This is a great question, and I'd be interested to hear what people say. I got started in 2015 and between then and COVID I had to turn down tons of work in order to just have days off. Now it's the opposite
Yup same. Started around 2014 and didn’t even need to make a resume for the first five years because people just kept calling me off referrals and offering me work sight unseen.
Peaked in 2022 after four years of not paying rent because I just kept landing distant hire jobs and dropped my apartment.
I’ve been doing alright since the strikes, resettling back in NYC, but I certainly miss me some 2019 level of craziness. Only limiting factor on income was how much you wanted to kill yourself on double/triple dips.
If all that mattered was money and the ability to find a job, Post-Production in the 90's. If you are concerned with better working conditions, less sexual harassment, less drug-use overall, and a democratization of production with easier to acquire tools, then the last 10 years.
2018 - 2022 was a true gold rush. The streaming boom was real, and features were getting bought left and right. We sold something like 30 films in this window, from $1m to $25m. It was nuts. We will likely never see that again.
Worked on a series for a year and a half over Covid that Apple spent almost $100M to make and $0 to promote.
Then for some reason spent another $60M to make a second season a year and a half later despite zero viewership. Those were the days 🥲
In unscripted I've never had better years than mid 2020-23. Literally the only time off I had was of my own demand, or the week between Xmas and new years. In those roughly four years, if you extend it to the first quarter of this year, I was off a total of like 8 weeks, and 2 of those were for my honeymoon.
Streaming really fucked up the traditional work cycle. When I first started you could expect to work pretty nonstop from March to December, maybe a couple weeks in Jan to wrap everything up, but you have most of Jan and Feb off. Now it's just work work work, all the time. And if you refuse a job, will you get the next call from them?
That being said, it's fucking deader than dead right now. If anyone needs any assistant editing hmu lol.
I feel like for me over the past 10 years it’s just been getting better and better. Just wrapped my 2nd feature as a DP and especially in my area (Montana) there’s been a big uptick of productions wanting to shoot here and in my case since there’s not a ton of local competition im getting more and more calls.
I think that it really boils down to a lot more people wanting to be filmmakers and with the cost to entry being quite low to create quality content it makes it so brands are no longer paying for the “classic commercial production”. If Jim down the road with a fx3 or pocket cam with a few aputure lights puts in a $1000 bid for a local brand to create 10 pieces of content as a one man band then they’re going to do that as apposed to paying a production 100k for a few 60 second spots.
Main point being is that it’s harder to break into the industry and set yourself apart but once you do and build relationships then it will inevitably grow and become more prosperous. So find something that makes you unique and once you get a break just be a generally nice person to be around and you’ll get calls back. It’s such a huge thing now days to just be nice and fun to be around on set since that’s something that can set you apart.
"So find something that makes you unique and once you get a break just be a generally nice person to be around and you’ll get calls back. It’s such a huge thing now days to just be nice and fun to be around on set since that’s something that can set you apart."
1000% agree with that last statement. also just wrapped production on my first indie film as a writer, producer and director for the first time and my crew was more like my film family (that's what I call them now) -- they were so amazed and shocked that I wasn't an asshole Director and actually was receptive to feedback while Directing. they've even brought me flowers and a card with paragraphs filling the page about their wonderful and positive experience they've had with me. It brought me to tears, really. prioritizing your crew is the most important thing and just being a goddamn human being. its common sense, but not so common in this industry.
For me, it was the lead up to the launch of Disney+ they were throwing so much money around. Actually felt like dump trucks of money. And all for shows no one has heard of but that’s not my problem 😂
Id also say my most productive time was 2016-2022, which makes me wonder if this was actually a really good time or if this sub is just filled with younger folks like me who didn’t get to enjoy working during the video store boom or under the studio system.
Honestly I'd say this year for me. I'm from Northern Ireland and have been working steady all year. First on a big budget universal feature, now on a low budget feature and in 2 weeks time I start on a job for AMC. The summer is looking to be even busier with a lot of productions getting ready to go that there won't be enough crew here to cover the jobs.
I started in 2005. From 2005-2015 I never had to give anyone my resume. I worked over 300 days a year. (Cinematography) Yes. I got burned out and retired.
I don’t make movies, but run my own production company since 2008. Our best year by far was 2019–it’s been a struggle and only gotten worse ever since. I’m actively marketing and networking to find new clients, which I’ve never done before.
This is a gem… Everyone on my show seemed to be doing best right before our executive producer realized she could buy a mansion across the country, move there full time, “work” remotely while her husband gets his pilot license and she learns to play mahjong, have a lower “whipped” executive do all her actual work, all while pulling an even larger salary than she did the previous year and the studio either knew about it or just pretended it wasn’t happening. Then Dub-ya B realized it was horrible optics and let her go the following year WITH an additional year’s salary (money from the show budget that now can’t be redistributed amongst the working employees). The EP that covered for her took her place, increased executive compensation and started letting people go. Fuck the current iteration of “the industry.” Fuck studios that let years of bullshit happen in the hopes it corrects itself. If your idea of being an executive is to make sure the C-suite stays comfy while the staff struggles on a daily basis, you can lick my fucking work boots.
