Let the Networking Begin!

Although there are still boxes to unpack and there's no art yet on the walls, I'm eager to begin reaching out to my Hollywood contacts.

I've already spoken with one producer (who I'll call "SL"). She was very upfront with me, suggesting that I take the time to develop new projects while I have the opportunity to do so. She didn't seem so keen on the idea of my going out there and working as a PA to meet people (she said I'd meet people, for sure, but without new content to offer, it won't do me much good). Is that true, I wonder? I do like the idea of generating new content, writing a new screenplay, etc., but at the same time, I don't think I could handle the solo work without some heavily social, interactive work to balance it out.

I also had a lovely meeting with YH, a composer who came across my writing on a LinkedIN message board. We met at a coffee shop in the shadow of the Warner Brothers water tower (the first time I had seen it, actually), and chatted for a few hours. He spoke of the kind of camaraderie depicted in the documentary "Fog City Mavericks" (which I subsequently watched on Netflix) between the various San Francisco-based filmmakers in the '60s-'80s, and suggested it ought to be a more standard model for aspiring artists in this field. It's the sort of thing I've seen Kevin Anderton do very well in Boston, so I suggested YH get some of his friends together and let's make a short film! I think he likes the idea -- and for me, it'll be a wonderful way to start meeting people while maintaining a certain level of productivity. That said, I'm in Hollywood now, and the rules might be different. The kind of volunteerism I saw among Boston-area filmmakers might not exist out here. We'll see!

Like YH, many of the people I'm planning on contacting this week are people I've never met before (SL and I spoke on the phone a few times when I was last in Los Angeles). I've just typed up a letter to OT, a guy who was suggested to me by a friend who works in the same building. Before writing a brief introductory letter, I spotted OT's bio on his company's website. Turns out, he graduated from the Sam Spiegel School for Film and Television in Jerusalem -- the same school that my cousin (my grandfather's nephew) founded and ran for the past twenty years! Networking makes the world shrink, doesn't it?

Although I'm very excited about this phase of the game, I'm also very nervous about it. I'm putting myself out there to be judged, in a way, by people who don't know me, and for a body of work that reflects only what I've been able to do up to this point. Will anyone be able to see my potential in stuff I've done in the past? After all, it's not that I want to keep doing what I've done! But isn't that every job seeker's agony?

-Arnon