Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney K.
Sydney, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Sure—I started out as a college student at U.C. Santa Cruz as a prospective literature major. I was always a storyteller, but I didn’t know until I took a summer course at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles that I would be telling my stories through film rather than books. I took the course in between my Freshman and Sophomore years in college and returned Sophomore year with a determination to make films and make them my career.
I joined a film club, called the Film Production Coalition (F.P.C.), and through that found some friends to make my dreams a reality. Between F.P.C. and my film friends, I graduated having made over 20 films personally and crewed on probably 20 more. I taught myself practical filmmaking through finding and joining as many sets as I could get on, through YouTube and by finding other peers in F.P.C. to teach me. I went out of my way to be as involved as I could in filmmaking, to learn the lingo, the practice, etc. I made sure to work every job on set and to take apart the pieces that made a film a film, and after four years at UCSC, I graduated as a double major in Film (and Digital Media) and Literature.
I won the Eli Hollander Aspiring Filmmaker Award for two of my short films and received funds from the school through this award to make my senior thesis. I received a Dean’s Award for my senior Literature thesis on race and slavery in films. I also took another summer course at UCLA because I felt practice makes perfect, and I wanted to get every bit of knowledge going into the industry once I graduated.
Has it been a smooth road?
I would say it’s been anything but a smooth road, the bumps are endless but that is film–learn it now: you’ll never have enough time, money or resources! Also, does anyone really travel a smooth road, haha?
The first major obstacle was just getting started—how do you even get on a set in Los Angeles, especially being fresh out of college with no connections and no friends to help you?! Everyone I graduated with scattered back home and I had no family members or close friends in the film industry. No one likes babysitting while they are working, so most sets don’t like hiring clueless people. What I can say is that if you are determined enough, you will eventually find a set to take a chance on you and once you are in, if you are serious, you’ll learn a lot and your next one will be smoother and so it goes. You just need experience, so do whatever it takes to safely get that access.
The story on my first job goes like this: After graduation, I moved back to my hometown in Los Angeles. I set up my production company, Rickety Wheels Productions (more on that later) and have been using it to slowly start making my personal films. Film, however, needs crew and money and time to make, so I started looking on how to acquire those things and how to also find my way into the industry.
There’s no handbook for how to do this, so I emailed, called, and texted anyone I knew that had anything remotely to do with film, starting with my former teachers in college, alums from the year ahead of me, and even peers I had a mild connection to all the way back from elementary school–and by some chance, two of the dozens of people I talked to had good answers for me!
The first answer was finding jobs on the internet, through Facebook specifically (knowing where to look) and asking to P.A. on anything you found. I used to be a huge introvert but in filmmaking you can’t be, you have to talk and get heard, and stand your ground on a lot of things, but fresh out of college with a good amount of film knowledge but no one to follow or go in with, I was honestly scared of contacting total strangers and begging to get on a set.
So, this led me to contact a loose friend from elementary school, who had graduated in film and looked like he was getting on sets. By the time I met with him, he was actually quitting film but he did so not without giving me the biggest helping hand ever: he connected me with a friend of his who was running a set that weekend. I got a call from the assistant director and he gave me a run through, I took the job for free and went into it determined as hell to do a good job and prove myself, and that’s how I got my first set ever!
From that set, I just met people – one girl saw my assistance with set dressing and asked me to be her production designer for her AFI application film. I took that, I met more people and those people saw the merit in my hard work and saw how seriously I took this, and they hired me for the next gig. I gained more confidence, not only in my skills but in myself, and I started reaching out to those jobs on Facebook. I joined film clubs, organizations, google forums, and many, many other websites to gain access to film jobs.
About a year went by and by working non-stop for free, working non-stop for little pay, and just working (do you see the pattern?), I got people to start taking chances on me for producing, which is the field I really wanted. There are rules and hoops to get into any of the guilds, and the Producers’ Guild is no different, but it’s my current goal! In one year, I worked my way up from being a freelance, non-union P.A. to a freelance, non-union Producer, and now I be in the P.G.A. by the time I’m 30!
