Sam Raimi looks back on the ‘days of hell’ of his early film work working at a low-budget commercial car manufacturing company

Every director has to start somewhere, and most early work generally sucks, and it turns out that that director Sam RaimiHis first professional film job had some days of hell. During a recent Reddit AMA session, producer Sam Raimi and the directors ScottBeck AND Ryan Wood they were promoting their next film 65.

During the AMA, a fan asked Raimi about his early experiences in the film industry and what it was like, and the director talked about his first job at a low-budget automobile commercial production company in Detroit. He said:

“The only professional jobs in the Detroit film industry were doing commercials, so Bruce Campbell and I found after-school part-time jobs working in low-budget commercial production companies. We swept studio floors, got coffee for clients , we would pack snacks, go slate and generally help out.Because Detroit is a car city, most of the commercials were selling cars, so we would learn from grips how to spray hubcaps, how to professionally start a car, how to use the silk … “

Yep, most people have to start at the bottom doing crap jobs that no one else wants to do to gain some kind of experience in hopes of learning a few things along the way. Hell, I took a job working in the Paramount Pictures post office while in college, and it was truly one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had. Sure, the pay was crap, but I met a ton of great people and learned a ton!

Anyway, Raimi went on to talk about how bad it was for him to work in these small production companies, going for coffee and sweeping the floors. Things then got worse for them when he and Bruce Campbell were asked to drive in formation with other cars, and they had no formal driving experience. Raimi said:

“[T]Hell days were when producers would catch us and be like ‘HEY BOY, get in that car you’re driving! We’ll do a ‘W’ formation and then a ‘V!’ The producer would yell at me on the radio telling me I was ruining this by saying ‘CAR SIX, NEVER DRIVEN IN FORMATION BEFORE?!’ And I was nervous enough to admit that I was Car Six and had never driven in formation. We learned a lot during our time as production assistants.”

It’s fun to hear stories like this! This is how Raimi started his career! It’s so cool to see where he is now in his career and to see the amazing movies that he’s been making. Raimi is one of the kindest and most humble directors he has ever met and this is probably due to his humble origins.

Either way, for those of you currently in menial production work, just know that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.