Seattle · a work in progress

Work the film-set job you're not quite ready for — next to someone who already can.

Here's the whole idea. A handful of us get together and make one short film over a weekend. Everybody takes on a job they haven't really done before, and nobody does it alone. There's no prize and nothing to win. You just come out the other side having actually done it — with a credit, and someone who'll vouch that you did.

Tell me you're interested or read how it works

I'm figuring out the first one in Seattle. More on that below.

The thing I keep coming back to

The people who most want a job on set usually can't do it yet. And that's fine. That's just how you learn a craft — standing next to someone who's already good at it, doing the real thing, badly at first.

Most of the ways into film quietly screen those people out. You need the reel to get the gig, and you need the gig to build the reel. I wanted to make one place that does the opposite on purpose: it puts the first-timer right next to the veteran, and it gives them both the same credit at the end.

It's really about the reps

Nobody gets good at a craft by reading about it. You get good by doing the real thing, over and over, until it stops being scary. The catch is that real sets can't afford to let you practice — there's money and a clock on every take — so the chances to actually do the job keep going to the people who've already done it.

A CraftyBox weekend is a whole production with none of that riding on it: small, low-stakes, and built so that being new at your job is completely normal. It's somewhere to get the reps you can't get anywhere else. And you choose how big a step to take — run a department, share it, or shadow someone who's done it before. However you come in, you leave with the same credit.

How a sprint actually goes

One weekend to shoot. About a week end to end. Roughly six stretches:

  1. 1

    Assemble

    I post the sprint. You apply for the role you want — leading, co-leading, or shadowing — and say why. I put a crew together.

  2. 2

    Write

    A writers' room turns into a locked script by a deadline nobody's allowed to move.

  3. 3

    Prep

    Breakdown, locations, gear, a call sheet — sorted out and shared with the crew before the weekend.

  4. 4

    Shoot

    The weekend. The reason everyone showed up.

  5. 5

    Post

    Assembly, sound, color, and a finished cut.

  6. 6

    Debrief

    We confirm credits, the department heads sign off on their people, and we talk about what we'd each do differently. This part matters most.

What you leave with

Since there's no prize and no files to take home, what you actually walk away with is this: a real credit put together from the final crew list, a sign-off from the person who ran your department — a real human saying you were good to work with and ready to do it for real — and a profile that only grows. Do a few of these and you've got real reps behind you.

About safety, because it matters

This means strangers meeting strangers to make something in person. I don't take that lightly, so a few things are built in from the start:

Why "CraftyBox"?

Two things. Crafty is the craft-service table — the spot on any set where the whole crew actually mixes, no matter who outranks who. An apple box is the wooden crate you stand on to reach the shot. So: community, and a boost. That's the whole thing in a name.

So that's it. I'm not a company and this isn't a startup.

It's early. I'm building it in the open and I'll be running the first sprint myself, probably in Seattle, because that's where I am. I don't have a date yet and I'd rather not pretend I do.

If any of this sounds like something you'd want in on — as a volunteer, or as someone who wants to host their own — leave me your email below. I'll write to you when there's an actual sprint to join, and not before.

— Grayson

building CraftyBox · Seattle