Jeremy left a well-paying job in marketing and is now a successful headliner comedian. He’s become a peer and friend to comics like Michelle Wolf, Hasan Minhaj, Jim Gaffigan, Kurt Metzget, Sarah Silverman, Ali Wong, and Brian Regan. At one time he felt isolated and disconnected from his goals and aspirations, only to later become a huge success.
When you’re working a 9-5 job and want to work in the film industry, you can feel like Jeremy did— disconnected from your dreams. The people around you probably don’t understand your desire to work as a creative person. Working in that environment day after day, month after month, year after year (!) will affect your wellbeing.
Breaking into the film industry and moving up into the craft jobs can be difficult and take a long time if you have to figure out everything for yourself. At FIF we want to empower people and give them the knowledge they need to move fast.
Jeremy started out as a production assistant just as most people in the industry did. There are a lot of different departments you can move toward once you get on set as a PA. Going into a particular craft is called vectoring. Vectoring works for any craft; once you know what exactly you want to do in film, there are specific steps you can take and relationships you can make that will get you there.
The importance of professional relationships cannot be stressed enough in a freelance industry like film. In the ordinary workforce, we develop relationships to get ahead. In the film industry, we develop relationships because we need to trust the people we work with. There’s a lot at stake on every shoot for everyone from the PAs to the director to the production company itself.
In order to leave the ordinary 9-5 world, you have to become someone professionals like and trust.
