I Had to Be Reminded of My Own Entertainment Industry Advice: Take Every Meeting You’re Offered

You have probably heard the expression that the entertainment business is not about what you know but who you know.

This is a cliché, but it’s true. As someone once said to me – what’s the point of having a great piece of material if you don’t know anyone to give it to?

Thus, most of my day is centered around networking with people. Whether I’m on the phone, writing countless emails, or going to breakfasts, lunches and dinners, everything I do is about connecting to and networking with the right people so that I have the best connections and insider knowledge to move my clients’ careers forward.

And this is the same that you must do. As an aspiring writer, director, producer (you name it) - - the more people you know the more people who can help you get your project into the right hands. So you should always take every meeting, coffee, etc. no matter how unconnected you think the person is.

And sometimes I have to be reminded of my own advice.

Last week I looked at my schedule and sighed at how many meetings I had on a Thursday. And I certainly did not want to do a breakfast with a creative exec at a production company as the first meeting of an entire day of meetings.

Yet as much as I was begrudging the breakfast, I went.  And it turned out to be a great breakfast and a place that I think we will be doing a lot of business with soon.

And, even better, it turns out that (previously unbeknownst to me) the creative exec is close with a choreographer I am interested in for another movie I’m working on. I sent the CE  the script, he liked it, and passed it on to the choreographer to read for a possible attachment. All from a breakfast that I didn’t even want to go to!

This shows that you should meet with anyone and everyone!

If you want more tips on networking — read my Special Report on “Networking 101 for the Entertainment Industry: How YOU Can Make the Right Connections to Get Ahead in the Business” at Showmethescreenplay.com