My degree is in Film as well. Maybe you should look up Osbie, hers is film, too. Cartooniverse may be a good source of advice - film - and in NYC.
I don’t work in Film. Worked in Marketing and did some video production right out of college, but you get treated like shit and paid in shit - so many people want to work in film that its really easy to pay someone peanuts and treat them poorly - if they quit there is always another person willing to put up with crap for the “glamour” of film.
I work in IT now.
People are right - astro and Shodan and others. TaxGuy, though not exactly subtle, has a point. You get to choose what is worse - being on the street, living with your parents while you save some cash from a less than exciting job, working for an abusive boss, or saying “do you want fries with that.” That’s life, it sucks, but those are the options of the moment. On the plus side, life sucks somewhat less as a 20th Century American with parents to fall back on than it has in other places or other times.
(Have you thought about scoping out advertising? Particularly small marketing communciations firms as a writer/creative. Corporate communications may be up your alley. But both of these jobs will likely take MONTHS to find, they don’t drop out of trees and competition will be fierce - so decide to do something else while you look to keep a roof over your head. You could try to sweet talk someone into letting you do some freelance writing in one of these markets.)
Here is my sob story, its more than ten years old, but its worth telling.
I graduated from college and bought a house and got married. I had about $90,000 in debt between the house and a car loan (I got lucky and had no student loan debt). I quit my job because I didn’t think it was worthy of me or that they treated me with the respect I deserved. I started doing secretarial temping. My husband left me for another woman - leaving me with a mortgage and a car payment that was 105% of my take home pay (and I was a lucky temp - being good at what I did I worked nearly every day and almost always got a check for 40 hours). I had no benefits and was in bad need of a root canal. I took a job with the firm I was temping for as a secretary - got medical benefits (hello needed root canal! - although I still had to come up with several hundred dollars in copay I didn’t have) and a raise - now my car payment and mortgage was only 85% of what I was taking home. I got raped by my boss, but couldn’t afford to leave the job, having no way to pay my mortgage and being terrified of losing my house. Was diagnosed with clinical depression and post traumatic stress syndrome. Eventually got involved husband, who had just declared bankruptcy and was paying off about $20,000 in debt (mostly student loans), that I then “inheireted by marriage.” He was underemployed as a freelance writer/Starbucks coffee jerk having a degree in Sociology (another unemployable field).
Eventually, I got into IT with that same company. Switched firms and began what turned out to be a “right place, right profession, right time” lucrative consulting gig. Husband started a “career” job that didn’t involve vanilla syrup and began climbing his career ladder (three years after graduation, this doesn’t happen fast - and it took another five of working his butt off to move to a job he found exciting and challenging and where he was paid more than peanuts).
A little over ten years later - house is nearly paid for (different, nicer home). No student loans. Bankruptcy done (and everything paid off), no other debt. Money in savings. Job I love, job husband loves. And I haven’t taken an antidepressent in three years (though I am smart enough that if there is stress - and there was when my kids were really little - to get help before I bottom out).
My sister has a similar story. Its taken her seven years out of college to get herself on her feet. Her degree is Wildlife Biology, graduated with honors. Got a Masters when she couldn’t find a job (and she still couldn’t find a job that didn’t invovle teaching high school kids). And she is now a manufacturers rep for sporting equipment - and one day fairly shortly should dig herself out of the pile of debt she accumulated that makes $15,000 look like pocket change.
It ain’t easy. It is more difficult now than it was three years ago, but it wasn’t any picnic ten or fifteen years ago either.