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Hey all.

I'm sorry if this question doesn't quite belong in this section of the website. I'm wondering, where do you guys look for work? I know the usual suspects like Mandy, CL, etc. but where do you guys find your gigs? Most of my work lands in my lap from referrals or old postings and previous clients but I want to expand my network and I could use a lead or two.

Thanks in advance!

-TAS

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" I know the usual suspects like Mandy, CL, "

Sorry, these are not the usual suspects for real jobs.

There are several services out there that provide much higher quality prospects: Production reports from Breakdown Services and Mercury reports come to mind...

Edited by studiomprd
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" I know the usual suspects like Mandy, CL, "

Sorry, these are not the usual suspects.

There are several services out there that provide much higher quality prospects: Production reports from Breakdown Services and Mercury reports come to mind...

Care to elaborate?

I meant "usual suspects" as in "that is what people USUALLY post here". No need to nit-pick. I'm pretty sure it's clear what I'm asking. So, once again, care to elaborate?

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The production reports Senator Mike refers to do sometimes list the UPMs, so it could "theoretically" be possible to make contact with them and at least get your name out there.

But I think networking with other people is the best advice. A lot also depends on your specific area and type of work, experience, available equipment, and so on.

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I'm sorry, but is it too difficult for a "college professor" to actually create a complete sentence and spell out any acronyms for someone who obviously is new to the business and might not know all the terms?

Oh, right - This was a post by Mike, BYOA: Bring your own answers when you read it. I worry about your students, but then I realize - Did they learn anything from you? "it depends" sums that up!

TheAudioSynthesist: Your local film production office would be a good resource to try for, but they will tend to know about the larger stuff that most likely will be bringing their own crew to your sandbox, OR will be hiring the local union people. For starting out or smaller jobs, there are a few websites that I have found that are pretty good:

Friends in TV

Production Notices

Mandy (Sometimes just for laughs)

Craigslist (Mostly just for laughs)

"Film crew jobs" search on Google lists a bunch more... I would try to avoid the typical hiring sites and look at more industry-targeted results.

It is a constant search for new resources, that is for sure.

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I'm sorry, but is it too difficult for a "college professor" to actually create a complete sentence and spell out any acronyms for someone who obviously is new to the business and might not know all the terms?

Oh, right - This was a post by Mike, BYOA: Bring your own answers when you read it. I worry about your students, but then I realize - Did they learn anything from you? "it depends" sums that up!

TheAudioSynthesist: Your local film production office would be a good resource to try for, but they will tend to know about the larger stuff that most likely will be bringing their own crew to your sandbox, OR will be hiring the local union people. For starting out or smaller jobs, there are a few websites that I have found that are pretty good:

Friends in TV

Production Notices

Mandy (Sometimes just for laughs)

Craigslist (Mostly just for laughs)

"Film crew jobs" search on Google lists a bunch more... I would try to avoid the typical hiring sites and look at more industry-targeted results.

It is a constant search for new resources, that is for sure.

a gentleman if I ever saw one online. thank you (and Marc) for your answers. i AM green but not that that green. been doing it for 6 years now but where I live the market is really dry. still trying to move to a bigger city and wanted a few new resources. thanks so much for listing the ones you know! very very appreciated!

:)

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Mr. Eagle (Cool name btw):

I honestly haven't signed up yet myself with Friends in TV, I have a buddy (producer-type) who has gotten a couple notices from them and sent them my way, I don't know if the referral is truly needed, but I was planning to find out soon. I've had that tab open in my browser for a couple days, just haven't gotten back to it yet.

Production notices... I'm surprised that they wouldn't have listings for LA, but maybe that is b/c they are trying to target smaller markets where there isn't an established support system? If you are in LA, you might be better served by driving over to Location Sound Corp or Trew Audio or Coffey Sound (I think they are out there) and saying hello to our VERY supportive gear houses. The purpose of that would be networking, I would tend to think they would have the hookup on upcoming gigs, smaller stuff that might be renting a kit but need a driver, that sort of thing.

Referrals from other sound mixers in the area is ALWAYS the best option (and THANK YOU KINDLY to a specific member here who knows I'm talking about them) but if you are in a REALLY REALLY small market... That might be a bit difficult b/c you could be viewed as competition. Being able to fill in for each other is a benefit however, it keeps all the clients happy, which keeps us working.

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I don't believe I have ever had a job that was not a referral from another mixer or producer.

I have sent out hundreds of resumes to big and small productions. Made cold calls, etc. I have never been hired from any of these. But I will continue to send stuff out. The best value seems to be findfilmwork.com - it's what I use. I also keep track of people I have worked for in the past, and check in with them once in a while. If you have been unavailable a couple of times, they soon forget about you. It doesn't hurt to remind them you're still out there, even if your busy.

Robert

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" I would tend to think they would have the hookup on upcoming gigs, smaller stuff that might be renting a kit but need a driver, that sort of thing. "

networking = yes, but not much hooking up with gigs...

" Do you tend to bill yourself as mixer, operator, or recordist? "

when not on payroll, yes.

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TAS- what kind of work are you looking for? Films, TV, anything? I started in super low budget nightmare films, but started getting calls for reality/doc stuff after a while. Even little films have a crew of 50 people that scatter to the wind. People end up working in other cities and for many companies. I got quite a few calls for TV stuff because a PA/intern/whatever I did a $100k film with got a job at a production company or network and gave them my number. They just happened to be in a room when somebody said "anyone know any mixers in Philly?". Some of the worst films can still lead to great networking opportunities. Some, not at all.

Production Notices very rarely has anything for Philly either. They started as a free listing via facebook, and became a pay service. Monthly subscription, but they might not have anything for your area for 3 months.

I'm with Robert that I send out resumes etc directly to production companies, but nothing much ever seems to come directly from those. Almost everything is recommendations from other mixers, companies I have history with, or production people I have worked with before (freelancers shuffle but keep call sheets). For reality work, once you do jobs for a company they seem to add you to a database that their other coordinators can look up by geographic region. I've gotten that call before "are you still in Philly? I see you did jobs for us in that area *insert dates*".

I do get calls from sites I list on, like my local film office. I have gotten a few calls from my listing on sites like Mandy and Production hub. The local film office leads to some calls, but the other two might be one or two calls a year. They help, but don't pay the rent. They could lead to jobs that then get me in with a producer, or production company.

Generally I think production coordinators use those websites after exhausting any other locals they can call for mixing, or recommendations. There are some people I work for from the other side of the country that will say "Do you have any suggestions for a mixer in DC" or something like that. Same thing with suggestions in Pittsburgh, which is also Pennsylvania, but it is 300 miles away. To be blunt, a resume doesn't mean you did a good job. Almost anyone can scrape up a few references that will say good things about them.

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I'd like to know how you use BTL too - I gave them a month's signup, b/c their "simulated" listings weren't terribly helpful in determining how I would use them...

The "current" listings don't seem to be that current either, or I'm just not seeing how to make the best use of it yet. They have listings showing for stuff that I know is well and truly wrapped, showing as "in development" which doesn't seem that useful if the info isn't up to date.

FYI: Friends in TV does require the referral, and I would be OK with doing that for anyone here, send me a PM and I'll give you my info on there. I don't use the same email for every site. I'm also not sure if they would validate the referral before "approving" the account, but they approved mine in 24 hours. Their price is also the best: free.

Thus far, each of the pay-to-play listing services I have tried have all given me the same thing: Exactly no gigs. The free ones have made me several thousand bucks.

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