
How to Start a Resume: Guide with 15+ Starters & Tips
Follow along on our tutorial for how to start a resume. This complete resume starter's guide has advice, beginning examples, preparation suggestions & more.
Film production specialists are responsible for various aspects of video production: shooting, editing, VFX, sound production, or color grading. Your film production resume must prove you have exactly what the recruiter is seeking.
Who doesn’t love movies and video content?
Heck, you love them so much that you’re actually looking for a job in film production. The only catch? So do hundreds, if not thousands, of other people in your area. And you’re almost doomed to be overlooked unless you’re a masterful networker… or unless you’re applying with an unforgettable resume.
Here’s how to craft a perfectly focused film resume that cuts through the noise and delights readers with a blockbuster story of your awesomeness.
This guide will show you:
Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.
Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.
Want to pursue a career in other creative fields? Check out our guides:
Martin Rainwater
m.rainwater@gmail.com
916-804-0923
Objective
Creative and organized film production specialist with 5+ years of experience in a deadline-driven, high-output environment. Eager to support CrushIt Media in creating top-quality motion picture content. In previous roles created viral videos viewed over 3M times in less than a month, and created 20+ advanced Adobe Premiere Pro tutorials that garnered 1M+ views to date.
Work Experience
Video Producer
MaxMedia, Los Angeles, CA
2016–
Key achievements:
Film Production Editor
The Buzz, San Francisco, CA
2013–2016
Key achievement:
Education
BA in Film and Television
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Key Skills
Languages
Interests
Here’s how to write a film production resume worthy of Peter McKinnon’s crew:
A resume formatted the right way makes the recruiter want to read it. Here's how to format your resume:
Top your film resume with a professional resume profile.
Think of it in terms of a trailer that highlights all the choicest bits on your resume, and introduces you to the recruiter in the style of an elevator pitch.
Your resume profile can become either a resume objective or summary.
Here’s how you can distinguish the two:
Resume summaries highlight your experience and achievements and will work best on a film crew resume that can show at least 2 years of professional experience.
Resume objectives focus on your skills and explain why you’ll make a great hire. They’re suitable for entry-level positions as well as for resumes for career changers.
Either way, to make your resume profile stand out add numbers that show your true impact.
Pro Tip: The resume profile comes up top on your resume, but write it once your entire document is ready. This way it’ll be easier to find the bits you’d like to put in the spotlight.
Here’s the thing:
It’s the experience in a resume that sells you.
And your film production resume experience section has must make it clear—
You’re so much better than the rest.
How to do this?
Show the recruiter they’ve just found what they’re looking for by tailoring your resume to the job posting:
Pro Tip: See to it that your film production resume is free from typical resume mistakes.
What you can do matters most. But it’s equally important to know what you’ve learned.
Here’s how to make your resume education section deliver:
If you have any professional certifications and licenses, put them in a dedicated resume section to boost their visibility.
At the end of the day, your skills are what makes you unique.
Use the list below to identify your key film production skills.
Here’s how to pick out the best skills for your film production resume:
Pro Tip: Focus on your strongest skills. Don’t mention your weak skills to avoid the so called presenter’s paradox.
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
Show them something more than just your professional side.
Consider adding the following sections to your film resume:
50% of the recruiters expect you to submit one. If you don’t, you have a fifty-fifty chance of slipping through. But is it what you want? Slip through?
Be better than that and follow our tips to write a riveting cover letter in no time:
And make sure the length of your cover letter is acceptable.
Pro Tip: Following up on your job application is always a good idea. It shows you’re a serious candidate.
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
This is it!
This is how you make a job-winning resume for film production positions.
Are you writing a film resume for the first time? Or perhaps you’re a seasoned pro eager to help the rookies out? We’d love to hear from you, leave your comment below!
Follow along on our tutorial for how to start a resume. This complete resume starter's guide has advice, beginning examples, preparation suggestions & more.
How to write a general cover letter? Copy our sample generic cover letter template, adjust and use it to land an interview. Read more!
Check out the best blank resume templates. Pick a resume form, fill in the blanks. Have your resume ready in 5 minutes. Download your resume as PDF.