How Do You Break into the Film Industry? 10 Important Lessons

The film industry is infamously hard to break into. This applies whether you’re behind the scenes, in post-production or right in front of the camera. It can be tricky to find that first job to kickstart your career. However, there are ways to gain experience and impress employers – it certainly isn’t easy, but it’s also not impossible. So we’ve put together 10 important lessons for breaking into the film industry.

What are the fundamental things you must know in order to kickstart your career?

1. Find Experience in Low-Level Productions

One of the best ways to start out in the film industry is to find experience in low-level productions. Whether it’s a student-led project or a low-budget production company, there’ll always be films in need of extra hands.

High-end TV and major film sets will most likely require previous work experience. So low-level projects are a great place to start if you lack this. Unfortunately, these projects rarely pay. Nevertheless, it’s still an excellent way to meet other people in the industry and gain valuable experience.

There are many ways to find jobs like this, through online application websites such as Mandy and Backstage, Facebook groups, or simply word of mouth. You may have to search a little bit. But as long as you put yourself out there, low-budget productions will likely be glad for any kind of help on their sets.

There are two halves (at least) to film; the half where you watch and the half where you make. You may be used to watching films and want a career in the industry because of this. But seeing how the sausage is really made is key in knowing whether or not this career will ultimately be right for you.