Tag: news

The Atlanta Film Yard Sale – Year 2!

Leave a comment

Last year, a group of three camera department women got together to plan a simple yard sale — that ballooned into the event of the year. Those women were Erin Zellers, Tina Somphone and myself. And we had to go bigger and better this year.

I wrote about the first one here: https://bridgetlamonica.com/2024/09/11/the-atlanta-film-yard-sale-and-building-a-film-community/

Being a filmmaker doesn’t mean you are an artist on an island, creating alone. Film production is the ultimate group project. (sorry kids in high school, you still have to get along with other people!) Just as you would make a film with a group of dedicated people, the yard sale event comes together thanks to a wide network of people, from the three organizers, to the volunteers, to the sponsors, to the vendors and the attendees.

There was a lot of well-intentioned pressure from Year 1 to keep going. We didn’t even finish having the event last year before people were asking us when we would do it again. “Twice a year?” some people suggested. We all turned pale. “Once a year is fine” we assured them.

As 2025 dawned, we got to work.

Looking at what we got right and what needed work last year, we started figuring things out. One biggie was that we needed more space. We absolutely packed 24ATL last year, the LED Volume Studio in Doraville GA. It was a great space (and that wall is super cool, you should really check it out) but we ended up shortchanging people on space and didnt’ want to do that again.

Plus the need was simply greater this year. I know I haven’t discussed it on the blog much but I have talked endlessly about this to folks in person. The film industry is not in a great place right now. People are making the decision to either transition out of the industry entirely, or are holding on with their fingertips and hoping things will pick up work-wise. For this reason, there’s a number of people who just need to make some money or want to transition their business to something else. We had plenty of people who wanted to sell at the event.

Our sponsors this year made it possible to get any further. You can’t host an event without money to organize it.

Tier 2 Sponsors

You can see Local 600’s writeup about the event here.

Tier 1

Yes, we had a lot of sponsors! They donated money, prizes for the drawing, and more. We also had a surprise bonus drawing prize from Panavision! Super awesome.

PC&E (Production Consultants & Equipment) became our venue for the event. Not only do they rent out a lot of film gear in the local film industry here, they also have an enormous sound stage that we would end up filling. And then some.

We filled every available space, from the entirety of Stage 1’s 9400 sq ft to the staging area leading to it and the outside. We had people everywhere! Plus food trucks. Plus activities like a scavenger hunt.

This year we were able to raise money for a cause that’s near and dear to a lot of members of the film industry, the Sarah Jones Film Foundation. The foundation honors the memory of 27 year old camera assistant Sarah Jones, who tragically lost her life in February 2014 due to an accident on the set of Midnight Rider. The foundation provides education and awareness, film safety grants, and even a wonderful film internship program. You can learn more about the foundation here.

Thanks to our donated items, our drawing prizes, our vendors and sponsors, we were able to raise $2500 for the foundation.

We also held demonstrations this year! As is typicaly with the film production life, we had a couple cancellations that had to be filled, and everyone who did a demonstration did an amazing job.

The demonstrations included an excellent “how to film stunts” demo with Good Slate Pictures. They also have a YouTube channel so you should definitely check out their stuff! Their YouTube is called Behind the Stunts.

Chris Roe, ARRI Certified TRINITY Operator, Cinematographer and Steadicam Operator, brought his cool rickshaw with remote head! Folks got to try to remote head for themselves as the rickshaw roamed the space.

Kenya Campbell and Deanna Griffin did a DP/Gaffer fireside chat. It was great information to share with our audience as experience levels varied. Plus it is always great to learn new tips, tricks, and practical information to make you better at your job!

I can’t say enough about how this community came together! This, my friends, is what the film industry is all about. Working together towards a common goal. Sharing education and resources. Having a good time with your friends.

We’ll see you at the next one.

Photo Credit: Local 600 Still Photographer Josh Stringer

New Year, Same Old Film Job Scams

1 Comment

I use the blog on my website to teach what I know about the film industry. But one topic keeps coming up: Scams. It’s gotten so common that now people just associate my blog as “the scam blog.” My last scam related post was in August, but I’d have enough fodder to update the post weekly.

