myth #1
you need a college degree to break into film
Bad Boy Quentin
That is a myth. Quentin Tarantino was a high school drop out at the age of 15. At one point his Mother grounded him for shoplifting, not a pair of Nike’s or a new video game, but a book, Elmore Leonard's novel The Switch from Kmart. He was obsessed with stories. That’s because he was a writer and his passions were telling stories. He took acting and writing classes where he met his future collaborators and his creative team started to form. When he landed his first paid gig it was to help write the script “From Dusk till Dawn” with Robert Kurtzman. In writing his first movie, “Reservoir Dogs”, it took just 3 weeks to write. When it came screaming into the box office, nothing was the same for Quentin. Fame arrived. With no formal education. Notice the word “formal” here.
“When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, no, I went to films.” Quentin Tarantino
educate yourself
If you have that kind of drive, that passion for the film business then, maybe you too can make it without having a formal degree. But Quentin was educated, self educated. He had the drive, the talent, the tenacity plus he took the time and effort to educate himself in his craft. Any education, whether formal or informal, is important and should not be cast aside lightly. There are some real advantages of getting a formal degree before you enter the market and in this series we cover some of those advantages and what getting a degree can bring you in real world terms.
learn your craft
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Either you can go to college where you may have a leg up when you enter the film market or you do it like Quentin, work a part time jobs and take the time to learn your craft in different venues such as acting and writing classes, on-line classes and other forms of learning. If you can learn the job actually on the job, that’s the best of both worlds. But make no mistake, the learning curve is steep if you have no knowledge about the business. Look around for some alternative education, not only this course but other types of organizations and community classes that will help you break-in and then become successful at climbing that ladder.
myth #2
You have to live in NY or LA to work in film
That is a myth. If you’re already living in a metropolitan area with plenty of production work, then your current location should offer you the work you need to break into the business. But if you’re living in a smaller town and you think you’ll need to move to a larger city to find a job in film, that may not be necessarily true.
Depending upon the size of your community, it may be easier to break into the industry right where you live. Getting that initial experience can be challenging and depending on what kind of film work is around you, it might be easier to break in where it’s familiar to you.
New York filming from inside one of the JP Morgan Bank Offices. Photographer Robin Kincade (2014)
Sacramento Fair with Spectrum Films. Randy Bond, Director and Landy Hardy, Director of Photography (DP). Photographer Robin Kincade (1998)
A Larger Market is not always better
First, there will be more competition, more people applying for those coveted jobs.
Second, you’re familiar with your area where you live now. If you move to an unknown city you will have to learn where things are, who is who and that can take work, time and effort.
Third and most importantly, they’re not familiar with you. You’re not a known entity. This is really pretty important. Being a KNOWN ENTITY is key to being successful in the film industry.
Summer League, Las Vegas. PA escorting NBA Player. Sport events have many opportunities for PA’s. Pixelgun Studios, Mauricio Baiocchi, Producer. Photographer Robin Kincade (2018)
Look Local to your film community
Look around and see what’s in your area and find those places where film makers do their thing, events such as concerts, plays, radio and local television stations, universities for lectures series and live events, theaters, weddings. Anything you think is even remotely attached to the industry. go check it out and get your feet wet where you live now.
Once you have some initial experience you may want to branch out and actually move up to a bigger market to follow a career. Or you may be able to find exactly your tribe in your own forest. Some smaller markets have thriving film communities so access to possible work is not all about size. There are creative people that live everywhere. Find them.
Chicago, Illinois , working with the NBA. Chicago is #3 in the media market. Photographer Robin Kincade (2018)
Media Markets have a size
To get an idea of the size of market just search media market size, it’s all there. The media markets are all rated with a number so New York and Los Angeles and Chicago are the top 3 and it goes on from there. I think my initial market of Eureka, California was about 168 at the time I lived there; it’s now 197 (ouch!) so it’s still pretty small. So for me to move up to the Bay Area Market first I had to ‘jump’ markets to a mid-sized market, like Sacramento, California. But I worked in a smaller market for 10 years and had a fantastic time. I know many people who made their careers, good careers, in these smaller markets.
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