Tagged: televison

Feb 21

Questions About Making The Move

 

I received this question in my inbox this morning:

Good Afternoon,

I was reading your website and you have a lot of resourceful things/advice. Thank you for helping those, like me, who are clueless out here. I’m aiming to move out to LA by May and trying to apply to places. Anywhere I can get a foot in. I’m interested in film/sports, Don’t have a specific specialty though. My interests are broad including production, talent management, PR, broadcasting, and performing. I’ve looked into applying to Entertainment/Sports firms because I have a Sport/Business Administration degree and was an athlete and it seems like it’ll be my best bet. I’ve been told Agent Trainee Programs are your best bet to network. But other places I’ve read tat if you don’t want to be an actual agent, don’t waste your time. I’m moving out there relatively soon so I’m trying to commit and have an attack plan. Any advice?

Also, I’d like to receive the UTA Joblist. I’ve read that there are tons of assistant jobs, which I don’t mind at all. But are these jobs enough to live off of or do you usually need outside financial help? Another job?

Any help or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Well first things first you really should decide what it is that you want to end up doing.  There are so many different jobs in our industry and hundreds of different paths to get there.  Say for instance that your goal is to eventually become a director.  Well then I would suggest working on as many production sets as you can.  Start out as a production assistant and learn all the ins of outs on set.  From there you can start to move up into different things but I think the most important thing to learn is how the production set functions and how it runs.  If you want to be a producer try working as an assistant to one.  If you want to edit start working at a post production house as a runner or a production assistant.  My point is figure out what it truly is that you want to end up doing and then find the best path that will eventually lead you to that goal.

If you are interested in sports that is a completely different field than production and entertainment in general.  I honestly know nothing about that field, so you may want to look into that on your own and decide what is the best path for that field.

With the Agent Trainee programs, they are a lot of pros and cons.  They are great if you want to be an agent, because you learn first hand what it takes to be one.  I have to warn you though that I have heard some bad things about the program including EXTREMLY long hours and a unhealthy connection to your blackberry.

If you are just looking for networking oportunities there a millions of different ways to accomplish that.  The best way to look at networking is to really see it as making friends, rather than making contacts.  Your friends will be more than happy to put their neck out there for you to get a job, while a random phone number will not.

On to the UTA job list.  This joblist is a highly sought after list in Hollywood that has all of the new assistant jobs.  This list is great, however, you have to realize that thousands of people get this list, and even more apply to these positions.  Also Hollywood tends to hire from within so most of those jobs are already filled by their friends cousins sister-in-law.

You can make a living off an assistant job just know that it will not be a lavish one.  Same goes for any entry level job in this industry.  My biggest suggestion is to save as much as you can before you come out to LA, that way you will have something to fall back on when you only make $500 per week.

I hope this helps!  Please keep the questions coming.


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Posted in Job Hunting, Los Angeles, Production, UTA Job list

Jun 08

New 2010 Tax Incentives in Florida!

South Florida is finally beginning to step up it’s game in production!   With the final passing of the five year $242 million transferable tax incentive program a lot more productions may be knocking on our doorstep.

For years shows like Dexter, CSI Miami, and Nip Tuck would film b-roll shots in Miami and leave the rest of the production to people in Los Angeles.  It was always so frustrating for me to watch these shows that are supposed to take place in Miami and then see California sets instead of Florida ones.  With these new tax incentives hopefully more productions like Burn Notice on USA and The Glades on A&E  will start to show their faces around South Florida.