Here’s an example:

Love that comment.

I highlighted the red flags that should stand out for you:

  • Generally poor grammar: “The dates for a documentary-style TV show for Veles Productions (extra space added) this month are August 21-25.” Also the weirdness of hiring a Production Assistant/Personal assistant, two completely separate jobs.
  • Astronomically high rate for a PA $1500 for 12 hours (and weird added “4 hours per day.”) Day rates for PA’s range around $175-250ish per day (12 hours) depending on the market and type of gig.
  • Must have “terminology knowledge.” What!?
  • Using the word “staff” instead of “crew.”
  • The PA is helping set up “lights, props and tools.” PA is an entry level job and typically shouldn’t be doing any of these things, but as budgets get tight (read: stingy) a lot of places are making PA’s take on extra responsibilities. It’s not great but… I’ve seen it done.

That’s your typical example of a film job scam that’s posted to social media. It could be Facebook, Instagram…heck I’ve even seen scams posted to StaffMeUp and LinkedIn. Nowhere is safe, so always keep your guard up.

I wanted to shift gears for the new year and arm you with two other types of scammy jobs to look out for: Illegal internships and opportunity scams.

Illegal Internships

I’ve worked on a number of movies, tv shows and other projects where we’ve got some newbies working as PA’s who are billed as interns.

Internships have been under fire before in the entertainment industry. A famous case occurred during the production of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Two interns sued on behalf of 100 Fox Searchlight interns for backpay as they did work as employees, not interns. The class action lawsuit was resolved in the interns’ favor.

But I’ve also run into it on several low budget features and other projects where someone eager to enter the film industry comes in as an intern. Read between the lines — unpaid labor.

Sometimes I make a point to ask the intern “Are you in college right now? Are you getting college credit?” If not, then it gets sketchy. A legal internship benefits the intern alone, through work experience and/or college credit. Typically an employer is helping the intern but not benefitting themselves — well, in theory. But if that intern is doing the work that a full time employee would do? That’s a problem.

If you want to volunteer on someone’s project, that’s up to you. But I wouldn’t ask you to take the title of intern if you’re doing an actual job for someone. I even wrote about deciding whether or not to volunteer on a film set before:

5 Reasons For and Against Volunteering on a Film

“This is your opportunity!”

The real reason I was inspired to do an update on scams is because I came across this on Eventbrite.

This “event” someone posting that you could work on a faith based film — for the low, low price of $199! That you pay them.

Oh jeez, where do I start with this one?

You should never pay to work on a movie.

I’ve seen this scam before in another form, someone advertising they needed crew for a movie and asking the crew to pay to work on the film. The audacity of this.

Oh also, “star” in a movie? With no acting experience? That’s fishy enough. At best you’d be an extra. Someone sitting on a park bench in the background or filling tables in a restaurant. Not a main character with lines.

“Sign up from our website and receive a 25% discount!“

“Star in a Faith-Based Christmas Movie! No Acting Experience Required. Now available in over 50 major US cities. Bring the whole family!“

If it wasn’t clear this was a scam before, I clicked on the website link and saw that the “admission fee” was now $50 (how generous! And also not the definition of 24% off from the original $199) and now the location was listed as another state. Not Atlanta but Venice Beach California, Detroit, Los Angeles, etc. It’s a “pop up filming event” (the heck is that!?) in over 50 major US cities!

Using the word “local.” So many of the Facebook-posted job scams I’ve covered have used terms like “local” or “in your area” so they can scam far and wide. Or there’ll be a weird space before the location or date because it’s clear they copy and paste and change a couple details.

There are plenty of other scammy looking opportunities, classes, events that try to sell the dream of a career in film to new people. If something seems too good to be true or glamorizes the whole prospect of joining a film production, think twice before you submit or pay for anything.

Stay safe in 2024.

Sources:

Fox Settles ‘Black Swan’ Interns Lawsuit After Five Years

More than 40% of interns are still unpaid—here’s the history of why that’s legal

How to Avoid Film Job Scams – Take Four (blog)

5 Reasons for and Against Volunteering on a Film (blog)