How to, is it okay to ask?

So far in my professional career I have worked with more people from out side of my Local than from inside of it. After the strikes work hasn't grown back to the level it was before and I have found that most of the full time costume positions are being filled with non locals. Fair enough, we do what we must for work.

This leads to my questions, how do you find work outside of your local? Is it entirely about who you know? How can I break into international work? Is it bad of me to ask about/want this?

I just want to work. I love my job and I miss working hard on a team full of talented people. I hear about people traveling the world in this industry all the time, several of my friends from different departments are doing that as I type this out. I feel like I am missing something, some information about where to look, or how to go about finding that kind of work. I don't want to cause others the issue I am having but I also need to work. Day-playing is nice enough of course, I'm not above it, but it is inconsistent and I miss working full time. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you all in advance.

Find more posts tagged with

Accepted answers

All comments

William Grant

No clue about breaking into international work -especially if you're hoping to be paid per-diem and lodging $. That's a very small job pool…shows mostly will hire local residents to keep their costs down.

Do you mean non-local as in nonunion? Or non-local as in from outside your geographic region?

Assuming you mean non-local as in nonunion: nonunion work is just like union work in that building a network is required to hear about those jobs. In my experience, if you have decent experience on professional union film/tv/stage/entertainment jobs and are willing to accept less $ and no benefits, then you will be considered for hiring.

The best situation, of course, is if you have someone to refer you and vouch for your abilities and demeanor.

I've see gigs listed on:

Costumer/craft-specific social media

Costumer/craft-specific professional organizations

costumer/craft-specific vendor (rental house) bulletin boards

industry social media (facebook) groups, craigslist.

film/tv production listing services such as BTLnews.com

film/tv permit offices might also be a potential source for info on what's starting-up once a show begins production

Allie Keller

https://productionlot.ep.com/discussion/comment/342#Comment_342

I mean as in not from my geographic location. They will pay union members from other locals outside of our geographic location, including the cost of putting them up. Again I get it I'm not mad at anyone but I want to work too, so I'm curious about advice on how to get that work in other places. From my experience there are way more out of towners than locals in positions with the exception of PA, even though we have plenty of people willing and capable. I appreciate your advice for sources to look into. I'll check some of those out thank you.