moving to LA!

S

steev'sHVX

Well-known member
i am quiting my $20hr job located in the SF bay area to move down south so i can pursue my career in the film industry. u may think i am crazy but this is the only way i can put full initiaitive into my career of choice. so i ask you. what is your opinion? should i dive in or feel the waters first. in my situation i am working a very privilaged job that is very hard to leave so i feel like the only way i am going to pursue my dreams is if i get up and leave.
 
You're going to be competing with every other doodad wanting to become a PA, so good luck to you
 
yes i am quiting and going to move but havent yet. i am just asking opinions and prior experiences on career changes and how other people went through it. step by step is how it always goes but the initial change is quiet dramatic and competiton is an issue considering all my experience i gained i learned on my own. i almost feel like im going over my head but as a determined i am and how eager to learn i feel like theres a fighting(lucky) chance. intership sounds like my best bet but doesnt pay. guess i could work at baskin robins till things get going haha
 
I'd gain more experience and also save plenty of cash BEFORE you quit and move... You don't want to be diving into the unknown... especially somewhere as competitive at LA and not be in with at least a fighting chance of getting quite a few jobs...

It sounds like a huge move and i'd just be really careful and cover your back!

Living in England, i have heard only scary things about places like LA! London is scary to me! haha

Cheers

Tom
 
The reason i want to goto LA is for the experience. i dont even like LA with its smog and traffic but feel like its the place you HAVE to be if u want to be sucessful working in film. my other option would be to save enough money so i can quit and use my time to start my feature film.
 
steev'sHVX said:
The reason i want to goto LA is for the experience. i dont even like LA with its smog and traffic but feel like its the place you HAVE to be if u want to be sucessful working in film.
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Your reasoning here is a few years out of date. L.A.'s been hemorrhaging production for several years. There are other hubs that may be just as viable, but a lot more approachable for someone trying to start out. There's lots of filming happening in other places, such as Louisiana, New Mexico, Toronto, Vancouver, and others.

If you're planning on just showing up and knocking on doors, that's a really, really risky proposition.

I can point to lots and lots of extremely talented, hard-working folks in Los Angeles, none of whom have a job with a studio and all of whom are barely scraping by.

If you've got a great job right now, in the middle of the worst economic recession in the last eighty years, and threatening to go back down the tubes in a "double dip", why on earth would you quit to be jobless? Man, that's a one-track path to homelessness on the streets of L.A., is what that is.

my other option would be to save enough money so i can quit and use my time to start my feature film.
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Don't do that unless it's gonna be brilliant. Look around this website -- there are thousands of people doing the same thing. How do you plan to stand out above and beyond them? Rise to the top, and you won't have to go knocking on those doors, they'll come knocking on yours.

I don't know how much experience you have, but if you haven't made at least a few short films that have racked up dozens of awards on the film festival circuit, you should start there. Make sure your skills are absolutely up to the task before you leap into the most-contested, most-competitive field in the world. And when you're ready, THEN jump.
 
thanks everyone for the advice. i do feel like im rushing things and i know i should wait before i end up screwing myself. i didnt realize this field is EXTREMELY competive. the whole reason for me rushing myself is---im graduated from college AA in multimedia. now work at a job where i sit on my a$$ making 20/hr doing nothing. thats never gonna take me anywhere in life. im 21 and do not want to just sit around not applying myself. some might think im lucky getting paid well not to do Sh!t. but when u ask yourself is this where i wanna be in 5 years. thats when money becomes less important than pride.
 
Why would the option of making your own film need to involve QUITTING a nice steady job?

The idea is romantic...Oh, I'm going to quit and make movies...but really, that's pretty ridiculous unless you're ready for the completely different lifestyle this will put you into. And I don't mean the glamorous movie making lifestyle...I mean the Ramen, PB&J, and if your lucky Mac & Cheese diet you'll surely be embarking on.

Make your own movie...but do it with the constraints you have.

My first feature was done with me taking some strategic vacation days and adjusting my work schedule temporarily to accommodate the shoot.

My latest feature Battle I did without taking any time off from work and just working with my company to allow a few oddly scheduled days to accommodate the shoot.

So, the option of doing your own film should include the idea of remaining employed.

Just my opinion, but everyone I've know who's "Quit" to concentrate on their passion have ended up back at a Day Job within 18 months having to 'catch up' financially and they usually do less of their passion when they return.

