How stable of a career can you have with filming?

Rylan Zolinski

Rylan Zolinski

Well-known member
I did not know where else to post this, so I decided it would be here.

I am currently 22 years of age and started filming around 2 years ago. While I have not went completely in depth with it (scored only 1 job so far), I still want to do it for a career. Now, I just moved in with my girlfriend and she is already in her 5th year of University while I am working for $16.40/hour. That sort of wage is only a decent income and obviously, I need more than that for later in life. I really want to do filming, but it does not seem practical at all. I have now been pondering on whether or not to attend university next fall, but I feel like I am betraying myself for ditching and not focusing on filming. For those of you who do it as a full-time job, what is the money like? Is it a relatively dependable job? I basically just need some advice. As for the type of job I want with filming, I am trying to aim for films (if your curious at all).
 
What would you study in school?
I think that's an important question to answer as it would give you something to compare to.

As far as 'filmming' goes - it is possible to make a living, and for some it's possible to make a good living at it.

As far as 'stable' - not a chance.
Even established people deal with slow periods.
It never becomes stable as far as I can tell, you just get used to the instability - which is not the same thing.
 
I've done a lot of full series over the past twenty years, but there have been some serious gaps. In between, I work diligently to network and maintain the largest pool of producers, production companies and network contacts as is possible.

Unfortunately, working on one show for 13 or 24 episodes - especially for more than one season - can be a limiting factor on your ability to work consistently. During these flush times, you're less likely to network (aside from those on the show with you) than when your scrounging for short-term gigs.

You should approach your career as a constant and on-going marketing drive. When you're at your busiest, you must not become complacent about where your next assignment will come from.

The short answer is that your skill and reel can get you a job, but you have to work constantly and diligently to keep yourself out in front of the people who make the decisions.

e
 
The reason I asked for a definition of "filming" is that I wanted to clarify the assumption that he means working in the established entertainment business.

I do pretty well having found a niche creating content for non-profit and state agencies that deal with education, and advocacy for children with special needs. We do other corporate work as well, which can be fun and rewarding (just shot some stuff for the Democrats coming to town), and it pays the majority of our bills. It also leaves us time to develop narrative projects of our own. It ain't Hollywood, but I don't want it to be. But it's also a lot more that "a living"
 
"Filming" as in starting out with short films and working up to feature length. As for schooling, I was thinking of going in for computer programming (I am a big computer nerd) but I feel like filming is destined for me.
 
My two cents -

Go to school and study computer programming.
If your interest is in making narrative films - you have no way of making a decent living in the meantime.

The odds are severely stacked against you in the film industry.
Getting an education and having a marketable skill afterwards is not 'selling out' - it is ensuring your survivability in the future.

Otherwise - you could dedicate yourself to video work - and always pay bills as many of us do, doing contract work for corporations, non profits, production houses, even weddings...
but that doesn't sound like what you're interested in.

Like I said - just my two cents.
Education is never a bad thing.

Besides - filmmaking is not a cheap endevour.
How are you going to fund your projects if you aren't making good money at something?
 
What he said. Nothing wrong with doing one thing you love while learning to do something else you love.

Besides, in many ways cameras are computers with lenses. So it wouldn't hurt to know more about them :grin:
 
i'd say go to school and get your degree in both film vfx, the two slowest seasons for vfx summer and winter are the on seasons for holly wood, films shot in the summer for winter release have there vfx done in the fall, films shot in the winter for summer release have there vfx done in the spring. exceot for huge vfx films, then they are shot summer, fall winder and spring the vfx are done, for summer release, re spider man, xmen, batman, F4, Narnia, you know the big guys.
 
The money ranges from sucky to great and there is no such thing as stable/reliable income if you are a freelancer. For example, the writers strike left lots of established people sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. I worked on a TV show that was supposed to run for 8 weeks or so but got cancelled after 2.5. All of a sudden I went from 'not necessarily needing another gig for the rest of the year' to 'I'm f*cked if I can't find more work.' I know guys who've been out in LA for 20 some odd years and even they hit rough patches every now and then. One friend I know had a show fall through and ended up not getting steady work for another 3-4 months.

A lot of it just comes down to personality. Are you the type of person that can be comfortable no having a steady source of income? There's no right or wrong answer but you do need to be honest w/yourself otherwise you are just going to be miserable. With that being said though, I've been laid off from staff jobs w/o any warning so you should always be prepared mentally and financially to lose your job at the drop of a hat.


