Getting somewhere

Things happen quickly in the industry. At least that's what it seems like so far. Something I've gleaned from reading other people's blogs is that there are hundreds of more qualified people out there than you. And with any position, everybody want's experience candidate but aren't willing to give experience. They just want you to be experienced from the get-go. The only advantage here is that those with experience expect (rightfully so) to be paid. There are TONS of unpaid positions out there for people looking to get their feet wet in the business. Two great places to look are the tv/film related areas of Craigslist and Mandy.com. Mandy is a website that offers low budget filmmakers a place to post crew openings on various projects. Most of them are LA-centric but if your bizarrely reading this blog in another city other than LA, there are some decent opening around the country.

With that as an introduction, I was able to land a position on an indie thriller that starts shooting next week. There was a position of Craigslist advertising for both a 2nd AD (Assistant Director) and 2nd 2nd AD. And it all came together incredibly quick - within a 24 hr period, I had set up an interview, interviewed and accepted the position. I'll be 2nd 2nd AD on the feature shooting from 1/17 to 2/1. It's a payless position but I'll get copy and credit (1st one!) and food during shooting days.

What I'm most excited about is finally getting some experience on a professional set. This will be my first exposure to a full film crew and I'm banking on being able to meet a talented group of people that could lead to future positions.

On a related note, you should really be reading The Anonymous Production Assistant Blog. Whoever it is, he's been working in the PA field for several years and has loads of frank/funny/terrifying/awesome anecdotes about his experience in the business. And job related links galore (Mandy.com came straight from him). So props to him for figuring it out for the rest of us.