The mail room tomorrow. The infamous “everyone has done it” certainly applys here. It will be good. Learn the ropes, figure out who is who and where and why.
More pressing is the fire in my neighborhood, though.
If you talked to a casting director, a screenwriter, an agent, a post-production producer, a freelance stage manager, and a line producer, what advice would all give you?
1. Get the ball down the field. The goal is to get to the goal, so make sure what you do helps it get there. Simple enough.
2. Be someone people want to hang out with for the next 5 years. If you get the job, the gig, the project, then you very well may, and the person hiring you knows that. Still pretty simple, huh.
3. The club owner may run the club, but the doorman is the one who is at the door. Take care of the assistants, the waiters, the bartenders, the PAs. This kind of ties in to number 2 - be nice to these people, genuinely nice, because they hold the key to the door you want to open, they know you're name at the restaurant when you need to get a seat and close a deal. Not hard yet - still basic, simple stuff.
4. Listen to people. Listen to what they're saying, not what you're wanting to hear. This may be a little more difficult than 1-3, a little more esoteric, but still basic, little league, simple stuff.
5. Master your pitch. You're always pitching something, including your self, so make sure you're pitchin' something with heat. This takes practice. In front of the mirror. At home. To friends.
And that's it. Simple, simple, simple.
Thanks to Phil Nemy for getting those people in the door. Their advice and enthusiasm were priceless.
The transition to California is complete and residnece has been taken up in North Hollywood. Today marked the third day of "boot camp" for the MEIM program. The nice alums from CMU have been coming to speak with us.
Summary:
Network. Get the ball down the field. Network.
Post producers, free lance stage managers, writers, agents, casting directors - all said the same thing. Not that they weren't helpful - no, it was nice to hear a unifying idea and method amongst different professionals.
Before all of this school stuff started I had a little party at my house. Note the red back. No, that is not a tattoo - Mr. Grubbs actually received that horrendous burn at the hands of the sun whilst tanning in Malibu. In person it was nothing short of unreal - the most terrific sunburn I've ever seen.
And yes, this warrants another post, but in the interest of saving time, I'll write about it here. Utah. Sundance. Simply, if you get the chance, go. Everyone you need to talk to and meet is there, people you didn't know you needed to meet will be there, and poeple who you don't really need to meet but you're glad you did - they're all there. Filmmakers - go now.
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