Dec 2, 2020
Big Reason Why Many People Will Never Have A Career In The Film Industry — Shane Stanley
Film Courage: Shane in your new book What You Don’t Learn In Film School was there a chapter or section that sparked controversy?
Shane Stanley, Filmmaker/Author/Instructor: Oh absolutely. I think the most controversial chapter in the book is the one that is the most important is to get out, dig ditches, get your hands dirty and make yourself available and whatever it takes to get on a set within your morals, values, and ethics parameter to go do it. And when I came up as we talked about how I made phone calls and hustled to get work and get on sets, I worked for free, I brought my own lunch. I showed up first and left last. I was sweeping floors when it wasn’t in my job description. I have close friends that our generation grew up…you know I have a friend whose father won two oscars and his mother has nine Emmys…you want to talk about nepotism? And when he got his act together like I did he said Hey, you know I want to work in this business. I want to be an editor, mom picked up the phone, made a phone call Okay, he’ll be there tomorrow. Two o’clock, perfect, thank you. Click. You’ve got a job. You’re sweeping floors at Color. You’re getting paid nothing. Pack a lunch, dear. And he swept floors for two years and he didn’t have a problem with that. He thought that’s normal. I had won Emmys at a young age and started over and we talked about not being able to make rent. There was something called Crew Call back then when I was coming up and you would literally subscribe for like $50 a month. You would call an 800 number, and you would say press one for camera, two for sound, three for electric and you would press these things that you could do and then you would hear about jobs and you would write it down and there would be a fax number and you would fax your resume. You would spend a day a week doing that and pray your phone rang and sometimes it wouldn’t. So a friend would call and say Hey I need a swing in the camera department tomorrow. I pay lunch. You in it or out? And I was like Yeah, I’m there. The biggest problem I have today is when I talk to film schools or when people read that chapter about having to invest in yourself and build your resume. You know so many people in my opinion in film school are sold on hopes and dreams and being the next Tarantino or Damien Chazelle and my advice is well if that…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
Related videos:
Anyone Who Wants To Be A Filmmaker Is Crazy — Houston Howard
If You Want To Be In The Movie Business You Have To Get On Set — Brad Sykes
There Are 3 Ways To Break Into Hollywood And I Didn’t Use Any Of Them by Dr. Ken Atchity
Filmmakers Don’t Make Excuses, They Make Movies
