The Truth About Finding Work In The Film Industry — Andy Rydzewski
Film Courage: We interviewed a gentleman who said a lot of Hollywood work is like temp work, you are kind of swinging from one temp job to another and that it’s never where you are really landing in one spot. On the flip side you can say there are a lot of people who have corporate jobs where they were just given a severance package and pushed out the door. So nothing is really guaranteed?
Andy Rydzewski, Cinematographer: It’s true. I think the nature of most film work or at least the film work that I do is there just isn’t stability and there won’t be. I remember years ago, this probably would have been 20 years ago I saw an interview with Kevin Bacon and he is married to Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon who has been around since I was a kid said that after every project when it goes quiet he gets very nervous and he’s like Oh no, am I ever going to work again? I remember that sticking out to me like wait — Kevin Bacon is worried about getting work? And now that I’ve been in the industry for a little while — Oh right, you have no idea if you will be, even if you’re on top of the world two years from now maybe no one remembers your name or you shoot a project that bombs or whatever it is, it’s such a competitive world and I don’t think it’s a good industry to base your life on if you want to build a healthy family and I hate saying that because it’s an industry that I love so dearly. But having a relationship when you’re going 80 hours a week and you come home and you’re…I don’t know…you have to have a special partnership to make that work. I think it’s very stressful on all your relationships (romantic, friend, all of that). I think that mostly I like to put that out there. It doesn’t — nothing is good or bad it just is and that’s like a fact of our industry and I think it’s important for people to realize that because I think there are a lot of romantic ideas going in but the reality of it — and especially now…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
