Video Editing Jobs - ANY HELP?

S

samyork21

Member
I just moved to Los Angeles a year ago and still haven't found a great resource for finding Video Editing Jobs.

My Question is, Does anyone know good sites for finding legit Post-Production jobs? I have a bachelors degree in film and video editing. I try emailing all the post-houses but nobody gets back to you.

I always check - craigslist, mandy.com, media-math. Any other good ones? But usually all those sites are cheap amateur gigs.

I just don't get where all the post-production houses post new job openings at!?

I even have a site that I've been building work on for the past year. stevemcclean.com

ANY ADVICE?

THANKS FOR THE HELP!!
 
Networking.

Twitter, Facebook, wherever else you can get your info out there. Find socials and meet those in the industry. Building a website is the "build it and they will come" doesn't work anymore.

The single most important aspect of business is who you know. Once things start rolling it does get easier but the effort has to be maintained or even increased constantly.

I see tons of people graduating from film school. That makes for an over supply so less demand.

A good idea is find photographers looking to move into motion work who certainly have a great eye and skills for framing and lighting and the shooting but certainly lack the story telling skills and editing skills. Team up with them, there are plenty of those every new day.

Best of luck.
 
If you are new to the town, and just starting out, you need to find ASSISTANT editing jobs. www.realitystaff.com is a great resource too. Fully paid. But yeah, don't expect to get editing jobs right away. Right out of college you need to start at the bottom...post Production Assistant, Assistant editor, tape vault manager...runner...regular PA. You need to get known.
 
Shane's right. There are thousands of editors, or people that consider themselves editors, in LA and every job that is made public has hundreds of applicants (even if the job is lo/no pay). If you have no AE experience (especially reality AE experience if you are looking at realitystaff.com) you'll be hard pressed to find gigs there either. Very few people are willing to take on someone who's completely green when there are a number of qualified AE's going for the job too. Budgets are shrinking and jobs are disappearing which makes it more of an employer's market than usual.

If you can afford to I'd say take the crappy AE gigs until you can build up enough chops to get a good AE gig. Then you kick ass at the good AE gig so that the Post Supervisor will hire you again or recommend you to others and you keep kicking ass until you find someone to give you a break as an editor... on some crappy gig most likely and the climbing the ladder process starts all over again.

That's not a set in stone pattern but that's typically how it works. You pay your dues and spend time building up a network of people who know you can kick ass and will keep you employed if possible. But, like I said, in times like these in LA even some very experienced people are having a hard time finding work and will even go 'down the ladder' and take jobs they wouldn't normally take which makes it all that harder for the people who are trying to climb up the ladder.

Your web site is pretty slick BTW. I just glanced at it but something that stuck out at me is that your demo reel isn't very representative of your work at all. Unless you are trying to get a job as a guy who just edits random video clips to music I'd suggest a different approach. :tongue: A brief opening montage is fine, but you need to show people that you can edit. That you can tell a story. If you feel like you have too much to try and cram into one reel then make separate reels and let people pick which one they want to play. Make a music video reel, a narrative reel, a doc reel, VFX, motion gfx, color grading, etc.,. Someone looking for a documentary editor doesn't care that you've cut music videos and vice versa.


-Andrew
 
Every editor we've hired at the place I work has been a friend of another editor. Even the PA's get hired because someone recommended them. IMO, the easiest way into the biz is to start at the bottom and show people what you are capable of. I've seen folks go from PA to running camera on a national show in the space of a couple months. If you've got the skills you can do it.

Or, you can do as I did and start off in the audio department. Everyone and their mother wants to edit or run camera but no one wants to do audio. It's really hard to find good broadcast audio engineers.
 
Yeah, I hear ya. Good call. I'm going to make several reels for each genre. That one right now is just a show reel for all my work. I'm going to change it soon.

Yeah, that's what I kind of meant, trying to find a job in any position not an actual "editor" position, I should of been more clear. I'm having a tough time trying to get crappy AE gigs or even a runner position. sucks! haha
 
The other thing is, and I guess why I'm wondering so much, is that I have nothing to compare it too. I just graduated a year ago and I've been searching for the past year here in L.A

So I don't know if the times are just slow or there is something I'm not doing right.

Because when Craigslist and mandy and media-match aren't working, there has to be a better route to applying for industry jobs(and most of the times those sites post cheap freelance gigs). I even email post houses all around town and I don't get any responses back.

Frustrating, but I'll keep grinding away!!

THANKS for the advice everyone!
 
Last edited:
Times are tough, competition is intense and there are not a ton of jobs to be had. So yeah you have your work cut out for you! :)

Noah
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top