Here are the program highlights (from the film in Florida website):

• 5 year – $242 million transferable tax credit
• $53.5 million transferable tax credits authorized for the 2010/2011 fiscal year
• 20% – 30% transferable tax credit
o 20% base percentage
o 5% Off Season Bonus
o 5% Family Friendly Bonus
• Three separate queues based on project type/budget:
1. General Production Queue
o Eligible productions: films, TV, documentaries, digital media projects, commercials  and music videos
o $50,290,000 in tax credits available
o Minimum spend: $625,000
o Maximum incentive reward: $8,000,000
2.   Commercial and Music Video Queue
o $1,605,000 in tax credits available
o Minimum spend: $100,000 per commercial or music video
o After a production company produces national or regional commercials, music  videos, or both and reaches the threshold of $500,000, it is                    eligible to apply (can bundle projects)
o Maximum incentive reward: $500,000
3.   Independent & Emerging Media Production Queue
o Eligible: films, TV, documentaries, digital media projects
o $1,605,000 in tax credits available
o Minimum spend: $100,000
o Maximum spend: $625,000
o Maximum incentive reward: $125,000
• An off-season certified production that is a feature film, independent film, or TV series or pilot is  eligible for an additional 5% tax credit on actual qualified expenditures
• A certified theatrical or direct-to-video motion picture production or video game determined by the Film Commissioner with the advice of the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council, to be family-friendly, based on the review of the script and the review of the final release version, is eligible for an additional tax credit equal to 5% of its actual qualified expenditures
• Qualified high-impact television series (min $625,000 per episode with an order of at least 7 episodes per season) have priority for tax credits awards not yet certified
• Qualified projects must be certified (tax credits allocated to project) prior to principal photography or project start date (not applicable to qualified projects in the commercial and music video queue)
• Min 50% production cast and below-the-line production crew must be legal Florida residents on all qualified/certified projects (except digital media projects)
• Min 75% positions must be legal Florida residents on digital media projects
• Qualified production expenditures include pre-production, production and post-production but exclude costs for development, marketing, and distribution

For more information about the incentives and anything else to do with filming in the sunshine state  go to www.filminflorida.com

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Posted in Production, Production in South Florida

Mar 05

Breaking Into New Things

 

So it has been a long time since I have actually sat down and attempted to write on my blog, which could mean two things for me.  I have either been so swamped with work that I haven’t had a chance to sit, or that I have not had any work and I am doing everything possible to find my next gig.  The truth is it has been a little bit of both.  It is season in South Florida so I have been kept fairly busy this winter.  I have started to step away from casting and get more into what I really want to do which is production.

Now production is wonderful, but I am pretty much the lowest person on the totem pole and the most expendable.  I am the ever so valuable (or in some cases invaluable) production assistant.  Without the production assistant production vans would not be driven, coffee and water would not be gotten, and most importantly no one would have everything they did wrong to blame on.  Don’t get me wrong I have loved some of my new jobs however I am starting to remember what it felt like to pledge a sorority back in college.  I have to prove myself worthy in order to be in the club.

Breaking into this “club” is extremely difficult.   You have to have either know someone or have experience to land a gig as a pa on a set, but the only way to know someone or gain experience is to have a job as a pa on set.  Essentially the industry is just a big catch 22.  How I got started is through casting.  A lot of reality television shows use casting recruiters to find participants to be on their show.   As a casting recruiter  you will go out to different places in your city and find people the would be great for the show.  The trick is you need to find real people that would fit the show, not an actor that wants to break into the industry and would do anything to be on TV.

There are other ways to start out in the industry.  You can try the assistant route where you are an assistant to a producer, director, or a high up executive in the industry.  In this job you will do a lot of scheduling, read a lot of submitted scripts, and learn a lot about what the person you are assisting does.  The benefits of this job is that you do have a normal job so to speak.  You will most likely be working normal 9-5 hours and get a steady pay check, but this job will be completely different from working as a pa on set.  This job usually leads you to working at a studio or a production company.

I think the most important thing to remember is what your goals are.   Sit down and actually think about what you want to do with your life.  If you want to be a producer then I suggest you try to work as a pa on set because you learn everything about production that way.  If you want to be an executive at a studio then work as an assistant somewhere and you will eventually learn everything about being a studio exec.  Do research.  Look into biographies of top producers or directors and see how they accomplished their goals and then try to copy them.  Just don’t give up.  I know being at the bottom sucks, but once the hazing is all over an done with you will be so happy to be apart of the club.

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Posted in Production, Production in South Florida