Network with your Network

The most difficult thing to quantify is the time and money you’ll spend meeting and greeting the producers and executives you’re going to be working with.

My parterns in my company certainly don’t have the same appreciation for it that I do - but then again, I’m usually the one who gets to go, so who can blame them?!

There is a big event in DC that has just finished called ‘THE REEL SCREEN SUMMIT’, attended by all the big name cable companies, Discovery, History, A&E etc etc… all the people in factual entertainment who my company NEEDS to know. They’re all there, there’s a bar, there’s restaurants and there’s good talking time.

Now, you’re not going to want to go there and pitch to everyone, you’re not even going to want to go and sit in on all the panels - you don’t even need a badge.

But, make a couple of calls and say to your exec that you’re going and you’d love to have lunch or a beer with them and it does two things. It gives you some face time, which is always good, and if you end up pitching then so-be-it. But it also shows that you’re serious about your work. Imagine any other company, a shoe-store or a pizza restaurant who didn’t advertise? That’s what you’re doing. Showing that you can be trusted with their money and reputation. That you won’t rest until every show you deliver will be the best tv you’ve ever made.

Trust me, you can do that over a beer in a hotel lobby. And it’s more than worth it.

My policy is to go to all these events, genuinely hang out with these people. They’re your work colleagues, they share your interests and their success relies on your’s. It’s not brown-nosing - it’s vital to your growth as a producer. If you understand them, are fresh in their minds and are good to be around you’re far more likely to get a call from them in the future when they want someone to rework an idea they have, or if they have a hole in their schedule they need filling.

But, it’s very difficult to explain to your accountant why a plane ticket, four nights in a hotel and lot of food and drink is directly related to your success. The truth is you can’t explain it. It might not even pay off. Ever.

But it might. And if you get a special or a series out of it and your company earns 10-15% production fee each time, he’ll surely begin to see things your way.

Put it this way, last night I was out on the town in LA and bumped into a commissioning editor I work with sitting at a restaurant bar. We chatted for maybe five minutes, and now I know the real status of a couple of our projects in much greater detail than I would have known otherwise, and they promised to call me next week to arrange a ’stage 2′ meeting over another show I have with them. I was sure to make certain we didn’t talk all work, so now we have a little more personal history - not a lot - it’s not like we were exchanging baby photos, but it’s something.

The long and the short of it is that people work with people they like, people they like are usually people they know. You see, mostly, it’s not the old-boys’ network, it’s not school-ties - it’s just being around.

 Also - look at it this way. You’re in this industry, you work here, meeting the people you work with is just much more fun than not. They talk your language, have similar conerns to you and can offer you consolation, insight or some good old life lessons. What’s not to like about that?