My life long dream is to become a television producer. I want to be the person behind the camera who is responsible for everything that goes on in front of the camera. I know that it may take me awhile to get to that position. So how do I get there? I believe that I have to work my way from the bottom up. I’ll first need to start off as a Production Assistant.
A Production Assistant pretty much assists the production. It can mean doing thing like getting coffee for the director, getting the actor from their trailer to the scene, or helping move lights on a set. It may not seem like the glamorous job, but it can be very rewarding. I’ve never been a Production Assistant, but I would really love to be one.
I feel like getting any job in this industry is all about whom you know. A lot of other jobs in other industries are the same but even more so in the entertainment industry. In order to get the kind of position that you want, I think it’s important that you network. When I was in undergrad, a lot of teachers gave me their information and said to contact them if I ever needed anything. Most of them had contacts to people that already in the entertainment industry.
One way that a professional in my industry can use social media to kick-start their career is by creating a Facebook page. Almost everyone in the world has one. A lot of employers even use Facebook to screen applicants which is why this would be a good idea. It’ll help you gain exposure and make get you in contact with the right person. A classmate of mine from undergrad took this route. Here is a link to his page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Danny-Ligsay/128455040500366
He is using this page to showcase what he has done. I think that’s a good idea. It’s free to sign up on Facebook so you’re not spending any money to do it.
Another way that a professional can kick-start their career is by creating whatever your media is (films, books, music) and shopping it around to people. If you have a film, make a few DVDs and sell them to people or give them to family and friends. You can also use YouTube to get yourself out there. I was randomly searching YouTube one day and came across this page http://www.youtube.com/user/Timaya
A lot of things that he talks about are things that a lot of us can relate too. Now he might not be doing any of this to get a job in the industry, but I think that he definitely has the potential. He could get a job as a celebrity gossiper or something like that.
One final way that someone can kick-start his or her career is by creating a Twitter account. I know this may sound crazy, but Twitter is very powerful these days. I found an article that I thought was really interesting. Here’s the link http://gigaom.com/collaboration/real-life-twitter-business-success-stories/
In it, they discuss how people have gained employees and clients because of Twitter. An author got at least one book sold through Twitter. Her followers looked at a link that she posted and was hooked. Different software companies found her because of this and asked her to look at their products. She reviewed their products and they gained publicity because of that.
Digital media can be a powerful force if you use it right. I plan on using some of the ways I just discussed to help get my foot in the door. I’m not going to get the career that I want by just sitting on my butt. I have to work for it and I have to work hard.
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