Disclaimer: The views expressed by our interviewees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of GradSimple. We only edit these responses for clarity. All opinions remain those of the interviewee.
- Year Of Graduation: 2020
- College/University: New York University (NYU)
- Major: Film
What do you do for a living, or how are you supporting yourself right now?
I work at a production company right now. I’m an assistant, and I support the CEO and the president. Honestly, my day-to-day is a lot of typical assistant work, like scheduling meetings, emails, and you know, doing coffee runs. My company is really small. There’s only about 25 people, so we get a lot of agency to read scripts and give feedback as well. That’s my favorite part about the job. I’m pretty involved in development in that way.
I love my co-workers and the work that we do. It is difficult to be an assistant but I get paid pretty well and they also give me a lot of freedom because it’s a small company.
What are your thoughts on how the film industry is doing right now?
I’ve worked in a ton of different parts of the industry. Right now, our company is more so development focused. So we receive scripts, and we’ll put a director on it, and a writer, and the cast, and then try and either sell that package or if we love it, we’ll put the money together and do it ourselves. I’ve also worked at companies that do advertising. I worked at a beauty brand where we did all of the in-house photography for products. I’ve also done advertising where companies will hire us to make commercials for them. I have experience in distribution and sales too; I’ve done literally everything, and even some post stuff. So I feel like I’ve gotten a great view of the industry as a whole.
To be honest, it’s really rough right now. I think we’re struggling. The industry has a really hard time keeping up with technology and what people want. Before, there was an easier path forward. You’re an assistant, then you get a promotion, then you become a creative executive, and you can have your whole career at one company where you grow. Now, so many people want to do film, and a lot of people at the top will not step down. There’s basically no midlevel jobs available. People are either execs, they’re stuck there and can’t move up, or an assistant and they’re stuck there. I know people who have been assistants for like six years minimum and they still haven’t gotten a promotion because there’s just no jobs.
There’s also not a lot of money. We’re going through a lot of economic hardship right now. People don’t want to take risks on film. There’s so much change with streaming platforms now, and people just do not know how to deal with it. There’s also those who are dealing with worrying that their jobs can be replaced with AI. A lot of these companies are doing in-house AI stuff, like storyboard artists, that’s going to be gone in like five years. Even people who are reading scripts and giving notes, a lot of companies are trying to use AI for that too.
What would you tell someone who is interested in breaking into film?
I think if you want to be on set, you have to start as a PA. You have to try, even if it’s just commercials at first. Anything that you can do to be on set, you have to do it. I also think working on side projects is huge, because let’s say it’s hard for you to get a job, at least you’re using your free time to build skill, even if it’s unpaid.
What they don’t tell you in film school is that people think being creative and being good at making movies and having good taste is enough. Nobody cares, truly. People really want you to be a self-starter. If you think you’re creative, great. You’re good at writing a short film, great, but there’s hundreds of people who are like that, too. You have to be really realistic, and just try any way that you can to network, reach out to people, and do your own project so that you have something on your resume. You can’t wait for people to give you an opportunity. You have to give yourself that opportunity.
Also, I did grow up in Los Angeles, but it was so hard to find a job because if there’s two people going for a job, one could have better experience, but if they know the other person, they’re more likely to hire them. It’s all about who you know and connections. Most of the jobs in the industry are sent through like private chats and private channels. When you see a listing online it’s probably already gone through a hundred people who all know each other through agencies.
Can you tell me about your experience finding a job after graduation?
Unlike a lot of people in film school, I wanted to produce. I wanted to find the money, put together the pieces, hire people, and stuff like that versus writing and directing. Luckily, it is a little bit easier to get a job because you can work at a production company. The hard part was that I graduated during COVID. It was 2020. A lot of people were not hiring. That being said, I think I set myself up very well because I had been doing internships every single summer through college. My first internship in film actually was in high school, so I had a lot of experience already. I think even if you’re not doing an internship at a production company, even if you’re just trying to be on set, that’s so helpful. People don’t want to take a chance on someone, you know? It’s hard to get people to trust you if you haven’t done anything.
My last internship was at a company called A24. They’re an indie production company. I was doing international distribution with them. So we would basically take all the films the company made and then sell them to companies around the world, and then they put those movies into theaters. I started with that, and ended up having a kind of contract position for them, but I ended up not getting hired because of a hiring freeze.
After that, I was unemployed for a little bit. I ended up working as a producer’s assistant at Estee Lauder, specifically for a makeup company called Bobby Brown. I was helping them set up all of the shoots, and we were working on rebranding the makeup products, taking new pictures, doing model shoots and commercial video commercials, things like that.
Then I got a job at HBO, where I was doing post production. So when they would finish a show, let’s say for Curb Your Enthusiasm, we would turn it into a file that then can be used on HBO Max and on cable if that makes sense. It’s very technical. But then my rent in New York got raised, and they wanted us to return to the office. I ended up quitting, and after that it took me like two years to find another industry job. I did odd jobs in the meantime. I had savings and my boyfriend was able to support me for a little bit.
