I just kind of fell in it really! I had not long moved to Sydney and had wrapped up my own airfreight company and was working as a sales rep for a friends freight company while I decided what to do with my life next.
On one of my many sales calls I strolled in to a production company got talking to the owner who turned out to be a former BBC Bristol employee.
As I used to work for the BBC (film dispatch) in London we got talking about the "firm" and found out we both rode motorcycles so we got talking about bikes and from then I would pop over to have a smoke and a cup of tea while we had a yarn. Over time the conversation moved from Bikes to Cameras, still photography and finally video.
After a couple of weeks of this, the old boy asks me if I was interested in learning this silly industry, well as I was at a loose end and figured a change was as good as a rest I said why not! Little did I know what I was letting myself in for.
So after the formal training as an assistant I went through the various areas and now several years down the track I am quite comfortable behind the camera or doing sound, lighting or anything else required of me. Now I should learn all about this shooting in Film business I suppose, well it all helps in making a quid, dollar, shekel. Like many before me I have learned the industry from the floor up so all I can do is diversify and improve my skills with a view to making more money to pay for equipment. (not sure about that last comment)
I still find stories of kids busting a gut trying to get in to the industry quite hard to believe some days as this is most certainly not a glamour industry but one of long days / weeks un-social hours and many broken marriages. But as one who just walked in and went hello here I am I should really not make such comments. It is fun (most of the time) allows me a very nice lifestyle which I enjoy immensely.
For me it was as easy as falling off a log or for that matter the floor after quite a few beers. I still have a passion for still photography in which I indulge myself every now and then but the moving picture has taken over my life a bit now. Well it pays the bills and sure as hell beats working in an office.
