There are a million ways to learn filmmaking.

You can go to film school. You can make shorts with your friends. You can work as a production assistant. You can watch tutorials online. You can pick up a camera and start experimenting.

But there's an enormous difference between learning how films are made and learning how to actually work in the film industry.

After years of working on productions, here are 15 things I wish every aspiring filmmaker knew before starting a career in film.

You might spend your first production day moving tables, making copies, picking up trash, guarding a door, or standing in a parking lot.

That's normal.

Your first job isn't necessarily about showing everyone your artistic brilliance. It's about showing people you're reliable.

If your call time is 7:00 AM, arriving in the parking lot at 7:00 AM isn't really being on time.

Give yourself time to park, find base camp, check in, put your belongings away, and be ready to work.

People DO expect you to listen.

If you don't understand an instruction, ask.

It's much better to clarify something than confidently do the wrong thing.

Film crews can become surprisingly close surprisingly quickly.

Learn names.

Remember them.

Care about the people you're working with.

The film industry is enormous and somehow also incredibly small.

People talk.

Being dependable, kind, prepared, and easy to work with matters.

We've all been beginners.

If someone asks whether you know how to do something and you don't, say so.

"I haven't done that before. Can you show me?"

That's a perfectly respectable answer.

Professional film sets have their own language.

You'll hear phrases like:

"First team."

"Last looks."

"Picture's up."

"Going again."

"Back to one."

"10-1."

"Flying in."

Understanding the vocabulary allows you to understand what's happening around you.

Phones are necessary production tools.

They're also incredibly distracting.

If someone looks over and you're scrolling social media while everyone else is working, they're going to remember.

Your classmates may eventually become producers.

Today's PA may become tomorrow's coordinator.

That assistant may eventually become an executive.

Treat people well regardless of their current title.

Study filmmaking.

Watch great movies.

Read scripts.

Learn theory.

But eventually you have to make something.

Your first film probably won't be your masterpiece.

Make it anyway.

Then make another.

This might be the most important lesson.

There are countless practical realities about working in film and television that are difficult to learn in a classroom.

Set etiquette.

Crew hierarchy.

Walkie language.

Production terminology.

The hundreds of tiny unwritten rules professional crew members eventually learn through experience.

That's one of the reasons we created Get Reelisms: A Practical Guide to Working in Film and Television.

It's the guide we wish we'd had when we were starting out—a way to help aspiring filmmakers walk onto set with a better understanding of how professional productions actually operate.

Film school can teach you filmmaking.

Experience teaches you the industry.

And the more prepared you are before your first opportunity arrives, the more you'll be able to take advantage of it.

If you're preparing for your first film job, student production, internship, or professional set, grab a copy of Get Reelisms and start learning the things nobody thinks to explain until you're already there.