Into the Industry Curriculum

The Friends In Film Model (3 Steps)

This isn’t more “learning about film.”
This is you getting into the professional film industry doing what you love!

Into the Industry walks you through the Friends In Film Model — the fastest, most direct way to go from “trying to break in” to doing your dream job in film.

It’s built for people who:

  • Want to be actors, directors, writers, DPs, or other jobs on set.
  • Are capable and already successful in life but want to change their career to film.
  • Don’t want to waste years trying to figure it out alone.

We do it in 3 steps.

STEP 1: Get Into the Game

Your first 20 shoots, your first money, your first film family.

If you really want a film career but you’re thinking, “I’m not in LA / I’m older / I have kids / I have a full-time job” — Step 1 is where we solve that. We cover how to use your location as an asset, manage your schedule, and build the most important thing to you without blowing up your life.

1. Define Your Extraordinary Goal

  • Create the specific life you’re building in film (income, lifestyle, city, craft) so you’re not chasing random gigs — you’re building a career.
  • Gain the confidence to succeed and the certainty in the way you think to turn you into the person you want to be.
  • Understand the Strategic Byproducts of big goals: New identity, meeting the right people, and gaining skills that pay you.

2. The Landscape: How Film Sets Actually Work

To the outsider, it looks chaotic. To the pro, it’s a hierarchy. You will learn the timeline of a shoot (pre-pro, shoot, wrap) and who hires who.

Plus, The Specific Roadmaps: We map out the sequence of jobs that makes your specific goal possible:

  • The Actor’s Roadmap: First job → PA job → CD assistant → Producer’s assistant → Doing a job in a craft while getting acting opportunities the entire time.
  • The Director’s Roadmap: First job → Camera PA → Director’s assistant → Directing 2nd unit and BTS the entire time.
  • The Writer’s Roadmap: First job → Office PA → Writer’s room assistant → Producer/Showrunner’s assistant → Getting scripts shot with on-set filmmakers.
  • The Cinematographer’s Roadmap: First job → Camera PA → 2nd AC → Gaffing → Operating while DPing small projects.
  • Lifestyle/Niche Roadmaps: For specific goals (like National Geographic or Costume Design), we map the specific sequence of jobs to build experience in specialty niches.
  • The Money: We cover Rate Cards for each job on set based on union contracts so you know exactly what to expect.

3. Bridge Jobs: Leave Your 9-5

This is the perfect plan to leave your day job and make more money working fewer days.

  • How to find higher-paying, flexible jobs in your city that pay $200–$300/day.
  • The Transition Plan: How to handle overlaps and make it work with your current day job while you transition.
  • The Money Mechanics: How to negotiate pay, put together a simple invoice, and make an extra $3,000/month doing “Similar to Set” jobs on weekends.
  • The Application: How to create a simple resume using your past experience (whether you have film experience or not).

4. The 20 Shoots System

How to get your first 20 real shoots to fill your resume, Instagram, and IMDb.

  • The “Want to Work” Email: Exactly what to say in emails so you don’t sound like a newbie.
  • The Toolkit: Everything you need to have with you on shoot days (what to have in your backpack, what you need to wear to look professional).
  • Avoid Scams: How to spot shady “agencies” and fake opportunities so you stop wasting time in the swamp.
  • The Follow-Up: How to appropriately thank people and follow up in a way that leads to more shoots immediately.
  • The Magic List: A simple system to track and stay in touch with producers, ADs, and production companies.

By the end of Step 1, you’ll have:

  • 20 real shoots on your resume and IG.
  • Money coming in from Bridge jobs or set work.
  • Proof you belong in this business.

STEP 2: Work Consistently

From “one gig” to “I’m always on set.”

Most people’s fear: “I’ll get one job and then nothing.” Step 2 is where you learn how to be the person who gets called back — and how to turn one job into ten.

1. The “Get It” Factor

What professionals actually look for in new people (it’s not what you think).

  • On Set Logistics: How to do the PA job from the moment you arrive—checking in with the PM, getting your walkie, and introducing yourself correctly.
  • Handling Sticky Situations: How to handle it when multiple people ask for different things at the same time and how to be fluid.
  • Department Secrets: How to be specifically helpful to Art Department and Camera Department (who always need things) so they request you.
  • The Art of Impressions: Examples of making a great impression vs. a poor impression, and the art of saying thanks at the end of the day.

