It's all who you know

As an actor, the conventional wisdom is to send out postcards to market ourselves. I do this, as do many other actors.

But now that I'm also a producer and I get unsolicited resumes, emails, requests for jobs, etc., I see that there's an absurd element to this as well. Because there's such a limited amount of time available, and no one really wants to take a chance on a completely random person who might turn out to be a dud who wastes our time... which is why everyone cares so much about referrals. Many actors (and other members of the industry) bemoan the "it's who you know" state of affairs, but there's a reason for it... it's just too risky to spend time on a completely random person, especially when we have thousands of emails waiting in our inbox from real people we actually know and (hopefully) already like.

So what to do? Well, there are a couple of important strategies, and you're probably already doing them to a certain extent. If it's all about who you know, then get to know more people!

1. collaborate with others. sit down with some fun people, write something and either perform it, shoot it or otherwise produce it. get to know your network.

2. go to events, screenings, make coffee dates, and get to know more people. expand your network.

3. get in touch with the people you already know but haven't talked to in a while. as my friend and talented funny man Darin Toonder said, "the problem is the solution" - you haven't talked to someone in 6 years? there's your opener! "I know we haven't talked in 6 years, so I'm wondering - what's new?" strengthen your network.