Replying to Anyone here on the short film/movie side of things?

I know the M&A section has been loaded with freelance videographers for years now but has anyone dipped into the indie production side of things? locally, this scene has exploded with the various amount of government funding for productions to come to northern ontario. While i continue to do various freelance projects like weddings and event coverage the movie end of the spectrum seems to have better pay and obviously consistency.

Mainly i'm looking for input on how you entered the production stage. This summer i got my foot in the door of a low budget production as a PA. do you freelance as well? are you hired on with a huge company or a separate sound/camera company. Also, as a first year in Film Production i am coming from a Final Cut 7 background. i know this is extremely outdated in terms of the software market but what do you use? my post prof runs off of Avid MC 6, and i also saw the editing staff of the movie set i was on running avid

cheers ns