2. Vectoring & Consistency

  • Vectoring: The proprietary strategy to turn one shoot into ten.
  • Smart Follow-Up: Word-for-word texts and emails you can copy. We cover who to thank, what to say, and how to organize a follow-up schedule so you never drop the ball.
  • Getting Paid: Understanding Invoice vs. Payroll and how to handle the money side professionally.
  • Targeting the Emerging Market: How to find production companies doing commercials, branded content, and vertical series that need newer people now.
  • Planting Seeds: How to professionally let people know what jobs you’d like to do while you are on set working a different job.

3. Moving Up to Big Shows

  • The Background to PA Method: How to transition from being an extra to being on the crew.
  • Production Directories: How to use crew databases (without cold calling) to land work on major TV shows and features.
  • Office PA Secrets: How to use the Office PA job to get into the writing room and connect with Directors and Producers. (Includes what is expected: paperwork, computer skills, prep).
  • Real Evidence: Strategies supported by interviews from FIF producers, production supervisors, and writers.

By the end of Step 2, you’ll:

  • Be hired for on-set jobs on major film and TV shoots.
  • Have at least 20 core relationships that actually send you work.
  • Know exactly how to keep your calendar full.

STEP 3: Do Your Dream Job

Move into acting, camera, directing, writing, producing.

Once you’re in the game and working consistently, Step 3 is where we use the Friends In Film Model to move you into your dream craft.

1. Opportunity Channels

We don’t guess; we strategize. We use specific channels for your craft:

  • For ACTORS:
    • How to ask producers/PMs if you can audition (without being annoying).
    • How to find Voice Over opportunities on set for professionals’ projects.
    • How to find work as a Casting Director assistant to get referred to producers.
    • How to self-produce your own projects and act in them.
    • The strategy to work in a high-paying craft (like producing) to connect with high-level people and get roles that way.
  • For DIRECTORS/DPs/CREW:
    • How to find lower-budget or free jobs to build your experience and portfolio.
    • Who on those sets can develop you (e.g., Grip → Electrician → 2nd AC → 1st AC → Gaffer).
    • How to use shoots to get clips for your reel.
    • How having your own camera/lighting gear can get you $1,000/day jobs shooting promos.
  • For WRITERS: How to build peer-like friendships with people doing the same thing so you form alliances, not competition.

2. Advanced Strategies

  • Professional Projects: How to prepare (storyboards, scripts) and use these projects to update producers and peers on your level.
  • The 80/20 Strategy: How to balance 80% professional work (for money/connections) and 20% passion projects (for creativity/moving up). Includes the “Dos and Don’ts” and knowing when to stop.
  • The Politics of Moving Up: How to build your career without coming across as aggressive or desperate. How to follow up with other ACs, DPs, and producers without stepping on toes.
  • Triangles of Trust: How to build a reputation where people vouch for you through texts, emails, and on-set behavior.
  • Mentors: How to target future mentors and develop relationships with them naturally over time.

3. The Business of You

  • Money: How to set rates, negotiate, handle invoices, expendables, and manage freelance taxes.
  • Unions & Agents: When to actually think about unions or moving to LA/NY/Atlanta — and when doing it too early will hurt you.
  • Location Strategy: How to start right where you are (Texas, small town, etc.) and still build a real career.

By the end of Step 3, you’ll:

  • Be getting paid in a real craft (camera, producing, writing, design, etc.).
  • Have a body of work you’re proud of.
  • Be known as “one of the good ones” in your city — and on your way to the highest levels.

Community, Mentoring, and Support

You don’t do this alone.

Inside Into the Industry, you get:

  • Weekly Live Mentoring Calls: Bring real situations from set or your life — we plug them into the Friends In Film Model together.
  • A Real Mastermind: Join a community of people who are actually getting on sets right now, not just talking about it.
  • In-Person Events: Meet your film family twice a year — future collaborators, mentors, and friends you’ll work with for decades.
  • Access to Janet EVERY DAY: You can email me, send your resume, ask about a weird situation on set, or forward a sketchy “opportunity” to check if it’s legit. You are never alone.
  • Certification: When you complete the training, you can take the Into the Industry Certification test to lock in what you’ve learned.