Paws in doors - sometimes painful, but in VFX, always essential!
As the Hollywood writers strike has dragged on, I’ve had to put a recruitment freeze into place at Screenclay FX. It’s going to have a huge effect on film workers for a while. As a result, I cancelled an interview that I had with a promising artist, for what would be his first ever visual effects job.
Of course, I felt terrible about that. When you’re an artist looking for work, interviews can feel impossible to land. Landing one and having it cancelled must be crushing.
So in the end, I reached out to him and rescheduled even though I couldn’t offer him a full time job. What I offered him was just a few days’ work that honestly, I didn’t even need to outsource. I did it because I understand that in the film industry, having done some work, ANY work professionally is so, SO much better than nothing!
If you’ve worked on just one film, just one TV episode, then you’re in the club! You have your foot in the door, which is a point that most people who aspire to work in the industry will actually never reach.
In many ways, the foot in the door is the most important step you’ll ever take. But from that point, you are effectively a professional, and however hard the industry gets (spoiler: sometimes it gets pretty rough), no one can ever take that away from you.
From receptionist to VFX superstar? It’s been done. Many times.
So without further ado, here are some points on how to take that first step.
1. Be proactive
The door will not come to your foot. Even if you only have a small amount of VFX experience, you’ve just dabbled, start looking NOW to see if that small skill set is useful to someone. Because it is, you just need to find that someone.
Don’t worry about being ignored or ghosted. That happens to us ALL, all the time.
Be as active and persistent as you can without annoying people, film artists know that it’s a hard industry to break into, so most of us want to help. So ask (hint - I respond to my emails).
2. Consider compromise.
The only thing that matters is getting in, right? HOW you get in is a distant second.
So you can get into the industry as a runner, a receptionist or a data technician. These are all very normal paths, that a good percentage of active professionals took. Then it’s step one again - be as proactive as you can to get into an artist’s role. After your first day actively doing VFX work, you’ve done it. Crossed the threshold.
How far you’re willing to compromise is up to you. There are many people who are willing and waiting to take advantage of you, and who will ask you to work for them for free.
Is that worth it? Haven’t I just said that getting your foot in the door is the most important thing? Plenty of people will tell you that working for them for free is in your interests. You’ll have made your start! You’ll learn! You’ll be able to bolster your portfolio with the work you’ve done!
My advice, run a mile from those people. No one who cares about nurturing talent would pitch that. If working without payment is a sacrifice that you can afford and are willing to make, then do it on your terms.
Find artists, influencers, YouTube channels, companies, directors, anyone whose work you LOVE. Then… be proactive! Reach out to them and pitch your services.
3. Do 1 and 2 (now)
Seems obvious, but it’s important. Most people reading this won’t do steps 1 or 2. That’s why doing them separates you from your competition!
Well, that’s all for this week.
If you’d like more tips on breaking into the industry as a professional and you’ve missed my recent master class, then you can find it below and I will see you guys next week.
