Your roadmap to your first job in film and TV
If you’re just starting your film career, it can be challenging to understand what jobs to start out in, which jobs you’d like to do, and how to go about finding work to get into those jobs.
Further, you may wonder if your background and skill set will be enough to work in this business. You may wonder if it’s too late to start a career in film. And if you’ve been trying to get into mainstream film work for a while, and are stuck in unpaid indie films, it can feel like the professional work is a closed shop.
Let me tell you—regardless of your background, what you’ve been doing for work, and your experiences you’ve had of trying to “get in”, you can be effective in getting to your goals in the film industry. This course will answer your questions, frustrations, and concerns.
Welcome to Film 101: Finding your first job in film and TV. The purpose of this course is to give you a roadmap for finding your first job in film and TV and avoid the bewildering struggle of how to get started so you can start living a great life doing what you love.
- You might be a film school graduate, who is never able to get enough work coming in professionally.
- You might have studied film, writing, or acting and have been working in 9-5 to make ends meet.
- Maybe you’ve made your own films and are wondering how to become known enough to get the funding and make film what you do for a living.
- Maybe you’ve worked as a production assistant or runner but the work has been sporadic.
- Maybe you’re like me and you’ve been working in another field, but you realize what you want now is a creative job.
Whatever background you have, the film industry will welcome you. I have worked with people who were previously police officers, doctors, attorneys, people working at restaurants, in retail, or even at a call center.
Don’t be concerned about whether your current skills and experience are enough. You can always learn new ways of attracting new opportunities.
Also, don’t think it’s ever too late to start working in this industry. People decide to go into film at many different times of their lives so it’s never too late to enter the industry and start doing what you love.
My background and experience
I graduated with a business degree and started working in sales. After a few years, I realized that sales, and the ordinary world, was not my future.
I quit my job, cashed in my retirement, and bought around-the-world ticket. It was when I was in Africa, that I saw a film crew. That gave me the idea that I wanted to work for National Geographic.
Before I saw this film crew, I hadn’t had any exposure to the film industry whatsoever. But seeing the film crew, it felt like a bolt of lightning hit me, and I realized that film could be a great fit for me. However, I knew absolutely nothing about the film industry.
I tried many things trying to figure out how to get started. I tried applying for jobs, making my own films, cold calling people, going to events. I tried asking people to keep me in mind for jobs. Nothing worked very well.
There were many moments of doubt and frustration—It felt like I was scratching on the window, seeing this amazing party happening, wishing to be let in.
That period of time where I was struggling, stuck in a life I didn’t want, trying to figure out how to get into film and feeling lost—that was my quarter-life crisis.
Eventually, I got started working on sets, and used that experience to get into the industry in LA.
Now I work in LA as a sound mixer, a department head in the top tier work in Los Angeles, working with Academy-award winning directors like Damien Chazelle… who shot Babylon, Lala Land and First Man, and Darren Aronofsky… who shot The Whale, Mother, and Black Swan. These are my clients.
I also have a bunch of celebrities like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey, who I work with regularly.
It’s important to know that I am incredibly in-demand working every week on sets. At 58 years old, I’m not teaching at a college about how it used to be… but super booked, currently in the game, and only becoming more in-demand.
There is so much work and only one of me, so I sent a lot of work to my colleagues. And doing that only brings more work back to me! You’ve got to learn how to become in-demand like this.
And that’s why it’s important to learn from people who are actively working in the industry today, not from those who are barely working, or just getting started, or were successful in the past. The industry is always evolving, and the game keeps changing!
I know how it felt back then, before I knew how to play the game.
That why I created Friends In Film—to streamline the process and help you see how the film industry really works.
By learning from my experiences and my mistakes, your pathway into the industry will be much quicker and more streamlined.
Those who have completed this Film 101 course have said that it’s knocked off many years from getting solidly into the industry.
One person was driving Uber and DoorDash, checking on Indeed and Staff Me Up for jobs. He was averaging just one film job in an entire year.
Now he is a camera operator and DP and gaffer making up to $1,000 per day working on feature films, vertical TV series, podcasts, and music videos. He’s making $5-7000 a month in the film industry in Los Angeles.
Another person was working multiple jobs to pay the bills while working on no-budget shoots he’d find on Facebook. He realized, “This is not leading me into the kind of work I want to do.”
He didn’t know how to get out of the unpaid work and into bigger budget work.
He is now solidly in the industry, working for MTV and Netflix, also making up to $1,000 a day and working with celebrities like Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys, and Pete Davidson. He is even being paid to travel with a film crew, making $7,000 per month.
