Friday, August 1, 2008

Promoting Self

One skill set you will need to cultivate when you explore living creatively is how to expand your network.  This entails knowing where things are happening, making connections when you get there and getting yourself recorded.   

First, no matter where you are at, there is a community/group/theatre troupe that is actively meeting and getting their party on.  The best way to get yourself from outsider to joe in the know is to get onto their lists (to include mailing lists, blog lists, web feeds, etc).  Another is to see if the major players within that group do their own blogs or have their own website.   This group of people are the first to toot the horn on what they are up to, so learn what your people are up to.  Worst case scenario is that you can fall back on national publications for info and check out your state or city govt's website under film and see what is going down.  

So, you got the lowdown on a film premier/casting/benefit/carwash that looks interesting, so what do you do?  Walk in dressed to the nine's with an armful of headshots?  You are way better off going with a group of supportive friends and scope out the scene.  Learn how people introduce themselves and then see how people react to those introductions.   Do not, Do Not, DO NOT be the ignorant moron who slams through the crowd declaring you are the next best thing; people will remember you, oh they will remember you, and toss your headshot/demo reel/script out without even a second glance.  Mingle but do not dominate; small fish should not cause large ripples.

Lets conclude this entry by spelling out what I mean by getting recorded.  Become familiar with Flickr and Photobucket; ask the photographers where they will be displaying their goods.  I learned this lesson the hard way; you want to be able to link to an online  photo and say "yeah, that's me" without cringing.  Just a thought, and I will conclude with that.  Video blog forthcoming, will keep you posted...



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