Welcome to this week’s Wednesday edition of The Backlot. Usually, the mid-week newsletters are reserved for deep dives or industry news, but since we had a few life issues on Sunday, we’re going to take today to catch up.
NOTE - The mid-week version of the newsletter will be free for a few months before moving to a paid subscription…
Here are our topics this week…
🎞️ How To Find Your Role or Niche in the Film Industry
🎬 A Few Good Resources for Finding Freelance Work in the Film Industry
🗞️ Thoughts and Reaction to the Oscars Winners and Ceremony.
When you first enter the world of filmmaking, it’s often hard to figure out your role on set or in a production.
The need for a role is one of the quickest things you realize when entering the industry. There are many different jobs and positions on a film set, from gaffers to grips, sound engineers to casting directors, directors to producers. It’s an incredibly intricate process, and every person plays a part in their little niche aspect of making a movie come to life.
That’s why one of the first things you need to figure out is what you want to do and what you're good at doing.
To do this, most people start their careers as production assistants, helping with shoots and doing all the grunt work on set. This is a pretty universal path. Even if you start off by working on your own productions, creating your own films, or working solo, you’re still likely doing all the same work as a PA, including setting up sets, running craft services, helping with releases, and many other ground-level tasks.
Working as a PA is a wonderful way to get an introduction to the industry and life on set because it helps give you a taste of everyone’s role and how a production works.
Now, this depends on the set, but these experiences are also a great opportunity to use your PA position to look deeper into a role you’re interested in learning about. Maybe you love helping the sound crew or are really interested in the producer’s work behind the scenes.
Take some time to talk to these individuals (when appropriate and professional) and learn about their roles and the path they’ve taken to their positions. If it’s a smaller production, try to build that relationship and see if you can learn more about what they do. Maybe, in the future, these connections can help you get a more department-centered role.
If you’re running your own production or working on a small team, try changing positions from project to project. On one project, work on the producing side of things, coordinating the behind-the-scenes work and running the schedule. On a different project, try working on the lighting aspect of the shoot and learning about setting up shots.
Over time, you’ll start to understand what you like best. Now, this is very dependent on the project you’re working on and whether you can switch roles. But if you can, I would suggest giving it a try.
For example, in my roles with smaller productions, I’ve learned that I love running the behind-the-scenes aspects of productions, including working with clients or sources, managing schedules, and coordinating the team. For these reasons, I’ve found myself most interested in the work of producers.
The other thing you can think about is what you are good at and how that can help build your career in film.
This will often take time. Don’t expect to walk onto a set and immediately know what you’re good at and what you aren’t. But sometimes, the things you’ve done in your past can help inform this.
For example, I have and still do work as a freelance journalist writing for local and national publications. Through this experience, I became adept at dealing with sources, researching, and interviewing. Therefore, these were my primary roles when I started working on film projects. I would help with interviews, write scripts, research the project, and talk to clients.
Over time, I started to learn more about the business and tried my hand at producing, which I fell in love with. This helped me realize my role in the industry and gave me a good direction for where I need to go and how I can get there.
So, maybe you’re good with cameras and understand the technical aspects of filmmaking, raising your potential in cinematography. Perhaps you have an excellent eye for interior design and would be good at designing sets, meaning you should consider production design and set-building.
Think about it and then explore those skills to see if they fit into the roles you want to work in during your film career.
A Few Good Resources for Finding Freelance Work in the Film Industry
Another big learning curve when you first start working in the film industry is trying to find work.
Unless you’re well connected with local film communities and live at a central film hub, looking for work will likely happen in three significant ways - online websites, word-of-mouth, and past projects.
Word-of-mouth and past projects are entirely dictated by your network. The more people you know and the more projects you work on, the better your chances of getting new work. Keep this in mind when working with new people, growing your community, and making industry connections.
For the sake of this post, though, let’s focus on the big one for emerging filmmakers - online job boards.
When you’re looking for film work, there are a few major websites that can help you find productions looking to hire a crew.
In my experience, the two best online job boards are StaffMeUp and Mandy.com, which provide job listings for crew positions worldwide.
StaffMeUp is an easy-to-use online job board that offers premium subscriptions where you can create a profile, list your credits, and post your resume.
One of my favorite features is its rates page, which shows you the recent rates for different positions in markets around the world. This is incredibly helpful for maintaining transparency in the industry and ensuring your work is valued at industry standards.
Mandy.com is another commonly used website for production crews, actors, and theatrical professionals. The website highlights a wide variety of opportunities around the country and allows you to create a profile to showcase your credits and work and apply for positions.
I’ve found there are a lot of post-production jobs on this site, and many are paying industry-standard rates or higher.
Personally, I think StaffMeUp is a little easier to navigate, but both are excellent places to look for work.
Another website you can use is Backstage. Now, Backstage has been more popular with actors, both in film and theater. The website is also more widely used for indie productions instead of major industry shoots.
