Produced By - Insight #17 - Michele Profeta: Follow This Advice To Get Side Jobs (Not Only) In Film

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Michele Profeta is a London based filmmaker who has worked on short films, music videos and corporate videos as both a director and an assistant director. He also helped to start Studio Odyssey Productions, a London based video production company. To pursue his love of filmmaking, Michele relocated to London and attended a university that specialised in the field. He had no prior experience, so the foundation year helped him learn the fundamentals, which he found beneficial in the following years. The COVID pandemic affected his second year, but Michele didn't give up and began working on his short film for the next year. This movie was a lot of fun to make, and it did well at film festivals. Michele balanced his studies with his part-time employment and pursued a career in the film industry through side jobs. Listen to this episode to learn more about studying cinema in Italy, get motivated by Michele's lofty goals, and receive specifics on what a foundation year entails.   Connect with Michele: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-profeta/⁠ ⁠https://vimeo.com/user90239752⁠ Studio Odyssey Productions: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/studioodysseyproductions/⁠ ⁠https://www.studioodysseyproductions.com/⁠     Quotes from the episode: “I was really happy to have all the crew there. Everybody was great and I actually received some compliments.” “Don't be shy, be an honest person and show your interest.” “I saw my imperfections but that's good because now I can work on them in my next short film. I can isolate them and focus on those.” “You have to learn the process and then when you're ready, you can do some good projects but don't be scared of not doing anything at all.” “It's a bit overwhelming but I always try to look at the positive side of things.”   Connect with the podcaster: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tomasloucky.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://twitter.com/TomasLoucky⁠     Follow the podcast: 🌐 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗 Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   💬 Contact: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/contact⁠⁠⁠ 📷 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎥 YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎵 TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@producedbypodcast⁠  ✉️ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Spotify: ⁠https://lnkd.in/e5Y8Wscx⁠  Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠⁠    🎙️ About Produced By Podcast: Produced By brings you exciting stories of brave people who set out to build careers in competitive fields despite often challenging circumstances. Whether you are interested in creative industries, personal development or want to have some fun, enter the spotlight along with our guests and get inspired. Listen to people coming from all parts of the world, diverse fields of expertise and different levels of careers. So join us to follow their journeys, learn from life experience and embark on a great adventure. 🤩 If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. 📭 Subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ so that you don't miss out!    #producedbypodcast #producedby #enterthespotlight     Enjoy! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Can you try to share some tips for people who want to find work as a side jobs as well? Maybe where to look for, how to apply some tips for a CV or interviews if you did. As a first CD or in general? In general, for example, when you are still student and you want to get experience in a field, what comes to your mind or how did you do that? So what I would suggest is don't be shy. I don't say it because it directly helps you to be a filmmaker but because talking with people, getting friends

is one of the main things to get on sets because being nice with people that we've called it back and you know, I know many people that would hire again people that were nice and did a good job rather than high-end professions but they were like kind of not so good people you know definitely you know don't be shy and be honest person and you know show your interest don't push it too much just say that you're available

and yeah that's it I mean you could tell you of course get a CV but everybody can do that I don't think that's one of the main things because most of the shit that I got were like through getting a shoot and then you know you talk with people you do a good job and then they would call you for another thing that's the main thing that's how it works

that's on the industry's same as to be working so was it like through your network and connections rather than finding it online? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you do find somethings online. For example, there are sites such as Tarnal, Mandy, where you can start to find some things and you can get with a CV there

and people will see you, they will hire you. Some things paid, some things unpaid. But I don't know of people that leave off of it, to be fair. because everyone in the film industry is a freelancer pretty much, you know, and word of mouth is what works the best, really. So can you say what type of projects you worked on? Was it like short film or music videos or what was it? I've done short films, different roles, of course directed,

but also been a PA, I've been a runner, I've done behind the scenes photographs, I've been a gaffer, So sounds like a diverse range of roles. Yeah, yeah, because again, you just have to go as many things as you can at the beginning, and then the people always call it. That's for short films. Even for other foremost music videos, AD, first ADE, what I talked about before. I've been a golfer once, runner.

I was a first CD Saturday and Sunday on a music video, actually. And you need to be more as well on a short film, Provox Concepts. they were shooting and then I've done promos let's say promos for brands and like businesses I've been a director I've been a runner on some higher end stuff or corporate videos interviews yeah it's like a broad range of experience yeah yeah yeah but then he kind of narrows down to you know it would be the director is the main thing then you can be first said yeah maybe some production, things around, but yeah, that's it. Yeah.

And can you say in what way, or can you try to compare it when you are on a shoot outside of university to shoots at university? If it's similar or in what ways is it different? Right. It depends on what level we're talking about because you can find some shoots at university that are pretty professional, but you can also find shoots outside of university they're not really professional, vice versa.

I can't really tell you, maybe the only thing is generally outside of university people are a bit taking it literally more seriously. Yeah, because people in university, that's part of my comment on the programs

and the system is people on sets in university many people care about the grades, but thinking about the grade that's necessarily me you're doing a good job on set, you know, because you just have to report to that teacher and that doesn't really, you know,

what you've done said. So maybe the great thing might have an impact on some people in university, but when you're outside of uni, you just find everyone there's more like on it. Probably that's it, yeah.