How to be luckier

I’ve talked about luck on here before.  Mostly, I think I've expressed my own belief that luck can play a role in a person’s (or writer’s) success, but only to a certain extent.  I think it’s one thing to get a lucky break, but quite another to take that lucky break and make something substantial out of it (let’s just say, I’ve seen plenty of people get “lucky” and land amazing jobs…only to be fired shortly after because they couldn’t handle the responsibilities).

They shoulda had one of these babies!

However you might feel about luck, I don’t think anyone would say they DON'T want to be lucky.  But how can a person "be luckier" (an oxymoron)?  Lifehacker ran an article yesterday called "What Lucky People Do Differently Than Unlucky People" that describes a psychological experiment I recognized immediately because it also appeared in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers a couple years ago (see, I told you to read it already!).  Go ahead and read it again, though.  The experiment involves two groups of people, one that considers themselves "lucky" and one that considers themselves "unlucky."  Each group is asked to count the number of photos in a newspaper.  The lucky group, on average, completes the task in seconds while the unlucky group takes minutes.  This isn't due to the lucky group's superior picture counting skills, but due to the fact that most saw a message on the second page of the paper that said to stop counting and gave them the total number of pictures.

In other words, the lesson appears to be that lucky people catch a break (in this case) because they are more relaxed about the task and not so focused on one narrow thing that they missed a better opportunity.  This is a little hard for me to swallow.  After all, successful people have specific goals and get things done and I worry sometimes that if I don’t stay focused on specific tasks (like finishing a script) that I won’t finish anything.

But, I think there’s a balance to all this.  Like I said before, getting a lucky break and having success after that break aren’t necessarily one in the same.  Maybe it’s best to think about this luck stuff not in terms of tasks you WANT to complete/will be beneficial to you as a writer to complete (like writing your dang script) but tedious tasks you DON’T WANT to complete/don’t make you a better writer (like searching for a job, networking, and counting pictures in a paper).  So maybe the best advice is, be more relaxed in networking situations and don't try so hard to just pass your script along, and you might have the good fortune to make a friend who will help you more than a casual connection.  Or, stay open minded in your job search instead of focusing on one specific job or bust.  Or, just win the lotto already if you’re so lucky, jeesh.

Where can you get the UTA Job List?

This is a simple question but still very valid (especially since tons of people I know are unemployed right now).

For the short answer, go to the Temp Diaries blog, put your name on their email list, and they’ll send it to you (along with “secret” jobs not on the list):

http://www.tempdiaries.com/p/job-list.html (if you Googled “UTA job list,” you probably already figured this out since it's the first page that comes up).

The UTA job list = Hollywood's Want Ads...sorta

Now, if you’re reading this and asking yourself: what the heck is this UTA job list?  Read on…

The UTA job list is a top secret (or not really top secret) list distributed by UTA (one of the 4 major agencies here in Hollyweird). The list is free, you don’t have to pay to get a subscription, and it used to be quite exclusive (but I think since the internet has existed it’s been posted all over the place). The way the list works is people and companies all over town submit their job listings via joblist@unitedtalent.com then, UTA sends out a list with those job posts...and then, the roughly one zillion people who read the list apply to the jobs. The list is updated a couple times a week with new jobs. The list is split into several categories (exec/management level, assistant, personal assistant, new media, music etc.). The bulk of the jobs are at agencies, management companies, studios, and production companies (i.e. desk jobs…8-6, maybe have benefits, you’ll probably have to dress nicely).  And, of course, the job list always advertises for eager young folks who want to give it a go in UTA’s own mailroom. There are the occasional “crew” and production jobs, but they're usually less technical and more like "office PA for a show/company who produces several shows," nothing like “G&E needed for commercial.”

As far as how effective the job list is…well, pretty much everyone I know says that the job list is worthless because so many people apply for the very few jobs and by the time you get the list, the job is already filled/you never get a response. I actually knew someone who worked at UTA once upon a time who used to occasionally forward me listings before they got posted (shush, don’t tell). I’m sure I’m not the only one. On the flip side, I did get an interview for a rare writer’s assistant job off the list a couple years ago (not forwarded early to me), and I sent a listing to a friend for a producer’s assistant job last year. The listing was a couple days old but my friend still got an interview after they applied…so hey, if you see something good on the list, it’s always worth a shot.

Anyway, if you aren’t on an email tracking board that passes the list around already, use the Temp Diaries link to find the list/sign up to have it emailed to you. I signed up just to see how their system works and it seems to me that sometimes it comes sooner than the people forwarding it on the boards, and sometimes later, so it's pretty okay.  Also, anyone who has worked a soul sucking assistant or temp job will enjoy reading the Temp Diaries blog itself.