Resources for Film Industry Professionals

🎥 Want your first job in Film & TV in the U.S. or Canada? Let’s skip the fantasy: you won’t find it on LinkedIn. Most screen industry jobs are still found through word of mouth, referrals, and networking. Repeat hires matter. So does hustle. If you don’t have connections yet, you’re not out of luck—just start where you are. I built my network (and resume) from the ground up by being a fly on the wall—even below the PA. I started by cleaning floors, literally learning “the floor.” Every broom sweep taught me something about set dynamics, hustle, and humility. Here’s where I’d start if I were breaking in today 👇 🇺🇸 U.S. 🎬 EntertainmentCareers. net – great for entry-level and internships 🎬 Staff Me Up – THE place for production gigs (especially reality, doc, & indie) 🎬 ProductionHUB – freelance and crew calls nationwide 🎬 Film & TV Facebook groups like “IA Production Assistants” 🎬 Made in NY PA Training Program – a solid launchpad if you're in NYC 🎬 Sundance Collab – workshops, community, and networking for indie creators 🎬 Film Independent – especially helpful if you're L.A-based 🎬 Ghetto Film School – early access to creative career paths 🎬 Roadmap Writers – for aspiring screenwriters 🎬 Writers Guild Foundation – Script Coordinator and Writers' Assistant labs (essential for breaking into the writers’ room!) 🎬 The Black TV & Film Collective – mentorship and access 🎬 Women in Film – advocacy + job boards 🎬 NALIP (Latinx creators), CAPE USA (AAPI creatives), and Brown Girls Doc Mafia – community-based entry points 🎬 UTA, WME, CAA career pages – assistant jobs are brutal but they open doors 🎬 Your local film commission website – often post crew calls for shoots in your state 🇨🇦 Canada 🎬 Media Job Search Canada – jobs in production, radio, digital, and post 🎬 CBC Careers – production assistant, researcher, and editorial roles 🎬 CMPA Job Board – hiring on indie film and TV projects 🎬 National Screen Institute – killer programs for writers, producers, and directors 🎬 Creative BC – film funding, crew training, job listings 🎬 Ontario Creates – industry news, skills dev, and grants 🎬 BIPOC TV & Film – community, mentorships, and job calls 🎬 ACTRA & DGC – their trainee programs are worth watching 💡 Pro tip: PA gigs, assistant/reader jobs, and internships may not be sexy, but they’re gold for getting in the room. Say yes, learn fast, and be easy to work with. 💼🌍

Where should you be looking for your first job in film & TV? 📺👀 Firstly, I want to be transparent with you - you're not going to find it on LinkedIn. Most jobs in the screen industries are filled through networking - connecting with the right person at the right time, word of mouth referrals and (99% of the time) working with the person who was good on your last job. BUT if you don't have connections in Film & TV, that doesn't mean you can't break into industry - you'll just need to build your network (and skills!) from scratch. If I were breaking into industry again, this is where I would start 👇 🎬 All Spring Media 🎬 BBC Early Careers 🎬 Channel 4 “4Skills” 🎬 Creative Access (this is where I broke into Scripted TV Production!) 🎬 Eric Creative Careers app 🎬 Filming in England National Crew Directory 🎬 Gritty Talent 🎬 ITV Academy 🎬 ITV Freelance Hub 🎬 MAMA Youth Project 🎬 People in TV: Runners Facebook group 🎬 Pinewood Studios Early Careers 🎬 RTS Futures Careers Fair 🎬 ScreenSkills Trainee Finder 🎬 Shinfield Studios “The Crew List” 🎬 Sky Studios Elstree Future Talent Programme 🎬 Talent Manager 🎬 The Network: Edinburgh TV Festival 🎬 TriForce Creative Network Talent Pool 🎬 WarnerBros Discovery CrewHQ Training Programme If any of their opportunities are closed, set a reminder/sign up for email alerts for when they're open again. Don't forget that off-shoot companies from bigger broadcasters (like Potato from ITV) and other independent production companies will have their own careers pages you can apply to, so get researching! I'll make another post about other strategies for finding your first job in Film & TV - but this list is a great place to start 🌠 Good luck and feel free to drop any of your own recommendations in the comments! #ScriptedProduction #TVProduction #ProductionAssistant #HETV