Look at our case study page to see thousands of people from around the world who were trying to get into the industry, trying everything they knew. Now they are IN and working for Netflix-level films.
It’s not just new people that I help get into the business. On set, I’m a mentor to many professionals who are already working on set but not doing what they came into the industry for.
I help them use being on set to get into their dream jobs.
The three steps in finding your first job in film and TV
There are three areas to getting your first job entering the film industry.
- Look at your skills and abilities to see what jobs you might want to do on set.
- Use your first 20 shoots to build a resume, IG, IMDb credits and most importantly, build skills. Make at least $200 per day.
- Be on professional sets 80% of the time to make connections and find your mentors, and be on amateur sets 20% of the time to get hands-on skills.
The result? Get into a craft job in 1 year making $1,000 per day, instead of it taking 10 years of PAing!
Avoid the quarter-life struggle of trying to become known and begging for work. Start your career with a formula that sets you up for work coming to you.
This course covers all four areas.
In Section 1, we will look to get your first on-set jobs, and how to gain the experience you need to get into directing, writing, acting, and cinematography.
Landing that first on-set job feels like a total mystery—until you gain that little bit of experience that helps you start getting in people’s phones and called for shoots when they need extra people.
You’ll learn how you can inch that door open for when they need extra people to get called for paid shoots! This will make things a lot clearer for you in knowing what to do to get the experience you need for the specific career you want.
You also get the comfort of understanding the complete picture, and save you from being stuck trying the same things, hoping for a different outcome.
In Section 2, we will look at how to look like a rockstar on set, and not a rock so you make a good impression and get asked back.
Knowing what these skills are early on will make the process of getting into your dream career a lot faster, and easier. I’ll also show you how to be prepared for film shoots, what to have with you in your backpack, how to dress, and how to look experienced for professional work.
How to make sure you’re asked back—what to do on sets to look like you’re a rockstar and common mistakes to avoid on professional sets.
In Section 3, we’ll also talk about how to feel confident on set.
You’ll see what you can do to prepare for your first job, what you might need to have with you, and how to be prepared for those long 12-hour days. This will give you the peace of mind of knowing that you will show up ready to work and haven’t missed anything important that you’ll need on the job.
This will allow you to better understand what’s going on around you on set and make you less likely to feel out of place.
Section 4, I’ll explain how to get into the kind of work that gives you the life you want. This will help you get going as soon as possible, and prevent you wasting time and money, going down avenues that are unlikely to result in anything but taking your money.
This will help you know what to do to get your first movie going, act in your first feature film, actually get your script made into a film. And most importantly, live the film lifestyle, making money in the film industry, while you do it.
This will help you avoid the pitfalls of being sucked into scams, from knowing how it really works, as well as give you confidence that you can do it, just follow what gets you working, connected with people, and learning every day.
It’s important for you to know that even with the Film 101 course, there’s still a lot of work to be done on your part. I’m happy to provide this guidance, but it’s going to be you that learns the skills, finds your first jobs, and does well on set to be asked back for another day and another day.
To give you some confidence, here is what my colleagues on professional sets say and people who have been through Friends In Film:
Imagine a life where you are getting paid $1,000/day to work on projects with celebrities we grew up watching on TV and movies. Janet taught me how to make this life my reality. You know you are destined for greatness and you deserve to make a living with your creativity. You just need a successful person to teach you how to make it happen. Janet is that person and shows you everything you need to know to make the life of your dreams happen. If you follow the steps laid out here, it will happen for you too.
—Omar Lopez, Netflix, PBS, MTV, NBC
I’ve been on thousands of shoots, all thanks to what Janet teaches here. I walk onto sets now as a Production Designer or Art Director, working with directors and producers I once PA’d for.
Before meeting Janet, I was a working actor—I loved it, but I knew I had so much more I could do. Janet showed me how to break into the LA industry, build a reputation as someone great to work with, and advance in the art department.
Today, I’m an Art Director and Production Designer for feature films, commercials, and music videos.
What you’ll learn here is how to get working. It’s the piece they don’t teach in film or acting school, but it’s the most important part. The technical skills come from being on set. Friends In Film teaches you what schools don’t—how to actually get working and rise fast in your career.
—Jake Tremblay, Commercial Production Designer, Art Director on Academy Award nominated film Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Netflix, Disney, NBC Universal, Paramore, Grimes, P!NK, Taylor Swift
I’m sure you still have lots of questions, and there will be plenty of opportunities to get them answered.
So with all of that considered, let’s get started. Enjoy the Film 101 course!
Janet Urban
Friends In Film
janet@friendsinfilm.com
