Advice for Someone Seeking This Job
Many production managers begin their careers working on commer-
cials or small independent films where union membership is not required.
Most begin as a production assistant or assistant to the art director to gain
on-set experience. Volunteer to art direct or design student or low budget
films to gain some practical experience, build your résumé, and make con-
tacts for future projects. Contact production designers whose work you
admire and volunteer to work for free so that you can observe them. If
you're working as a production assistant on a project, offer to help the art
department after your own work is completed.
"My advice is to become an
intern on a production," says
production designer Carlos
Barbosa. "An internship is like
a scholarship--you don't get
paid, but at the same time,
you're learning film [without
paying tuition]." Through an
internship you are gaining
practical experience while you
learn and making contacts for
future work.
Professional Profile: Carlos
Barbosa, Production Designer
"I have always been fasci-
nated with the worlds created
on television and film," says
Carlos Barbosa. "I always
admired it but never really
pursued it." Instead, the
Columbian native studied
another passion: architecture.
He graduated with a bache-
lor's degree of architecture
from Tulane University in 1982
and worked in firms located in
New Orleans, Los Angeles,
New York, and Connecticut.
By the late 1980s, Barbosa says he "was very disillusioned with the
endless amount of unpleasant paperwork, permits, codes, and city offi-
What do you like
least about your job?
"What I don't like is
when you run into people
who hire you, but they
don't really respect
what you do--they're a
control freak personality--they hire you to
do a job and then they want to tell you
[how to design everything], what colors they
want . . . they bring in tear sheets and say,
`I just want it to look like this.' They don't
understand that you have to have a concept
that encompasses the overall look of the
movie, versus just a fragmented portion.
What I don't like about my job is when
you run into people that don't know their
job."--Carlos Barbosa
What do you love most
about your job?
"I love the fact that it's always different.
It's a learning experience with every project:
you could go from the year 1750 to the year
3030, to the present time, depending on the
job and the subject matter. You're constantly
discovering and challenged to come up with
new worlds."--Carlos Barbosa
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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