Musician / filmmaker coming from Austin – is Raleigh a good fit? (Durham: home, job openings)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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None of the places you are looking will have an arts scene for both music and video that is comparable to the one in Austin.
And, these same areas are growing quickly (especially the Triangle and Charlotte) and are not likely to be places with acreage for cheap that's within 15 minutes of the areas where any sort of scene is going to be happening.
Asheville doesn't have much in the way of jobs, period.
Wilmington does have the film industry going for it, but lacks the music scene you could find in the Triangle.
This would be a tough call, unless you can work freelance or remote for your video/editing gigs and go for the music scene nearby. In which case, the Triangle is your best bet, but you may need to look at little farther out than 15 minutes from the clubs.
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None of the places you are looking will have an arts scene for both music and video that is comparable to the one in Austin.
Wilmington does have the film industry going for it, but lacks the music scene you could find in the Triangle.
This would be a tough call, unless you can work freelance or remote for your video/editing gigs and go for the music scene nearby. In which case, the Triangle is your best bet, but you may need to look at little farther out than 15 minutes from the clubs.
You know, if I could find a town with a good film/video/theater scene I'd happily do without the music... sounds like Wilmington may fit the bill?
Charlotte's music scene in general is not as good as the Triangle's, but might be decent for your genre. Wilmington just flat out does not have as a good of a music scene as the Triangle. Asheville has a very nice music scene, don't know about video/editing jobs, but it is a tourism based economy. Don't know about Columbia, but Charleston, SC, has more of an artsy rep. I think Columbia might be almost as hot as Austin.
I know of several musicians that moved to this area and have been thriving. For instance, The Mountain Goats (John Darnielle), the Cook brothers in Megafaun, and Hiss Golden Messenger (MC Taylor) all come immediately to mind. It may worth trying to get their input (I know a lot of them are active on twitter).
Rural areas near the towns of Pittsboro and Hillsborough seem to be popular with some of the music crowd (those that don't live in the city).
That said, all of the musicians I know are somewhere under the Rock umbrella, not swing jazz. I have no idea what the area offers for that genre.
What kind of film/video scene? Are you talking about major Hollywood productions? If so, Wilmington is as good as we've got. Corporate video? You'd probably be better off in the Triangle or Charlotte. Indy art films? Probably the Triangle, maybe Asheville.
What kind of film/video scene? Are you talking about major Hollywood productions? If so, Wilmington is as good as we've got. Corporate video? You'd probably be better off in the Triangle or Charlotte. Indy art films? Probably the Triangle, maybe Asheville.
Well, I make my living as a freelance video editor doing mostly corporate stuff and I make an independent film (very low-budget, indie, etc.) every couple of years, so Hollywood productions aren't at all what I'm looking for...
Ideally somewhere that I can make a living doing freelance video and motion graphics work - I just want to be sure that every couple of years when I set out to make a movie or put on a theater production at a local playhouse, I wont have a problem finding enough cast and crew to make it happen....
Austin doesn't have a ton of Hollywood stuff going on, but when I put out a casting or crew call here, I'm inundated with replies within hours. I don't necessarily need it to be quite at that level, just enough so that I can still make it happen - and that may a reasonable expectation in any of the towns we've been discussing, I just don't know as my only experience has been here in Austin.
Continued thanks for all the great feedback - this is really amazingly helpful for me!
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