New To Toronto

[im a little alien]

hi to all   , im coming to Toronto in August for a year to work ... would appreciate any advice anyone has to share many cheers!!

[Line Producer...when working]

Commercial production in Toronto has been depressed for about a year, while people have been working, it certainly has not been a boom time. There are a lot of really great production people in this city who have been just scraping by, or completely sidelined. Of course the really insecure people who won't admit it will chime in and say "I've never been busier" don't believe the hype...

Advice? you have to be top of your game right now...

[Guest_guest]

It’s fair to say that everyone's perspective is different based on the amount of work they've been doing.  I don't know if it's valid to make a blanket statement about how busy it is for every single person working in the industry.  For example, I've seen that several technicians have been booked solidly on series or features throughout the entire depressed period in the Toronto film industry.  I'm sure for those people it truly has never been busier, if not just by coincidence. As I'm sure there are people who have, for whatever reason, had just as busy a year in commercials as ever and who aren't lying to cover their own insecurity.  I fail to see why anybody would lie to create hype.  Who exactly is the hype targeted at?

As for your advice about being at the top of your game in order to find work, this seems to be another unfair generalization.  As soon as work gets scarce, I don’t think that only the best people keep working.  If an employer comes across a steady stream of work during this period, I don’t think they immediately go and seek the best crewmembers just because scarcity of work has made these people more readily available.  I would think they’d continue to work with the crews that they are used to working with and that they have worked with throughout the good times and the bad.  As usual, crews are often booked through personal relationships more than through their skill or experience level.  I have rarely lost a job with somebody who I’ve worked with on a regular basis just because somebody better became available.

I would think that the best advice for this person is that if they know a lot of people who are working and can get them work in Toronto then they have a good chance of working.  If not, then if they by chance come across other people who are working and who can get them work, they also will work.  However, coming across people who are very busy working is less common at the moment and therefore if you don’t already have the connections to get work, the odds of coming across it by chance are less likely than usual.
 

[Line Producer...when working]

Did you actually read what I wrote? I don't think I made any blanket statements...

[DANK]

I guess that makes me insecure. What a silly thing to say. Insecure.

No one likes to admit they have not been working, and i think what LP was getting at is no one wants to admit to another crew member that they have not worked in 30 days, regardless of how "depressed" the industry is.

Being "top of your game" whatever that means, is a good rule of thumb at all times.  

Be ontime, keep your drivers licence valid, and dont let people like LP catch you sitting around. Go hide.

We should remember that you are only as good as your last job, especially in commercials, and word travels fast.

Welcome to the fishbowl and good luck.