do you ever feel guilty for taking sick days for this reason?

[ironpony]

I am trying to get more and more into the filmmaking community and getting gigs to get more experience and make connections.  But I find that it conflicts with my day job and I feel bad about taking days off to do it.  Is this normal to feel bad, or is it part of the game, if you want to get into a certain field and want more experience?

Or what is the best approach to handle it usually?

[basil67]

It's not so much about how you feel, but more about how your employer feels about you taking time off to do other work.   Unless your boss knows what you're doing and has given their blessing, you'll likely lose your job over it.

[elaine567]

You are an employer's nightmare.
He/she is paying you to do a job, a job that in this Coronavirus climate many would be very grateful for and would be prepared to do their very best. 
Your are taking the Mickey.
This skiving off and lack of application in effect lost you your last job and it took months for you to get another.
You cannot afford to keep doing this at 36. Your parents won't live for ever, they won't always be there to rescue you.. 
You need to start living in reality and not in this pie in the sky  film "career".

[ironpony]

Oh okay, it's just that I was told on here, before that if I want to get into that career to do both, and to get on movie sets as well as work a day job.  I just don't know how to keep them from conflicting with each other.

I'm trying to do what people say, and do trying to break in, I just don't know how other people do it.  I was advised to get on sets and learn, but how do you when you have a job?

Edited September 29, 2020 by ironpony

[d0nnivain]

You get a job with more flexibility or you do contract work.  When you are at work, you do the job you are being paid to do.  You don't lie routinely to go off & gain experience elsewhere.  

When I was trying to break into my field I tended bar because that was at night & on weekends.  Thus I had my days free to intern in my chosen field.  Yes, sometimes that meant I was working 16+ hours & not sleeping much but how bad do you want it?   

Granted the restaurant business is not what it was due to Covid but you get my point.  

[ironpony]

8 minutes ago, d0nnivain said:

You get a job with more flexibility or you do contract work.  When you are at work, you do the job you are being paid to do.  You don't lie routinely to go off & gain experience elsewhere.  

When I was trying to break into my field I tended bar because that was at night & on weekends.  Thus I had my days free to intern in my chosen field.  Yes, sometimes that meant I was working 16+ hours & not sleeping much but how bad do you want it?   

Granted the restaurant business is not what it was due to Covid but you get my point.  

oh okay but when you tended bar, was that enough to pay the bills if you were only working weekends only?

[d0nnivain]

I worked weeknights too.  I lived at home with my parents so bills weren't a huge issue but I made more money the last year I was a bartender then the 1st year I was in my field.  Seriously.  I was making between $500 - $700 per week in the late 80s which worked out to about $30k per year.  

[ironpony]

Oh okay.  So just work nights and don't sleep much so I can film in the daytime perhaps then.

Well, when I applied for the position on the production, I told them when I was available and when my daytime hours were at.  They told me that was fine and I got the job, but now they changed it and said I have to shoot at this time, because that is when everything else is available.  So how I do handle that since I still want on set experience, and do not like turning it down, once I have been given the position.

I don't have to call in sick on the day, but is booking a couple of days off in three weeks, okay, as long as it's just a couple of days?

[DarrenB]

What? So in hindsight you're taking 'sick days' to focus on your everlasting aspiration to become a famous film maker? 

You do realize sick days are for genuine illness right? and not to be confused with annual leave to do whatever you want to do?

I'm sorry mate, but if this is your approach towards the working lifestyle, you plain and simply do not deserve the job. There are likely many, MANY other candidates who would be willing to fully commit and would give so much to be in the position that you're in.

🤦‍♂️

[ironpony]

Oh okay, well I didn't take any days off yet, it's just that the film I signed on for, changed it's schedule for a shoot in three weeks, so I am not sure what to do.  I was told on here before to get on more sets and learn and gain experience, and I agree, I should do that.  But how do I without the day job getting in the way?  How do others on movie shoots for example make time for both, without conflicts, especially if the producer and director has to make schedule changes?

Edited September 29, 2020 by ironpony

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

Yes, I would feel bad/guilty about doing that.  

[Lotsgoingon]

Dude, of course you can sneak in a sick day every now and then in order to push the rock forward on filmmaking. For ultimate safety, just make sure you're doing enough to keep the job.

And yes, if you're not a sociopath, you can easily feel guilty doing this ... doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Just means you pay the price of having a bourgeois socialization. 

If you really get the job done at your main job, I don't think your employer will sweat the "sick days." 

You do get a certain number of official sick days? It's understood at a lot of places that people will take some sick days even when they're not "sick."

 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Lotsgoingon

[lana-banana]

Why not just take actual leave days vs sick days or ask your boss to modify your schedule? Calling in sick to work a second job seems dishonest and weird. 

[elaine567]

I don't think ironpony is of the paygrade to start dictating when he wants to work and when he doesn't.
He just started this job too.
I also think a young healthy bloke taking regular "sick leave" will definitely be looked upon unfavourably and if they get a whiff he is taking sick leave to do another job, he will get the sack...

