I am a member of a filmmakers group on facebook and within this group there are regular requests for help. Requests for actors or directors or sound experts. It’s quite frequent.
What is also a regular occurence, is the subject of payment. If the post didn’t specify whether it was paid or unpaid work it will inevitably be the first question in the comments.
‘Is this paid work?’
The subject’s consistency has piqued my curiosity.
Why is this such an important factor?
If you’re a hobbyist you should be making films because it’s fun and it interests you, not to get paid. If you’re a serious full time actor then I would recommend finding better sources of work than facebook groups.
So I’m going to try my hand at understanding why this group would be so focused on the subject of payment.
I would say the question, ‘Is this paid work?’, serves as an effective acid test for sorting between the big budget productions and the amateur projects.
I think the differing views on paid v unpaid highlights the individual’s philosophy of becoming successful.
If they’re only interested in paid work then they’re waiting to be picked. They believe their ticket to Hollywood depends on Steven Spielberg handpicking them for his next blockbuster.
If the individual is open to unpaid work then they’re not waiting for some filmmaking god to approve of them, they’re looking to practice and have fun today.
Anywho, those are my thoughts on the matter 🙂
Thomas Duggan 