Do it well and you need never try to prove yourself again.

@dbp - good luck out there. Holy, Vangroovy can be too much. It is for me and I'm old. So, I live in the interior. Not the best career idea, but it's peaceful.

These stories are definitely helpful. Interesting to hear about Vancouver, did not realize it was such a haven for video production...I'm not saying that I'd like to be a producer/writer/director right off the bat, but even wedding jobs, live events at bars and clubs, any job where your boss knows more about video than you do, seem to be scarce these days. They're scarce for the very reasons you've posted, that every DSLR hipster on any given corner (myself included) could, and very well should shoot a person's wedding better than you do. It's frustrating, because I could have very well skipped going to school and focused my money straight into gear. Hell, I could have a whole red camera setup right now if I didn't decide that an institution was a better route for myself. And of course I wouldn't have given up those four years for a tool I wouldn't be able to appreciate otherwise, but that's neither here nor there. I'm interested in things like what @goanna is saying. Create something that is worthwhile. It's hard when you've moved and don't know anyone anymore - I'm located in the Tampa FL area right now but I'm originally from Michigan (graduated from MSU) where all my film making friends are from. Right now I'm just hoping to get a job somewhere in Chicago/New York, but I feel like not living there is already going to be a huge "no thanks" sign to those who check out my resume anyways. I want to know how to bypass the system. It sounds sneaky, maybe even dishonest, but let's be honest, the system is against us filmmakers from the get go.

I think you're right though, I can't get cynical just yet. But, as my generation has taught me, there really is no reason to do it the 'wrong' way anymore. If you want to become something, you have to plan for it, and you have to make the right moves. There's too many rich snobs that will take your job because you didn't cut around enough corners to play ball with them. It's an odd way of looking at things, keeps one feeling hungry, but I feel like it is the only way to move up, to do the things you truly want to do in life. I don't mind doing PA work, I don't mind whatever job gets me closer to what I actually want to do, but I just don't want to end up at a job where I'm growing underneath someone who doesn't know anything about video, because then my creativity is going to be taken for granted, and frankly it's being wasted on corporate nonsense. I don't mind a creative job that gets someone else there money, but don't make it meaningless for me, or else I'm going to have to cut some corners to get what I want, know what I'm saying?

@mythmaker Great post. Hardboiled and real world. Personally, growing up in Hollywood, I'd say your story, if anything, is successful one, since, despite lacking fame and fortune, you're not working as a nurse and doing all this on the side. What would you define as "Big Break"? Six figure script sale to a major?

Interesting topic.

Guys what do you thing about making cross interview. I mean, collect questions, and after this each one will make separate small video with their answers?

Do you know what you want to do yet?

What is this mindless corporate job you speak of.

I worked in corporate video for years, some of it was boring as hell but I never thought that it was mindless. I always did what I could to make it as interesting for client and me. Don't work for clients that take you for granted if you don't want to. My clients always took me for granted, they knew I would deliver.

There are going to be ups and downs the only thing you can control is the way you feel about it.

From the tone of your post it sounds like you want to work in the film/tv world. Move to where that is happening.

OK Here was the secret to getting started in the business back in the 90's (not sure if its still true today, left the business in 2000) NOTE: this also assumes that you know your shit very well.

1. Move to Hollywood you can also do NY but its expensive to live there.
2. Interduce yourself to all the rental houses sell yourself as and a grip that just moved to the area.
3. Grip for anything that comes up. Be awesome at your job. Know how to be liked. DO NOT WORK FOR FREE unless it with someone that you really want to work with.
4. You have now gotten your foot in the door and opportunities will start to come up all the time. Now is also the time to really think about if you want to be in this business. ie: long long long days, good pay but no benefits, not remotely as glamourous as you thought, EARLY mornings..... ect Oh ya don't be a PA starting out if you can avoid it, grip is a way better starting position.

I sort of got into the game diagonally, not really a Photographer / Videographer originally.

I got my MA-exam in Fine Art, became a dad (the boy came the same week as my final exhibition) and suddenly everything was on end. After a couple of months of real dissaray I got my shit together, started a business, got a desk at a production company and went for every possible job. Through hard work and endless research I´m now in a position where I´m pretty comfortable with a lot of stuff and I realize I have a LOT to offer. Knowledge and skills that are not widely available, although it´s not easy to make potential employers / customers aware of this (because I´m mostly behind the camera)! And people can be skeptical about someone who isn´t a specialist in one thing only; especially so if you are skilled in a lot of different areas.

My own personal network is not large enough yet; I still can´t be too picky about the work I do (the shitty jobs are available because no-one wants them - a good source of income if you can make money without working your ass off); nor do I have any competence as a salesman. Good relationships with a few good people ensure that I get enough fun jobs to make the boring ones worthwhile, and the mutual trust that comes from successfully working closely together with a few good people can be pretty powerful.

Find a good bunch of people, and stick with it. If you get stuck, move. That is the best advice I can get.

@B3Guy "I'm going all the way. Feature length. Why not, I've done 20+ minute shorts. There seems to be this unspoken warning that you can't do a feature length film without a sizable crew and budget"

Sweet and you should give it a go. I really love awesome films that were shot on a micro budget.

Guys, > before text work for citations very good :-)

@rockroadpix

wow day rate is $300 for a grip now! You kids have it good.

My advice will only work if you know your way around a set. I would hope that after film school you would know how a C-stand works and what a C47 is. (but I would not know, never went to film school and oddly neither did anyone I worked with)