4 Reasons Why Starting In Filmmaking Is So Difficult

INTRODUCTION

I should preface this by saying that this opinion will probably not be very popular. 

If you look on social media, at EPK press kits or listen to interviews about movies, you may be led to believe that a career in the film industry will be an all fulfilling, creative nirvana which also pays well.

While it certainly can be fulfilling, creative and financially viable, I believe that when selling this as a career path what is often left out is that starting in the film industry is also extremely difficult.

Although I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, I do think that it’s important for prospective filmmakers to be informed about both the positive aspects of this career choice as well some of the challenging parts of it and how they may be overcome. 

So in this video I’m going to provide a counter narrative perspective from someone who actively works in the film industry by looking at four of the biggest challenges that come with starting a filmmaking career: financial difficulties, the lack of structure, a demanding work environment and the issue of time.   

1 - MONEY

Unlike having a regular job where you are employed by a company and work five days a week with weekends off, working as a filmmaker means that you’ll be employed on a freelance basis.

This means you can set your own schedule as to when you want to work. However, it also means that you have to generate work for yourself by seeking out clients who need video content filmed, or finding collaborators, such as producers or directors, who will employ you on shoots.

Once you start developing your career and have established a network of clients and collaborators that you work with, it starts to turn into a self perpetuating freelance cycle, where you do a job, shoot, publish that work, have that work seen by clients or collaborators, who then hire you on the next job. This ball then keeps rolling. 

This is all well and good, but the issue is that when you begin working in the industry it’s very difficult to start this ball rolling as you don’t have a portfolio of work nor a network of contacts to kick this cycle off.

This problem is compounded by what I’d call the financial catch-22.

In order to work as a freelancer in film you need a flexible schedule, so that if a client, collaborator or crew member does reach out to you with a job, you’ll be able to free up time in your schedule at short notice to be able to shoot.

Many of these early opportunities may also come in the form of unpaid work, shooting personal projects or helping out as crew for free while you build your skills and learn your craft. While the idea of working for free is neither ideal or popular, it is a reality that you’ll likely have to deal with at some stage if you want to work in this industry. This may be a dealbreaker for some.

This is where the catch comes in. You’ll need a job where you can earn money to support your cost of living and potentially buy some filmmaking equipment or finance film shoots, while you wait around for freelance work. 

However, more often than not, most employers will want you to work full time in a situation where you won’t have much schedule flexibility. This is the financial catch-22 of starting in film.   

So, how can you overcome this? Option number one is to have rich parents who fund your lifestyle while you wait for creative opportunities to come your way.

But what if, like the vast majority of people, that isn’t viable. Well, then you need to go for option number 2: get a job which has schedule flexibility. This is why there is the stereotype of prospective actors working as servers in restaurants in Hollywood while they wait for their big break.

What I ended up doing was contacting a crew agent and finding freelance work as a production assistant and later as a 2nd AC in the camera department. This became my primary source of income, while I would simultaneously network, organise and shoot my own personal projects, and work as a cinematographer for other directors for free or for minimal pay. Balancing unpaid opportunities with paid freelance work and a relatively low cost of living to make ends meet.

I know other filmmakers whose part time income is subsidised by teaching courses at universities, owning a side business, or even making YouTube videos. 

This financial catch-22 is understandably a non-starter for many, but is one that you should be aware of before entering the industry.

2 - STRUCTURE

Working for yourself, rather than for a company, also means that there is no clearly defined career ladder or trajectory which you can follow. You’re less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur who has to make opportunities happen by yourself. 

In most corporate structures there will be a path which you can follow, making your way up through the ranks of promotion, getting pay raises and more management responsibilities along the way.

However the film industry is a bit of a free for all. Some directors may emerge in their early 20s or even, in the case of Xavier Dolan, in their teens. Others may get their first opportunity at the tail end of their careers. While many may never even get the opportunity to direct at all.

In some departments however, such as camera, art or lighting, there is a bit of a hierarchical command structure through which you can work your way up, although again, how you do so is left up to you.

This lack of structure in a career ladder, also applies to your work schedule. You may get a two month long form job where you work six day weeks, then have no work for three weeks, then move onto a series of different two or three day TV commercial shoots.

While this lack of stability may be less important when you are younger and more down for a bit of adventure, you also have to consider whether as life progresses you’ll still want this same instability. 

For some this lack of structure, life of travel and jumping from project to project, may be liberating, empowering, creatively fulfilling and make life interesting. However, others may want to set up a life for themselves with more structure and stability both economically and in terms of their schedule and work-life balance.  

If you want to create a life for yourself where you work five day weeks, at the same office, get vacation time and weekends off, and a regular and predictable paycheck, then the film industry may not be for you. 

3 - WORK ENVIRONMENT

Much of the online content about filmmaking also romanticises the process, without divulging much of the difficulties behind it. It may appear like all you have to do is get to set, pick up a camera and start getting beautiful images. However, this is just a small part of the filmmaking process. 

If you want to be a creative HOD, like a cinematographer, director or producer, there’s a lot of work to do before you get anywhere near a camera on set. There are a bunch of unseen tasks, like negotiating discounts on rental equipment, managing the logistics of gear collection and transport, organising crew, insurance, filling out paperwork, creating contracts and researching the path of the sun. 

All of these less attractive prep and admin tasks are what make it possible to create beautiful images on set.

Once you’re on set it’s not a walk in the park either. Where I work, most movies are structured around 12 hour shooting days, over six day weeks. These 12 hours don’t include your commute to the shooting location, nor in some cases, even a break for lunch. If working these long form jobs your only real off time is on your 1 down day per week.

Short form jobs on the other hand may often push the over time quite far. For example I’ve done a six day commercial where we shot 14-18 hour days, consecutively. Which means all you can do is go home, sleep for maybe three hours then wake up and head back off to work. 

And we haven’t even gotten into night shoots, where the schedule inverts and you stay up all night and have to try to sleep during the day.

Unlike certain desk jobs, working as a filmmaker also requires physical labour: whether that is operating a camera, lifting a dolly or rigging lights. If you get an injury, or are sick and can’t be on set then you won’t get paid. 

Film sets also come with high expectations. If you’re a DP every pan you make needs to accurately hit the right frame. If you’re a 1st AC, your focus needs to be consistently sharp. If you’re an actor, you need to know all your lines and pull out emotionally correct performances every time action is called.

Since everyone is a freelancer, if you don’t perform, you’ll either be replaced or not hired on the next job. It is a work environment highly bound up in performance. 

Regardless of whether these practices are good or not (spoiler, most are probably not so good), this may be the reality of your working life. This also isn’t to say that every job will be this strenuous or nerve wracking, but it does provide an alternative point of view to the film industry which is not always addressed in the beautiful slow mo shots of people operating cameras that you see online.     

4 - TIME

A final challenge is that of time. When you start out you’re not going to be very good. This is true whether you’re learning how to use a camera, direct or write dialogue.   

Filmmaking requires resources, experience and a very specific skill set all of which take time to acquire. Being able to continue through this learning period until you start to produce work which you are truly proud of is all reliant on being patient.   

With this in mind, the ability to succeed in this industry is largely going to be determined by your ability to endure the financial catch-22, thrive in an unstructured environment where you have to create opportunities for yourself and enjoy a working environment which can be both mentally and physically tiring.

One thing that will carry you through the ups and downs of this career is having a passion for cinema and your work. Working as a filmmaker is difficult to get started in and is not an easy profession, but if you’re able to make it work it can be an incredibly rewarding and viable career.