Get yourself connected!

The other day, I had lunch with a friend from college who is not in "the industry."  It was great, not only because this person is my friend, but because they have lots of cool stories from their work (in medicine) that have nothing to do with typing on a computer all day.  As a writer, this is the stuff I crave, otherwise, all my scripts would start to be about struggling artists or young assistants who get screwed over.  Bleh.

I think it's easy to get sucked into the wonderful world of Hollywood and suddenly realize all your friends are industry friends.  Now, this isn't totally bad.  Industry people are cool, have cool stories, and sometimes do cool non-industry things.  Also, this city does run on connections.  However, you'd be surprised to find connections are everywhere!  For example, my college friend once worked for a woman whose brother is an A list film director.  Heck, my grandmother, who lives in another state, once emailed me contact info for her neighbor's friend who lives in LA.  Turns out he was a very successful VFX supervisor.

What I'm getting at is an answer to the question I posed in my last post.  You want to write Hollywood movies/TV shows but you aren’t willing/ready to move to LA...so what should you do?  One answer is CONNECTIONS!  Connections can get you jobs, bridge city gaps, and bake ten minute brownies in five minutes.  Also, connections exist everywhere.  If you cast a wide net and tell everyone your goals, you might be surprised what turns up (even from people who don't live in LA who aren't in the industry).  Now, unfortunately, only certain types of connections (GOOD connections) can help with BIG problems like living in the wrong city.

Examples of GOOD connections are:

Your good friend/close relative or good friend's close relative is …

• A creative executive at a reputable production company
• The VP of Development at a reputable production company
• A Lit Manager at a reputable company
• A Lit Agent at one of the major agencies

And to counter, here are some examples of NOT-AS-GOOD connections:

Your roommate’s, friend’s buddy is…

• A security guard at a studio
• A PA
• A recent film school graduate
• A Blockbuster employee

Don't get me wrong, ALL connections on both lists can actually be great for a baby writer living in LA (except the guy who works at Blockbuster, sorry) but the only ones who can probably solve a baby writer's wrong city problem are the GOOD connections (and even then, they can't just hold up your unsold script(s) snap their fingers and make magic).  If your writing is good and your connection can really come through for you, you might get some meetings, and if those go well, perhaps you can cross the whole “living in another city” bridge at some point after.  On the other hand, I think knowing you have ANY connections is a good incentive to think about moving to LA, already.