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Where next?
This is going to be kind of a long post, so I do apologize…
A little about me first: I am 18 years old and have done quite a bit in the past 4 years related to video. I have worked with plenty of local television stations, am an Adobe Certified Expert in Premiere Pro, have an editing book coming out pretty soon and have a client base big enough to support my “toys” and maybe a little more, despite being in college full time. But, I started out in the local television field and loved doing that. Although, I didn’t get paid for what I did, since it was a volunteer type job, I was happy to work any time during the day or night. I worked as an emergency broadcast director, which required me to get up and go at anytime during the night or day and I loved every moment of it. During those couple of years, I did everything from pre-production, production and post production. Although, I did the latter two more extensively than I did the first one, I still managed to write a couple of scripts and progress on with that. At one point, I had managed to create a show that was the most popular in town as we got to interview some really famous people from the area itself and it was interesting for the folks.
The past year or so of my life has been pretty much dedicated to editing and a little bit of graphic design, butI want to go into the television production/direction scene AND/OR editing as well. Editing is something that has made my career uptil now and people that have over 10 years of AVID experience, don’t mind paying me $100+ or so per hour for training them on editing products.
So, my question is: How do I really get into the main-stream television/film scenario? I know it is a very competitve market and I am willing to work days and nights if it comes to that and I would still love every moment of it. Do I find an agent? Do I finish my demo-reel? Do I parter up with someone who is already in that market?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Aanarav Sareen
Adobe Certfied Expert, Premiere Pro
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/video -
7 Replies
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Become an Assistant Editor. I know that you have tons of work under your belt, but if you want to make it in the broadcast television production market (In LA or NY) then you need to start at the bottom (well, near bottom. Not a Production Assistant or Vault manager).
No, you don’t need an agent. For finding editing work, you will need a demo reel. But really, the only editing jobs you will probably get with your age and level of experience would be Cable home and garden shows, design shows, possibly documentary (if you have that experience). Nothing Narrative. Narrative is a very closed environment and one that you need to start from the bottom and work up…network, get to know people. What sells you as an assistant is your technical knowledge and your ability to organize. Organization is the key.
Well, I should actually stop and ask, where are you located? Where will you try to look for work?
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Located about 10 minutes from NYC.
Aanarav Sareen
Adobe Certfied Expert, Premiere Pro
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/video -
Hi Shane,
Sorry for being a little abrupt on the last post. Had to head out real quick…Anyway, I do understand that I would need to start at a lower level and that is not a problem at all. I don’t mind working my way up. As far as the demo reel goes, I will finish it pretty soon and will ask a couple of people to critique it. Another thing that I forgot to mention in my first post is: How do I really go looking for these jobs? Do I go to every production company and start giving them my demo reel?
Aanarav Sareen
Adobe Certified Expert, Premiere Pro
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/video -
Yes, take your demo reel to post facilities, or production houses. There is usually a 411 book of production houses in the area that people use. If your demo reels doesnt’ do it, then offer to start lower and work your way up. Shows a willingness to them that you really want to wrk for them, and will do anything. People like that.
And work HARD…people notice that as well
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Just something quick to add to Shane’s comment here about listings of prod. houses around the area. One of my most favorite stores of all time is still in business there in NYC.
When it comes to the business, they have a huge selection of books and directories. Anything from theatre to full feature production. For the directories, check out their reference section online and then you guessed it “directories”.
If it is still in print, (I hope it is) there is an awesome directory that covers just about every aspect from administrative to carpentry and lighting, to DP’s to stunt performers. It is for the tri-state area and is published with production and post-production in mind from a company in Tarrytown.
But for the life of me at the moment, the name escapes me (something with the abbreviation “TME” comes to mind). Maybe someone here can chime in if they know of it. I would love to order a new one if it’s still around. It is or was a while back printed in a long thin yellow binding with red or black lettering on the cover (about 10 in tall x 4 in wide).
Hope that helps, if nothing else perhaps you will find a great new bookstore like I did YEARS AGO.
Tom
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Ok that was bugging me, I had to find it.
I wasn’t too far off (“TME”) :>)
It’s actually MPE, and here is their website:
You may also find quite a bit if not way too much at the moment info from these two great sites:
https://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/index/index.shtml – lots of info here under Resources / then the sub categories
Good luck,
Tom -
Thank you Shane and Tom. I am taking a look at the sites and will report back if I find something extra-ordinarily interesting.
Thanks again,
Aanarav Sareen
Adobe Certified Expert, Premiere Pro
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/video
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