Getting Connected

This week, Efosa Osaghae explores how to really get connections and network in the creative industries.

Networking. It’s one of those things that people generally hate to do, despite its critical importance. But how critical is it?

Well, for the film and media industries it can be the deciding factor in getting a job — the difference between getting a big studio feature job or spending the next six months jobless. Networking is king.

But most people do it wrong. Good networking is not networking at all.

It’s not sending 100s of cold emails expecting a reply. It’s not calling every phone number from a directory and expecting a callback. The easier it is to contact an individual or business, the less likely it is that you’ll actually enter their network.

If anything ‘networking’ is completely the wrong word. It has connotations of fancy corporate events, and lots of sucking up to execs.

A network from a technological perspective is sterile, cold, and expansive. None of these things are conducive to actually getting the jobs you want.

So what’s the problem with networking events?

The people you want to network with are rarely ever there! And if they are, they’re usually the keynote speaker or on the panel, putting significant distance between them and you.

The people who attend networking events go with idea that they can meet other professionals who can hire them. What they typically find is other people with the same mindset, who have no hiring power whatsoever.

How do you really gain connections in the industry?

Connections are gained in two ways. Either by forging a friendship with someone, or becoming the go-to trusted person for a particular task. For example, a top-line director can get hired without knowing the decision-makers personally because their work is well- known. The trust is there.

A young budding production assistant with no credits can get hired on a big commercial or feature project if they’re friendly with the producer.

It’s all trust.

Either trust in your work, or trust in who you are as a person.

Instead of wasting money on networking events that lead to tepid email conversation threads at best, go to the circles where you can actually befriend people in the industry. Places like film festivals, exhibitions and colleges are good examples.

Forging a Community

As the world moves further into cyberspace, the way we connect as humans will not fundamentally change. Social media has allowed us to connect with others spanning far and wide within seconds but the onus is still on genuine friendship or rapport.

A fantastic way of doing this is consistent participation on Facebook groups, Instagram pages, and other online communities. Some of these include Reddit and of course the Movidiam network itself. Here you can follow, interact, create discussions with other professionals, and cultivate genuine connections with people of similar interests.

Making connections- true connections - is a long-term endeavour. Do not expect connections made today to come good tomorrow. Or even in two months’ time.

Connect with the people, without expectation, that want to connect with you. If they don’t want to… then move on. At the same time, don’t try and connect with everyone. Not everyone will want to befriend you and you shouldn’t want to befriend everyone either.

Proving Your Worth

The second way to connect with people is to provide a large amount of value upfront. By doing this, you can usurp standard hierarchies with speed, but there are caveats. While it is poor practice, working for free does have its benefits early on.

By working work for free, you gain the value of experience and also close proximity to people within the industry. It also provides a great platform to foster true friendships. You must be diligent in choosing the right opportunities to work for free though.

There needs to be a balance between labour and the potential connections/exposure you can gain. Many complain about free/underpaid work in the creative industries and I’m not the biggest advocate either but I can’t negate the reality.

The reality is that many of the top professionals in the industry at one point had to pay their dues. The reality is that it often meant working for peanuts at the start.

In terms of time, money, and energy spent on building connections… I’d still take working for peanuts over networking events any day.