[Dork Vader]

On 9/28/2020 at 8:39 PM, ironpony said:

I am trying to get more and more into the filmmaking community and getting gigs to get more experience and make connections.  But I find that it conflicts with my day job and I feel bad about taking days off to do it.  Is this normal to feel bad, or is it part of the game, if you want to get into a certain field and want more experience?

Or what is the best approach to handle it usually?

Depends, I'm an employer and I'll do what I can to help my employees pursue their interests. Where it becomes a problem is when they are taking so much time off it starts to negatively impact my other staff and me. But for the most part I'll try and accommodate their requests. If I tell them no and they call in sick anyways then there is a major problem. 

[Allupinnit]

Wait you're 36 and want to "break in" to the film business?  You might have to come to grips that at your age that's most likely a pipe dream.

At your age you should be focusing on what you can work at to start socking money away for your future.  Middle age creeps up really fast and you're teetering on the edge.  I'm sorry but that's the harsh cold truth of life.  

[ironpony]

Oh okay, but I was told that even if I am older, it's okay to do what you want to do career wise, and that it's okay to be late bloomer.  Is there a rule that you can only start out doing what you want to do, when you are young?  Why is there a time limit?  Or is the saying better late than never, bad?

I mean a film director I that I have worked with before, is producing and directing her first feature film next year, and she is in her 40s, so is it really so bad?

Edited October 1, 2020 by ironpony

[basil67]

This film director who's about to produce and direct....the fact that you've already worked for her means that she's already broken into the business.   She's not someone trying to get a foothold, she's already there.

You're right that there's age limit for starting out, but most have to work up through the ranks of any job.    One generally doesn't go from doing beginner work to being the boss.   And the only way to do this is to do all your work in the industry.   If you do your job really well, they are likely to keep calling as new works arises.

[ironpony]

Oh okay, well I don't think she is any more experienced than me though.  But even though we have both worked in the industry where we could so far, we still have to eventually make a big leap and decide to make something that is hopefully going to be good for business, don't we?  I mean what do you do, after you have worked in it for a while, here and there?  Don't you have to take the leap eventually?

The thing about filmmaking is there is no ranks, in the sense that no one is going to promote you though, so I don't think it's a world of ranks really to work up, rather than trying to break in by yourself, as oppose to someone promoting you for you, if that's what you mean?

Plus even though she is older than me, we took the same film school course together, and worked on the same projects, so I don't think she is of any higher rank, that I can tell anyway.

Edited October 1, 2020 by ironpony

[elaine567]

4 hours ago, ironpony said:

I mean a film director I that I have worked with before, is producing and directing her first feature film next year, and she is in her 40s, so is it really so bad?
Plus even though she is older than me, we took the same film school course together, and worked on the same projects, so I don't think she is of any higher rank, that I can tell anyway.

Well it depends on many things. How successful has she been up till now? How talented and creative is she? Does she have a backer, a ready supply of cash?
Does she have money she can afford to burn? Does she have a legion of enthusiastic Youtube followers? 
Being on the same course means nothing.
If she has none of those qualities and assets then she may also be on a path to crash and burn....

The problem I see here with you is that you have only produced a few short films that were not successful on Youtube, yet you are leaping into the dark with a full yet grossly  underfunded feature film with money that you cannot afford to burn.
 

[ironpony]

I'd say she has been about as successful as me and is also using her own money, plus some other she was able to raise from fundraisers and investors who liked the script.

I guess I just feel I have to go for the career goal I want, rather than viewers on youtube telling me to go for it, but is that bad of me?  I am trying to make it for less, it's just that the budget keeps telling me I need to spend more of my money to pay everyone who would be involved.

[alphamale]

it is normal to feel bad ironpony

[ironpony]

Okay...

[basil67]

11 hours ago, ironpony said:

I'd say she has been about as successful as me and is also using her own money, plus some other she was able to raise from fundraisers and investors who liked the script.

I guess I just feel I have to go for the career goal I want, rather than viewers on youtube telling me to go for it, but is that bad of me?  I am trying to make it for less, it's just that the budget keeps telling me I need to spend more of my money to pay everyone who would be involved.

The bolded goes back to my previous questions about what others think of your script.  Have you had it critiqued?   I've also previously mentioned that a friend of mine writes TV mini series.  Her writing has credibility as she's had a number of successful series, but even then, investors won't invest unless she has lined up actors who are likely to bring audiences. 

Taking it further, an investor isn't going to invest in your colleague's plan without her being able to demonstrate that she's got the skills and knowledge to make it work.  A business plan.  Who she's going to hire, how much it will cost, who will do what job and how to get cinemas to pick it up.    

Bottom line is that if you can't find an investor willing to take the risk on your script and plans, then you'd be a fool to part with your own money on it.   And to do a good job, you'll need an investor because you need more money than you have.

 

[ironpony]

Oh okay, well I have had people read it over and some liked it, some not.  I can look for investors then, it's just other filmmakers told me that working with investors for them was a nightmare because of all the restrictions you have to work under, compared to not, if you use your own.

But I was also told that if the movie does not make any money, that there is more drama to deal with, with investors compared to loosing your own.   If that's true...

Edited October 2, 2020 by ironpony