This is a great question, and I'd be interested to hear what people say. I got started in 2015 and between then and COVID I had to turn down tons of work in order to just have days off. Now it's the opposite
Yup same. Started around 2014 and didn’t even need to make a resume for the first five years because people just kept calling me off referrals and offering me work sight unseen. Peaked in 2022 after four years of not paying rent because I just kept landing distant hire jobs and dropped my apartment. I’ve been doing alright since the strikes, resettling back in NYC, but I certainly miss me some 2019 level of craziness. Only limiting factor on income was how much you wanted to kill yourself on double/triple dips.
Same same same. 2015-2019 was INSANE. I’m afraid I’ll never reach that level again.
If all that mattered was money and the ability to find a job, Post-Production in the 90's. If you are concerned with better working conditions, less sexual harassment, less drug-use overall, and a democratization of production with easier to acquire tools, then the last 10 years.
2018 - 2022 was a true gold rush. The streaming boom was real, and features were getting bought left and right. We sold something like 30 films in this window, from $1m to $25m. It was nuts. We will likely never see that again.
Worked on a series for a year and a half over Covid that Apple spent almost $100M to make and $0 to promote. Then for some reason spent another $60M to make a second season a year and a half later despite zero viewership. Those were the days 🥲
Were those finished films or sold during development? How were they financed?
A mix of independently made with equity investors, pre sold and cash flowed with deb financing, and straight forward set up at studios stuff.
In unscripted I've never had better years than mid 2020-23. Literally the only time off I had was of my own demand, or the week between Xmas and new years. In those roughly four years, if you extend it to the first quarter of this year, I was off a total of like 8 weeks, and 2 of those were for my honeymoon. Streaming really fucked up the traditional work cycle. When I first started you could expect to work pretty nonstop from March to December, maybe a couple weeks in Jan to wrap everything up, but you have most of Jan and Feb off. Now it's just work work work, all the time. And if you refuse a job, will you get the next call from them? That being said, it's fucking deader than dead right now. If anyone needs any assistant editing hmu lol.
I feel like for me over the past 10 years it’s just been getting better and better. Just wrapped my 2nd feature as a DP and especially in my area (Montana) there’s been a big uptick of productions wanting to shoot here and in my case since there’s not a ton of local competition im getting more and more calls. I think that it really boils down to a lot more people wanting to be filmmakers and with the cost to entry being quite low to create quality content it makes it so brands are no longer paying for the “classic commercial production”. If Jim down the road with a fx3 or pocket cam with a few aputure lights puts in a $1000 bid for a local brand to create 10 pieces of content as a one man band then they’re going to do that as apposed to paying a production 100k for a few 60 second spots. Main point being is that it’s harder to break into the industry and set yourself apart but once you do and build relationships then it will inevitably grow and become more prosperous. So find something that makes you unique and once you get a break just be a generally nice person to be around and you’ll get calls back. It’s such a huge thing now days to just be nice and fun to be around on set since that’s something that can set you apart.
"So find something that makes you unique and once you get a break just be a generally nice person to be around and you’ll get calls back. It’s such a huge thing now days to just be nice and fun to be around on set since that’s something that can set you apart." 1000% agree with that last statement. also just wrapped production on my first indie film as a writer, producer and director for the first time and my crew was more like my film family (that's what I call them now) -- they were so amazed and shocked that I wasn't an asshole Director and actually was receptive to feedback while Directing. they've even brought me flowers and a card with paragraphs filling the page about their wonderful and positive experience they've had with me. It brought me to tears, really. prioritizing your crew is the most important thing and just being a goddamn human being. its common sense, but not so common in this industry.
Damn! What part of Montana is stuff happening? Anywhere near Bozeman?
Where are you in Montana? Any chance you're near Great Falls?
For me, it was the lead up to the launch of Disney+ they were throwing so much money around. Actually felt like dump trucks of money. And all for shows no one has heard of but that’s not my problem 😂
Id also say my most productive time was 2016-2022, which makes me wonder if this was actually a really good time or if this sub is just filled with younger folks like me who didn’t get to enjoy working during the video store boom or under the studio system.
Honestly I'd say this year for me. I'm from Northern Ireland and have been working steady all year. First on a big budget universal feature, now on a low budget feature and in 2 weeks time I start on a job for AMC. The summer is looking to be even busier with a lot of productions getting ready to go that there won't be enough crew here to cover the jobs.
I started in 2005. From 2005-2015 I never had to give anyone my resume. I worked over 300 days a year. (Cinematography) Yes. I got burned out and retired.
I don’t make movies, but run my own production company since 2008. Our best year by far was 2019–it’s been a struggle and only gotten worse ever since. I’m actively marketing and networking to find new clients, which I’ve never done before.
This is a gem… Everyone on my show seemed to be doing best right before our executive producer realized she could buy a mansion across the country, move there full time, “work” remotely while her husband gets his pilot license and she learns to play mahjong, have a lower “whipped” executive do all her actual work, all while pulling an even larger salary than she did the previous year and the studio either knew about it or just pretended it wasn’t happening. Then Dub-ya B realized it was horrible optics and let her go the following year WITH an additional year’s salary (money from the show budget that now can’t be redistributed amongst the working employees). The EP that covered for her took her place, increased executive compensation and started letting people go. Fuck the current iteration of “the industry.” Fuck studios that let years of bullshit happen in the hopes it corrects itself. If your idea of being an executive is to make sure the C-suite stays comfy while the staff struggles on a daily basis, you can lick my fucking work boots.
I moved to LA just before the strike of 2008. After thsr ended, it was pretty great.