Am I going crazy?

[DDirector]

Ive been talking to a friend of mine (18-19) and he said that he the director of a multimillion dollar movie. Ive looked around, and everything seems legit. I don't believe it, as Ive never heard a 19yo directing a 14M movie. Am I going crazy?


Honestly, I have never done anything serious like this before. I asked how could I be a part of this, and he said only union crew members. I never even knew there was a union for crew.
In order to sign up to DGC (Directors Guild of Canadahttp://www.dgc.ca/), you have to have worked on a union job. So, how does one get into one?
What role do I have to have to qualify?

 

[Steve House]

Ive been talking to a friend of mine (18-19) and he said that he the director of a multimillion dollar movie. Ive looked around, and everything seems legit. I don't believe it, as Ive never heard a 19yo directing a 14M movie. Am I going crazy?


Honestly, I have never done anything serious like this before. I asked how could I be a part of this, and he said only union crew members. I never even knew there was a union for crew.
In order to sign up to DGC (Directors Guild of Canada), you have to have worked on a union job. So, how does one get into one?
What role do I have to have to qualify?

There's not a union for crew - there are a number of unions for various job categories. Being in the union for grips does not get you jobs as a sound mixer for example.

The DGC and other unions' websites have all the particulars on how to join and what is the required experience. Securing membership is indeed a Catch 22 in many unions. The gist of it is you get hired on a unionized shoot because there isn't a qualified union member acceptable to the production company that is available to do the job - the union wants to insure their members are working as much as they want to before they let new bodies into the competition for work. Once you have the required amount of experience - and it will take a number of shoots - you'll be eligible to apply. Another way people get in is if they're working on a non-union shoot that gets organized - when the production company signs the contract with the union, the crew working for them may become eligible to join. Note that the DGC you don't JOIN as a full-fledged director AFAIK, you go in as a production assistant or assistant director or trainee.