Just Graduated. Now What?

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The film industry is not easy to break into, especially since having a film degree is not a guarantee for finding a job. As an art form, film is not about how much you know about it but it is about how much talent and dedication you are able to show in a small amount of time. With the film industry expanding into the cyber world, it is a great opportunity for up and coming filmmakers to revolutionize and polish an industry that is just in the making. Although Hollywood has been around for over 100 years, now is the time for change and we are all here and ready to witness it. Most film graduates that I have met during the last few years can’t wait to head to Los Angeles and find a position. As I try to stay in touch with these people who were once classmates and currently friends, I have reached a conclusion:

Hollywood is not the way to break into the business.

As independent filmmakers have more technology and sources to expose their content, it is no longer about getting a big studio to produce your script; it is about creating good enough content to attract the attention of the millions of people in the World Wide Web. This by no means implies that Hollywood is dead, or that there are no opportunities out there. The opportunities will always be there, but they are fewer than the demand for them. Since Los Angeles and New York are the main cities of entertainment, entertainers head to them, ignoring the fact that the rest of the world needs entertainment as well.

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As a recent graduate, I only have one piece of advise. Take the knowledge you have gained to a place where people have no idea of what you are talking about. It sounds counter productive, but it is in fact a great idea. Why go to the place where everyone knows how to do just the same or even more than you? Direct your knowledge to a place that needs development in your field. If you don’t like the way people work, teach them. If you feel you are surrounded by uneducated people? Educate them.
Start being a cause with your education and not an effect. As Alvin Toffler said on his book Revolutionary Wealth, knowledge is relative to time. There may be people that possess a great amount of knowledge, but if that knowledge is not updated, it is no longer relevant to the new knowledge. You are updated in your knowledge, at least for today. Share your knowledge to an extent, and you will see that gaining a following is much easier than wrapping cables at Universal Studios.