Attn Film/Video Friends

[chrystalline]

I haven’t mentioned it, but some time back I joined a YahooGroup called FilmBudgeting. At the time, I was still trying to become a film producer on my own terms, so a group of active producers discussing the actual budgeting of films struck me as potentially educational. It’s more strictly moderated than any other group I’ve ever seen (sometimes I want to tell him to lighten up, but, well, it’s his group - he can do what he wants), but there is real discussion there. Of course, I’ve since determined that I’m more interested in the digital side of things, but I haven’t left the group because it’s still sometimes interesting.

Anyway, a while back (but not as far back as when I joined it) the moderator started up a website intended to better facilitate the meeting of producers and crew and actors and jobs. Not being very clear on exactly what I wanted, I didn’t join up. I felt too much like an impostor at the time, pretending to be a filmmaker when I wasn’t actively engaged in production on any kind of recent basis. I think I glanced at it once, said, ‘huh, interesting,’ and moved on to other things.

Recently, though, he’s decided to make it a paid membership site, with free membership for one year for anyone who is already signed up or who signs up before the end of the year. That gives you a month and a half if you choose to give it a shot. So, with a deadline like that, I decided to try it. After all, if it doesn’t do anything for me, I can let the thing lapse at the end of next year and no harm done.

There are bugs, of course. The links on the jobs page will only work if you copy/paste them into your browser, because the code is somehow throwing away all the actual URL and turning all the hyperlinks into “http:///” which is somewhat like getting into a taxi and saying, “Drive,” but since browsers aren’t paid by the mile, they just squawk instead of heading out randomly. I also wonder at the point of filling out the profile text if you can’t actually look at anyone else’s profile info. There are links to reels, stills, and resumés (and the site falls prey to one of my pet peeves, putting too many accents on that word) but I didn’t find a way to view the profile of any one of the people I saw on the site.

Most of the jobs listed are in California or New York. That’s normal. I did see a variety of others in there, though, so it’s possible that something useful could come of it. Anyway, I thought it might be of interest. If you didn’t know already, I also have links to film/video/radio job sites in my links page - just another collection of information I wish I’d had when I graduated from college.

Originally published at Chrystalline. You can comment here or there.