Wednesday, January 27, 2010

entertainment industry coach question 331: Is it too late to break in if I'm over 40 and never worked in the industry?

You didn't tell me what classification you're in... what you wanted to break in as. I can tell you the easiest gig for someone your age would be getting work as a background actor. And if you're a writer, good material is good material at any age (even if you need your 22-year-old nephew to take the meetings as you .. kidding... sort of).

But if you had something more technical in mind like Director of Photography, or Editing, or Directing, there is not only an art to these forms, but specific skills to master that can take years. That's not to discourage you, just to give you some perspective. I've heard stories of people in our industry who've started at 40 and had very successful careers.

Some careers, you may want to stay away from because they require a lot of heavy lifting and dragging. Not that you're ill equipped to handle that now, but think about the physical training regimen you'll have to maintain to do that work into your 60s.

How about instead of me guessing, you just tell me what you want to do in the comment section.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, The Greenlight Coach, visit www.TheGreenlightCoachBlog.com

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