1. Remember, it’s a business. Figure out the business interest of the person at the other side of the desk before you get to the meeting.
2. Don’t assume anything is the way it was a year ago.
3. Network--with anyone and everyone you know, and find out “what’s going on.”
4. Get contacts from contacts: always ask for three more contacts from every contact you meet.
5. Value the “insider’s” time more than your own.
6. Set "informational meetings"--more often accepted by the other side.
7. Meaning: Ask for their advice. Don’t worry, if they’re interested themselves, they won’t be shy about it.
8. Try to enter the Industry through your area of expertise--if you’re a lawyer then
9. through legal or business affairs department. If you’re a publicist, through the p.r. department.
10. Have a compelling story about your passion about film rather than your general belief that show business could be lucrative for you.
11. Be informed about the Industry, even if new to it.
12. Be informed about the person you’re meeting with. Do your homework.
13. Be willing to do anything that’s required to make your work better.
14. Be humble and willing to invest in your career.
15. Be inventive about getting your work in front of decision-makers.
16. Be patient and persistent, and you’ll find a way in—and look for sudden opportunities in this land of “right place and right time.”
17. Be flexible about jobs offered, and take opportunities. Access is all.
18. Always be positive, no matter how bad the situation.
19. Always be passionate about what you do.
20. Read up on the fields that interest you and the people that populate them.
21. Master the fine, undefined line between being persistent and being a pest.
Do Conferences Help?
You betcha! One of the most difficult challenges writers face today is ACCESS, and meeting an agent, attorney, publicist, publisher, or other facilitator at a conference separates you from the faceless masses. It’s a PRIME STRATEGY for taking your writing career into your own hands. From time to time, I recommend the conferences I’ve attended or found effective on my mainblog and in the daily inspire@storymerchant.com Stay tuned!
Change
Every day I run into writers who are clueless about the shifts in the industry, both publishing and entertainment. They have expectations and demands that fit a culture that no longer exists. I can only spend so much time educating them. That’s your responsibility, as a writer who wants to cross over into the promised land of the published or produced. The internet lies before you like a vast land of dreams, yours for the understanding. Explore it thoroughly before you submit your work. Things have changed, things are changing, things will continue to change. The only thing the remains constant is the need for stories, for content, for intellectual property.
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