The Film Career Track

The Film Career Track

While the addition of the Ambitions expansion added more complex career tracks that the player can actually participate in which differs from the traditional "Rabbit Hold" style of career from the base game (Rabbit Hole means an activity that your Sim basically disappears from the game to complete, fo instance with the base careers your Sim would go to work, and their presence in the game turned into the icon on the screen that depicts the progress of their work timer).

The Film Career is a Rabbit Hole career in which your Sims are able to obtain special job opportunities in town while they are "on the clock," allowing them to complete special activities and progress in the carer until it reaches the two branching directions following the completion of Level 5.

It should come as no surprise that regardless of the branch that you pursue, the Film Career track is highly dependent upon and related to the new Fame and Celebrity System that was added to the game with this expansion.  Your Sims who join this career track will ultimately end up earning a lot of fame and making famous friends, having the opportunity to complete both the general fame/celebrity opportunities as well as special opportunities that are specific to the career track.


-- Related Lifetime Wishes --

If you are tailor-making a Sim for this Career Path you may want to consider the following Lifetime Wishes as suitable for them:

-- Distinguished Director -- 30,000 Lifetime Happiness Points --  Reach Level 10 Mastery in the Film Career, Directing Branch.

-- Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous -- 40,000 Lifetime Happiness Points -- Have $100,000 Simoleons in your household funds and reach Level 5 in Celebrity Status.

-- Master Mixologist -- 40,000 Lifetime Happiness Points -- Reach Level 10 Mastery in the Mixology Skill and own a bar.

-- Master Romancer -- 30,000 Lifetime Happiness Points -- WooHoo in 5 different places with 5 different Sims.

-- One Sim Band -- 45,000 Lifetime Happiness Points -- Reach Level 10 Mastery in Bass, Drums, Guitar and Piano skills.

Working in the Industry means cheap sets...

-- Observations on the Film Career Track --

Serious simmers will easily grasp the interconnecting elements between the new Film career and the Fame/Celebrity system -- if you have not had long experience with the game it will help you to understand that there is in fact a connection between those new skills/events and this career -- and specifically that fame/celebrity is a critical requirement for this career in much the same way that the Logic and Athletic Skills are required for the Law Enforcement track.  As your Sim works to gain levels and works towards promotions in this career track they will have to actively work on improving their fame and celebrity status.

If you are creating a Sim expressly to pursue this career track you will want to create them with at least the "Ambitious" and "Star Quality" Traits -- and you will want to put out the effort that is required to build a large number of celebrity friends, working as quickly as you can to acquire the Lifetime Happiness Points that are required to purchase the Lifetime Wishes "Map to the Stars" (20,000 Points),  "Always on the List" (17,500 Points), "Eye Candy" (5,000 Points), and "Legendary Host" (5,000 Points) at a minimum -- and any others you think will help your Sim (for example if your Sim was not created expressly for this career track you may find that becoming an acclaimed author or artist is a fast track to celebrity and fame and so pick Wishes for those tracks).

No matter what path you choose to develop your Sim you will find that once they reach Level 4 of Fame/Celebrity it gets much harder to acquire additional points in that Skill --  so you will want to obtain the Superstar Actor or Distinguished Director (as applies to the branch you will be taking) and the "Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous" Lifetime Wish as soon as conveniently possible as well -- and the Film Level 4 Perk, which will help make the acquisition of Celebrity Point a little easier.


-- The Base Career Track Level Details --

Level -- Title -- Work Days -- Base Pay -- Required Skills / Conditions
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1 -- Background Extra -- M-Tu-W-Th-F -- $126 -- Mood
2 -- Best Boy -- M-Tu-W-Th-F -- $150 -- Mood, Cast Relationship
3 -- Key Grip -- M-Tu-W-Th-F -- $150 -- Mood, Cast Relationship
4 -- Personal Assistant -- M-Tu-W-Th-F -- $260 -- Mood, Cast Relationship, Celebrity
5 -- Production Manager -- M-Tu-W-Th-F -- $310 -- Mood, Cast Relationship, Celebrity

Your Sim can use their Celebrity to endorse restaurants for profits!

-- The Importance of Celebrity --

The emphasis upon celebrity for this career track is such that pursuing every opportunity to increase your Sim's status as a celebrity is pretty much a given.  If you are stuck for how to do this, bear in mind that the opportunities are not the only way to do this -- making firends with other celebs and servicing those relationships is another primary path, but your Sim should also be taking every opportunity to attend social events as well, and in particular organized parties and after-event bashes, as well as hitting the popular nightclubs and bars.  Parties in the penthouse suite of a celebrity is a great place to meet new celebrities and make friends with them -- as are the clubs that have VIP lounges.  

Many of the new and existing non-traditional professions represent additional opportunities for establishing and building fame, including the Artist path (Painter and Sculptor), Author/Writer, and Band Member, and even Chef.  When you make friends with a new celebrity having already established mastery in one of these is of incredible value to you, because it allows you to successfully impress them by talking about your job.  Be careful about lying to them though as that can easily backfire on you, and the damage you do in the process may not be correctable.

Name dropping works well when you are dropping the name of a celeb who is more famous than the one you are talking to and about to name drop to, and of course you should never underestimate the potential brownie points available for simply buying a round of drinks.

Becoming a celebrity is real work and it requires specific and concerted effort on your part and the part of your Sims -- who will have to sacrifice things like sleep and personal interests in order to excel at this fickle pursuit.  Fortunately your spouse and children can help you (they gain an extra boost by being related to a famous Sim but can also be used to network with other famous Sims who they can invite to your home, thus providing your Sim with additional opportunities to network with other celebrities).

As you gain access to the better clubs and VIP lounges you will find that networking gets easier, and doing that will lead to more invitations to hang out at exclusive parties with other celebrities -- but bear in mind at all times that the bane of your existence -- the paparazzi and your adoring fans -- are always lurking in the shadows!  Be prepared to sign autographs cheerfully and never show your ass to the press!   You want to avoid scandals if you can, as they rarely help you...   If your celebrity Sim does get caught doing something bad always remember that you do have the option to either pay off the paparazzi with a bribe or you can head down to City Hall and sue their asses!