Many people don’t know what to do once they are done with film school. Even through you get all those success stories about recent graduates finding work in big companies, the truth is that they probably have an uncle working in that company. The rest of us have to find another way to get in the industry. So how do you do it?

Simple Answer: Be Ready to work for free. Don’t think that on your first job, you’ll make lots of money because that’s just not happening. When you start, you start at the lowest position and you have to make your way up, but even before that, you need to build up a resume and what you need in it are credits. You only have one option, working for free, or as someone I know would put it; you’re not working for free, but “Working for Credits.”

People don’t judge you from your grades in film school, they don’t even care about them to be honest, they judge you from the credits you have because credits means experience and experience is what gets you hired. With experience also comes contacts, so you’re not only working for credits but you’re working on building a network of people that may decide to keep in touch with you and even find you work.

Now, I know what some of you are going to say that life is expansive and you need money to live and I totally agree. But the reality is that you’re not the only person trying to get a job and if you have 5 credits and the other one has 15, it means that theoretically, this person had a lot more experience than you. So yes living is expansive, but if you’re serious about wanting to get inside the industry you’ll have to do this.

I’ve spent weeks on set without getting paid and now many of the people I’ve met on set are calling me back for other jobs, sometimes including money, and it goes on and on. At one point, you might even meet someone who will be able to keep you around and find you work, who knows! But if you aren’t there, what are the chances of this happening, versus you being there?

So now that you’re done, get out there, go on Cragislist and find anything to work on. The more you do the more it will help you later on.