Free Downloadable Film Resume Templates and Expert Writing Tips

9 Film Resume Examples

Resumes are essential for getting your foot in the door of the job you want, regardless of your profession. Every resume is different, telling the story of professionals with different experiences, abilities and merit. Depending on your unique career level and strengths, you can organize your resume into one of three resume formats: chronological, combination and functional formats. Each format organizes your skills, career background and qualifications differently to feature your best professional attribute first.

We have resume examples for chronological, combination and functional format so you can clearly see how they emphasize and de-emphasize different aspects of your professional identity.

Chronological Resume

The chronological resume emphasizes your work history by describing your career accomplishments, achievements, responsibilities and application of your skills. It’s ideal for professionals with a consistent and established career (i.e., over 10 years of experience).

By focusing on work history, this format brushes over your skills and education. However, it’s an excellent format for candidates with extensive careers as hands-on experience is crucial for film professionals to assert their presence in the film industry.

These resume examples will demonstrate how chronological resumes can be utilized for certain roles:

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  1. Art director - video: The chronological resume is excellent for displaying Luigi Rossi’s expansive career history which started as an assistant art director and has progressed into a senior art director role. If you’re career shows a similar progression, this format is for you. Download this resume template and change the prewritten content with your information. And, like Luigi did in his resume, ensure you only include past experience and skills that are relevant to the role to keep it concise.
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  2. Producer (video): Rihana Adler’s rich and established career stands out with the chronological resume. This format sheds light into the different tasks that she performed in her different roles that can contribute to her potential new job, like having produced and edited over 30 projects.
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  3. Program manager: In Maeve Kellett’s case, the chronological resume is ideal to disclose her journey from lead video editor to digital media program manager. Maeve’s strong qualities can easily be seen in her clear and detailed descriptions of her past tasks, responsibilities and achievements.

Combination Resume

The combination resume gives equal importance to your skills and work history and is ideal for a film professional with a consistent yet early to mid career level (i.e., less than 10 years). The combination resume is best for seeking promotions, switching fields and applying to new companies or for entry-level positions (if you have informal, academic or internship experience). This format is not suitable for candidates with long gaps or without some experience in their desired field, however.

The following resume examples can help you understand how the combination resume format benefits certain roles and experience levels:

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  1. Animator: This combination resume allows Hallie Alvarez to display her skills and career history equally by placing these sections side by side. Hallie is at the midlevel of her career with a consistent career record, making the combination resume ideal for her.
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  2. Location manager: This combination resume aids Essam Dawkins by stressing his skills without downplaying his professional journey. He began his career as a location scout and worked up to a studio set designer, accumulating a strong skill set along the way, making the combination format his ideal choice.
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  3. Videographer: Videographers require a strong skill set to establish a career in the film industry. The combination resume is beneficial for Rylee Dawson to highlight her relevant top skills while showing she also has experience in the field.

Functional Resume

The functional resume is ideal for professionals lacking experience in the film industry and attempting to kick-start their careers. This resume is preferred by recent graduates (with no experience), or those applying for part-time and entry-level roles.

A word of caution: the functional resume is not applicant tracking system (ATS) compliant nor a recruiter’s favorite format. With that in mind, it may still benefit you if you have the skills to do the job but your career history would hurt your chances of getting called for an interview.

We have the following resume examples depicting how the functional format substitutes the work history for an expanded skills section effectively:

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  1. Boom operator: The functional resume is best for Constance Geller as she has minimal experience. The descriptive skills section demonstrates how she has used her skills to perform the tasks of the role she’s after, proving she’s a capable professional.
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  2. Compositor: Cora Godfrey has cleverly used the functional resume to position her very limited work history at the bottom. Cora’s qualifications, education and role-specific skills are emphasized to pull focus away from the limited work experience and prove she can do the job.
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  3. Prop supervisor: Marco Adams has an entry-level experience, thus he adopted the functional resume to showcase his qualifications, skills and education over his limited experience. By starting off with a summary of qualifications and his listed skills next to it, recruiters pay less attention to Marco’s work history until they’ve made it to the end.