How does one make directing a full time job?

E

egyptianboxer104

Well-known member
i'm currently a college student at a school with a terrible film program (basically non-existant). I've written directed and produced 2 short films and wrote and directed one for my school. I've been on a total of 9 films and have imdb cred and everything ( 9 shoots officially after this sunday). I've been an AD on smaller shoots and worked as a grip/pa on larger shoots. What I can't seem to figure out is how to take the next step. How do I go from AD/grip/pa/director of really small indie films that i pay for to a film director on major shoots where i can get paid to do what I love.

Where did tarantino, del torro, speilburg, etc etc get to where they are now? Maybe i'm just in a poor mood right now... but i feel complacent... I don't where or what to do next. I know i can get a couple paid shoots as a grip or gaffer or something but I can't seem to find anywhere to get a paid job as a director...

Any help would be great. I know it's a loaded question and thus loaded answers are always acceptible :)
 
I'd say the simplest answer is also the hardest: people like Tarantino, Del Torro and Spielberg made a lot of films and they proved they were exceptionally talented. They had both ingredients--natural ability and serious guts and commitment. I don't believe there's another other secret to their success...
 
you have to do it because you love it first then these things will come after many interships and many years
 
You say you have directed films before? If you make a film that truely shows off your directing skill (most likely will want to write it yourself) and you send it around people will notice it and might consider hiring you.

Also as Jaime was saying, internships are good. Go on as a DP/AD and maybe throw a few tips at a director each time you go out to shoot. Or just doing some interns as an AD and having a director show you the ropes he can maybe then recommend you to a producer or something later on down the road and you could have job possibilities. Just stick your nose out. If you give FREE high quality work that is the best way to get noticed.
 
I like that... I am going on another shoot this saturday with a newly formed company so we'll see how that works out. My first short film sucked (in my opinion... i got some positive feedback but the negative aspects which were out of my control are glaring... it was a good first film though) but the second one i just finished should be fairly decent once it's edited.
 
If you flip through the Corrado thread you'll notice Adam got into a chat with an agent who could get him a job directing TV just based on the script and that he was hiring Sizemore.

Certainly finding a producer that likes you a gold. Writing a great script people really want but attaching yourself as the director seems like a very solid way to go if you've got the writing chops though (or can get your hands on a script someone else wrote). Cameron, Tarantino, Nolan, Singer, Scorsese, and Shyamalan all really got started with one GREAT script each. To my understanind, you can work up through TV or one amazing script (assuming that turns into an amazing movie with you directing) and those are the two most conventional paths.

New ways in are found everyday. Like the first poster said, the key is talent, dedication, and a little luck never hurts.
 
Gohanto hit the answer. A great script. Not a good script...a great one. Something they must have and they want it so badly they will let you direct it. Very few people can work their way up through the ranks...especially with tons of people shooting films and less shooting being done by the studios. The window is getting more narrow for the theatrical market...but widening for the video on demand, cable, rental, etc. market.

You have to get yourseolf noticed. How do you do that?

Find that great script that everyone must have and don't let them have it without you directing.

Or direct a great film. The amount of talent out there is phenominal. But the great scripts are few! Find one!
 
I also think you have to consider that it's not very likely that based on some good short films, someone is going to hire you to direct a feature film or a TV episode, even. It could happen, but it most likely won't. You should get into directing commercials, music videos, and other types of work that people will pay for, the smaller stuff, so that you could establish yourself in another medium or type of film first, then use that success to get into features. It's been done quite a bit with music videos, actually (David Fincher, McG, Mark Romanek, etc.)
 
JonathanLB said:
I also think you have to consider that it's not very likely that based on some good short films, someone is going to hire you to direct a feature film or a TV episode, even. It could happen, but it most likely won't. You should get into directing commercials, music videos, and other types of work that people will pay for, the smaller stuff, so that you could establish yourself in another medium or type of film first, then use that success to get into features. It's been done quite a bit with music videos, actually (David Fincher, McG, Mark Romanek, etc.)
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That's a good idea. Begin by finding the music video market, charge for professional grade music videos, and then once established, I could grab a script and get investoers interested since i'd already be a known director for my other work!

So now I won't have to go poor while i shoot.... but rather break even lol.

Any other suggestions?
 
I have to be honest though that the music video market is historically bad right now. Still, I think you can break in if you're not expecting to get rich, just get by. I can't tell you that from first-hand experience, admittedly, I'm still trying to break in with some labels, but I have friends who are directing videos in the $7,000 to $20,000 range, they make a few bucks, not much. It's just not like back in the day where music video directing could be quite profitable. Today, there are probably only a handful of people who make a living just on directing music videos. Seriously there might only be 5 of them in the world. There are probably more like a few dozen who COULD only direct music videos, but they supplement their income with commercial work a lot of the time.

I guess commercials are where the money is, but I haven't figured out how to break into that market yet either, lol.
 
