CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Breaking into the film biz

Vancouver Sun: How do you break into British Columbia’s billion dollar film industry?
That’s a good question. So we set out to find out, focusing on what the editors call the “sexy” parts of the biz — makeup, special effects, and pyrotechnics.
The short answer is you have to get the proper training, then get into the proper union, which will then help you to get gigs.

1 comment:

Tom Strong said...

Another IATSE post, and it just shows how large the differences are from one local to another. In Vancouver you apparently have to work 60 days before they will accept your application, but in 489 in Pittsburgh you can join as any time once you have a movie credit. If you are on the permit list (working without union membership because additional labor was needed beyond what the union could provide) then you must apply for union membership within 30 days of work or else you have to leave the job. It may be more a symptom of the difficulty to find enough qualified people in a city where the industry is growing, but it's still a startling difference.