Circling around again, the only other obstacles in this business are finding the work and maintaining enough of it to make it part time or full time. I say that like it’s little and it’s really the main thing—the reason so many people quit. The indie film industry is pretty feast or famine and it definitely has its ‘seasons!’ For example, I learned that unless you’re finishing a job up in November, December or January, good luck finding a one!
It’s easier to find jobs and get on more sets having a technical position (gripping, sound, camera work, etc..), rather than solely a creative one (like directing, producing, writing, etc..). PAing is always a job you can find, and I definitely still P.A. for that reason! However, I try to supplement my producing more with sound mixing gigs than PAing, but I do all of it.
Everyone says that it’s really about who you know, rather than what you know, and I think that’s mostly true — obviously if you know what you’re doing, you’re doing good work and will get hired more, but actually getting on sets, getting gigs, has been through the people I’ve met. I got started through a friend of a friend, found more work and then garnered most of my jobs online till I met enough people! Now that I have a real network, finding jobs has become mostly word-of-mouth and the jobs find me now!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business is two parts, it’s me, Sydney K., as a worker and producer, and Rickety Wheels, my production company. You’ve heard about me, so I’ll talk about Rickety here:
Rickety Wheels is still in its infancy, even though I got it running for about a year ago. Rickety Wheels is my production company that will help your film get off the page and onto the screen. While my company and myself don’t have the funds (yet) to kickstart your movie, we can help you acquire them through crowdfunding—helping you run and accomplish a campaign— or if you already have the funds, we will supply you with the crew and equipment needed to pull off your project!
Rickety Wheels is genre and type-agnostic, so we’ll produce any type of media (from YouTube projects, short film projects, features, digital media, VR, TV to podcasts, and everything in between) of any genre! Horror, scifi and mystery/thrillers are my personal favorite genres, but we try not to be biased!
I’m most proud of our name and what we stand for: Rickety Wheels comes from a phrase my mother often told me and has always told me ever since I was a baby: “it’s you and me till the wheels fall off!” This is our motto. She introduced me to movies, helped curate my taste, and has enabled my dreams to come true. I’ll be making films “till the wheels fall off” and it’s all thanks to her.
Rickety Wheels is a company that believes in filmmakers, believes in the dreams and imaginations of all those willing to take their dreams and make them a reality.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think L.A. is not an easy place to get started, especially in film, however, the industry is here and if you want to make it, this is the place. There are a million and one filmmakers and actors that have grown up here and come here from all over to be in and make films, and because of that, the industry has become even more cut-throat as to what counts and doesn’t count.
I’d recommend getting as much practice as you can at home, wherever you’re from, and then moving here for a period of time to try getting on sets, testing it out. If it feels feasible to you, then consider moving here and diving in.
Film is really hard work and most people don’t realize that. You’re on your feet for 10-12 hours a day at least and running and moving and making it happen. It is one career that’s really easy to quit because it’s so fast paced, what feels like such high stakes, and can be pretty thankless at times. I’m not saying don’t do it I’m saying be prepared for it.
For all chaos, the work is amazingly gratifying and there’s nothing quite like seeing the world you’ve built up on a screen, knowing that you helped in putting it there. No day is the same, no set is the same. It’s always an adventure and a challenge, and by the end of a set, you feel like you’ve been through something. And the people you meet, they become your family, your closest friends… At the end of the day, you’ve been through something together, made the impossible real, and you’ll forever go on, knowing that with each other, having lived through it with one another.
To bring it all full circle, I never thought about whether L.A. was a good place or not to do what I wanted to do, I knew the industry was here. My people were here. I feel included and loved by the people I work with and am really proud to be a part of the communities and films that I am and have been in. Los Angeles IS the city of film and there’s no place else you can go if you want the real deal. You make art. You make friends. At the end of the day, I know there are numerous other film cities to do this in, but L.A. is the home of it all and more than that L.A. is my home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ricketywheelsproductions.com/
- Phone: 323.683.6391
Image Credit:
My personal photo is a photo of a photo, haha, techincally caught on camera by our cinematographer for Intelligentia, Ryo Shiina, but the actual photo is taken by the director while editing, Ken Shinozaki!
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