You may search for Users, Shows or Jobs on Crewster. To do this click on Search from the top menu. You will be presented with the Crewster search page. Enter as much info as you wish into either the Users, Shows or Jobs section of the search form and click the appropriate search button. If you fill out fields that aren’t in the section that you push the final search button, those fields will be ignored.
If your search comes up empty – try filling out fewer fields to get a broader search result.
A fun new feature on Crewster is the user photos area. You may now upload digital photos of yourself onto Crewster and enter captions for each one. You may also select which of the photos you upload will be your primary photo – the one that other see when they look at your profile.
Important note: If you have any question about the appropriateness of your picture’s content, please do not post it. Crewster is a website for professionals, and photos of an unsuitable professional nature should not be uploaded and will be deleted if found. You know what is inappropriate, please don’t make us enforce this rule.
Go to your user info page from the top right menu (next to the top banner advertisement). From there you will either see a photo that you previously uploaded or a default ‘no-picture’ image. Click on this image to take you to the picture review and upload area.
To upload a picture click on the grey ‘Browse’ button at the top of the page. You will be presented with a standard file-open dialog. Pick the image you wish to upload from your hard drive. Please note that ONLY JPEG images are supported on Crewster. When you’ve selected you image, click OK on your file-open dialog and you will see that the local path to your image has been filled into the text box on the photos page. Click the blue ‘Upload Photo’ button and your picture will be uploaded to Crewster.
Once uploaded, you will see a thumbnail image of your picture in the area below. To see the full sized photo, click on the thumbnail.
You may enter a caption for your image by clicking on the ‘Add a Caption’ link located below each photo.
Once you have more than one photo loaded on Crewster, you may select which photo you would like to have others see when they view your profile. To do this, click the ‘Select as Primary’ link below the thumbnail of the picture you wish to select.
Tech Info about your uploaded photos: Photos may be any size when uploaded, but if they exceed 500 pixels in width, they will be scaled down so that they will fit onto the Crewster pages. Only JPEG images are supported, and they will be set to a compression level of 80. If you attempt to upload another type of image (ie GIF, BMP, PICT) nothing will happen when you click ‘Upload Photo’. Please insure that your images have a bit depth of 72dpi. Any bit depth that is higher than 72dpi is not visible on a computer monitor and is merely a waste of file space. You may use a photo editing program such as Photoshop to check this and insure that your settings are correct.
To get to the Show Listings click on Shows from the top menu. Once there you will see a list of all of the jobs posted on Crewster sorted by the most recent postings. As with almost all of the lists on Crewster, the Show Listings are sortable by clicking on the titles in the list header bar (the blue bar above the list). Click on any of those words to sort the list below by that category.
To see all of the information about the show click on the name of the show from this list. You will be taken to the information page and will be able to see the various above the line talent on the show, where it’s shooting, IMDb link, etc. Additionally, you will be able to see lists of any Crewster users who have added this show to their personal Calendar and any Job listings for this show. To find out more information about any of the items in these lists, simply click on the items.
Crewster is an open environment and you may edit the information about any show on Crewster if you know additional or corrected info. To do this, please click on the link at the top right of the show information page. Here you will be able to edit or change any of the information about the show. Please keep in mind that Crewster is only as useful as the users who use it. Be sure that the information that you’re providing is accurate.
To add a new show to Crewster click on the Shows link from the top menu. You will see the shows list. At the top of this list you will find a link to add a new show. Click it.
You will be taken to a page where you will be asked to check the list of existing shows on Crewster. Check the pulldown list that contains all of the shows that Crewster currently lists on its system. It is important that duplicate shows not be listed on Crewster, so we appreciate you taking the time to check this. If you see your show listed in that pulldown, simply select it and click on the long Submit button below the pulldown menu. If you do not see your show in the list, please click the ‘CLICK HERE’ link at the bottom of the text description on the page.
Looking at the new Job page you will see a few items with red asterisks next to them. These fields are required. Other fields are optional, but please provide as much information as you can. The more you post, the more other users will be able to use this info to get jobs – the ultimate goal of this website.
When you are done, click on the submit button and your show will be added to the list of shows on Crewster.
The job listings, which used to merely be an offshoot of the Discussion area, has now grown into it’s own section on Crewster.
To get to the Job Listings click on Jobs from the top menu. Once there you will see a list of all of the jobs posted on Crewster sorted by the most recent postings. As with almost all of the lists on Crewster, the Job Listings are sortable by clicking on the titles in the list header bar (the blue bar above the list). Click on any of those words to sort the list below by that category.
Clicking on the Position name (ie ‘Key Grip’) will take you to the details about that job. On that page you will be able to read all the information that the poster listed about the job, including how to contact the person who posted the job.
Many Job Listings also list the name of the Show. This listing is connected to the Shows section on Crewster. To see all of the information about the Show, click on the name of the show from the Jobs list.
To post a new Job Listing click on Jobs from the top menu – which will take you to the Jobs Listings as described above. Immediately above the list of jobs is a link to create a new job listing. Click it.
You will be taken to a page where you can create your new job listing. Required information is marked with a red asterisks. Additionally, you may also enter the name of the show. To do this, first check the pulldown list that contains all of the shows that Crewster currently lists on its system. It is important that duplicate shows not be listed on Crewster, so we appreciate you taking the time to check this. If you see your show listed in that pulldown, simply select it and the name of the show will be entered in the Show Name field below. If you do not see your show in the list, you may enter the name of the show in the Show Name field. Please do not use quotation marks or other punctuation around the tilte. Also, please insure that your spelling and typing is correct. The title you enter here will be added to the list of shows on Crewster for others to see and reference.
When you are done click Submit and your show will be posted for all to read. As well as listing your show on the website, Crewster automatically sends out an email to all users in the job category and city that you listed notifying them of the new posting. Users may unsubscribe to this listing by following a link at the bottom of this email.
The calendar is the newest and one of the most exciting features on Crewster. It allows you to track your employment, while also letting other users see who is currently working on a show.
Additionally, it automatically sets your availability status as your individual jobs begin and end.
To enter a show you simply go to the calendar page from the top menu. From there click on ‘Add new Calendar entry’. You will need to enter your job’s start and end dates as well as the city in which you will be working. If you care to, you may also enter the name of the show and the position you will be working in.
When selecting a show, please check the pull down box at the top of the calendar entry form. It contains all of the shows currently listed on Crewster. If you find your show listed there, simply select it from the list and we will fill in the show field below. If you don’t see your show listed, please type the name of the show, insuring that it is spelled and typed correctly. Please do not use quotation marks or other punctuation around the title of the show.
When you’re done, please click ‘Submit’ – that’s it! You will see the show in your calendar – the days you are working are highlighted in yellow.
If the show you entered was not already listed on Crewster, we will ask you for some additional information. Any info you can give us on the show will be extremely helpful to other Crewster users, particularly entering the names of the producers, director, dp, production designer, etc in the Description field. If you do not have anything to enter here, you may skip this form and simply return to your calendar by clicking on the ‘Calendar’ link in the top menu.
If you entered both a show name and your position then your user info page will list your show (below your ‘About Me’ paragraph). Should you not want to have your job listed publicly, please insure that you don’t enter either the show name or the position. Leaving either one out will stop the listing from going public.
Once you have some shows entered you will be able to see them both in calendar format and as a list. If you need to further edit your calendar entries, simply click on either the show name from the list or a start or end date in the calendar.