Women In Film

"Navigating a Changing Media and Changing World- Part One"
By Patrick A. Horton, PhD

To say the media industry and worlds it serves are changing rapidly is a growing understatement. 

What product gets made, how it gets distributed, and how we penetrate and engage profoundly changing audiences transforms daily – especially with the emerging technologies and expanding tentacles of new and transmedia reaching out into the world from the media industry proper and appearing everywhere. 

And in a tsunami like mirror wave in return, the world at large is itself becoming as much a generator of story, media, and visions of change as it is a consumer of them. As a result, whole new worlds of unprecedented opportunities for expression, creativity, and actual work no one could have imagined even a few years ago are coming into relief for those who can see them. 

What may be still more interesting to those paying attention are the ways these very changes are creating the urgent need if not the always obvious opportunities for ways that women in particular are especially well suited for navigating and ultimately guiding these transformations.

The challenges are how do you navigate all of this, especially if you are new, needing to reinvent yourself, or trying to survive or rally from some loss or tragedy in your life? The key question is what if anything is the key?The first part of the challenge is how to find your personal and collective compass to find your way through a world increasingly lacking in familiar boundaries and maps. 

The second part of the challenge is how to you suit up, show up, and become unstoppable in an industry that was already challenging at best and seemingly kaleidoscopic in the midst of so much change. 

“It’s just temporary – this is not my real job!”
by David Couper

Have to pay the bills until you sell that script?  Waiting for that project to get  financed and then the lead is yours? Or maybe you’ve been laid off from your job in the business and are still looking, but your cash is low and the rent is due.  You need a temporary, or a “survival” job.

In Los Angeles, survival jobs are common for many people, especially those in the entertainment industry, where they are more affectionately called "day jobs."  The industry joke is that every restaurant waitperson has a script or a headshot in his or her back pocket, ready for that big break when Kathleen Kennedy is seated at their table.

But survival doesn't only have to mean food service.  What is the secret to a good survival job?  Here are five tips to help you thrive as you survive.

1. Make as much as possible from doing as little as possible.
Harness your expertise to become a consultant.  Work as a waiter, but do so in a high-end restaurant with big tips.  If you went to a great school work as a tutor to kids whose parents also want them to get an Ivy League education.

2. Look for a job with flexible hours.
You need flex time to pursue your art, go on auditions or write that next ten pages.  9-to-5 jobs are not good for that.  Evening temp jobs such as word processing for legal firms, or working weekends at a call center provide you flexibility.

"The Day Job/Passion Job Equation Or, finding the right Day Job"
By Shawn Tolleson

As you are building your career you will likely be confronted by the problem of having to earn a living as you are pursuing your passion.  Unless you are a trust fund kid (and my hat’s off to you if you are!) you will face the very critical challenge of needing money, time, and energy to pursue your passion.  Alongside this, you will need to spend time and energy to earn a living.  Having to manage both demands simultaneously can be fatal to your passion if you’re not careful.
Here are some guide-posts I’ve developed over the last dozen years to guide my own choices and coach my clients to solving what I like to call the A Job/B Job problem.
First off, I like to call your passion your A Job and how you earn your living (if it’s by doing something else) your B Job.  The reason is that “Day Job” has a negative connotation.  When I hear the phrase it says to me that you are just passing your time as a wage-slave until your big break comes along.

If we rephrase the challenge into “A Job” and “B Job” it opens up several possibilities.  First, your B Job can be a vocation in which you are able to learn, grow and contribute in a meaningful way, even as you are pursuing your passion.  Take me for example.  I’m a filmmaker, a writer and director.  That’s my A Job.  My B Job is career coach.  But, I don’t even think of it as a B Job, let alone a Day Job.  It’s a B+ Job or even an A- Job.  I love it and I make a huge difference in the careers and lives of my clients.
With this in mind, here are several guideposts for you…

The Power of Being a "Yes"
By Shawn Tolleson
Career Coach Shawn Tolleson specializes in empowering you to accomplish the career of your dreams.
www.entertainmentcareerstrategy.com

Have you ever noticed that some people are naturally either a “yes” or a “no?”

I don’t mean that their answer to your question will always be “yes.”  What I mean is, whatever the answer, with some people we feel positive and supported.

Whereas, with other people, we feel shut down.  Or, that the answer is “no” even when they haven’t fully listened to our question.  The whole encounter is negative.

Consider this:  We can choose to operate in life as a “yes” or a “no.”  And, the results we get will correspond directly.

So, what is a “yes” person, you ask?  And why is it important?

It starts with attitude.  Being a “yes” means that you operate from a place of abundance.  This can sometimes be easier said than done, I know, but this really is a choice.  A “yes” person is generous.  A “no” person is stingy.  A “yes” person looks at the glass as being half-full.  A “no” person thinks it’s half-empty.

When Your Inner Kid Shouts, NO!!
By Shawn Tolleson

Remember the last time you knew you had to do something in order to achieve your goal, but you simply didn't do it?  You might recall that inner little kid of yours shouting, "NO!!"  

You can hear it in your head right now as you read this, right?  And you’re not alone.  We all have the inner little kid.

The problem is frustratingly simple.  You know what you want.  You know what you need to do to get it.  You’re just not doing it.  And, when you’re reminded of this by your partner, your spouse, your buddy, you’re mad!  Say it with me now, “NO!!!”

So how do you prevent this defiant inner child from dominating your life?  Read on for some useful tools to calm your inner child.