Hello everyone. I was just curious as to what everyone does for finding gigs. Everyone browses Craigslist, and Mandy but worthwhile gigs on there are a 1 in 100 kind of thing. I've found that most of the best things that I have worked on/ was payed for, came from people that I had worked with before. What I'm curious about is what people do to find the gigs that are higher than the 0 to no budget things on CL and Mandy. Do you just keep going until someone who knows you says, "Hey! I know someone who can do that" and gives you a call? Or are sites like Below the Line worth it once you get a reel and resume going?
Filmmaking / Directing : Forever Job searching by Casey S Oberhansli
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I live in Massachusetts and there's a site that just has gigs in New England that's very helpful. But yeah connections with people you worked with in the past are your best bet. If I get really desperate I'll google production companies in my area and email them my resume and a quick paragraph about who I am and what I'm looking for. I actually got a couple gigs doing that.
Looking for "On Set" PAYING JOBS, you should check this out. We are the LEADER in production listings for 18 YEARS. http://www.themercuryreport.com
The Mercury Report, Below The Line, Backstage West, all cost money and all have some legitimate gigs offered. Craigslist in most markets has become the bottom feeder site- I got 2 CL gigs years ago that led to 2 ongoing relationships that have included work on TV series, Slamdance documentary, 3 released horror films, and several infomercials for the leading fitness company on Earth... all just from last minute CL ads... but I also have had several bad and weird experiences from dreamer filmmakers, drug addled porn stars, and a zillion all talk no money hip hop super stars. MANDY is still legitimate, but you have to read between the lines. Many MANDY posters are people who got repeatedly flagged off craigslist. Then there are the dozens of small sites who want $ to see their ads which are largely republished craigslist ads. Undoubtedly this is now more than ever a business that hires mostly through established relationships, so if you are starting out, choosing wisely the better indies to work on can yield connections who in turn have day jobs on bigger things and might put your name in if you are alert, quiet, positive, tireless and keep yourself in their mind without being a pest. As a recommendation to producers reflects on the connection as much as you the job seeker, people will only vouch when they really feel you have all that it takes. And actually, I get way more calls to recommend this or that crew than I do offers of jobs myself... but at least that means I am in people's phone lists.
Hi Casey, so I'm just going to throw some resources at you and hopefully you will find at least something helpful. 1.) Jobs section here on Stage 32 (also check the Lounge... people post jobs in there sometimes for one reason or another). 2.)http://www.productionhub.com/ - totally just learned about that from the Stage 32 meetup we had here in Tallahassee over the weekend. 3.) P&P - Promotion (not the nasty spammy kind that no one wants to read, you know what I'm talking about) and Prayer. To be honest #3 worked for me, but in all seriousness... self promotion on here has been my saving grace. I'm not saying this is how you are, but I know that I used to have the mindset that all I had to do was exist on the web and people would come to me... yeah... no. That was dumb. Listen to probably any edition of On Stage with RB and he will probably say multiple times to "be visible, and be active." "Promote yourself in a way that's positive and engaging, and makes people want to talk to you." I could continue quoting RB but I'm going to stop here and recommend that you hear it from the source... in particular, the August 2014 edition (under Education). Hope this helps! Best of luck to you. :)
Another of the work / client aggregation sites becoming so common now is 90seconds.tv and I sense eventually one of these sites will do for producers what eBay has done for all used goods; standardize a mid-price range for most commerce. Right now, they pay low.
John, are you any relation to Robert Totten Director (diseased)?