Comments on: Work in the USA?

By: Philip

Philip — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:08:00 +0000

i think i will just take jobs in the states as and when. San Fran sounds cool but i know people in LA, not San Fran. I do love it there though…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0000

You might consider San Francisco where your work will be more appreciated. Hollywood is about connections and all you’ve heard is correct about the sordidness of the film business. LA is 50 minutes away by air and lots of creative people live in SF and work in LA. It’s a choice you can consider!

By: Remix Film

Remix Film — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:05:00 +0000

If I happen to book you to help me out to do a short film about nightlife in San Francisco, California would you be interested? I would pay for all accommodations and maybe even shoot some stuff in Los Angeles. You may check me out at http://www.RemixFilm.com (vimeo.com/remixfilm) or visit my other site at http://www.RemixVIP.com to see some samples of work we’ve done shooting club videos of events at night. I want to create a short film about the nightlife of metropolitan cities.

Sincerely,

Bryan
remixfilm@gmail.com

By: David

David — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:36:00 +0000

Phillip,

you’d probably have to get hired by someone to get a work visa and since you’re a creative they don’t have to explain why they aren’t hiring a citizen or resident.

but you have to find someone willing to go through all the paperwork to do that in the first place. personally watching you’re stuff I’d hire you in 1/24 of a second. but LA thats a different story

By: Alex Lucas

Alex Lucas — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:14:00 +0000

Philip,

L.A. is a tough town. I know if you’re going to the States, consider other options, too. There is a lot of hopeful bullshit in that town. Still, you must understand that America is the TV capitol of the world, and there are shows being produced all over the United States, and maybe you should consider going to High Noon productions in Denver, where you can work on the complete mass of cable shows for Discovery, and History, and a whole other bunch of places.

I wouldn’t want to start over in L.A. if I didn’t have a winning screenplay in my pocket and anything less than a million US dollars (thats 5 euros now…. effectively LOL), because even the best end up as some film loader, no matter how talented, and then they go home and start their own production companies with the knowledge that they learn from real work, because it’s more valuable than doing the Hollywood shuffle. Others just become the character of “The Dude” from Big Lebowski. Get high, wear a sock cap, and skeek around movie sets witht their trust funded film school buddies to become a “Third-Third-Third Assistant Camera Loader.”

Not what you want to do, I’m guessing.

L.A. is a shark pool.
I personally grew up in farm country in the middle of America (Indiana), which has corn and cows, and I had a terrible bout of culture shock in L.A. in several days. Why? I met some really fake bastards who are impolite, but then again, I grew up poor in what we call ‘Mayberry’ in the US, where literally we didn’t lock our houses or cars. My wife reacted violently to them. Not the noserings, or tatoos, or whatnot, it was the terrible self-centeredness. The misbegotten belief that their auteur craft was more important than any other aspect of their lives. The kind of person that drives past an ambulance on the side of the road, and says, “idiots.” The knowledge that, no matter what, someday they’ll do the same thing to you, and not think a thing about it.
That’s Californians in big cities. Americans in most big cities.
Californians outside of big cities are great. Americans everywhere else would give you the shirts off their backs in a snowstorm.
Not everyone in America is as interested in being as friendly as we are, remember that. We’re all internet extroverts you’re talking to here. Remember, NAB is for the self-motivated, extrovert types.

Be warned. Unless you’re sleeping on a friend’s couch for a few months free, LA can make you the person in that ambulance I was using in the metaphor.

Take holiday in New York, and Chicago, or someplace like Miami too if you can. If you want film work, yes, L.A. is the place to be, but then again, there are seven bazillion people moving there every day to get film work, and often, they have something deep inside themselves that has something ridiculous to prove, meaning they’re cracked up on the inside. They’re really awesome, until they become dicks. Outrageous, ambitious, backbiting dicks in a second.

However, there are cable shows popping up all over the states, all the time, feeding the world in TV. I think, as a rule, you’d just have a great time living somewhere in the states for the scenery and driving on the funny side of the road. That it would make you smile to be living in Miami, or New York, or some place like that. Maybe even Las Vegas!

If you can do work as a photog for a year or two for a cable show, you’ve got your foot in the door. Some of those shows will have a lot of travel, and be great. See the whole USA on someone else’s money. Show people some work, and the producers will recognize it instantly. The problem is getting in front of a producer. The people who control the money.

Your accent will garner instant attention, and then just find work from there. Just be warned, LA can really bum a person out. I know your work is good, but make sure that you just don’t land with a suitcase and no plan.

When people in Hollywood say regular people can make it, they’ve saod things like “Nicholas Cage is an ‘everyman,’” and they mean he changed his last name to a comic book character from Coppola. That’s what we mean when we say it’s hard to get into Hollywood. Nicholas Cage did it by years of hard work, and oh, yeah, his uncle did the Godfather movies.

If you want to be a production assistant, go right ahead. Otherwise, formulate a plan. There is, as a friend says, an ‘invisible force field’ around Hollywood.

Good luck, and I’d do a year of research and another holiday in New York or Miami before I thought about slumping in a place seat.

By: Jonathan Bland

Jonathan Bland — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:37:00 +0000

Hey Phil,
Or….. like me…… you could consider India.
Great weather and the sheer insanity of the culture.
You might not make as much cash but can you imagine the experiences you would have? Talk about life changing!
I’m sure you know about Christopher Doyle’s time in Asia.

A guy like you cold make it fly anywhere!

By: Bill Ravens

Bill Ravens — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:22:00 +0000

oops…fumblefingers…Canon

By: Bill Ravens

Bill Ravens — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Phil..

I received my LEX, yesterday, put it on the vectorscope this AM. Using a Cacon 50mm FD lens, it appears that NO adjustment is needed from my TC2 color matrix, which you already have. It looks quite good on the vectorscope.

As for your question, re: work, LA is certainly a mecca, no arguments from me. That’s the trouble. The competition for work is pretty heavy. There are other places, like New Mexico, that is attracting the movie biz in a big way, and doesn’t, yet, have that level of competition. Cost of living is appropriately less. Consider places other than LA, it’s quite a warzone in LA.

By: Philip

Philip — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Thanks David. Great thoughts, thanks. Am really seriously considering this. Just got to be 100% sure and to know that enough work is there to make it work. Would be giving up a lot here to do it.

I want to make docos as well as films. After all docos are my first true love. The spontaneity lights my fire

By: Hakim NewYork/LA

Hakim NewYork/LA — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Hello David Zaugh
my name is Hakim Robinson,I am about 90 days away from the move to LA from New York. The course you took that you were refering to in that last blog,is there a website or can you tell me how to reach the administrator for the class?
You dont know my work,but you will.