Does anyone have resumes anymore? What do you give to a new DP or UPM if they are asking to see what you’ve done? Website? Reel? IMDB?
Good question: IMDB has done away with resumes, in my opinion.
However if you do send a resume or more likely an email introduction for an operating job, don’t classify yourself as a DP/operator. Pick one job and submit. Steadicam ops should be able to submit a reel. It should include longer takes and starts and stops.
Absolutely still have resume/cv. It is best presentation of myself formatted exactly as I choose to illustrate concisely the projects and names I’ve worked with.
It presents an easy Quick Look guide for anyone asking, so they may then go to IMDB or whatever to follow up.
My cv is formatted with project, my role, the Dir/DP, and producer/production company.
This format shows more concisely the important connections I have. So a DP for example can in 10seconds see the other cameramen I’ve worked for etc.
This allows them to quickly make a call to someone they might know to reference me.
I can also text this 1page document as a PDF if I get a call. It’s effectively a business card.
I haven’t been asked for a resume or reel in over a decade. At this point in my career, jobs come from word of mouth, and seem to be less reliant of visual proof of what I can do than when I was first starting out. I still maintain a website, but haven’t updated it in years, and rely on IMDB to tell my story, as that seems to be what prospective clients/UPMs/producers use. I log on from time to time to make sure recent jobs are listed and accurate, but beyond that, I let my name, relationships, and track-record do the heavy lifting.
There’s no downside to having a resume because it will highlight what you wnat and be correct (dont get me started about IMDB). That said, most people will have looked you up on IMDB already and few if ever will ask for a resume. I have a website with my steadicam reel and it has a credits tab that simply lists the projects I want to highlight broken down by type (Feature, TV, Commercial, Music Video).
