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Don’t Try To Get A Job – Make One!

By Michael Schilf · August 18, 2010

So you’re in Hollywood trying to land your next gig (or first) in order to pay the rent for that ant infested studio apartment on the South side of Korea Town. And when I say gig, I don’t necessarily mean as a writer. Of course you are a writer, but unless you’re one of the anointed ones lucky enough to sell a spec script right off the bat, you need to work in the industry, partly for necessity- to pay the bills – but partly (and more importantly) to make connections. Networking is relationship gold. 

Ideas, spirit, creativity, charisma, charm… show it! Make them see it! 

A great personality can aid you in Hollywood. It’s no secret, people want to work with people who they like, but the only real way to “show it” is through your writing

Hollywood is designed for your screenplay to be read, just not in the way you might expect. Blind submissions and query letters will only be rejected and ignored. Scripts are read in Hollywood through friends of friends of friends. So networking really is your Excalibur. 

As a writer, you are at a huge advantage. You really can make your own job. If the script is that good, it will speak for itself. And it will move along, from friend to friend, until you find yourself in “the room“.