Runners

Former Member

I'm aware of how hard it is to get into the film industry these days, but I can't even get a job as a runner which I know is where you have to start off. Does anyone know what they look for on a runner's CV? I've got an A-Level in Media Studies but no degree or anything. Can anyone help?

Former Member

Hmmm, it's really difficult. I saw an advert for a runner on Hollyoaks, which wanted experience plus the ability to drive a minibus. Basically, you're gonna have to work for people for free for a while. There's no way you'll get a paid role in production straight out of uni, never mind college if you're relying purely on your qualifications.

Go up to independent film companies and ask them if they're shooting anything, and whether you will be able to help out on the shoot. It can be anything, but it'll usually be short films. The other alternative, since you live in London, is to try to get work experience off TV companies. Getting it off the BBC, Sky etc is difficult, but all of those small digital channels are based in London so it shouldn't be a problem for you to get work experience on something crap like bid-up TV or the Shopping channel. The final idea is to find someone you know that already works for a bigger company and try and get them to get you work experience. This could be a bit of a fast track into it.

Some small companies run free training schemes (in return for government funding). However, it's quite competitive to get on them, and they tend to select the people who have helped them out for free on projects in the past. So find out if there's any of these types of companies in the area and focus on trying to get work experience with these companies in particular (though most of these types of schemes are more about developing talent outside of London, which may be a problem for you).

You'll also need a few things to make you good at the job (and make people ask you to help again in the future). For a start, do research into all of the equipment. It can be frustrating for someone to have to explain what they want you to get every time they ask you to fetch something (plus you can find all that stuff out on the internet for free, so there really is no excuse). Find out what all of the roles are in film production, or at least the major ones. It's surprising the number of people who don't know what the Director of Photography does, or the assitant director, or even the director.

Have a good idea of what you want to do in the long term. Loads of people say "I want to work in film" without really having an idea of what they want to do. So pick a field you want to work in. Do you want to work with film, video or even TV? Do you want to be involved in the creative side of things or more in producing and researching? Find out the top job you want (Director, producer, DP, Art Director, Sound Designer) and there's usually a fairly standard (but by no means written in stone) path of how you get there, so the top job is usually a good place to start. It will make you appear more sure of yourself on set to the other crew members and might help spark a bit of conversation that'll lead to another job.

And most importantly, never listen to your parents. Or anyone else trying to put you off for that matter. It take a long time to get paid for filmmaking (particularly as a director) and all your parents will want you to do is get a 'proper job' with security and a pension plan. But who wants that? That's just boring.

Former Member

It depends a lot on the job but I reckon personality and how you come across in the interview count for as much as anything you've got on your CV, especially if it's a paying job - they're going to want to see how you get on with the running before anything else happens!

Convince them that you're reliable and you'll do all the crappy little jobs around there enthusiastically rather than hang around being moody and thinking things are beneath you and you should be in with a chance.

www.grapevinejobs.com sometimes has runner jobs, as does www.productionbase.com and www.broadcastfreelancer.com.

Former Member

Thank you for giving me all that great advice guys! And those websites are really good too, thanks for bringing those to my attention Voodoo Ray In response to a couple of things "I'm With Stupid" said, I did go round to loads of film and TV companies in Soho (Tiger Aspect, The Mill etc etc) back in June last year armed with my CV, but I heard nothing. So, a few months ago I sent letters to them asking if I could do unpaid work experience but I still haven't heard anything from them so I guess that's out. I really thought they'd be happy to let me do that since they knew they weren't gonna pay me but oh well. Thanks for the advice anyway

Former Member

KJ87 wrote:

Thank you for giving me all that great advice guys! And those websites are really good too, thanks for bringing those to my attention Voodoo Ray In response to a couple of things "I'm With Stupid" said, I did go round to loads of film and TV companies in Soho (Tiger Aspect, The Mill etc etc) back in June last year armed with my CV, but I heard nothing. So, a few months ago I sent letters to them asking if I could do unpaid work experience but I still haven't heard anything from them so I guess that's out. I really thought they'd be happy to let me do that since they knew they weren't gonna pay me but oh well. Thanks for the advice anyway

Seriously, you've got to go for the smaller companies. I don't know about The Mill, but Tiger Aspect are a pretty big company. You've got to pick companies where you'll be doing them a favour, rather than the other way round then work your way up from there. Even talk to individual filmmakers. Film companies will usually have a database of people that they've worked with. They might be willing to give you the email address of a director of photography, producer or director, so you can email them to ask if you can help on their next project (getting to help a DP will probably give you the best idea of location shooting, because on a smaller shoot you'll be doing stuff like clapperboarding, moving lights, labelling tapes, and setting up the camera. Plus you'll get the credit of Camera Assistant rather than Runner, which looks more impressive). There should be forums where filmmakers hang out (I don't know any for London, but Google it and you're bound to find one). If any of the topics mention a film being made in the area, again, email or PM the person asking if you can help out. Most smaller crews will be happy of the help and you'll learn more doing more on a smaller shoot, than you would hanging around all day on a BBC set not really doing much. Good luck.