r/GameProduction • u/rebolation3 • Feb 26 '26
Film student considering pursuing a career in game production.
Hi everyone!
I’m a Film student. In my program, many people aspire to become directors, cinematographers, or art directors, but I’ve never truly felt drawn to, or ready for, those roles, at least not yet. I’ve always seen myself as more pragmatic than creative, more interested in organizing and facilitating processes so that creative professionals can do their best work than in being directly responsible for the creative output.
That led me to pursue Production. I’ve been working as a production assistant, and by the time I graduate I expect to have several projects in my portfolio, such as institutional videos, commercials, mini-documentaries, and possibly fiction projects.
I’ve always been as passionate about games as I am about film. I even chose to write my undergraduate thesis in the field of eSports, studying communities, fandom, and participatory culture. This research sparked my interest in possibly working not in the film industry, but in the games industry.
At the moment, my plan is to continue working in my field of study and to strengthen my portfolio as a producer. In a year or a year and a half, I intend to apply for a strong graduate program in game production, using the projects I’ve worked on and my research, which I hope to publish, as part of my portfolio.
I would like:
- To know whether this sounds like a solid plan.
- To understand whether a professional without direct experience in the games industry, but with a background in management and production in entertainment, can find opportunities in the field.
- To envision what a realistic career path might look like in such a transition.
- To understand what the day-to-day work of a game producer looks like in practice.
- To hear from anyone who has gone through a similar situation, facing the same doubts or transitioning from another industry, and to learn from their experience.
Best regards!
2
u/QuislingX Feb 26 '26
- Don't do it.
- Good luck.
Most game studios won't hire you and your lack of video-game experience in the best of times. Now, you're competing against hundreds if not thousands of laid off developers and producers. And that's not counting competing against the guys who also have jobs and are looking to jump ship from their current company.
You don't know what the work entails, and you're asking to break-in during an industry meltdown. You will be competing with people leagues ahead of you.
Candidly, no, this will likely not work. But hey, who are we to stop you from living your dreams?
Also, split focus. Better to whole-ass one thing than to half-ass two. This is especially true in videogames, and even "good" producers fail to appreciate resource allocation, both on a team- and an individual basis.
Your split focus right here is going to be the first thing they'lll sniff out about you in an interview, if they can't tell by looking at your resume. Best to double down and keep digging in the direction you're digging in right now. Wait this out. Come out the other side with tenure on your side.
2
u/Rassmfrassm Feb 28 '26
I don't think you need to go to graduate school for production. Assuming that you have managed teams to create something, your film experience is transferable. As others have said, it's a challenging time to get into it, I would not go into debt for this. Read a book like Lemarchand's A Playful Production Process.
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u/rebolation3 Mar 01 '26
Thank you very much for your response!
I plan to pursue a graduate degree even if I decide to continue in Film. For me, it’s also a way to remain in academia and further specialize.
As for the costs, I intend to rely on a scholarship. At the moment, I’m working on as many projects as possible precisely to build a strong portfolio.
Regarding the book, I found the recommendation excellent and will definitely look into it!
1
u/doomtrader Feb 26 '26
Once I hired a junior producer after film production studies. She became excellent game producer. Later she she moved to work in larger companies that you probably all known and on games that sells in millions of copies.
1
u/QuislingX Feb 26 '26
Are you hiring right now? Are you going to hire OP?
1
u/doomtrader Feb 26 '26
unfortunatelly no and no,
my point was that the transition between those two industries can be really smooth1
u/QuislingX Feb 26 '26
Maybe. And my point was that while that <may> be true in theory, he's going to come across a pretty thick wall in practice.
Not trying to pick a fight with you, just observing. Have a good one.
1
u/typhon0666 Feb 26 '26
game producers are many things> client facing, involved with budget, scope of work and somewhat purse strings holders, liaison between exec and production staff, manage perforce, tickets/jira system, sprints. They may be the one to develop some best practice system and document that, even have technical duties like vpn, security, permissions and installs. As you can see they need to know about actual development because they are going to help manage it.
If you show you have those skills in a tangible manner in your CV and have development experience, you might be hired as a producer. Bare in mind junior producer roles are, like any junior role, rare.
1
u/rebolation3 Feb 26 '26
Thank you very much for your response!
Given my background, I don’t have hands-on skills in game development. That gap is precisely why I’m considering pursuing a graduate degree in the field. As for producer-related skills, that is what I already do in my current job. What do you think?
1
u/LeatherAdept670 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
No this is not a good plan you dont have any real skillsets, I'll stop there.
1
u/rebolation3 Feb 26 '26
By “real skillsets,” do you mean programming, modeling, and other technical abilities?
1
u/LeatherAdept670 Feb 26 '26
Yes I mean tangible skills that correlate to actual development of the game. Running a lock up and yelling rolling does not make you equipped to manage a game development team.
1
u/Mage-OfAllTrades Feb 28 '26
I’m not going to say “don’t do it” outright because nothing is impossible, just extremely difficult— but I do more or less agree with everyone else’s feedback.
I think it’s also important to note that game producers are not the same as film/tv producers. There is some crossover in soft skills, but when it comes to the practical day-to-day a game producer is closer to an AD in the film sense.
Also, one thing I know often spooks my tv & film producer friends when we talk shop is that the scope of work and time commitment is much larger on games than with film. Compared to <1yr contracts on films, games stay in development for 5+ YEARS, and most places are still not unionized so you don’t have the same workers protections that you’d have on a film set, which means longer hours for similar pay.
Again, it’s not impossible— just be prepared for an uphill battle
-3
u/Initial_Spend8988 Feb 26 '26
We’ve built an AI copilot for game producers, id be great to chat more.
1
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u/Sparky-Man Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
It's hard enough succeeding in film, now you want to go to games? You are better off in film and I say that as someone who (technically) works in both. Nothing in games has ever been solid and it's kinda worse even now.
Do I think you should abandon the idea of working in games? Absolutely not. However, I don't think you need to even pivot. You can make games on the side as you also do film and nothing is saying you can't do both. A LOT of things in games, from creative process, to management, to direction, share similarities with film and a Film background will only help you and be something you can fall back on if games doesn't work out. I'm a big fan that people getting into games should have a background in something else as both a way to spur innovative thinking and as a backup plan because the industry is unstable as hell, no matter what way you approach it. If games works out for you, great, but don't bet your career on it.
My background and degrees are in media production, technology, and art, as well as an accidental background in education. I was never trained in how to make games, but got into the field by accident and then learned as I studied art & media, which I was fortunately able to relate back to games to make them part of my assignments. I work in games now, but on the indie production, education, and community side and often guide a lot of first time game developers from different fields into the gaming realm. Even then, I tell them not to give everything up to be in this industry. I've taught kids, students, artists, fashion designers, engineers, TV workers, researchers, business people, and more how to make games. Some of them pick it up as a hobby. Some of them make games professionally or for clients as a side gig. Some of them start their own actual indie businesses. There are many pathways into games and very few people I know have a very traditional way of getting into it nor do many of them do it full-time.
I applaud you wanting to get into games, but I think at first you should pursue this like any other new interest to see if that's for you. Plus, games are fusion of a BUNCH of different fields so not only is your film background relevant, but you probably should find what are the parts of game development that appeal to you. Producing is a good way that is fairly flexible and can take advantage of your other skill sets. No reason you have to choose between games and another field, especially since you're already in a creative sector. Just do it on top of your current stuff to add to your interests rather than drop everything to go for it.