Why did you choose your undergrad major? Do you feel your time spent in college was valuable? Why or why not?
I knew that, to be honest, I probably would have not graduated if I did something that I hated. My dad obviously wanted me to do finance or whatever, something safe, be a doctor, but I knew that wasn’t going to work. It would be a waste of my time. I knew if I did something I hated, I would just not finish. I thought it was as good a time as any to go for it, when I didn’t have bills to pay and a family. I was so passionate about it and I felt like I was really good at it, so that’s why I chose my undergrad major. That being said, I probably would have chosen something else if I didn’t get into a top film program.
In general, it was really nice to be able to have both a traditional college experience, in lectures and that kind of thing, but also be able to be on set doing really creative stuff. I loved my college experience. It was great living in New York. I met so many people who were passionate about the same things, and I also think my specific program had a ton of good connections, like great lecture speakers, and the teachers were really involved. I think I grew a lot as a person, and really learned how to push myself.
What does purpose mean to you? Do you think you’re living a purpose-driven life?
I really wanted to make films focusing on diversity that featured people of color and women in positions that we don’t see. I’ve gotten so jaded by the industry now, though, that I don’t think that’s really possible. It’s so hard to get films with Black leads in it. They basically assign a number to actors based on how famous they are or like how much value they have to give you. Unfortunately, a lot of people of color do not have a ton of “value” in the industry.
Where I’m at in my position now as an assistant, it’s basically impossible to do what I felt my initial purpose was. I don’t think I’m living a purposeful life in terms of work, so now, I’m trying to figure out what my new purpose is. I think that work should not be the source of people’s purpose, because you can’t control work. I’m sort of thinking about pivoting out of my career because I want my purpose to be living a good life, and find passion in film again rather than it be something that stresses me out.
What’s your biggest struggle right now? What led to it, and how are you moving forward?
I think my biggest struggle is not being able to be promoted and not really finding a clear path for myself in this industry. People who would be giving me promotions are struggling themselves, and everyone’s kind of thinking about themselves right now because we’re all trying to keep our jobs. It’s so hard for me to figure out what to do as my next step to grow in my career.
I think what led to it is partly COVID, just losing basically two years of my working life to that. I’m in a place where I should be two years prior versus where I should be now. I think what I’m trying to figure out is how to be different, almost like what is in my control that can give me an edge when I am looking for that next step in life. I’m thinking about getting an MBA because there are so many creative people in this industry, so many people have film school backgrounds, and I want to give myself an edge. Being able to understand the money aspect of the business will definitely make me stand out. I’m also thinking about pivoting into something data focused, like tech, because the industry is moving in that direction. They love data and analytics, this is all really important nowadays.
What do you want to spend more time working on, either personally or professionally? What’s stopping you?
Professionally, I want to network more. That’s what I’ve been trying to do recently. I’m working on networking with people my age who are in similar positions to me so that when we all grow in the industry together, I already have a network of people versus trying to kind of reach upwards.
Personally, I’m trying to find hobbies that I enjoy and I’m trying to get outside more. When work gets hard, it’s important that it’s not your whole life and you have things that make you feel better outside of it.
How do you define being a successful person?
I think being a successful person to me is someone that makes enough money where they can do nonwork things like travel or have hobbies and live comfortably. I also think on a more philosophical level, someone who’s successful is someone that has career mobility and loves what they do, and is a decision maker, like they are someone who is either inciting change within a company or can make impactful choices.
If we traveled three years into the future of your life, what do you want to achieve? What would you hope has changed?
I hope I’ve gotten a promotion, and if not that, then I hope I get into a good MBA program. I hope that I just have more agency in my life and am able to be more of my own boss where I’m not directly reporting to someone. I think that’s the biggest thing. I would love to just have more power in whatever job I’m at.
What’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you wish you’d known earlier?
Do not strive for perfection, and don’t be afraid to embrace change in your journey. I’m a five-year plan person. I think this really hurt me because I was not open to opportunities that would take me out of my direct path to where I wanted to be. I think the people I see that are most successful now are people who kind of took whatever opportunities they had and made it work. I think because I was really just so afraid of failing and striving for perfection, it hurt me in a lot of ways.
I also think that when you’re in entry-level positions, people really want to stay within a defined box. I wish I learned that I have more agency than I think and that I can speak up and say my ideas, and worst case they can say no. I mean, the real worst case is you get fired, but you shouldn’t want to work where you’re not valued.
Lastly, if you’re trying to get into film, you have to work at an agency. They are the funnels for all information across the industry. It’s a terrible job. It sucks, but if you can do that for a few years, you will be in the in crowd who gatekeeps information, and then it’s so much easier to get a job after that. Also, a lot of entry-level positions in film will prefer people who have agency experience because they know it’s so difficult.
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