TV Careers: What a Film or Television Crewmember Should Know

Even if you aspire to work in film, along the way you may spend some career time in television or video. Like I always say, it is possible to find employment in all aspects of the entertainment industry. This segment may not actually help your skills in any way, but it is good information to know in either television or film. Remember, most of what you see on the major networks, cable or otherwise, is actually filmed anyway. The idea being, you start locally, and move up in markets to networks or film, sometimes both at the same time. You can bounce back and forth as you please. The benefit of starting at a local station is, not only will you gain experience and knowledge, it will also teach you valuable skills in discipline and work ethic. If you cannot handle it at a local TV station, then you will have a very short and hard learning curve when you finally land a job in film. At that level, you will not get very many chances to make mistakes because you do not understand how things are done.

Local television stations are valuable learning grounds to gain this self-discipline. What I am about to say may sound harsh, but it is the reality of the entertainment industry, on any level. You must accept this fact if you want to survive, as you move up in your career. When working with strict deadlines, tempers can flare up. You cannot fall apart at the seams when someone raises their voice, or says an offensive word. It is not that you are under constant torture, or are working in a hostile environment, quite the contrary. You just have to understand that this is not the type of politically correct working environment you find in an office building when things get complicated. Tempers may rise, but it is usually not taken personally. A deadline may cause extreme stress throughout the day, but you learn to deal with it, and rationally carry out your duties. Everyone handles it different ways, and you occasionally have to take it, especially if it is your supervisor. You have to put the temporary burst out of your head.

Anyway, it is rarely demeaning or excessive, unless you are thin skinned. If you are, then you really have no business being in this industry, because it is the nature of the beast. I am not trying to scare or discourage you, because a great majority of the daily routine is a very pleasant work environment. Most of the time the stress can be avoided by having good habits and work ethic. Sometimes it comes down to what an employee is expected to know, the difference between down time and work time. When it comes to production work (not pre or post), about seventy to eighty-percent of the time is spent on down time. You set the equipment up, check to make sure it works, adjust it as you are told ... and wait. What you have to remember is that when you are actually called upon to do your task, they want it now, not yesterday. It is a learning curve you must quickly learn to master.

Look at it from a director's perspective. Prior to recording or filming any scene, a director is first conversing with the talent in some way. Whether it is working out the final details in a script, or where to step, how to say it, etc., the crew is supposed to be paying attention to the discussion. Not for any wonderful idea you may have for the scene (please, restrain yourself, and don't offer any), but to know what is going to happen. This alleviates the director of having to repeat the same directions to the crew. The crew already knows how to operate the equipment, as to when and how it all happens, is being explained to everyone by the director, pay attention! They may not be looking directly at you, but they are indeed speaking to everyone.

When the director walks back behind the camera, or goes into the studio control room, everyone is supposed to know what is going on. If you pulled up a seat, and read your favorite comic book while they were going over it, you will not know what you are supposed to do, even if it is only standing by a light. If you do not pay attention, you will be soon asking questions. The director is ready to go. Do you think they will want to hold everything, and patiently wait until somebody quickly explains it to you? Here are some common phrases (the clean ones) you may here, "C'mon, c'mon!" "Hurry up, hurry up, let's go!" "I want it now, do it now!" A minute before, the director was a cool person, even acting like a good buddy. Now they are totally different, the jerk.

Like I said, look at it from the director's viewpoint. Their mind is in total focus of what they are about to capture. If they could push the button or move the camera they would, but they hired professionals to do that. This leaves the director an ability to focus their full attention on the scene, or in the case of a television production, the main program monitor. When doing live television this is how I explained it to my students, "If you distract me, I will turn my head towards you, to find out what the problem is. Then no one is minding the store. Anything can happen while I'm not watching the program monitor. That is what people are watching. If a mistake is about to be made, there won't be any way for me to me stop it from being seen at home."

The moment there is a delay in the process, it redirects a director's attention, to the source of what is causing the delay. "What's wrong?" "Why not?" "Why can't you do it?" These are the times when it gets a little heated. A director, or other supervisor may sometimes get bent out of shape, but it is the position, not the individual that is causing their frustration. It is the heat of the moment. They will get over it. Do it more than twice, and they will remember you, and not in a good way either. But it is what you dream and aspire to do, is it not?

These occasions only happen rarely, and in my experience, professionally minded coworkers have helped to make it a pleasant working environment ninety-nine percent of the time. Whether you are a camera operator, graphic artist, editor, director or producer, proper planning, self-discipline and staying on top of things help to make it less stressful. The entertainment industry looks very glamorous and appealing on the surface. Most everyone thinks it is an easy job to do. You just set up a camera and off you go. Trust me, I have had several clients that thought the same way. Most people think my career in government and educational television is uncomplicated and fun, and not a real job. You get to work with actors, cameras, write, edit, create graphics and anything else your artistic heart desires, and in reality it really is all that. What people do not remember is that every beautiful rose has its thorns, and this all takes a lot of very hard work, knowledge, experience and discipline. This is what you learn at a local television station. Learning to use the equipment is one thing, but the important skills you will learn are discipline and work ethic. These skills help you to successfully move up to the next level, and continue paying the bills.