Still, it does offer a crew section, where you can search for positions that are available for crew members ranging from writers to producers.
The only downfall of Backstage is that a large number of its productions are unpaid work, which can be extremely frustrating. This happens because there are a lot of student films, indie productions, and first-time features on the site.
But if you’re just looking to get a foot in the door and try working in film, it’s a good place to start.
The Oscars Winners and Ceremony
Now, let's talk about The Oscars.
The show itself was a pretty good rendition of the ceremony, with a few notable moments and an overall positive and fun atmosphere. Outside of a few bold jokes from host Jimmy Kimmel, nothing really controversial happened, and the broadcast itself went off pretty smoothly.
As predicted, the awards themselves were a blowout. Oppenheimer swept many categories, including Best Picture, which Al Pacino announced in a very strange and anti-climatic way.
The film won seven total awards, including first-time wins for Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr.
Other than that, the other categories stayed true to predictions. Still, there were a few surprises on the evening, and overall, the ceremony had a lot of great moments. So, let’s dive in for a quick recap of Hollywood’s biggest night.
The Big Surprises
Now, I’m not sure there were any total surprises for the evening. The biggest overall surprise (kind of) came in the Best Actress category, where Emma Stone took home the award. The Poor Things actress won over Lily Gladstone, who many thought had started to gain a better chance of winning the award.
The award sees the 35-year-old Stone join only 14 other actresses to have won multiple Oscars. Katharine Hepburn holds the record with 4.
Another surprise was The Boy and The Heron's winning animated feature. This was interesting because there has been so much critical and public love for Across the Spiderverse, but ultimately, Hayao Miyazaki’s film won the award.
I do think this has a lot to do with this potentially being his last film and because Spiderverse already won the Oscar for the first film. It was also quite funny that Miyazaki wasn’t even there to claim the award.
The Best Moments
Overall, the night had a lot of truly memorable moments. The return of the former winners announcing the nominees was a major hit with audiences. There were a few good bits from announcers, including Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera discussing the meaning of documentary film, John Mulaney reciting the entire plot to Field of Dreams, and Wes Anderson winning his first Oscar for the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
One of the best moments came from an actor whose star power continues to reach new heights. Ryan Gosling’s anticipated performance of “I’m Just Ken” was truly hilarious.
Starting from the seat behind a laughing Margot Robbie, Gosling worked the crowd and gave a great rendition of the fan favorite. We even got to have Slash come out for the ending of the performance.
Gosling also showed his comedic prowess on stage with Emily Blunt to recognize the stunt community and promote their new film.
Now, two things here. First, the duo were wonderful together, taking shots at each other’s blockbuster films (Oppenheimer and Barbie) while giving audiences a look at their chemistry for the upcoming blockbuster, The Fall Guy.
At the same time, though, this felt like a cop-out for the Academy. We got a few minutes dedicated to the stunt community in obvious response to the mounting pressure to add the Stunt Category to the awards lineup.
I mean, yes, it was nice to recognize them, but it felt like more of a consolation prize to what the Academy should really be doing - adding a freaking Stunt Performance category.
The Moment of the Night
Now, there were a number of great speeches given by winners who accepted their Oscars. Christopher Nolan concluded his run by talking about his humility in getting to be a part of movies, Jonathan Glazer gave a speech addressing the conflict in Gaza, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph continued to be an absolute charm with her emotional speech that brought her costars to tears.
Still, the moment of the night for me goes to Cord Jefferson. After accepting his award for Best Adapted Screenplay for American Fiction, Jefferson took his time on the podium to plead with the industry to take bigger risks on smaller films and unknown filmmakers.
“The next Martin Scorcese is out there. The next Greta, both Gretas, are out there. The next Christopher Nolan is out there. I promise you. They just want a shot, and we can give them one.”
Jefferson, a first-time feature film director, has spoken at length over the past few months about how many studios passed on American Fiction. So, his plea comes from a place of personal experience.
The call-out was also something the industry needed because as IP films and sequels have become more commonplace by risk-averse executives, we’ve lost the chance to hear from emerging filmmakers with important stories to share.
So many people who have the potential to make groundbreaking movies that change our perspectives on life, society, and film.
As a film community, we have to give them a shot because that is the purpose of this craft. Film is meant to open our minds, change our perspectives, and show us a life that looks different from our own. Movies are part of our culture; they affect how we think, how we act, and how we view one another.
We cannot let ourselves forget this power.
So, cheers to Cord Jefferson. And cheers to the future filmmakers who get their shot to tell important stories that make us feel, connect, and believe in the power of the silver screen.
I hope we get to see you standing on that stage one day.
On Sunday, we’ll be back to the regularly scheduled programming and will discuss a few things currently affecting the film industry…
🎞️ The Purpose of Film Festivals for Emerging Filmmakers
🎬 Why A Short Film? - How Short Films Can Help Your Career
🗞️ An Exciting Announcement for Emerging Filmmakers in Oregon