As a soon-to-graduate filmmaker I started looking for jobs and opportunities to network and to spend increasingly more and more time on set. My very first job in this field was as a runner for an American production, and since the director was Italian, they made the creative decision to shoot in Italy. Then there it was, I got my first job as a runner for The Suicide (2017), directed by Pietro Pinto. It was an awesome experience to work in a professional environment for the first time. I learned a lot from the director and producer, especially how to deal with actors and how to properly give directions to obtain the best performance possible. I focused on making my own projects for a while until I stumbled upon this huge opportunity to work for a Disney production through my university where I covered the role of location marshall; for the first time I got to experience what life on the set of such a huge feature is like. Networking was the most crucial aspect of the job: getting to know people and showing my abilities and personality in those few minutes that I had available really taught me how to better showcase my own qualities, how to advertise myself in such a way that they’d be interested to get to know more, if I was lucky enough. Likewise, again in terms of networking, the Creative Enterprise Week organised by my university was absolutely valuable as we got to attend seminars where companies pitched us their ideas for potential projects and works, it got me to see my job from the point of view of the client, comprehend their needs and wishes. Another very interesting aspect of CEW was the opportunity I had to talk to alumni about their last year at university and how they got started on their first job.
Alumni speaking during Creative Enterprise Week.
Overall I like to think that every experience has something to teach me, good or bad, and shape me as a dedicated and hardworking filmmaker.
Bibliography
Gillespie C., Cruella, Walt Disney Pictures, 2021
Pinto P., The Suicide, Govoni L., 2017