The film industry can pay well, but only if you have experience.  This is a revelation for many film students upon graduation, who expect to earn big bucks right out of the gate. A select few, however, seek out opportunities to get a film credit or two before they throw their caps in the air.  It doesn’t take long to realize that if you do a good job for free, you’ll make contacts that can get you jobs for some pay, where you’ll make more contacts that get you higher paying gigs, etc. That’s how it WAS for me.

Sounds pretty good, right? Recently I’ve seen several ads on film sites looking for crew.

Job seekers beware; this is one of my favorite posts:

Looking for an experienced DP for my upcoming feature. No Budget / No Pay & Free Snacks.

Ok free snacks.... hmm tempting. Not Really. Most people who start out in this field for free need experience. However if you are EXPERIENCED, you should be paid.

With the downturn of the economy a lot of free work listing are showing up on websites. Once you are experienced and can bring your talents to the set, working for free can really hurt you and the production. I have seen time and time again, a will work for free production assistant walking off the set with equipment never to be heard from again.

This was a tough year for all. I had several shoots fold at the last minute and also received a flood of calls looking for my services for free. I turned those folks down. Why?

Think of it this way:

You are going to pick your car up at the garage.  Tell the mechanic you think he has a real talent for fixing cars, best you’ve ever seen, then tell him that even though he’s worked a solid eight hours on your car, hands greasy, back aching, that because of his passion for cars that you’d like to take your car now, drive it off the lot for free. After all he’s doing it for the love of the car man…

Even though I have a love for photography, I still need to pay my bills, upgrade equipment, etc. After all you get what you pay for.