ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years ago - Gavin Ricketts

When I'm reading a CV, I want to see a few lines under each role. What I'm looking for is a) a brief description of the project, since I might not recognise the title. Also, what were the unusual things about it eg there were extensive water tank shoots. Then a line about any particular achievements or things you did that were outside or above the role you took.

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9 years ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

CV- will depend a bit by role. For a production runner I need to see your enthusiasm, that you can drive (and if you've your own car, that it's insured for business use), that your can handle money, that you're reliable. For a floor runner demonstrate that you're capable of taking instructions and aren't going to hassle the talent and aren't above making the tea, so show what more humble jobs you've done. Shelf stacking overnight tells me you can handle the hours, for instance. For those level roles, a line with a short illustration of why it's relevant is good and shows you understand what's expected of you.

For department heads it'll be a case of "are you a safe pair of hands", so what similar jobs have you done, showing you can manage a team, handle floats if appropriate, etc. It's all about taking responsibility. I don't expect department heads to be late and do expect them to understand how important paperwork is, and be responsive to production's needs.

Everyone else is somewhere in between - may never even know the production office exists as not likely to visit regularly, but know they have good reason to ask you stuff like passport scans, etc. If you don't have a limited company then GET A LORIMER LETTER NOW (only available from HMRC film office in Cardiff, allow 2 weeks+) and put that on your CV. It means we can pay you on invoice as self employed and understand that for features BY LAW we cannot accept "Oh I'm usually self employed for commercials/theatre/music videos/other jobs/TV so just pay my invoice". For almost all grades, for an engagement of over 7 days, without a Lorimer you are going onto PAYE - so show you understand that - seriously, production need to know so telling them upfront is a real plus!

I'll look at your IMDb, see if you've worked with anyone I know, and call them. I prefer to see features rather than shorts, and prefer projects where I see your name once rather than as writer/director/camera/sound/catering/producer/makeup etc., so I can see you work in a team on a long job.

9 years ago - Alexandra Tincu

Hi both!

Thank you for all the valuable advice! I will surely keep all of this in mind whilst working on my cv!

Regards,
Alexandra