How hard is it to find a steady industry job if...

L

Looch

New member
you're completely self taught? Suppose you had an amazing reel, and were competent in several areas, how difficult is it to find a job with a studio or in the industry? I'm not asking about any field specifically, just in general?
 
I got a job at a production company shooting and editing from just showing my work to them and showing that I had the necessary skills. I guess it varies company to company or studio and what area you want to work in.
 
suppose you had an amazing reel and were competent in several areas?

not that hard.

most people looking for steady industry work have neither of these though
 
In terms of the actual day-to-day work I do, I'm self taught (outside an introductory drafting class taken in college).

I started my first professional gig in Los Angeles about two weeks after moving here, and have managed to keep reasonably busy, since.

Generally speaking, people are interested in what you can do, not where you learned to do it.

Only one person, in the course of my career so far, has asked about my formal education - and he turned out to be someone with whom I would not care to work again, anyway.
 
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I was just talking about this with my wife this morning. I'm a college dropout. I dont tell clients that though. We have enough work doing corporate video, that we can afford to pick the jobs we take. Like Sad Max said, they are interested in what you can do, no where you learned it. Not a single person has asked about education or degrees. They want demo reels and past work.
 
Thank you everybody. You basically told me what I wanted to hear. I don't have an amazing reel or anything like that, but I don't have a lot of film schools nearby worth investing in...actually, i'm near nyc but can't afford to move out there right now.

I wasn't sure how this might impact me if I decided to continue along the self taught path. I love this site and hope to begin uploading stuff soon for critiquing purposes.

I love this site/community. :)
 
there are several "film school" threads on here that are practically 100 pages long if you wanna go through the pros and cons of going.

DVXuser is one of the best film schools there is though :)
 
Trust me, if anyone has an amazing reel, someone will most likely hire them. Having a great personality also helps greatly.
 
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