REAL emails I get applying for VFX jobs! VFX School
As a VFX Supervisor and business owner, I want to be BRUTALLY HONEST and deconstruct everything wrong (and right) with emails I receive on a daily basis from artists applying for visual effects jobs. As VFX Artists, Designers and Game Developers - a lot of us make the mistake of assuming people will just click on our demo reels just because we send them.
You'll be shocked to see the minimum effort put into some of these applications.
The goal of this series (I'll be posting these regularly) is to show what works, what doesn't and be brutally honest as I go through this email teardown series.
Not just 3D artists applying for work, but studios reaching out to me to work, or collaborate, consult etc. As well as outsourcing studios requesting to be added to our vendor list. I want to show emails that are great, and why they are, what they did right. But I also want to share what big mistakes people make - that can lead to their emails being deleted, and sometimes even blacklisted.
The goal is to educate you on what to do - but also show what minimal effort you really need to do, to already stand out from many of the others applying for jobs.
Whether they're Vancouver Film School, Gnomon, Dave School, Full sail or other VFX students learning 3d animation or illustration. Loads of artists applying for work with 3ds max , Houdini , Maya or after effects, nuke or other software packages. Some have plenty of experience, others are showcasing just 3d tutorials they've followed off the web from Film Riot, Video Copilot, mine or others. All of these are welcome, but when there are emails that aren't able to even communicate who they are or why they would be a good candidate, it's hard for any supervisor to stop what they're doing to look at every single demoreel that comes in the door. This is why writing the perfect cover letter is so critical!
I receive emails from roto artists, 3d modelers, FX Technical Directors, Animators, Designers, Compositors, Programmers daily. And most are responded to courteously and respectfully, either they're hired or put in our archives for when positions open up. But then there are some that truly stand out and those end up in a folder I've been building for the past 6 years - and I'm going to start finally rolling out on "what not to do" in the first ever Email Tear-down.