when to start making money

Steve Laramie

Steve Laramie

Veteran
How many volunteer DP jobs do you think is enough before you start only working at your rates. I have done 3 volunteer DP jobs and 1 at my usual day rate. Im trying to break out of working with starving artists and start working with people who are actually above me.
 
It is a personal choice and you will only stop working for free when you feel your time is worth something more. You have to put a dollar value on your time. What is your time worth? Once you have the experience then it's time to stop working for free. Many people want everything for free and are not willing to pay. With everybody shooting digitally these days very few low-budget shoots will be paying gigs. My philosophy is I will only work for no upfront money when I feel there is a great possibility of receiving something on the backend...which is rare. I choose to work on my own projects. It is all up to you to decide when the time is right to stop working for free and hold your ground.
 
I think you'll start to know when is enough, like, I've been helping my friends out shooting their projects for a year or two now and my work is starting to pick up enough that my commitments with them are preventing me from taking jobs. I think I'm still going to do a select few for my good good friends, but I can't afford to do things for free forever.

Like Kess said though, if there is something you can gain from doing the project, it might be worth it to do it for free. I guess don't think you're always above doing things for free. I worked on this short for two weeks last week as an AC for free, since the DP was ASC and had a bunch of different camera assistants in the area come in for a day and help out. I figured I could network a lot from this one gig than I could than a handful of others, and heck, I wasn't doing anything else.

Just stay busy. I think that's just what ya gotta do.

Woops. Kess, did you mean like, getting points?
 
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I have deffinetly had alot to gain from the free dp gigs Iv had. Ie. sick demo reel material and letters of recomendation. Also lots of exposure. The problem is I dont know how to find work as a DP. Im in Philly which is very big in film but unfortunetly all the film its known for is starving artists who only post adds for no pay work. Id be happy with some more free gigs that I could get more experience for example I would love to be a gaffer or ac if I was working with an acs or bsc someone who I can learn from. The last two movies I did had pretty big actors and producers and one had a decent director but I found myself teaching people how to wrap XLR cables and all kinds of things that I would rather not have to deal with. I just want to find a real proffesional shoot wether it be free or payed.
 
I agree with you RyanT. If you can make connections and learn from it then by all means do it. It's like working out...you have to keep in shape and shooting as often as possible is the key...but make sure you are taking a step forward each time you do. I like volunteering my time to keep in shape. You have to gain something each time you work so think about what's in it for you and you can't go wrong.
 
lairhair said:
I have deffinetly had alot to gain from the free dp gigs Iv had. Ie. sick demo reel material and letters of recomendation. Also lots of exposure. The problem is I dont know how to find work as a DP. Im in Philly which is very big in film but unfortunetly all the film its known for is starving artists who only post adds for no pay work. Id be happy with some more free gigs that I could get more experience for example I would love to be a gaffer or ac if I was working with an acs or bsc someone who I can learn from. The last two movies I did had pretty big actors and producers and one had a decent director but I found myself teaching people how to wrap XLR cables and all kinds of things that I would rather not have to deal with. I just want to find a real proffesional shoot wether it be free or payed.
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Eh, unless you're making your own work for yourself, finding work as a DP isn't going to happen anytime soon. You've gotta start PA'ing on some more professional shoots, then ever so slowly work your way up through the camera or lighting department, all the while gaining friendships with multiple producers/directors and other crew members.

Basically, I think that there are two hierarchy's here. Paid and non-paid. Once you reach the top of the non-paid one, you've got to start at the bottom of the paid hierarchy. You can't just jump to the top.

I don't know if you have something like the reel directory, which is basically a yellow pages for film, in your area, but I would just start calling production managers/coordinators and see if they need any production assistants...Then just keep calling. Sooner or later, you'll have some work.
 
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