Filmmaking is a glamorous niche in which numerous individuals want to make careers.
However, starting your filmmaking career is not a piece of cake considering the competition and limited opportunities.
Currently, more than 134,700 filmmakers are working in the United States. The statistics are impressive and might motivate you to become a filmmaker in 2022.
As a filmmaker, you can work for any production house or under any director in your initial days. For that, you will need a professional filmmaker resume.
Here you will learn how to build a filmmaker resume and find the answers to other fundamental queries, which includes:
- What does a filmmaker do?
- How to build a filmmaker resume in 2022?
- How to be a filmmaker in the US?
- What skills should a filmmaker have?
Film Director Job Description
You can leverage the film director job description to build a highly impactful filmmaker resume. The job description will give you essential information about the role requirements and industry-specific keywords to build your filmmaker resume.
You can check out the below-given filmmaker job description example to know what does a filmmaker do in 2022:
We seek a Filmmaker to craft stories via video content for our company. As a filmmaker, you must know how to shoot, edit, and deliver the final video content. The filmmaker will work with our creative team and producer to address the production logistics. The perfect fit for this role must be experienced working across the commercial, film, and branded content industries. The filmmaker should know the fundamentals of direction at every location and have a strong knowledge of the entire shooting process and its equipment.
Filmmaker Responsibilities
As a filmmaker, you will be responsible for:
- Translating business needs and creative briefs into attractive story-based video content
- Shooting and editing long and short-form video content effectively, ensuring the consistency of brand and message across every customer touchpoint
- Ensuring the work quality meets or exceeds brand, client, and agency expectations
- Performing pre-production, in-production, and post-production tasks effectively
- Performing tactical functions like updating the work front and executing other tasks as required by the agency superiors
Also Read: How to build a video editor resume in 2022?
How to Build a Filmmaker Resume
Resume building can be tricky as it requires precisely added academic and professional information.
Apart from this, you should also add profile-centric keywords to your resume, which will help it parse through the Applicant Tracking System easily.
You can follow these below-given guidelines to build an effective filmmaker resume in 2022:
- Read and analyze the job description
- Outline your resume in a professional resume format
- Add all the required resume sections in your filmmaker resume
- Mention your resume details in bullet points except resume summary/objective
- Proofread your resume twice before applying for a job
Filmmaker Resume Format
Your filmmaker resume will not look professional without using a suitable resume format. Hence, we advise you to start your resume-building process by selecting a professional resume format.
Though you can see numerous resume formats available online, you can opt for any of these three resume formats that we picked to make the selection process easier:
This resume format focuses on your current status, followed by previous details in a reverse chronological manner.
This resume format is the most suitable for professionals with a career gap as it focuses on skills instead of work experience.
This resume format has the quality of both the above-given resume formats and is suitable for continuously working processions.
Filmmaker Resume Sections
After outlining your resume with a professional resume format, you can add all the required sections to your filmmaker resume.
Here you can see the list of resume sections that you can use to build a professional filmmaker resume:
- Resume Title
- Header
- Summary/Objective
- Key Skills
- Professional Experience
- Training Details
- Education
- Certifications
- Volunteer Experience
- Additional Information
Filmmaker Resume Professional Experience
Recruiters spend most of their resume screening time on this section, as it includes the work details and capabilities of a professional.
You can add the following details for every company you served in this section:
- Your designation
- Name of company
- Location of company
- A brief introduction of its service area
- Serving period
- Your service highlights and work done
We recommend adding all the resume details in bullet points instead of paragraphs. It will make your resume impressive, concise, and readable.
You can follow these guidelines while framing effective bullet points for your filmmaker resume:
- Use power verbs to start every bullet point
- Add numbers to quantify your information
- Add profile-centric keywords picked from the job description
- Highlight essential metrics and keywords
- Address the cause-effect relationship at every point
- Club similar points and assign relevant heading for them
Filmmaker Resume Education
There are no fixed educational criteria to become a filmmaker in the United States. However, a bachelor’s degree in film and television production will be a great plus if you want to become a filmmaker in the US.
You can also assist junior directors and producers after your high school diploma or other graduate degrees.
Top Universities To Become a Filmmaker
Take a look at the top ten universities that can help you kickstart your career as a filmmaker. You can enroll in any of these institutes to get a bachelor’s degree in film and television production.
- American Film Institute (AFI) | Los Angeles, CA
- California Institute of the Arts | Santa Clarita, CA
- Chapman University | Orange, CA
- Columbia University | New York City, NY
- Emerson College | Boston, MA
- Loyola Marymount University | Los Angeles, CA
- New York University (NYU) | New York City, NY
- University of California | Los Angeles, CA
- University of Southern California (USC) | Los Angeles, CA
- Wesleyan University | Middletown, CT
Also Read: How to build an acting resume in 2022?
Filmmaking Skills
Recruiters prioritize professionals equipped with modern skills rather than applicants with just educational degrees.
Hence, we advise you to add as many filmmaking skills as possible to your resume. It will make you stand out from the crowd of other applicants.
You can add the following skills to your filmmaker resume:
| Filmmaker Skills | Filmmaker Skills |
|---|---|
| Sound Editing & Recording | Cinematography |
| Screenwriting | Drone Shooting |
| Graphical Representation | Creativity |
| Editing Software (Final Cut Pro, Avid, etc.) | Camera Operation |
| Organizational Skills | Technological Skills |
Key Takeaways
Building a film resume and applying for jobs in film production is not easy. You will have to be precise and confident in terms of your details. Moreover, you must have suitable education and skill set to get filmmaker jobs in the United States.
These steps will help you to make a resume for a filmmaker job in 2022:
- Search for a filmmaker job and analyze the job description thoroughly
- Outline your filmmaker resume in a professional format and add required sections
- Mention your filmmaker resume details in bullet points to enhance readability
- Highlight essential information and technical keywords throughout your resume
- Proofread twice before using the filmmaker resume to apply for any job
You can make the process easier by using Hiration’s Online Resume Builder powered by Artificial Intelligence technology.
This tool also has 24/7 online chat support for a marvelous user experience while building your resume. Our experts will also help you clear your career-building queries at support@hiration.com.
