How to get a Internship or Job at ProComp

[GirlCalledAlex]

Hi Guys,
I live in Los Angeles and I really want to try to get a job at a film production company. I would be down to either intern, apprentice, or have a low pay job. I'm not totally interested in the money aspect, I just want to "get my foot in the door". Right now I'm a journalism student&editor for my community college newspaper. I went to film school for over a year about 2years ago. I just don't really now how to go about this.
Should I just drop off resume's at the company's building? no clue.

 

[directorik]

Welcome to indietalk, Alex.

I have bad news. Internships and minimum wage production jobs
are first offered to family, then to film school students, then to
friends. And the film schools that get first dibs are the big ones.
Here in L.A. there are between 100 and 200 jobs offered each
year (that’s with the high turnover) and close to 4,000 applicants
and 100,000 plus who are looking for jobs. I got these number
from Hollywood Reporter in 2011.

The good news. You’re a journalism student here in L.A., your
school with have an intern program that will likely include the
studios and prodCos. Dropping of resumes is an excellent path
to take. Then following through is essential. It takes a LOT of
leg work and you may feel like a pest but it’s how people get
the gigs.

A personal story that I have seen happen several times.

I have worked as a reader for several big studios and prodCos
so I am often in offices. People are always dropping of resumes,
chatting with the office staff, hanging around the hallways. More
then once I have been in the office when they lose an intern and
the boss panics. Someone walks in the door who has been there
before and they get hired on the spot.

Not saying this is standard; I’m saying persistence is essential.

 

[DesperadoMan17]

Sorry to butt in , so your saying its almost impossible to get a job in Hollywood? Lets say I finish school and make my way to LA. What are the chances of me getting a job? Like Alex said, just to get my foot in the door. Anything.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Sorry to butt in , so your saying its almost impossible to get a job in Hollywood?

He didn't say it was impossible, he said it was difficult. Nepotism and other forms of favoritism are the name of the game in most any industry, but even more prevalent in the media industry since it is so "popular." This is one of those cases where "it's not what you know but who you know." So, in the absence of an "in" you need to become broadly networked.

Once you are broadly networked you hear about opportunities, and your full time job is pursuing those leads. If you have the skill set and the knowledge and a healthy dollop of luck you may just be the one in a thousand that gets the job.