How Christmas Should Be

The Art of the Schmooze

It's been too long since I posted here. I need to keep more up to date! My bad. 

For the past while I've been working at Rogers in the Promotions division. It's been a great few months, made some good friends and have had fun doing so. The content is pretty stale mind you, and not really for mass audiences.

I was given a unique experience to work on the Royal Winter Fair and develop their TV AD, web content and generally rock the casba on bringing a new look and feel to some of the logo and animation stuff.

The best part though was when I met Helen Hatzis. This woman blew my mind. Someone I HAD to work with. 

Wouldn't the world be better if women had more places in the position of power?  I find they foster an atmosphere of mutuality and respect, while encouraging teamwork and equality. When I work with guys, it turns into a pissing match. I'm usually right or the better out of the pack but I'm not too showy so I kinda step back and let the ridiculousness happen. Not my scene. I'll show off when I win an Emmy or an Oscar. I WILL GET MY EGOT dammit.

But how will I get my EGOT? HOW?

The magic of the schmooze.

There are Three parts to the Schmooze. 

1)Intel Gathering (including getting in to the inner sanctum)

2)Periphery approach and relationship

3)have them want you to pitch to them.

After that you're on your own.

 

The Dirty Lies Indie Filmmakers are Told

Whenever I read articles or go to talks on how to get your content pitched, i's always the same tired of crap. 

"Get your name out there. Work hard. Be eager. Sell Sell Sell. Beg for government handouts, scratch backs. buy a DSLR and make a Zombie movie.

Wrong. It might work, oh 1 percent of the time. 

IT sounds feasible, even logical. 

I ask all these youngin’s with their new Canon Rebel and LED lights, with heavy post after effects, do you know your audience?

No, not the hipsters that hang out on Vimeo watching movies caught in perpetual film burn.

No, your audience is the old men and women who hold the keys to the Vault.

Know Your Audience and the Periphery Approach

 

Filmmaking is a business first. If you treat it like anything else, you will get burned, screwed over and end up working a crappy retail job for the rest of your sad life. 

Sure I'm trivializing and belittling people, but what do you expect? In business, there are no safety nets, nor should there be. You make a product, be damn sure it holds a value above and beyond your need to "tell a story".

So when I say, know your audience, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. They are the people who see the potential of your story, your creative vision to be turned into a profitable venture. Sometimes it doesn't end up that way, but that's just how business rolls. It's a gamble. 

Imagine trying to convince your significant other to sky dive and they're scared of heights?

You sell them on the idea. To do that you have to know them well enough to work the idea into their minds to the point they think it's THEIR idea to jump.

This is how one creates success in business.

So knowing your audience always starts off with the first and last eyes to see your product. They could be the investors, producers or banks. 

What do they all hold in common? They're tired of being sold to.

Yup.

That's it.

They don't want to hear it! 

Timothy asks "So Jeff, how am I ever going to get my foot in the door?"

"Well T-Bone, you most likely won't and spend most of your career doing low end corporate videos or working in the dungeons of some shitty low rent commercial building cutting gay porn together. BUT you do have opportunities, and this is where knowing your audience comes into play.

Ask yourself this, when you go home, what is usually the last thing you want to talk about? Probably work. Making movies or TV is work. It's no different then accounting or banking or flipping burgers. It's work.

When you go out to parties, even "networking" parties, the last thing these big wigs want to hear is a sales pitch. Hell, if they can avoid hearing the word film or TV for an hour, they'll be happy. 

Don't believe me? Know your audience. Look at who they associate with. Friends, types of relationships, other businesses.

Good chance is, a lot of their circles are well outside their careers. 

I saw this first hand at a woman’s only event in Toronto.

Wait... You got into a woman's only event? Sure, they needed someone to shoot it. I'll get into the "how to get in" in a moment.

I scoped out the room. I saw who they were talking to. The BIG WIGS so to speak. Other woman, unrelated to their careers. In fact, all the film and tv folk kinda avoided each other. Curious, I moved in on one particular woman who runs a, will not be mentioned, festival here in Toronto. Her friend was there with her.

I thought, intel gathering time Ridout.

So once the two ladies had parted, I moved in and started talking to the friend. 

She hates movies. She hates TV. Thinks its, well, stupid. Being star struck and into movies is pointless yadda yadda. Then she tells me they're besties and just love to hang out. 

 

A HA! Assumption given weight. The uppityups don't like to hang out too much with the same work crowd. So I joined in on the "fuck this fuck that" and realized how true most of it was. I just wanted to tell my story. I couldn't care less who so and so are. She liked me so she introduced me to the "big wig #1" and we hit it off into some pretty funny dialogue. 

I did this all night with 6 or seven other "big Wigs". I hit them on the periphery, got through the gates and stormed the tower. 

That's not meant to be sexual. Blink.

I even got into a really cool conversation with someone who runs a very large studio in England. 

That was neat. I digress.

The most important trick to my approach, and it will DESTROY your mind, is I NEVER ONCE MENTIONED I WANTED TO PRODUCE.

Not once. In fact, they now knew everything about me EXCEPT my career choice, unless they asked. 

And they did. Because I actively engaged them on a personal and trusting level and learned about them. I remembered what they said and when I left the dialogue, I made an effort to buffer enough time so that when I reproach them I can make a wisecrack or bring up something they told me.

I now have a piece of them inside of me. That's the big trick. It's like picking up a girl in a bar. They impart openly everything they know to you, and if you remember, they like you. They then want to engage you on YOUR level, and that's how you work your way in.

It worked so well that your buddy here got asked to shoot a documentary In Kenya if all goes through! Ya I know !!!! Wicked eh? Let's hope it does. Fingers Crossed!!

So, I established relationships and dialogue OUTSIDE of production so that when production comes up, they want to talk about it. I got over all the formality and uneasiness and created trust.

Now, this is all great Jeff, but how do I actually get in?

Well my friend, What does your audience like to do? Guaranteed across the board, they all LOVE to volunteer or at least donate to things to avoid doing actual work. 

And that's really the easy trick.

But don't go volunteering at TIFF, every aspiring film makers goes there. It's a giant wank-fest. 

Avoid Industry Schmooze events. They are nothing more than single events and only men show up. 

What I mean is everyone wants to sell something. There is usually NO ONE there that actually wants to buy or produce something.

You get guys together to make some web video annnnd back to your shitty job filling out forms in some office somewhere.

NO. 

Volunteer and take part in small fund raising events. Not the big cancer ones. Those are giant businesses unto themselves and those that make the decisions don't want to bother with them.

Go small, think laterally. Hell, start a charity. Everyone wants to help, here's how to do it and profit from it personally.

Is that wrong?

NO

You give back, you get back. 

So to sum it all up.

I got in to the aforementioned event because I made friends with a former coworker that did things not directly related to what i do but close enough that it gave me the in and the opportunity to meet her friends and generate trust. NEVER BURN YOUR BRIDGES

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

SCHMOOZE THE PERIPHERY

ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP

LET THEM COME TO YOU

it may seem daunting, but me, some dude from Mississauga has meetings with studios, going to friggin Kenya, and generally rocking it. 

Ya, it helps to be personable, ya it helps that you don't come off as some deserving brat, and ya it helps that you know what you're talking about, but in the end, I'm some guy. If I can at least get my foot in the door, why can't any of you?