Reader Hanh and his girlfriend are soon moving to the US. He’s got a job lined up, but she doesn’t:
As a condition of her visa to move with me to the US, my girlfriend has to go a few months without taking a paying job, so she’s totally up for unpaid PA gigs during that period. Unpaid internships are basically illegal in Canada, but it’s part of the game in the US, we get it. She has no preference and is flexible in terms of TV, film, or production company work, in the office or on the set.
Her major drawback: She doesn’t have a university degree.
Is that really a drawback?
Not a Big Deal
The question of whether or not you need to go to film school, even grad school, comes up a lot on this site. So you might be surprised, not having a degree of any kind isn’t that big of a deal in Hollywood. Just about anyone below-the-line can get away without a degree. Actors, too.{{1}}
The only people who really care if you’ve been to college are the white-collar jobs– agencies, management companies, studios and major production companies. Even then, they only care that you went to college. We’re not doctors or engineers here; no one’s going to check your transcripts.{{2}}
But if you want to work on set, work on set. As Hanh mentioned, working for free is pretty typical at the start of your career. Once you have a couple of credits under your belt and have made a few connections, landing gigs is mostly a matter of networking and timing. Literally no one will ask if they can see your diploma.
If you never finished college, my best advice is to simply leave off the “education” section of your resume.{{3}} You might be tempted to make something up, say you got a BA from some state school in the middle of the country. And to be honest, you’d probably get away with it.
But if we’re being honest, why bother?
[[1]]Although credentialism isn’t a thing with actors, taking acting classes is pretty advisable.[[1]]
[[2]]Incidentally, don’t put your GPA on your resume. It’s gauche.[[2]]
[[3]]Absolutely do not put your high school there.[[3]]