-A
 
This is a gross generalization, but most feature and episodic film DPs and operators do not maintain their own camera packages. At least not the cameras that are utilized on the shows they work on.

In my work (reality and documentary), owner-operators are more prevalent. Even so, when I work a network show, the cameras are provided by the contracted pro-co. We use our cameras for development work - shooting tasters and other promotional collateral.

Going out and investing in a film or high-end HD system isn't likely going to get you jobs. For features, working your way up from camera intern / PA to 2nd to 1st to operator is the typical path.

For unscripted TV, you might be able to work a couple of years to build a reel with anything that comes along and work yourself into more and more professional situations. I never advocate for rushing out and purchasing gear.

One fellow I know, who shoots promos almost exclusively for one of the big studios, has found himself in doldrums after an unexpected mid-level management change. The new guy has shooters he likes better. I just found out about this since my first post.

He is in the unfortunate position of having hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment - and the leases that accompany same - sitting idle as he tries to find business of any kind. A very bad situation.

At any rate, you don't have to buy gear. Work some student films, some low-no independent films and try to network constantly.

e
 
Mark Harris said:
No no no no. Go to school and study law. Programming in the US is going by way of the dodo.
Click to expand...

There's a glut of lawyers. Unless you've got the grades and LSAT to go to a good school, think twice about that.

I say nursing. The ultimate fall back job. You could quit nursing for ten years, make movies in Fiji and then go right back to nursing. Not many other jobs are like that. MD's can't even do that.
 
How stable of a career can you have with filming?
Are we talking about financial stability or mental stability?

If you're talking about the former, you can make a decent living.
If you're talking about the latter, forget about it.
 
I'm not a fan of picking a career because it is supposed to be stable. Pick something you like. If you like computers pick that. At least you'll do something you enjoy.
 
I don't work primarily as a director or DP, but from a more general production perspective if you are (a) in a market where there is work to be done and (b) are one of the better - if not best - people in your profession in that market, then yes, you can certainly make a living at it.

As far as dependability goes, put the idea aside. Most of the work (in the markets with which I'm familiar) is at-will and temporary (for a day, a week, a few months, or at best several seasons, but you do not want to spend several seasons doing the same show; it's bad career medicine).

The money depends upon how consistently you can keep working - this is where developing a good professional reputation, and cultivating contacts come in handy - and the type of work you choose to take. "X" number of hours working union commercials, features, and single-camera TV, will line your pockets much more comfortably than "X" number of hours on three-camera TV, "reality" crapola, or non-union commercials.

I personally see film schools as offering two different sorts of rewards: one, where you get intensive technical and/or conceptual training in getting-the-work-done, and the other, where you are groomed to be scouted as hot new talent, should you display any (I'm looking at you, USC, UCLA, NYU). From my own university experience, I wouldn't necessarily recommend undergraduate film school; use university to get a solid general education which will serve you in good stead no matter what exactly you end up doing, and learn by doing when it comes to the production stuff (find work wherever you can, with other students, independent productions, whatever).

Anyway, free advice, guaranteed to be worth at least as much as you paid, for it.
 
Sad Max said:
The money depends upon how consistently you can keep working - this is where developing a good professional reputation, and cultivating contacts come in handy -----------------------

use university to get a solid general education which will serve you in good stead no matter what exactly you end up doing
Click to expand...

To point #1, this is another way of saying you have to be political. Be sure you're ready to play that game before dedicating your professional life to filmmaking. I know a set designer who hooked up with his boss. They moved in together and ended up on bad terms a year later. She made sure he didn't work again. When you have a profession where the supply of talent exceeds the demand, you'd better be willing to walk that tightrope.

To point #2, you don't hear that very often any more, the value of a good general education, seems like colleges have turned into trade schools, but it's a great point and needs to be underscored.
 
Well, point #1 also has something to do with actually being good enough at your work to be worth hiring. Underneath all the politicking, people who are actually more competent have something of an edge, over people who are less so. Being able to politically eliminate your competitors from consideration is useful - came in handy, recently, in fact - but political players who don't deliver the goods eventually come to professional grief, with very few exceptions (and they tend to get booted upstairs into lofty positions from which they can't really do too much immediate damage).
 
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