Hi, I work in film and photography in New York City and I'm looking at relocating to Cape Town for a year or two to work for a nonprofit... since that's volunteer work obviously I was wondering if anyone knew anyone or had any advice on finding work in that field. I know Cape Town has a fast-growing film industry and already produces a lot of commercial photography. I know foreigners can't really freelance because of how the work permits function...
Thanks
Catherine
Film and photography work
5
7031
Welcome on Expat.com Catherine
Your discussion has been redirected to the Cape Town forum for effective networking.
May be you can also try your luck by inserting an advert on Cape Town Classifieds page, Job>Section.
Regards
19
hi there,
I am in the film industry in cape town and ill tell you its REALLY hard at the moment. What department are you in exatly? there are many agencies where you can try and apply by. they are all fairly easy to find online. Our industry is growing very fast but the cape town based work is mainly movies and international so its purely freelance (most of it of course) but in JHB you get the soap operas so its a permanent job. If you are looking to move to SA though, Cape Town is def the place to go. The film industry in cape town is a very very close famliy and once you get in you are pretty much set if you are a hard worker. Ive worked on many international sets and the south africans def work much harder than most other countries(especially europe) while on set. it might be a little bit to get used to but its really not bad. you will have to get used to everything taking REALLY long to happen and you will have to deal with people who arent interested in the field at all and therefor are incompetent. the things is, the film industry is like magic and its addictive. I absolutely love my job but i have been in both worlds and its very different.
good luck though! get you showreel or your portfolio ready!
5
Hey! Thanks for your response. I work in props mainly but I do other art department work like art directing, construction, set dressing, etc. Sometimes I do stills. It's tough here too, and I'm pretty sick of New York, and I'm not union here so it's really a pain because all the good jobs are union, and they are so corrupt it's impossible to get in. I was kind of worried about the work permit situation in SA though because I don't think you can freelance unless you have an artists visa, unless you worked off the books.
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