Saturday, March 10, 2012

Why Ought I To Work Free Of Charge In The Film-Making Industry?

By Owen Jones


If you are dreaming of a job in the film industry, you share a dream with millions of other young hopefuls whether you want to stand before or behind the camera.. The problem is that there are too many people chasing too few posts. This means that the film industry has the luxury of being able to pick and choose who works in it.

With such a lot of competition for even the lowliest of lowly entrance level jobs, you need an edge over your competitors. This edge is education at degree degree for most young people, but for others it is previous experience or, even better, a degree in film-making and previous experience.

This is where it gets difficult. How can you obtain previous experience, if you need previous experience to get a job? It is the Catch 22 that discourages most novices from jumping that final hurdle into the film industry. The solution is to offer your services free of charge as a volunteer - what is frequently called as an intern.

In the bad old Victorian days and before, it was normal for apprentices to pay their master for their education. Well, those days are back again in the film industry, if they ever went away. These days, you pay by working for nothing for a year or two.

This is not so bad in countries where school leavers may rely on social security payments, otherwise you have to have wealthy parents who can support you. A personal recommendation from someone already in the industry is very helpful as well.

This is why the sons and daughters of well-known media personalities seem to be cropping up everywhere in the industry. Nepotism is alive and well.

However, procuring that first career, paid or not, is a great pleasure and fills the volunteer with hope of a new career in the glittering world of the film industry, although you may not find it so glittering when you see the industry from the inside. The hours are long and the money is not fantastic at the bottom of the ladder.

The happy news is that the experience of your first job, paid or not, will go on your resume and establish your entry into the film industry.

For the remainder of your life. you will always be able to say: "I first went into films in 2011" and the second and subsequent jobs will come more readily if you were good at it.

You will not merely have a resume proving experience but you will have names and private phone numbers in your address book. This is worth as much or more than the experience. Networking and making friends is crucial in small, tightly-knit industries like filming. Everybody in the business knows everybody else.

This procedure of gaining a foothold in the film industry is built-into numerous college courses these days, because it is recognized as one of the only ways in, if your parents were not in it first.




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