what cites have the best video production market?

cecil995

cecil995

Well-known member
Hey all,

I am contemplating moving to a city with a strong film or video production market (i.e. good choice of jobs). I know that LA and NYC are the two top places, but I want to explore other options. I am kinda leaning towards either North Carolina (Raleigh or Charlotte area) or Arizona. Anyone have any input just let me know.

Thanks
 
Yeah, don't move out of America. Either you will be shot down my terrorists 70,000ft above earth or you will really have a shi-ty chance at getting into the film industry.
 
Ki-Ki said:
Yeah, don't move out of America. Either you will be shot down my terrorists 70,000ft above earth or you will really have a shi-ty chance at getting into the film industry.
Click to expand...


lol. wow .. i didnt know terrorists could fly that high.
 
I imagine that almost any large city will be able to sustain your kind of work. I know that on the west coast, in addition to LA, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco have a lot of video work available.

It's more related to indie filmmaking, but the current issue of moviemaker magazine rates the top ten cities for movie production. Might give you an idea, but I'm not really sure what specifically you do or are looking to do.




(yo, Kiki, that banner is huge-mongus. You might want to scale it down to less than 569x70 before a mod calls you out on it. :))
 
lol. wow .. i didnt know terrorists could fly that high.
Click to expand...

I was watching 'House MD' for 5 hours straight so being an idiotic sarcastic jerk was drummed into me. I don't know how high planes can fly. -_-
 
There is work outside of the US here in Canada. :) I do know that Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are all big film cities. I live in montreal and there's lots of stuff here, but I heard there's even more in Vancouver. I don't know which cities in the US though. There's lots of indie stuff, but also hollywood comes to these cities to film a lot due to tax cuts or something.

But I'm assuming you wanted to stay in the US. :D
 
Working in Vancouver or in any Canadian city as a US citizen in this industry just does not work. I originally looked into the idea of moving to Vancouver after I graduated, but once I figured out all the hardships that would be placed upon me as a US citizen I dropped that Idea quickly.
Honestly Seattle is a great place with lots of support for indie film makers, as well as professionals. While not a whole ton of hollywood productions are shot here, Seattle is working hard to make that change, whether they are succesfull or not really doesn't matter, as the harder they work for film makers the better.
It used to be impossible to get film permits in Seattle, now they are cheap and liberal.
 
yeah... me too :( But I love Canada too much to leave.
Click to expand...

- Glanced at his home made Atom Bomb in the corner, then gave the nod to his stealthy Rainbox Six team. Canada wouldn't stand a chance... -
 
Ki-Ki said:
- Glanced at his home made Atom Bomb in the corner, then gave the nod to his stealthy Rainbox Six team. Canada wouldn't stand a chance... -
Click to expand...

-Looked over to the Canadian army and navy, all of 10 soldiers and a row boat, and sent them out with their muskets ready. Catapaults loaded with the most fearsome of all beavers... America won't know what hit them...
 
move to San Diego if you want sunshine but plan on doing wedding videos for the rest of your life. there isnt enough jobs for the handful of videomakers that live there and most are forced to move to LA.
 
I live and work in Downtown Bethesda, MD (Washington D.C) in television. Have you considered a move to the nation's capital? There is a lot of oppurtunity here, with several shows, stations, films, etc. working out of the area. Discovery Channel is based in Silver Spring, National Geographic is based in D.C., AMC is based here, and I could go on and on. Not to mention all of the film production that comes through. Just a thought.
 
I have heard that Austin, TX is a big film production market. Its warm there too! LOL! Can't go wrong with the Orlando or Miami area too. There are a lot of films and TV shows that are filmed in the Wilmington, NC area too. Its not quite big city but they do major work there.
 
Austin is a great place to live. But with the University of Texas churning out dozens of film majors every semester the competition for work is fierce.
 
I always hear about what a fun place Austin is. I know some people that went down there for vactation and are now living there full time. I am sure its a better place for a young single person rather than an old father like myself.

I always hear about how Raleigh is one of the fastest growing cities as well as top 5 place to live in the country, so I didn't know if anyone on here lived in that area and could give me some insight. I just need to get out of Pennsylvania and all this damn snow.
 
San Francisco doesn't really have that great a video market. It's really tight, there are entrenched people who score almost all the gigs, and what little that gets filtered to craigslist is copy/credit/meal only.

I've gotten by for the last few months and i'm building a network that's getting better, but it's not enough to survive off without my dayjob.

There is, however, a market, and there are jobs, so you can find a way. But it will be very tough, there's a lot of competition, a lot of people desperate to find anything they can to stay in SF, and a lot of people who aren't willing to pay who want you to come filmf or them.
 
You know whats funny since you mentioned Pennsylvania! I was just telling someone the other day that I need to do the same thing! I am so sick the cold and snow weather!! I work in PHILLY! It doesn't matter where you live because your always going to have to deal with something. It might not be cold but you might have to deal with Hurricanes or Tornadoes more or Earthquakes if you live on the west coast etc. Another funny thing is that I was looking at the Philadelphia Film office's website the other night and it listed all the films that were shot here in 2006 and I only saw the film crew trucks only twice the whole year! I work in an around the city and thought I would have seen much more on location shooting. I guess they must have been shooting on a sound stage or shooting somewhere to conceal their location from the public! LOL!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top