PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

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  • #16
    Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

    Originally posted by kdmccaskill View Post
    Entry level Asst. on Wall Street straight out of U. Penn make 70 Grand a year, Entry level Asst. in Hollywood straight out of USC, make 30 Grand a year, you don't see a problem with this
    Every business has its perks:
    • Wall Street = Money
    • Politics = Power
    • Medicine = Health Care
    • Law / Law Enforcement = Legal Advice and help with sticky situations
    • Construction/Contracting = Home Improvements
    • Publishing = Books
    • Farming = Food
    • Fishing = Fish
    • Entertainment Business = Screenings/mingling w/Celebs/Access to Creatives.
    I have friends and family in all of the above fields and have worked in three of them. My lawyer peeps have advantages when their family members do stupid things on the wrong side of the law. I've had situations where I was able to make certain law enforcement references that kept me from getting into legal trouble. My Mom's younger brother is a hospital administrator and she got excellent care, well outside the coverage of her insurance, when she had a health incident. I have another friend who's a hedge fund manager and he's rich as Fµ¢k. I'm in the entertainment biz and I've had the opportunity to hang with celebs, meet my writing and directing heroes, and been able to work as a creative artist.

    Choose your poison/passion!

    HTH,
    Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

    -Steve Trautmann
    3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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    • #17
      Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

      "Entry Level Jobs, Employment in Wall Street, NY | Indeed.com
      https://www.indeed.com › q-Entry-Level-l-Wall-Street,-NY-jobs
      Entry Level jobs in Wall Street, NY. $25,000 (4242) $30,000 (3480) $35,000 (2629) $50,000 (1528) $65,000 (843)"

      This is one of the first things that pops up when you search "Entry level assistant -- Wall Street.

      There's plenty of drones who manage to make it through four years of college. (There's also those who use their time wisely and network -- and Will clearly makes that point.)

      Some people can tell stories and don't even have to go to college. Some people could go to college for a lifetime and still bore us with screenplays as dry as stale crackers.

      Why would entertainment companies pay good money for stale-cracker stories and stale-cracker-story writers?
      "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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      • #18
        Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

        Originally posted by kdmccaskill View Post
        Entry level Asst. on Wall Street straight out of U. Penn make 70 Grand a year, Entry level Asst. in Hollywood straight out of USC, make 30 Grand a year, you don't see a problem with this
        Nope. I'm surprised it's 30 grand when there are hundreds who'd do it for free to get a foot in the door. Nobody owes anyone anything, especially college graduates. If you want to make more money, go to U. Penn and work for Wall Street. Getting into the industry you choose means living with the way they do things, understanding it, sacrificing to get what you desire, and working within that system smartly. That's what everyone else who has succeeded has done.

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        • #19
          Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

          Originally posted by Northbank View Post
          You literally have no idea what you are talking about yet feel entitled to make absolute declarations of what people should and shouldn't do. You could have said "interesting, I would have thought in the digital age etc. Would love to hear from those with experience- but no...

          The digital age has simply made it easier to send queries, not to get read. Queries get deleted when they used to get thrown in the trash.

          When was the last time a producer asked to read your work? Well, if you are the writer's assistant on a show or assistant to an agent/producer/manager then you are 1000 times more likely to get read if you used the job to be more than a secretary. If you used the job to learn the business (given you have all the resources imaginable - information, scripts, and the network you build by talking to 20 other assistants every day). You will have given your script (which you improved by learning on the job - hearing good notes, bad notes, reading good and bad scripts, following and reading the evolution of a script from idea to episode or wide release or going into turnaround etc.) to your assistant friend at an agency/management co/production co/studio/network/streamer/wherever and they will read it because they have worked with you and the way they get promoted to agent/manager/exec is by showing a good eye for talent and bringing in a great script. At that point yes, you either have it or you don't but the same script as a query probably doesn't get read because that's the nature of queries.
          Interesting points. I will say though that nearly every query I've sent out to a producer has been read and the script has been requested. So they do get read. This year I was 6/10 on those, and had the producer email me after requesting a phone call. Maybe it's different for representation. With Will's help, I have a dusted off my query letter and will send to representation as soon as I find the time to do some research on people. All of this is very time consuming, very draining, and takes time away from my writing, my work, and my family, so having real life connections while working as an assistant helps. Researching those 10 specific people took me almost one month. I may be a snail, but I did not just send out random emails.

          I will also say that I think the original poster has one key valid point -- connections without ability do not mean much. Working as an assistant to a director is fantastic, because directing is a hands on gig, a visual and communicative medium. But if you're running errands 50 hours per week, doing tedious stuff for a pro writer, you might be picking up connections, and a few skills along the way, but I agree with the OP, you might be wasting valuable time. However, maybe this job permits flexibility, and gives you the time to write.

          Some people want to be involved in production or be a part of the studio system, and I think being an assistant can help there. Some people start wanting to be writers, and they realize they would rather discover talent, or do something a little more active. I know this is common in the publishing (book) world, where people with English majors who want to write end up becoming agents or working for publishing houses, after they realize "okay, I might not make any money as a writer for the next decade or two."

          I started writing for money when I was 13, so about 17 years now, and I still feel like I haven't completely hit my stride yet. I can't offer the advice that you have and some others about the industry, but as far as writing, all I can say is focus on the work. The work will still be there when you're dead. Kafka and Fitzgerald died thinking they were failures. They poured their hearts into their work, and thankfully, we can treasure it all these years later.

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          • #20
            Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

            Originally posted by Done Deal Pro View Post
            Okay....
            I'm still slogging away on various fronts and possibly will until I die.
            As long as you leave behind something you're proud of -- whether that's your work, your kids, your personal philosophy -- then you've done a great job, leaving the earth in a better place than it was before you came into it.

            A lot of your rich experiences seem to be in directing. I hope that we can all see one of your directorial masterpieces one day.

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            • #21
              Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

              Sounds like you have good query if you get read so much. Good for you. I never said queries never work, my post was in response to the OP's ridiculousness. Frankly they don't even know what their issue is, first it was you won't get read by being an assistant then it changed to assistants are paid too little (agreed on that one, it keeps the pool mostly from wealthier backgrounds - and by extension not so diverse).

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              • #22
                Re: PSA To All Film Schools Students and Graduates

                Originally posted by Northbank View Post
                Sounds like you have good query if you get read so much. Good for you. I never said queries never work, my post was in response to the OP's ridiculousness. Frankly they don't even know what their issue is, first it was you won't get read by being an assistant then it changed to assistants are paid too little (agreed on that one, it keeps the pool mostly from wealthier backgrounds - and by extension not so diverse).
                Perhaps just letting off a little steam.

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