[Thanks to Kyle for sharing his career action plan report, which was a culminating project for a college career planning class.]
Generally I knew a lot about film and the film industry before taking this class. What I didn’t know was how to form a plan, nor did I have even mediocre prioritizing skills. My career plan before taking this class was basically to make films until I get discovered; not exactly a brilliant plan. I’ve learned that I need to set goals and steps in order to accomplish what I want to achieve, and here is what I came up with.
First I’m focusing on a short-term goal: making an independent film. I’ve had experience making videos before, but this will be my first attempt at a ‘feature length’ (45+ minute) movie. I’ve been sidetracked from the most important part of the development, writing the script, but part of my plan is to set times in my schedule to do my writing, and when that is finished I will be off. Here is how I see it:
- Finish writing the script (setting a minimum of one hour a day solely for writing, and carrying a notebook of ideas around with me at all times).
- Work out the schedule – contact the necessary parties and arrange to shoot on days they are available, along with rehearsals and scouting of locations.
- Shoot the film (the only part which I truly enjoy doing).
- Edit the film. This also requires the strictest scheduling (I have a hard time sitting down and just doing it), so I figure I will give myself one week off after shooting, and then a minimum of 2 hours of editing a day until it is finished.
That is the short-term goal. When I’m finished I hope to send it into a festival where it will win the top prize… But alas that is a long-shot, so I guess I’m just going to hope for an offer for funding, or possibly a job working as an assistant director or intern on another production.
That’s the short-term goal; this is how I would say it fits into the long-term plan. First off I will begin the execution of the short-term goal, while simultaneously networking on some websites that I have become aware of in my research. Ultimately, one way or another, I believe I’ll have made my way into the industry by next year (whether it be by getting a film produced or just by working with other independent artists). I then plan to continue making movies for as long as I can, and whenever necessary I will work in more commercial veins (wedding videographer, TV commercials, etc.).
Stepping back a bit, I came up with these goals (in a general sense) several years ago. Being a Christian I have convictions about the type of films I can make, and as such it didn’t occur to me to work in film. Then I became aware of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, an organization which is actually a major independent festival in its way (I believe it’s the largest Christian film festival in America). Already having a love and knowledge of filmmaking I figured that this was the career path for me; over the past few years I’ve refined my skills and my goals, and during this very quarter I’ve now produced a plan which when properly fleshed out and executed will benefit me well.
There are pitfalls that need to be avoided along the way; the most obvious one is financial. If I focus entirely on working in an industry where nothing is a sure thing, and your next paycheck depends on the success of your next film, it would be easy to ruin myself financially. Fortunately I have two things working for me – one is that I have certain family connections that will allow me to have a job that could support me until I succeed; and the other is the willingness to make commercial products like wedding videos, music videos and so on.
In any case I have my faith, and I can tell you that it is important to me. I believe in prayer and that is a help, and I trust that my life will work out whatever way God leads me. I believe that this is the first and foremost activity in going forward; secondly I think it would be a good idea to do some volunteer projects peripheral to my own film, which would enhance my basic knowledge of using the camera and working with people. Aside from this I think what’s most important is that I follow the plan, don’t make excuses or rationalizations, and keep my eyes open for new opportunities or strategies. These are harder to give time frames, but I could say that the first should be done whenever possible, and the second I should look into doing within two weeks.
So in summary, here is my basic outline for moving forward:
- Begin making my own independent film (following the structure of the schedule).
- Look into volunteer projects.
- Start networking.
- When film is done, submit it to multiple film festivals.
- When said film is submitted (or even before) look into developing another project with contacts made through networking.
This is my basic ‘medium-term’ plan. Hopefully it will work right off the bat, and if not I’ll just persist. I can honestly say that my passion for this path has not wavered at all over the past years. After working with the stress of an actual production, and researching the plausibility of working in such an industry, I’m still confident that this is what I want to do. I do need to learn more about really basic fundamentals of lighting and camera operation (something which you don’t realize you bypassed as a self-taught filmmaker until you actually make a film), but I have in my possession several books on practical film knowledge (including the art of cinematography) so I’ll learn those aspects soon.
That’s all I can think to say about this subject. I love making movies and I hope I succeed. This was a great class for me, and hopefully it will be an integral part of my career process.
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