Passion projects
If money weren’t an obstacle, I’d do stuff like this all the time ↑
The most fun, the least pay
“Passion Projects” are exactly what they sound like, you get together with a group of friends/colleagues and spend all your time & energy realizing a shared concept. The only money invlolved is money spent, which makes doing these things expensive for both your time, energy, and finances, and you can pretty much scale the costs up exponentially with the length of your timeline. That being said, these projects are easily the most fun and artistically fulfilling things you’ll get to do in your whole career.
Obviously, the more you contribute to the central ideaof the project, the more it will mean to you, but honestly, the love and dedication people put into these things are infectious to the point where it might mean more to you than you ever could have thought possible. When I first got my start, I was doing unpaid stunt gigs while being a college athlete and working full-time, and yet, shooting a film from dusk ‘til dawn only seemed to recharge my spirit. I cannot say for sure, but I’m confident that by the end of my showbiz career, the little weekend long shorts I do with friends will be my best memories.
Seriously, if you haven’t seen the new Martial Club short, watch it right now (linked in photo)
a starting off point(?)
Aside from artistic fulfillment, grinding out passion projects also helps build the skills you’ll need for the big screen. I learned pretty much every frequently used skill either on unpaid/low pay gigs or just from meeting up with friends to create something for the sake of creation. Beyond that, I feel that I’ve been able/allowed to bring a higher calibre of my skillset to these smaller gigs because I was able to contribute more to the creative process and fill in knowledge gaps where I could.
^The exception to this is MOCAP work. Somehow I bring it more than I ever have every single time.
Moving from unpaid, unregulated gigs to SAG scale contracts has most definitely been a boon to my bank account, but you often find a lack of heart in big projects. There are so many moving parts and divisions of labor that you might not even know what the big picture will be, only having a small viewpoint of what is to come, and therein lies my first issue: lack of connection. Compartmentalization does help with effeciency on these gargantuan projects employing hundreds of differently specialized roles, but it comes at the cost of individual stakes, meaning these things can “become a paycheck”.
I think this is the reason that even established actors and stunt people still find time to create something meaningful with no contstraints just for the sake of it.
Recent Stuff
I’m not great with getting BTS photos, but I’ve managed to get some photos of other stuff I’ve been in lately. I’ll make sure to do better this year and in the future!
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you, see you next time!
