Contacting your favorite directors for a job

[holmedw]

Hi All,
I am new to this forum. I am just where some of you may have been, Years ago. I have gone through a degree in architecture and now work as an architect. But for the last couple of years my interest in filmmaking and the filmmaking process has grown. I am now considering pursuing a career in film, or at least practicing it. I am interested in someday maybe contacting a favorite director of mine to see what I could learn on a film set. I know guys like Michael Mann, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Ridley Scott may be a far reach, but what are the prospects for getting in contact with them or a close representative to try to get a job on one of their sets? (Possible PA) Does this sound like a good route to go? I am so facinated with the subject I have read both of Judith Westons books on directing. I know this is a lot so I will stop at this point and ask more questions later.
P.S. I have already signed up as a member od IMDBPro. The only contact information offered is for their agents. I 'm affraid agents may hinder me from being noticed for potential staffing. Is there a more personal route I could take (minus stalking) to get considered for work on a set?

Thank you all for your patience in reading this long email. I 'll try to be short
next time.

 

[buckledcranium]

I hear you mate, Internships do happen everywhere so something like that is a possibility.

Rather then calling up Spielbergs agent, go thru their production company, write them a very a honest and enthusiastic but professionally worded letter - and you might get lucky.

Skywalker ranch in CA even takes interns - you just have to do some research.

 

[holmedw]

buckledcranium and lovinfilms,
I would like to start off by thanking you for responding to my post. I was beginning to lose faith I'd get a reply after a month. I will act on your advice. If anyone else reading this has any advice please don't hesitate to repost. Thanks

 

[temerson]

The key to getting a job on the set of your favorite director is really just to get on any set. Assuming you are working in the same city where your fav director does a lot of their work, remember that everybody knows everybody. All the grips have worked on films with guys from other crews that have worked with everybody. It is a small community. The key is getting onto ANY set (this assumes you are probably in Los Angeles or New York). First, it will give you experience. Second, it will make you friends. And those friends have other friends who have other friends who work with certain directors. Third, those friends become references for when you want to get on the next movie. Fourth, a lot of the people who like you will want to work with you again, and may offer to get you onto the crew they are jumping onto next.

The key to any job - in the film world or otherwise - is good connections. Start asking your friends if they know any films or television shows that are shooting. They may be friends with people who are working in the industry right now, and your brother, your mother, your best friend, your college roommate who studies sea snails could be your first connection. This is exactly what happened on my first shoot. One of my best friends in film school got out and began working in Kansas City - he's four years older than me. After he had worked around the town for a while, I took a couple years off to work, and he made connections all over. One day, I asked him if he knew of any jobs in the area, and he gave me the phone number of one of his friends who was the Office Manager on the pic. I called her, gave her my friend's name as a reference. After a quick interview, she gave me the job as Key Office Production Assistant. The guy I ended up working next to, he and I got to be good friends. When the film ended, he had a job on another movie shooting across town, and offered to take me with him to that movie. And there, I met more people and more people and more people, and now I can call any one of them for a reference or even a job, and they will call me for the same now. In fact, the guy I worked with on the film - I introduced him to my friend who found me the job with the film in the first place, and THEY are now working for each other. One is the boss on one film, the other is the boss on the following film. And we're still good friends, and they appreciate that I was the commmon link.

The moral to this long-winded story is that in order to get the job you want, you have to have a job in the first place. It's like going to any job anywhere. It always sounds better to tell someone you have a job, and you are looking for something else - rather than saying you don't work at all. Get onto a set. ANY set! The rest will sort itself out.

-T

 

[Roy H. Wagner ASC]

Persistence is everything! You must understand that any honored director is getting requests bombarded at all times. What makes you so unique? What can you offer that the others cannot?
it’s more difficult today than it use to be because directors are surrounded by a team of people that were just like you. They’re also restricted from internships unless you’re in a qualified film school because the Studios have strong convictions. There was a time you could work for free until you got noticed. Laws and insurance companies have restricted this because countless hopefuls were taken advantage of without any advantage.
I might suggest that working as an assistant in the manager or agent's office of the director you respect might be a long process but certainly deliver more potential than any unsolicited letter. As I mentioned a film school that the director supports might offer greater opportunities. It at least gives you a legitimate reason for being in their sets.
Every filmmaker is always searching for great assistants if, for no other reason, to salve their ego or validate their need to “do unto others...”
Time and focus weeds out the wanna-be’s. It’s a tough journey that only the true aspirants will put up with.