Melissa asks:
A few months ago, I helped a director on his low-budget film for about 4 weeks. It ended up being a huge mistake (he took advantage of my inexperience), and I didn’t receive any credit for it on IMDb. Can I still put it on my resume?
Yes, you can!
It doesn’t matter if you were credited in the film. It sure as hell doesn’t matter if you get credited on IMDb. You worked on it, it goes on your resume.
IMDb has this weird rule that you can’t get credited on something until it’s been released, which means my IMDb page is always somewhere between six months and two years behind. Even if the show has been on the air for six years, if you started in season seven, no Database for your Internet Movie until the premiere.
Don’t trust IMDb to be your resume. Make your own resume. (Or have me make it, whatever.) I advise people to add as many credits as they can, even if you only worked on a show for a day.
Reader Chris suggested adding “(temp)” behind those types of credits, but I think “(day player)” sounds better, and utilizes the lingo (which is always impressive). If you have a mix of long-term and day-playing jobs, put the longer ones higher up, to emphasize you have been fully employed at one time or another.
4 Responses
“Day Player” is a much better term if you’re working in production. Great point.
If you’re working for a company who just needs some help around the office for a few days (outside of a production) or as a personal assistant, that’s where I’ve used “Temp” since it seems a more accurate to me.
I’ve actually found IMDB to be much less restrictive in my experience. Whenever I’ve added a credit, they’ve appeared within a few weeks, whether the film has been released or not. I wonder if the number of credits you already have has any bearing in how quickly they approve them? I’m more concerned about getting credit for something I’d rather not on there. They have a “if it’s fact then we don’t change it” policy, so once it’s on there, it’s stuck.
Is it worth it to do no pay PA jobs?
Yes and no. If you can’t get paid work, it’s good experience and adds to your resume. But don’t do it for long, if you can help it.