A week ago we talked about affordable printing ideas in our first part of Filmmaking 101. One of the most important things for every filmmaker to get is a professional business card. I’d like to take a moment to talk more about business cards and their importance.

First, lets talk about what your business card needs. Your name (of course), your professional title (be honest, more on this later), cell phone (no one cares about your home phone), e-mail address (very very important, this is how must people will stay in touch with you, fax (if you have one, if not it is no biggie), and a URL (if and only if it is related to your position; a website with a reel for a DP or actor, etc).

Now, what you should not include! Do not include your resume on your business card, if people want more information about you, they will look it up. If you are an actor, do not have an extremely close picture of yourself on your business card, not only is it tacky, but is also sometimes scary! If you are a crew member, don’t have any picture of yourself on the card (I’ve seen this, I don’t get it, but I’ve seen it). If your website has nothing to do with your production position, don’t include it on the card. If you are a make-up artist, having a website with a silent film you did in college is not going to help you get jobs. If you are a grip, your blog about cheese should not be on your business card. Nothing personal and unproduction related should be on it. Also, while talking about positions, don’t lie on your business card. If you are a set production assistant, and you write that your a writer/producer on your business card, people will lose any respect for you when they look you up on IMDB and discover that you’ve never produced a feature and you haven’t sold any scripts. Be honest. If you are a PA, you can put them on a business card. It could help you get more PA jobs. If you are embarrassed about your position in life, than just write filmmaker. No matter what position you are in the business, you’re a filmmaker. Is it vague? Yeah, but it is still honest.

I prefer simple business cards, but design wise you should have something that reflects you. Can be a certain font or design. And there are a ton of places that handle business card printing, and you can get 1000 business cards for as cheap at 10 bucks. Business cards are one of the most affordable and effective tools in your filmmaker kit. They will go a long way!