Demand: Enough people to work three times the number of shoots that would normally be happening.
Current Supply: The same number of people that were around before the COVID shutdown.
What’s going to happen? First, there isn’t going to be enough people to fill top roles like department heads. This will cause a lot of people to be shifted up, vacating mid and low level positions like ACs, Wardrobe Assistants, and PAs. Coordinators and department heads are going to have to dive deep into their contacts to find people to fill all the spaces, and there are going to be more scheduling conflicts than we’ve ever seen as production companies compete for the same equipment, locations, and manpower.
This is fantastic news both for complete newcomers as well as people who’ve been in the industry for a couple years. Opportunities are going to be everywhere.
If you’ve been in the industry for at least some time, this is going to be when you can keep your eye out for openings a level above what you’re working now. Let people in your network know you are open to that kind of opportunity and give them your availability.
If you’re brand new, three times the shoots means three times the normal amount of PAs are needed. When you’re starting out you will want to be getting on as many sets as you can, bringing your best energy, and working as hard as possible so you get remembered as being an asset and a great person. There will NEVER be an opportunity to expand your network as quickly as you’ll be able to once the industry fully opens up.
Production companies are trying to get some shoots done, but with all the safety procedures it’s been slow-going. The backlog of shoots keeps getting bigger. You will want to be ready to take advantage of the increasingly more insane number of shoots that will need to get done!