🎬 INDEPENDENT FILM MARKET UPDATE: What's Working in 2025 The indie film landscape is evolving rapidly. Here's what our latest analysis reveals about films with $1-30M budgets: 📊 THE NUMBERS THAT MATTER Horror is CRUSHING it: - Companion: $10M → $36.7M worldwide (267% ROI) - Presence: $2M → $10.5M worldwide (425% ROI) - The Monkey: $39.7M domestic box office The Sweet Spot: $3M-$12M budgets showing optimal risk/reward ratios Reality Check: 90%+ of independent films don't reach mainstream theaters, making streaming distribution critical 🎯 KEY TRENDS SHAPING 2025 Genre Performance: ✅ Horror/Thriller leading profitability metrics ✅ Elevated dramas finding success through awards positioning ⚠️ Traditional comedies struggling theatrically Distribution Evolution: - A24 moving toward higher budgets ($70M for "Marty Supreme") - NEON dominating horror with smart marketing campaigns - Streaming platforms spending billions on content acquisition Budget Realities: - Reserve 25-30% of budget for marketing/distribution - International sales now 40-50% of total revenue - Ultra-low budget ($1-5M) showing highest ROI potential 💡 STRATEGIC TAKEAWAYS - Genre Matters: Horror and elevated genre content consistently outperform Platform Strategy: Multi-platform windowing essential (theatrical → streaming) - Budget Discipline: Success stories focus on creative efficiency over scale - Global Reach: International co-productions expanding financing opportunities 🔗 USEFUL RESOURCES (FREE ACCESS) Box Office Tracking: - The Numbers (the-numbers.com) - Basic budget/gross data for released films - Box Office Mojo LLC (boxofficemojo.com) - Weekend box office tracking Industry News: - Variety (variety.com) - When deals/budgets are reported in articles - IndieWire (indiewire.com) - Indie film news and analysis - Deadline Hollywood (deadline.com) - Industry trades with occasional financial data Film-Specific Research: - Wikipedia - Often has sourced budget/performance data - Individual film distributor press releases ⚠️ DATA LIMITATIONS TO KNOW: - Most detailed financial breakdowns require paid subscriptions - Streaming revenue rarely disclosed publicly - Marketing budgets almost never reported - Many indie budgets are estimates, not confirmed figures The takeaway? Smart filmmakers are focusing on genre excellence, budget efficiency, and multi-platform strategies. The indie film market rewards creativity and strategic thinking over pure scale. What trends are you seeing in your corner of the industry? #IndependentFilm #FilmFinancing #MovieBusiness #A24 #Neon #StreamingMedia #FilmDistribution #HorrorFilms #FilmProduction #DesertPirateProductions

I spoke to 327 experienced industry professionals and one of the things I asked them was exactly what step they would take first if they had to begin their filmmaking careers again, entirely from scratch. Full details here https://lnkd.in/e7WxU4rk These are the eight most consistent pieces of advice they shared: 1. Build your own network(s). Proactively create meaningful connections and form your own professional community, rather than waiting to break into existing circles. 2. Know who your audience is. Clearly defining your core audience from the start gives investors, distributors and audiences confidence in your projects. 3. Learn the business of film, not just the creative. Filmmakers comfortable with budgets, funding and market realities build sustainable careers far more easily. 4. Test your films with real audiences. Frequent, objective feedback from unbiased viewers sharpens your storytelling and helps you avoid costly mistakes. 5. Learn how funding works. Navigating film funding clearly, efficiently and realistically greatly improves your chance of securing financial support. 6. Take on audience-building from the start. Start building and maintaining your audience early in production to give distributors and investors greater confidence in your projects. 7. The industry changing - you should too. Stay curious and responsive to technological shifts, new distribution models and market trends like the rise of AI tools. 8. Brand yourself. Clearly communicating a consistent filmmaker identity helps industry decision-makers quickly understand and trust your work. Read the detail at https://lnkd.in/e7WxU4rk

This is the most important news of the year for African cinema! 🌍 The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the launching a $1Billion dollars fund to support the film industry in Africa. Announcement was made by Kanayo Awani, EVP of the largest Pan-african financial institution, and IATF, on Nov 10th, in Cairo. 🚀 In 2020, Afreximbank introduced a dedicated US$500 million facility to support Africa’s creative and cultural industry as part of its wider CANEX programme, part of the IATF2023 - Africa’s largest trade and investment fair - opened on 9 November and will run till 15 November 2023. 🔸The Film Development Financing Facilities was meant to support film project, structuring initiatives, or distribution company, and intra-African co-production agreements, to foster a more integrated film value chain for the continent. 🔸The Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) programme was created to facilitate the development and growth of the creative and cultural industries in Africa and the diaspora. The programme provides a range of financing and non-financing instruments and interventions aimed at supporting trade and investment in Africa’s creative sector. 💸 As an example, AAA Entertainment ZA (The lost Okoroshi, Jab, Love, Sex and 30 Seconds), co-funded by Mayenzeke Baza and Mawande Seti-Baza received 3.8M$ in 2022 to support the production of 11 greenlit film projects, in collaboration with production companies from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa. 🔸As film industry expert Marie Lora-Mungai says: "African producers are vastly disadvantaged compared to foreign ones when it comes to securing and developing high-profile IP into films or series. (...) many African filmmakers don't actually own the IP on the content they created" 🔸In 2023, the Pan-African financial institution has decided to double down on its initial promise, raising the stake to $1B USD with a new investment instrument. 🖊 My take: I've been navigating the film industry for 8 years, and this was long overdue. This is an fundamental milestone in the future of the African film industry, and will help many film project and companies to get proper financing, without giving away their rights to foreign companies. 👏 Congrats to Temwa G. Victor Ekoko Mukete and IATF African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)'s team for their groundbraking work  and endeavor to support the next generation of African filmmakers and storytellers. If you have a film project, TV series, or anything Film related that fits their criteria, you should apply now. You will have to show a solid finance plan, and present supporting documents like pre-sales or distribution deals. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/expRFv2q 👉 If you're interested in more Film industry news, follow me and comment "African Cinema" ! Have a great week & keep supporting African creativity !