I do both right now and have been for a long time...and that's what it will take without an abundance of luck...a long time to get yourself established.

And like others have said here as well. Proximity in L.A. is no guarantee of success either. I've known plenty of folks who've left ATL (which is now a hotbed of production) for L.A. either to come back a little defeated or if they stay, they are still toiling away with some actually making headway after many years.

Good luck,

Martin
 
yes i do suppose i can still film on my days off and still keep my job which i will do for atleast now. but making videos on my days off is more of a hobby. maybe i should come out with a film, distribute if capable and see how the career will go from there. there is also a lot of experience and people to meet along the way taking that route
 
wait - have you not made a film yet?
when you said distribute your own films I thought you meant you'd made some.

Make some shorts.
Write a feature script that's good. (or find one). This is the place where many filmmaking aspirations go to die, or where some decide to make a film anyway with a mediocre or worse script. Get over this wall 1st.
Take it from there.
Until then. Cart before the horse.
 
take advantage of your decent paying job in rough times... you are only 21... save some money for 6-12 months... then re-assess where you are (my opinion). And, during that time... work on developing your skillsets, even if only as a hobby.

later,
jason
 
i should have stated what kind of films i want to produce in the first post. i want to make wakeboard/snowboard films. my shorts include one song full of wakeboarding. i know this field of filming sporyd is different than creating a movie that you are all thinking. this probably changes a lot of things that have been said so my apologies. and my motive for moving to LA to do so is to gain experience in the film industry so that i can be considered for a postion with fuel tv or a snowboard wakeboard production company
 
Have you ever worked on any productions? Anything extreme sport related? Have you looked into an internship with fuel TV?


Without knowing much about you. What I would do is try to get some sort of experience working in the field you want on the weekends. You're a couple of hours away from SF, why don't you start there?
 
Only thing I know about those kinds of films is X-Dance
http://www.x-dance.com/
One of the dances that goes on during Sundance (Slamdance, Tromadance, X-dance, I think there's one more). Anyway. Maybe submit something there?

+1 for Keygun's suggestion of an internship at Fuel TV.

The most basic advice is to find people whose careers you'd like to have, look into their biogrpahies and do that. Also ask FuelTV what you would need to do to work with them then do that.

Then, since you are young and full of gusto, live like a monk to make it happen.

I wanted to get into a top 5 graduate directing program in theater.
To do this, rather than direct 10 no budget productions of your own, graduate schools would rather you assist name directors respected by the school you want to get into. So after undergrad, I went to NYC, found an unfinished (brick wall no insulation) basement in Jersey City for $150 a month, and began networking with directors I wanted to work with and knocking on the doors of theaters. "Hi, I have an undergraduate degree. I want to be a director. I'm smart and well behaved. May I please assist so and so big name director when they work here for free (intern) ..." I would then work 6 weeks or more for free during rehearsal and pre-pro, then get paid (very little) to run soundboard for the shows when it opened.

By figuring out the mousetrap, which I did by looking at people's careers I wanted to emulate, and asking the institutions what hoops I needed to jump through, I met my goal.

So start there. Find people whose paths you can emmulate and find out what the places you want to work with want in someone they hire or collaborate with. Then do that. Simple.

You're at the perfect point in your life for it. If you can work for a bit and save some money then take a leap with a bit of backup, all the better.
 
thanks everyone very for the very useful advice and insperation. i believe internships, x-dance, and to keep makin videos is my best and safest way to get into the industry.
 
One thing I'm not sure was clear in my little story - keep your overhead as low as possible. This gives you flexibility. That's why I was in the basement in Jersey City. If there's an internship available with the biggest name in extreme sports filmmaking and but they have no budget to pay you, you will be able to take that spot and advance two spaces while the guy who couldn't resist the shiny new Mustang is tied to payments on it. Cheapest rent, least commitment / ties is what you want so you can be as opportunistic as possible at this stage / age.
 
steev'sHVX said:
thanks everyone very for the very useful advice and insperation. i believe internships, x-dance, and to keep makin videos is my best and safest way to get into the industry.
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That is probably the better way to go about it. While your are doing that take a look around SF. That has to be a great town with a lot going for it, film production wise. Shoot, there probably isn't a town with over 5'000 people in it these days that doesn't have some kind of film community in it. San Fran is a world class city, and I bet it is jumpin' with filmmakers and resources.
 
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