A Day in the Life of a Megalomaniacal Producer/Director

WhenLightingStrikes

   I'll admit that I've been pretty blessed since I've been trying to get into the industry. However, success may be easier to achieve than you think. Here's how I've been successful so far...

   I want to begin by saying, and I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times before, that luck has played a crucial role in my success so far. With that being said, here we go...

   1.) Finding Work As An Actor. Finding work as an actor has been the hardest part for me. I got my first paying gig by hitting up an open casting call. I got lucky and was called back to be cast as a bouncer. It sucked, but it gave me SAG eligibility so whatever. I just hit every open casting call that I could, I knew sooner or later I'd get a part. Luckily it was sooner. I still struggle to find work, but thats because I'm in North Carolina and there isn't much paying work for actors here.

   2.) Getting the job as producer at my local television station. Now this was a total fluke. I called my local television station and told them I was an independent filmmaker and that I was looking for experience in the industry. They then told me that they had just lost a producer and that they needed someone to fill the spot. This station is a little local broadcast place, so they did alot of their own shows. The fact that I made student films was experience enough for them, so now I'm a producer there. Now I'm getting experience with equipment and I'm building my resume. That one was all luck, period.

   3.) My Hollywood Contact. This is the one you probably really wanted to know about, and honestly this one is a result of luck too, but I'm sure you can take something from it. To meet this Hollywood producer, I used the alumni services of a prestigious boarding prep school that a friend of mine attended. As it turns out, this hollywood producer graduated from the same prep school. So a couple of phone calls were made to the head of alumni services, some names were dropped, some new friendships were formed, and we soon scored the contact info of this hollywood producer. We then sent him an email saying that he had been recommended to us by the head of alumni services as a person to help jump start our careers in the industry. He emailed back saying that he'd be glad to help a fellow alum (and me) and he gave us his office phone number. We then set up a meeting with his assistant and now we've got our foot in the door.

   So thats pretty much the jist of it. As you can see, much of my success is due to total luck, but I'm sure you can find a resource that can provide a contact if you look hard enough. Hope this helps!

Luckily, it does.

03:42, 2006-Aug-3 .. Posted by Anonymous

Yeah,

Thanks for getting back to me. The alumni bit is the most useful part. Don't yet know how or when to employ it; but it's good to have a nother bullit in my gun.