JonathanLB said:
I have to be honest though that the music video market is historically bad right now. Still, I think you can break in if you're not expecting to get rich, just get by. I can't tell you that from first-hand experience, admittedly, I'm still trying to break in with some labels, but I have friends who are directing videos in the $7,000 to $20,000 range, they make a few bucks, not much. It's just not like back in the day where music video directing could be quite profitable. Today, there are probably only a handful of people who make a living just on directing music videos. Seriously there might only be 5 of them in the world. There are probably more like a few dozen who COULD only direct music videos, but they supplement their income with commercial work a lot of the time.

I guess commercials are where the money is, but I haven't figured out how to break into that market yet either, lol.
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Jonathan is right about this one. haha. Jon and I spoke about this to some other member. The Music Video market is a shame! It's been very slow for the last 6 months. I been talking to more than a dozen of production companies (Avion Films, Smuggler, HSI, 305 films, etc.) They said that it gets very slow always toward the end of the year. Also, do to the fact that election was this year, that they are waiting to sign up-coming director(s) to their roster at the beginning of next year.

As for indie / minor artist or groups; they seem to not have any money at all. If they do have a budget, it's never that big. it's between 1500-3000. I won't even do a music video for 5k. I feel really confident about next year in January, that everything will start to pick up and open more opportunities for all of us.

Right? right!

Murray
 
murraymile said:
Jonathan is right about this one. haha. Jon and I spoke about this to some other member. The Music Video market is a shame! It's been very slow for the last 6 months. I been talking to more than a dozen of production companies (Avion Films, Smuggler, HSI, 305 films, etc.) They said that it gets very slow always toward the end of the year. Also, do to the fact that election was this year, that they are waiting to sign up-coming director(s) to their roster at the beginning of next year.

As for indie / minor artist or groups; they seem to not have any money at all. If they do have a budget, it's never that big. it's between 1500-3000. I won't even do a music video for 5k. I feel really confident about next year in January, that everything will start to pick up and open more opportunities for all of us.

Right? right!

Murray
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Yeah, I'm totally with Murray on this one. When I first entered the business, I was extremely naive, I guess like most people. I thought, "How hard could it be to make a music video?! I got a camera, a tripod, and a basic lighting kit. We're set! If someone paid us $3,000 we'd be able to make a killing!" Well, 4 more light kits, 2 more cameras, one jib, one dolly, a few generators, flags, c-stands, a pro reference monitor, a $15,000 editing suite, and about $85,000 in equipment later, yeah, I realize making really good music videos is just a BIT harder than I initially imagined ;)

I also won't touch a video for less than $5,000. It's a two-fold problem for me, really. While some people valiantly respond, "Pshh, my friend made a killer music video for $200, he didn't spend anything, you can make great videos for almost nothing!" that kind of ignores an important reality -- any video you make on the cheap requires a lot of time and favors to pull off. Of course it can be done, but for every location you can't pay for, you need to bargain with people, make phone calls, establish connections, hit up old connections for favors, etc. to get for free or very cheap. For every piece of equipment you don't own and can't afford to rent, you have to make phone calls, beg, borrow, and steal to find. For every crew member you can't afford to pay you have to hope they have an opening in their schedules and will be willing to help you out for free. And if you're going with a tiny crew and wearing lots of hats to save money, that's a lot more pre-production work for you, more stress on set, etc. So then even if you are getting $2,000 let's say to do a video, and you only spent a few hundred, you're going to put so much time into the production that your wage per hour is going to be terrible. So again, you better really like what you're doing and not have a huge pressing need for cash.

Then there's the second issue, which is the quality of work you want to do. I'd rather sit at home and watch House M.D. (hehe, love this show, my newest obsession) than do bad work, pretty bad work, decent work, or pretty good work. I only want to attach my name to good work, and if something I do turns out only "good" you can bet I'm going to be pretty disappointed. It's just not worthwhile, I'm not an experienced enough or great enough director to be able to afford the luxury of mediocre work bearing my name, haha. If I was a famous music video director getting paid top dollar I could turn in a turd every once in a while and probably get away with it. But at this early juncture, I can't afford mistakes. So if I lack the budget to make something really good, I have to be honest with myself and the client and tell them so early on, rather than trying to please everyone and in the end pleasing nobody.

That's why for me it didn't take long to realize that I need to work with record labels or need to not direct music videos anymore. I've self-funded my videos to this point, because I was willing to build a reel for myself and because I'm doing a project on indie music videos with commercial potential. Once I finish the next video (which I'm hoping is a few weeks from now if I can keep the schedule), then I'll be done for the time being. I've proved everything I need to prove as a music video director at this point. There's nothing left for me to prove that I can afford. I mean, I've done the $10,000, 20-person crew music video, I've done a variety of ideas and several styles, what else can I do? Spend $100,000 and prove I can manage a massive budget? If anything that would prove I might have a serious psychosis and should be stripped of my power of financial discretion, and probably committed to a mental institution for blowing $100,000 on a freakin' music video ;) So whatever else I can do, I need a label to help me get there. Whatever else I have to learn, I'll learn by working with a label and seeing how that whole process goes. I will always continue to learn, but I can't justify doing it on my own dime anymore, not with music videos.
 
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