Hello Bonnie!
First of all thanks for responding the last time I emailed you. I so appreciated your advice!
I’m reaching out again because I had a question about networking. My plan is to start off my career in the film industry by interning for a few different types of offices (production personnel, casting departments, publicist, etc.) when I graduate in three years. I often go to New York City to visit family and I will be there for a month for the Christmas/New Year holidays. I was hoping that I could reach out to someone in the brief time that I’m there.
I wanted to ask you the appropriate way to contact an industry professional about setting up an interview or simply introducing myself while I’m in the City. My goal is to get a sense of what they expect out of people coming in to intern as well as taking the opportunity to form a relationship. My worry is coming across as an amateur that’s wasting a person’s time. Is this a typical way to meet people or do you think I should go another route? I just want to take advantage of my time there in any way.
Thank you so much again for making yourself available for us to ask you questions!
Peace and blessings,
Kahlilah Cooke
Hi again, Kahlilah! Sounds like you’re lining up a great plan for success in this industry by learning directly from those in various positions through interning. I love that! Interning is such a valuable experience and I know you’ll get more out of it than you may even imagine, right now. Great!
Here’s the issue with the holidays and the industry: It slows way down. People head out of town for a break before the craziest season (that’d be pilot season, from January to April) begins and even though it’s never truly DEAD, if there is a time when there’s less going on, it’s that exact time you’re heading to New York.
So, keeping your expectations realistic for how many meetings you may actually be able to arrange during that time, I’d say you should start off making contact in the next couple of months, ideally with a referral. Meaning, if you have anyone in your life (at school or through a family member or friend) who knows someone in one of the offices where you’d like to intern, get that person to make the introduction. Then, when you’re in New York, if one of the people to whom you’ve been introduced is available to meet with you, you’ve already set those wheels in motion!
If you have zero connections — and really do some poking around to see if that’s the case before giving up — then you’ll do a cold mailing or a cold call, which are rarely as effective at leading to meetings, but they certainly CAN lead there. Let’s say you send a letter to a target office, introduce yourself, and note that you’ll be in town on certain dates, requesting a meeting for that window. Without a referral, it may be tough to get someone — especially during the holidays — to carve out time to meet with you, especially since you’re not actually looking to work as an intern right away, but instead looking to begin the process of learning HOW to get to work as an intern in the future.
That said, if things are particularly quiet in a certain office and your letter impresses its recipient, you could just happen to score a meeting and start building that relationship! It’s absolutely possible!
You mentioned having concern over how you’ll be perceived as you do this bit of outreach. Obviously, having a referral will cut way down on any stress you should feel about that. But even without a referral, as long as you are honest about your situation (not looking to intern YET, just in town for a month, looking to learn the best way to approach them in the future for an internship opportunity) in your letter or call to the office, you’ll be fine.
I’d like to suggest that you start looking at these folks you’re targeting NOW. Set up Google Alerts on them. Start building Your Show Bible and make notes on these people whenever you see them interviewed or hear them talking about what they do. If a publicist for whom you want to intern is participating in a panel discussion, you try to attend. If it’s going on somewhere out of reach but being livestreamed, you watch that stream! Anytime someone you’re targeting is interviewed, you take notes! They’re gonna drop clues for you about how best to engage with them.
Then, when you do make that connection, when you do that outreach, you’ll be able to comment on something meaningful that they’ve said, which shows them you are doing your homework on them and that you’ve paid attention to what they’ve put out into the world.
Honestly, if I got a letter today from someone who said she wanted to intern for me in 2015 and was starting the process of getting on my radar, could she bring over coffee during the holiday break for a quick hello, I’d probably be pretty open to that! People in this industry generally appreciate a focused, smart, on-the-ball student with good hustle and the awareness that this is a long-haul pursuit in which we’re engaged.
I’m excited for you! Please let me know how this goes for you. I hope you get a couple of meetings while in New York and that you begin laying the groundwork for some really fantastic relationships, long-term.
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001555.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.