Advice For Those Just Starting Out

Truth About Working In The Movie Business Versus A Day Job – Rory Karpf

Filmcourage

Published

March 16, 2025

[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]

Film Courage: What’s the truth about finding work in the film industry?

Rory Karpf, Producer: What’s the truth about it? It can be tough to find work. I have people reach out to me with those questions and people that are frustrated. It’s a tough time as we’re now filming this interview. The filmmaking industry has taken a ton of hits going back to Covid and the strike, now the fires too. A lot of people are leaving LA, so it’s a tough time. There’s no placating that.

This is how I look at it. If you want to work in film or any creative endeavor it’s like romantic love.

If I told you:

Hey, do you want to fall in love someday?

You’d probably say:

Yeah.

And if I said:

Okay, well you know you’re going to get your heart broken and you’re going to probably face a lot of rejection along the way, like personal rejection, like they don’t like you.

You’re going to have some ups and downs in a relationship where maybe you think you found the one or something doesn’t work out.

I feel it’s the same with movie making. You’re going to face rejection. You’re going to face heartbreak but when you find that love, there’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like it when you (for me anyway) when you’ve captured something on film that’s really meaningful or you’ve completed the movie. Man, this industry will…it’ll beat you down.

I love Rocky Balboa. He’s got the saying:

It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up.

I think that’s life. Yes, there’s tough times but I think if you want to do it, you just keep going. People want guarantees too, Well if I make this movie or I do this or if I work for free for a certain period I’m going to get XYZ and you might not.

Nobody may see your movie and you might have to make another and another and another. There’s no guarantees, but you do it for the love of doing it.

I always feel that if you have a heartbeat, you have hope. So you just…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).

BIO:

Rory Karpf is a 4-time Emmy and Peabody Award winning filmmaker who has collaborated with notable talents such as Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O’Neal, Paul Newman, Vin Diesel, Peyton Manning, Rob Lowe and Dana White. His documentary work includes the ESPN 30 for 30 films “I Hate Christian Laettner,” “Nature Boy,” “The Book of Manning,” the Netflix series “Coach Snoop,” and the AMC series “The Secret History of Comics.” “Grace Point” is Rory’s first scripted feature as a writer and director.