ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Are you even legally employable, work permit, SSN, etc? I imagine that'll be your biggest hurdle if it's not already sorted - USA is particularly twitchy about illegal immigrants taking jobs

8 years, 3 months ago - Aaron Wheeler

Good point, my thinking is if I am volunteering for a project for no pay, as it is a hobby, then it isn't really work... But I'm not sure they would buy that if it came to it.

8 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

The unions may resist that - you'd still be taking a job from a local/union member.

8 years, 3 months ago - Marlom Tander

IIRC you can't even volunteer in the US without the right VISA. If you arrive saying you're a tourist, look, act, and have the itinerary of a tourist. Get it wrong - and their immigration are judge, jury and put you on the next plane with a ban on reentry for, a long time. Which also buggers you for routes require a change of planes in the US.

Don't risk it.

8 years, 3 months ago - John Lubran

Marlom nails it again. We live in a world divided by those who've by whatever caprice of circumstance learned and understood how to work the system and the unworldly. Marlom cautions the unworldly who are often unaware of just how unworldly they are.

When it comes to working the system though I can assure everyone that there are numerous ways of achieving outcomes despite the intent of those systems without breaking the rules. I've more than once spelt out a stratagey, here in some detail with regard to the US system. No need to take any risk. The over prescriptiveness of beaurocracy and administrative regulation is its own weakness. It's one rule for the unlearned and another for those able to focus intelligence on the dystopian and Orwellian. The key is in the use of terms and words because that's how meaning is determined in most common law jurisdictions. Act under descriptive meaning that suits desired outcomes. A singular entity can be described by more than one lawful label with each having differing legitamacies. It's a rigged market both economically and regulatory.

For him that has an ear let him hear. For him that has an eye let him see.

8 years, 3 months ago - John Lubran

Just to be little less obtuse; It's not only Trumps vision of American values that trumps all others. Business is king over there. If what ever it is one is doing is' business' you're very nearly a saint. British companies "doing business" can have a very broad licence to act. Imaginative reverse engineering whereby aspirations can be fitted to such a process is relatively simple for the worldly. Worldliness itself is a by product of actually taking an interest in worldly affairs and not just overlaying presumptions or prejudices based on someone else's authority over ones perceptions. It's an academic thing beyond the very low flying limits of mere politics. It works pretty much most places. One is who one says one is until one is disproven!

8 years, 3 months ago - Dan Selakovich

I'm just going to copy and past from a past question about this. Some of it applies, some doesn't, but you might find it helpful.

I have no answers! Forget music videos. Those budgets here are abysmal. These aren't the heady days of MGMMO.

The scene here isn't great in general. The studios have pretty much gutted their indie arms, replacing those 5 to 30 million dollar budgets with tent pole 100 million plus movies. The indie arms with still distribute a film, but they no longer fund them. Zero. Work here is very much in television, but that would be a non-starter for you unless you have dual citizenship. Otherwise, if you were lucky enough to find work here, you'd have to go back to the U.K. while your future employer convinced the government that you had skills that no American has. Getting a work visa before 9/11 was almost easy. Now add 9/11 and a xenophobic president Trump, and you'll see where I'm going with this. If you told the Border Customs Agent you were coming here for work, and didn't have the proper paperwork, I can almost promise that you wouldn't be allowed in the country. I'm dead serious about that. You'd be on the next plane back to the U.K. Say "Holiday" and with enough cash to cover your stay, Bob's your uncle.

Here's the cold hard truth: if you want to work in America, you need a sponsor (have been hired before you come). Or if you're an actor coming here to work on a film, you'll be able to get a working visa pretty easily. Or if you've sold a script. Or are a producer coming here with a nice budget to make a movie. Or have made a movie and are trying to set up a sale or distribution. Let's say you're an actor, there are many non-citizens working that way. But you can ONLY act. If you decided to become an underwater welder, then you'd have go back home and start the process over again. If there's a shortage of American underwater welders, then you're good to go.

There are some indie production companies here. My suggestion would be to find some indie films you really like, look up what company made them, then contact those companies before you come. But make sure your temperament, CV, etc. fits those companies. For example, Killer Films in New York makes things like "Boys don't cry." If you've developed a lot of action films, that wouldn't be a good company to contact (I'm not sure what a "Jr. Creative" exactly is). But if you've done a lot of low budget action stuff, go talk to Roger Corman. Don't ask for a job, just offer to buy them lunch and to pick their brains. Don't try to bullshit. Just be straight. We have finely honed bullshit detectors out here. I also wouldn't email them. Write them a real letter. They will be more likely to read it. Follow up a week later with an email.

If you want to do any below-the-line work, forget it. While there are a lot of Brits working in the film industry here, I don't know of any that arrived recently. And if they have, it's usually graduate from USC and parlay that into a job before you graduate so that you can stay.

While I started off in commercials in the late 70s, I have absolutely no idea about them now. I've been working uncredited fixing films for over 30 years now (holy shit!), and have been having a rotten time of it. But I'm also not as hungry as I used to be, and people just don't bother trying to improve their films like they used to. I get by with a little consulting work or films that have triggered their completion bond--a pretty rare thing.

If you're young (under 30) you'll have a better chance of it. Hollywood is the most ageist place on the planet. And I don't mean just actors, but directors, editors, writers... all the creatives. They like 'em young.

Because of my book, I get asked a lot to set people up or arrange meetings, etc. but I don't do that any more unless I know them. And I mean REALLY know what kind of person they are. I worked with this kid on a friend's short, and thought he was a competent editor, so I set him up with Wozy. Big mistake. The kid was completely unprofessional. So knowing that someone can do solid work and knowing what kind of person they are, are two different things.

If you know a fellow Brit working here, it might be better to ask them. I see Lucy Davis skulking around my neighborhood quite often, but again, she's an actress with an established track record.

Sorry for the dismal news. I'm old and cranky and bitter. But hey, if you want to buy me a scotch...
Dan Selakovich ·2 months ago

8 years, 3 months ago - Mark Alexander Todd

Having lived and worked in LA, if you're looking to volunteer on independent films you can get a flavour from the crew gigs section on Craigslist https://losangeles.craigslist.org/search/cwg that (and personal referals) is where most people get their freelance jobs.

Alternatively, get involved in some film projects here in the UK. US film making is a much different beast to that of the UK. There are a lot of legal and financial issues you face there, that you don't face here. So, unless all of the films you produce will be in the US, much of what you learn will be irrelevent here anyway. The good news is the film making workflow is pretty much the same everywhere.

Any questions let me know. Mark