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Working
Your Way Toward the Silver Screen Much
has been written about the serendipity of being in the right place at the right
time to pitch a script to an actor/director/producer who just happened to be
desperately in need of fresh material. While
such happy occurrences are more the stuff of fiction than reality, there are
nevertheless plenty of jobs in Los Angeles and New York that can put you in
convenient proximity to the film industry’s movers and shakers. These are,
coincidentally, many of the same jobs that aspiring stars hold down whilst
waiting for their big break; e.g.,
parking cars, serving food, driving taxis, tending bar, making deliveries, etc.
Where
can you find such employment, you ask? Job
listings are a-plenty in the classified sections of major metropolitan
newspapers, especially if you reside in Southern California or New York.
You may also want to start brushing up on the “star sightings” found
in Hollywood and Broadway gossip columns as a basis for narrowing down target
restaurants to approach for a job. For
instance, you’re more likely to encounter the glitterati at Spago’s as
opposed to the International House of Pancakes. While
the paycheck isn’t necessarily stellar, such positions offer you a flexibility
of schedule, are relatively mindless in scope, and provide you the warm and
fuzzy support from your peers in the kitchen or at the garage who are all trying
to do pretty much the same thing you’re doing.
They also put you in the nice position of overhearing good gossip, given
the propensity of executives to talk fairly freely around those whom they put in
the same class as ‘servants’. If
you’re particularly skilled at whatever menial job is providing you sustenance
until your big break, the scenario could even transpire of having a star or
studio exec specifically request your table or your car. What
these jobs don’t give you, however,
is permission to intrude on their privacy (unless invited to do so) and/or use
the job as an inappropriate forum to pitch your work
(i.e,, “Here’s the Cobb salad you ordered, Mr. Hoffman, and by the
way, would you like to read this copy of my screenplay?”). Not only will this alienate the person you’re trying to
impress but, more than likely, also get you fired. Suffice
it to say, of course, your clientele won’t be limited to the rich and famous;
while you’re holding your breath and hoping Steven Spielberg will be the next
one to hail your cab, you’ll have to schlepp all of those total nobodies
around town in the meantime. The
plus side? Think of all the
characters you’ll meet that you could incorporate in a future plot! There
are also plenty of jobs within the
industry that attract future screenwriters as well; clerical jobs, accounting
jobs, technical jobs, personal assistant jobs, freelance readers.
I even know of one enterprising scriptwriter who worked for a whole
summer at Disneyland in the hope of rubbing elbows with Michael Eisner and
casually giving him a script. He never managed to meet any of the Disney bigwigs while he
was there but he did lose 12 pounds
from sweltering in a Goofy costume. By
the way, there’s generally a high turnover in lower-level staff at production
studios, especially those positions which are filled by college-age applicants.
They, too, are looking for a big break and will either find one, thus
vacating the position to the next Hollywood-hopeful, or burn out from impatience
and decide that driving a cab is a steadier source of income.
Another
popular entry-level avenue is available to those who have specialized skills (e.g.,
costume design, construction, animal handling, stuntwork).
Yes, it puts you "on location" with the stars, but carries with
it the two drawbacks that it will either “niche” yourself into being
perceived as only able to do one thing well (for instance, falling off of
buildings onto your head) or leave you so exhausted that you’re too tired to
work on that screenplay when you drag yourself home after a long day’s work! Listings
for these “insider” types of positions can be found in the classified
sections of metro newspapers and industry trades, as well as at studio websites.
Rather than list them all in this column, I’d recommend that you go to
your web browser and do a search on either “Film Companies” or “Movie
Studios.” This will generate a
list that not only includes all of the major production companies but
independents as well. The Human
Resources Departments at these sites will post all of their available positions,
appropriate contact people, filing deadlines, and how to apply (standardized
application, resume, telephone call, or applying in person). Just
to get you started, I have listed a few of them below: The
Disney Channel MTV
Networks Nickelodeon USA
Networks HBO Whether
you choose to interview for an insider job or a menial one, I do need to caution
you against “the kiss of death line.” Specifically,
do not volunteer to them that you are an aspiring scriptwriter.
Why? Because it suggests
that you are only using this job as a springboard to getting discovered (even
if, in fact, that’s exactly what
you’re doing). Training someone
new—even for a relatively mundane job—still takes time. Faced with the
choice of hiring you, the aspiring screenwriter, or someone to whom washing cars
is an unparalleled joy and lifelong ambition, which one do you think will get
picked? Obviously if, after
securing the requisite menial job to pay your rent, the word leaks out that you
are penning your first flick, you can humbly acknowledge that yes, it’s true. Last
but not least are what I call “well-paying-but-relatively-mindless”
occupations. These are (1) jobs in which you’re allowed to spend a lot of time
by yourself (time to write, of course!) and (2) temp jobs that free you to leave
at a moment’s notice if a hot opportunity comes up.
To paraphrase the late novelist Marion Zimmer Bradley, you need a job
that will adequately take care of the bills yet not sorely tax your creativity
and energy to still pursue your dream. Former
actress and director Christina Hamlett is the published author of 17 books, 98
plays and musicals, and over 250 magazine and newspaper articles.
Her website can be found at www.absolutewrite.com/site/christina.htm.
She teaches a screenwriting course at http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Hamlett/sellingscreenplay.htm.
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