Don’t Just Chat, Create Your Own Team to Work Together
Networks are misunderstood at best. If you really want to advance your career, don’t just show your business cards to people. As prolific actor / productive lunatic James Franco suggests, build a team of people you can collaborate with on a regular basis.
James Franco is far from the first actor to use this strategy. You can find loosely coupled talent groups throughout Hollywood history, from Joss Whedon’s stable of actors to the Rat Pack in the 60s. These groups are formed because people who work well together tend to want to keep working together. Building such a group is more difficult than mixing and distributing cards, but it is immeasurably more useful because it frees you from the constraints of waiting for the industry to notice you:
Part of me was probably really frustrated by the fact that I really studied as an actor, but I was still dependent on all these people for work to really apply my craft. As if I have to play something, or someone has to write something that I like, or even if they write something that I like, I have to be lucky enough or something else – to prove that I am enough to really get it.
So one of the things I do in my … I also have my schools in New York and Los Angeles, one of the things I really try to focus on is the community, finding your people to you were not dependent only on them. gatekeepers in the island industry. But you have people who can make films, and a lot of that is the result of this [Yosemite] film being the result. And really just go ahead and do it. You can achieve traditional success in the industry, but at the same time, you can still create your own things because you either know how to do it all, for example, you are Seth Rogen who can write, act and lead, or you have there is a group. and you work with them.
Some areas require less interaction than others (for example, I don’t need a team of 30 people every time I write an article). But having a core group of people you can work with on projects when they come can give you the flexibility you need to get started, instead of just waiting around for the company you called to hire you based on your resume alone. …
Coffee with James Franco | Slamdance over 99u