The second installment of "Chum Bucket" is really the first installment of a new section I call "Final Cut Bro". Here I will post about being a Video Editor and give advice about workflow efficiency, maintaining client relationships, and the media arts field in general. I will also share some stories from the editing room hoping that you'll enjoy them and so that I don't forget about them.
So how do these two sections of my blog meet? Because this business is dog-eat-dog, and you don't really have chums. You might get along with people in your field, and you might enjoy their company, but when you really get down to it, everyone is looking out for themselves.
And you better learn this quick. This area is very competitive, and it makes a lot of people shady. There are a lot of people I could write about but for now, I will only focus on one individual. There will be time enough for the others.
This person I will call Joe Nosay. Why? Because that's the best I could come up with at the moment.
I don't really have anything terrible to say about him (or her, as far as you know). We were good acquaintances in college, I guess, and we were always friendly to each other. After graduation, he was interning at this big company, which I will call The Big Company, Inc.
Meanwhile, I was able to keep working on my documentary (for free) because I still haven't found a job yet. My professor was the producer, and he liked my work ethic. He was having lunch one day with a former student, who we'll call Miss Soandso. She told him she was moving on from her entry level job and wondered if he might know anyone who might replace her.
He gave her my information, and she was enthusiastic about meeting me. It turned out she was working for The Big Company, Inc. It seemed to be a sure thing, and I was waiting on her higher ups scheduling to meet with me. She said, meanwhile, I should familiarize myself with the equipment.
So I immediately thought, "Hey, Joe Nosay is interning for The Big Company, Inc. Let me give him a call and talk shop." I called him (or her, not that you care) and I told him that I was going for a position there. Suddenly his tone changed.
"What position?"
"Do you know Miss Soandso? She's recommending me to take over her job."
Well, it got a little awkward from there. After a few minutes he admitted he was aiming for the same thing. Sensing his uneasiness, I wished him good luck and switched topics briefly before hanging up.
I didn't get the job.
I never heard from Joe Nosay again even to this day.
It was very disappointing. It still is. I always thought it was understood by my classmates that we're all going into a competitive field. We all competed on the same projects, for the professors' praises, for our peers' attention, for equipment and editing rooms.
I always thought of it as, may the best one win and whoever it is we'll be celebrating. One of us will get their foot in the door and help the rest get in. It didn't work out that way. Maybe it's just tough out there, but somehow it didn't work out that way.
One of my best friends went home to his country in South America after college. I might post about him someday, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he went away. We didn't end up being pitted against each other.
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