How to “break into the biz” is an age-old question and the basis of many jokes and stereotypes in Hollywood. By pursuing the foundation of a basic filmmaking education, you have already taken a practical first step beyond the stereotypes. Eventually, as you start looking for practical working experience, the general answer you will hear everywhere—including here—is that there will be no shortcuts and no substitute for hard work; networking; working for little or no pay to get valuable experience; and being aggressive in promoting yourself, your work, and your skills.

These things are true in most industries, of course. One specific advantage of the film industry, however, is that it is particularly open to young people and new talent. The concepts of mentoring, formal and informal training programs, seminars, internships, networking platforms, and industry events are commonplace and encouraged. Such pathways do exist, but finding them—and how you choose to navigate them—will be entirely up to you.

One well-known path is to enter your work in film festivals and to aggressively pursue student festival awards and notoriety, as you discovered in Chapter 14. Work hard enough and bring enough factors into alignment, and you could even earn yourself a Student Academy Award, probably the most prestigious student film award in the world. Indeed, most of the major guilds, trade organizations, film festivals, and critics’ circles that give out awards each year also have student categories, as do dozens of smaller events across the world. Beyond awards and prestige, the mere act of entering and participating in such events is a great way to network and make contacts.

And making contacts should be one of your paramount goals as you work toward transitioning from learning about filmmaking to learning how to make the world aware of what you can contribute to the greater filmmaking industry. Networking is an art, no matter where you are employing it or under what conditions. Let’s take a look at that art as well as other paths you might travel en route to making connections and learning how to navigate the film industry.

Networking

Networking is both a formal and an informal process that is ultimately about raising your profile to the point where the people who might hire you (or the people who know people who might hire you) take sufficient notice of you. Assuming the experience is a positive one, once they interact with you, word of mouth and referrals will kick in.

Your initial networking process can start now, in this class, with the student next to you, your professor, the staff in the film school office, social media contacts, and your presence at local screenings and industry events. What will you need for your networking toolkit? A professional résumé, references, business cards, a website (see here), a reel (see here), a suitable wardrobe, and a good attitude, as well as the fearless confidence to introduce yourself to people; inquire about jobs, projects, events, and relationships; and offer your services.

In addition, networking means developing a system of organization for keeping yourself constantly informed about what is going on, communicating with others about you, and being able to receive and transmit information about your capabilities and what you are looking for efficiently and seamlessly. It also means being willing to strategically put yourself in situations where you can meet people and learn, and then taking maximum advantage of those opportunities. Tips for accomplishing these things include the following:

Internships

In the old Hollywood studio system, studios had apprenticeship programs for young people, who were hired as trainees to learn their crafts at the feet of the masters, who were long-term studio contract employees. Today, on the professional level, most master craftsmen are independent and unionized workers, and while their guilds do offer many training programs and seminars for students, it is often difficult for non–guild members to find actual work on big studio projects, as they are typically union projects structured staff-wise by established labor agreements. However, there is experience to be gained on nonunion projects around the industry on smaller, non-studio projects of various types and descriptions. But whether union or nonunion, you won’t get hired on a legitimate production if you don’t know what you are doing; in either case, internships are an excellent way to learn the ropes.

Around the industry, the internship concept is alive and well. Studios, guilds, production and postproduction companies, technology companies, and industry associations all offer internships of one type or another for young people, and many of them have relationships with major film schools and regularly reserve such positions for film students specifically. The keys are finding out about them, figuring out if you qualify and how to apply, and competing with numerous other qualified candidates for the limited number of positions that might interest you. Keep in mind that competition for the summer positions can begin as early as January 1. As soon as classes begin, your first stop should be at your school’s film office or career counseling center, or at least schedule a conference with your professor, to find out what internship possibilities your school may be affiliated with or be able to help connect you to.

Beyond that, the onus is on you to scour the industry for programs that might help you get the experience and connections to supplement your education and help launch your career. And make no mistake—internships can be a valuable tool in building a career in the film industry. For one thing, they literally give you the opportunity to spend some time inside it. You may not get to actually work in the ultimate job you dream of doing on a film, but you will get real working experience in the industry. Second, and more important, they allow you to take networking to the next level because you will have the opportunity to meet and work with people who might themselves be in a position to hire you as a professional if the internship is successful or, at least, give you a professional reference. Third, being an intern allows you an avenue for exploring the company, project, or institution you are working for in a way that a regular employee cannot. A typical paid employee is bound to his or her regular duties only, while you, as an intern, can almost certainly see different facets of the organization, meet people in different departments, and be exposed to various aspects of the work.

Can you get paid for an industry internship? Some internships pay, and others do not. Various legal actions targeting some industry internship programs over this issue have caused more stringent administration of these programs in recent years, so that technically, if you are not being paid, you must receive school credit. This practice is not always observed, however, and you will need to make the best practical choices for yourself. Even if the position is a paying one, it will most likely be low paying or offer just a stipend to cover expenses. Some programs offer deferred-pay internships, in which smaller companies or production companies offer to pay you a modest sum after a movie or TV show is produced or sold in return for your work. This allows them to put all available resources into the project, and you to get experience as well as a possible financial reward for your labor if the project is successful. Often the deferred payment never materializes, but you aren’t there to make money anyway—you are there to learn, first and foremost. Thus, an internship is a bit of a dichotomy in the sense that you are expected to treat it like a serious job while often being asked to do menial chores, like pouring coffee or running errands, for little or no financial return. Don’t be dissuaded by this reality. Merely being in the room while serving food, for example, gives you an invaluable opportunity to listen to high-ranking industry professionals as they plot strategy and make creative, business, and technical decisions. If you diligently soak up such opportunities, it will prove more valuable to you than any possible stipend might in the first place.

With all this in mind, where might you search for internships on your own, beyond the resources and assistance you might hopefully get from your film school’s career resource center? Here are some suggestions: