Hey, it's Jenny from Roadtrip Nation, and today we're talking about jobs for people who love
movies! I know what you’re thinking: Is this video for EVERYONE ON EARTH?
Who doesn’t love movies??? True. But we’re talking about people who live and breathe movies,
who are interested in how they’re made, and who want to make movies their livelihood. So if your
YouTube history is stuffed with trailer re-cuts, scene breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes extras,
we’re talking to you. Check out these five careers aligned to the film industry.
Every film creates hundreds of jobs, meaning there are endless routes you can go if you love movies!
So, if you want to work in films, it’s helpful to first think about your other interests and
talents. If you love art, there are several routes you can take into the film industry:
but for us, becoming an animator seems like the dream job.
We talked to “Frozen” animator Wayne Unten about how much he loves his work - and how
his passion for the characters in each film helps him be the best animator he can be.
So I’m an animator at Disney Animation Studios. As an animator, we’re actors, in the sense that,
you’re really crafting everything. You're designing everything. So, I bring the characters
to life through the performances. We want to make those characters believable, and feel alive.
Think of a simple thing as like, you know, a character picking up something. It's like,
well, how does the character pick it up? You know? Is the character, like, maybe
talking about a distant memory, and are the eyes saying that as the character touches something?
So that's kind of like, they say the 'illusion of life' and that's what we try to bring.
You put a little bit of yourself into each character...it's funny it feels like
they’re your children. Really it... it feels like that because you.. you know them, you
make sure that they're... they're well taken care of, you know?
They brush their teeth every day!
Yeah, you make sure that, you know, the performances are right.
If you love bringing people together, organizing events, or helping to amplify voices and stories
from others, you can bring that to the table as a film festival creator! Whether it’s at your
local theater, or just at your house, you can get started planning a film festival anywhere,
anytime. But it helps to have a central theme or vision. For Stacey Spikes, founder of
Urbanworld Film Festival, his vision was all about amplifying the stories that weren’t being told.
I had gone to Sundance, and it was very odd to me that there was so few
people of color in the films that we were seeing. So I went and met with
the person who at the time was the head of the festival. And I went to him and I said,
'There seems to be a lot of work that y’all aren’t showing.' And he said to me,
'Well, if it were good we would show it.' And I said, 'But good according to who?'
I had this resentment because it was like, here's a gatekeeper who was preventing certain groups'
stories from being told. It pissed me off. My whole thing was: I'm gonna make a Black Latino
Asian Sundance or Cannes Film Festival. That was kind of my mantra in my mind.
If you love the storytelling aspect of movies, there are so many paths you can pursue: from
writing to directing. But this lesser-known option is slightly outside of the world of filmmaking.
Keana McGee works in marketing for Netflix, and her work promoting films
sounds just as creative and fun as making the films themselves!
I currently work here at Netflix, and I work on the Creative Marketing team for film,
so that means, all the marketing components from...your trailer, your key art posters,
social media, my job is to help pull all of those components together in promoting a film.
Some days I could be creating content for social media, so working really closely with
some of our agencies and creative folks to come up with fun and interesting ideas and ways to
promote our film. One day I could be putting a shoot together with talent. Um, it could be
just a day full of meetings sometimes. It just depends. It's kind of all over the board, but I
love it, like, I love... I love seeing my work out there, and I love when people get
excited about things that I make and I'm really passionate about the things that I work on.
If you’re a more literal storyteller, and love writing,
then writing about movies could be a natural combination for you!
A few years ago, we were lucky enough to get some advice from Peter Travers,
a film critic for Rolling Stone, and maybe one of the greatest living movie critics.
And his job reviewing films for a magazine might seem intimidating, or out of reach.
But the great thing is, these days, you can just start your own Twitter account, YouTube channel,
newsletter, whatever - and start talking about movies in a way that’s unique to you!
Because no matter what channel you choose, what Peter says is most important is your passion.
I was never a person who thought he would make them, but I was always a kid who wanted to talk
about them. My friends would say, 'let’s play stickball' and I’d say, 'Yeah okay, let's do that,
but did you see that movie Alfred Hitchcock did??' I would take these little notebooks and cards,
and I'd keep a little record of what movie I saw, and I would actually put little ratings on it.
And when I read them I was basically talking to myself. I'd go to the movies with them and
they'd go do something else, and I'd stay and I'd watch it again. So, my education in movies
wasn't being a critic, except for my little strange notes that I would write to myself, but
was trying to learn by getting on movie sets and doing stories. So, I mean, that takes me from a
nerdy geekish obnoxious kid to nerdy geekish obnoxious film critic of today (laughs).
Of course, the ultimate storytelling 'movie job' is...to just make your own movie! We
know what you’re thinking: 'You’re telling me to just make a movie??? It’s not that easy!'
[Beep] Keep it together,
man! We're trying to make a movie! [Laughter]
We're professionals! [Beep]
But listen to documentarian Gary Hustwit talk about his work, and you might get inspired!
Because according to him, when there’s a story you want to tell, it really is that simple.
I just wanted to watch a movie about graphic design and fonts just because I was just kind
of a design geek, and I couldn't find anything out there. So I'm like, there must be other
people like me thinking the same thing. So I just decided to make the movie. I mean, I
hadn't directed a film at that point. That was the first, um, you know time I picked up a camera. And
then I was a filmmaker. There's a momentum in actually starting a project and doing it. Like,
a lot of times, uh, people that I know are like, 'Yeah, I'm thinking about doing this
thing. I might-- I might try to do this film project.' Or, you know, 'I'm thinking about it.'
Just do it. You know? The moment you say, 'I'm doing it,' it changes the dynamic of everybody
that is around you. They're like, 'Oh you're doing it? Oh great, oh god I know somebody,
you know, I know somebody who can help, and I can help you, too,' or whatever. It's not like, 'I
want to be a filmmaker,' like, 'I AM a filmmaker,' you know? I'm starting this thing. I'm doing it.
Suddenly everybody's like, 'Oh yeah, you know, Martha's a filmmaker now. Yeah she's doing it.'
It changes everything around you and it opens up so many possibilities.
It's like willing yourself to be the thing that you really want to be, but it totally works.
I love that advice, and so many people we talked to made their film industry dreams come true
because they just went for it. So, if one of these career paths is calling to you, take
that spark of inspiration you're feeling right now and find a way to start putting it to work.
What are you interested in? Every Tuesday we put out new videos to help you explore
careers aligned to the things you love, so make sure to subscribe and stay tuned.