Simon Duric, Storyboard Artist
"It's a cliche but the film industry is all about contacts. That's why breaking in is so tough."
25 year old Simon Duric is an illustrations artist trying to break into film storyboarding. He contacted the Skillset Careers Helpline six months ago for advice on how best to focus his efforts.
"I needed a nudge in the right direction. I've been pretty successful with my freelance artwork, doing illustrations for magazines; short stories; album and book covers, but getting work in film has been a real struggle. I grew up in a small village just outside Chesterfield where no one had any clue about how to make a career in movies. People thought you just had to pack your bags and head for Hollywood! It's hard getting advice on storyboarding as it's not a high profile job like a Director or Producer. But then I heard about Skillset and got in touch. The helpline was great. Even though I wanted to talk about a lesser known film job, the person I spoke to was very knowledgeable and confident they could help."
Simon, who lives in Nottingham, has been interested in art since the age he could first pick up a pencil. Films caught his attention in his teens and he set his heart on a career that would give him the opportunity to use his creativity and imagination to storyboard sci-fi and action movies.
"Not all the work is like that obviously. A lot of the time you have to illustrate things as mundane as a person opening a door but I love the whole idea of taking the text of the screenplay and sketching out my vision of what that would look like. skillsformedia encouraged my to do more of that kind of work to fill my portfolio up and make it more film focused. It was full of my illustration work which wasn't showcasing what I could do for a film Art Director when I was trying to get jobs. Skillset also introduced me to The Knowledge - a book of contacts in the industry from directors to carpenters. I've been going through it religiously contacting as many people as possible - sending them examples of my work, calling them for jobs, or trying to find out about more films that are in pre production and whether they have any work going - I even pretended to be a courier the other day just so I could get to talk to a producer but that's what it takes - persistence."
Since contacting Skillset Careers, Simon has done work experience on Harry Potter and the Goblets of Fire and he just missed out on a permanent job on the crew.
"The Art Director said he would have kept me on but there just wasn't room. He told me to read the next Harry Potter book - The Order of the Phoenix - storyboard some of the scenes and send them to him. So fingers crossed. I've been busy doing that and working on character designs for a medieval war epic titled Constantinople, written by Chris Rowe of MidnightCrow Productions, which a high profile Hollywood production company is in talks to make. That's what you have to do. Find out as much about what films are coming up and chase every person you can find for any opportunity going. It's easy to get disheartened because you have to keep going 24/7 to find work and you have to get used to rejection but Skillset Careers really spurred me on. If you want to get into the movie business I'd recommend you give them a call right away."
25 year old Simon Duric is an illustrations artist trying to break into film storyboarding. He contacted the Skillset Careers Helpline six months ago for advice on how best to focus his efforts.
"I needed a nudge in the right direction. I've been pretty successful with my freelance artwork, doing illustrations for magazines; short stories; album and book covers, but getting work in film has been a real struggle. I grew up in a small village just outside Chesterfield where no one had any clue about how to make a career in movies. People thought you just had to pack your bags and head for Hollywood! It's hard getting advice on storyboarding as it's not a high profile job like a Director or Producer. But then I heard about Skillset and got in touch. The helpline was great. Even though I wanted to talk about a lesser known film job, the person I spoke to was very knowledgeable and confident they could help."
Simon, who lives in Nottingham, has been interested in art since the age he could first pick up a pencil. Films caught his attention in his teens and he set his heart on a career that would give him the opportunity to use his creativity and imagination to storyboard sci-fi and action movies.
"Not all the work is like that obviously. A lot of the time you have to illustrate things as mundane as a person opening a door but I love the whole idea of taking the text of the screenplay and sketching out my vision of what that would look like. skillsformedia encouraged my to do more of that kind of work to fill my portfolio up and make it more film focused. It was full of my illustration work which wasn't showcasing what I could do for a film Art Director when I was trying to get jobs. Skillset also introduced me to The Knowledge - a book of contacts in the industry from directors to carpenters. I've been going through it religiously contacting as many people as possible - sending them examples of my work, calling them for jobs, or trying to find out about more films that are in pre production and whether they have any work going - I even pretended to be a courier the other day just so I could get to talk to a producer but that's what it takes - persistence."
Since contacting Skillset Careers, Simon has done work experience on Harry Potter and the Goblets of Fire and he just missed out on a permanent job on the crew.
"The Art Director said he would have kept me on but there just wasn't room. He told me to read the next Harry Potter book - The Order of the Phoenix - storyboard some of the scenes and send them to him. So fingers crossed. I've been busy doing that and working on character designs for a medieval war epic titled Constantinople, written by Chris Rowe of MidnightCrow Productions, which a high profile Hollywood production company is in talks to make. That's what you have to do. Find out as much about what films are coming up and chase every person you can find for any opportunity going. It's easy to get disheartened because you have to keep going 24/7 to find work and you have to get used to rejection but Skillset Careers really spurred me on. If you want to get into the movie business I'd recommend you give them a call right away."
