The best aspects to include will always vary on the job position you’re looking for, general aspects to include in your film resume are the following:
1. Education
In this space of your resume, you can spread all your degrees, certifications and studies. Both formal and informal education –always the ones relevant for the job- are welcome. Attending to the production school on your studies section will be a power up when it comes to applying for entry-level jobs such as Production Assistant.
Standing out all that knowledge and expertise you have acquired after you have taken such and such courses are much better than just writing a title and nothing else.
2. Professional Experience
Meaning your film credits. There’s no better proof to increase your credibility than to list completed film projects. Of course, if the films you’ve worked in are award winning or well-known, they’ll add a plus to your filming experience.
3. Professional Summary
Located at the top of your page, in this section you can summarize all your professional experience in no more than 2 or 3 bullet points. Start it with verbs focusing on job related abilities such as power and action words to display —in the nicest way— your skills. But mostly who you are and what you have to offer. Down below, you’ll find an example of how to use this verbs. On the other hand, we recommend that you write it at last, not when you’re starting to write your resume.
4. Qualifications
That CPR course you took last year just for personal interests might not be important for this job. Add only the most relevant learning in your resume –seriously, just the most relevant ones! What do I mean by relevant? What are the most relevant qualifications in film industry in 2021?
After all this ups and downs of the pandemic era, filming industry is rewriting their way of working. And, of course, companies are demanding when it comes to hiring.
Nowadays, this industry requires qualities that provide their project team’s adaptability, fast changing planning, problem-solving, creative thinking and other aspects that leads them out of difficulties and dramatic changes.
What Not to Include in a Film Resume?
Your main goal is providing your future employee a very valuable resume. Adding items that are just irrelevant for the job you’re looking for can decrease hugely your propensity to being chosen. You might be asking to yourself: What shouldn’t I add to my resume? Let us list them for you:
INCORRECT
- Non-Industry related work experience: Fitness instructor? How is this related to Scriptwriting or Grip positions?
- Your home address: it’s more than enough to add the city you’re living at the moment.
- First person writing: “I am hardworking” doesn’t hit the same that “Hardworking”. Modesty is never an excess and it looks less narcissist, doesn’t it? In addition, you’ll engage the reader more.
- Photo: unless you’re applying for an acting or modeling spot, adding your photo is not advisable. Employers cannot feel drawn to choose a person by the way the look, but instead by their capability to accomplish the job goals.
- Hobbies or Interests: What would be the point on adding “Cooking” as a hobby?
Indeed, every space of your resume needs to have compliant information. Descriptions, bullet points, summaries and lines that show and prove you own the qualification for the job position. Take advantage of each section to add value, tons of value.
How to Describe Your Film Industry Experience
Compelling writing of your relevant experience during all your working time. The previous is the outline for describing your evolution on the filmmaking industry.
You want to know how to summarize it, keep on reading!
Film Production Assistant Resume Summary
Take the word summary very seriously. Right on this section you’ll have few lines to outline and remark you’re a fit for the job position. Just the perfect fit. Let’s set an example so you can tell which aspects to use and the best way to proceed:
Production Assistant Job Description for a Resume
On the previous sections of this article, right on the Qualifications Summary section, an idea was stated “write your Professional Summary at last”.
The most complex sections to fill out is the Professional Summary. How to sum up all those 15 years of experience in just 2, 3 or even 4 bullet points? Or how to summarize my work experence if I don't have any? Realizing how difficult it can be, here you’ll find some quick tips to describe your film industry summary.
- Start by gathering information about the company.Knowing in depth what their needs are when it comes to work ethic and core values will lead your way and enlighten on the competences you have to pinpoint on your resume.
- Describe only –and exclusively– a specific selection of relevant duties you have achieved all along your working experience.
- Use strong action verbs at the very beginning. Use them when writing remarkable goals you’ve accomplished during your working experience. Verbs such as: Established, Coordinated, Created, Featured, Worked among others are just the right first step to start describing your background. Also, do not write anything in 1 st person. This influences a lot on the perception of the reader. A formal but not so wordy language will also help on it.
CORRECT
- Facilitated communication all throughout the team.
- Coordinated set elements as needed by First Directors.
- Managed timing according to scheduled workflow.
- Collaborated with each of the crew members in all aspects of pre and post production.
Key Skills
When looking for a job in the film production industry, having certain specific skills, both soft and hard, are essential to catch the attention of recruiters.
