A Brains of Minerva Affiliate Post
Sarah and I often receive reader emails about moving to LA. Am I ready? How do I get an agent in Los Angeles? How much money should I have saved? Packing up your life’s belongings – and, uh, your life – to take your chances in the biggest acting market in the county is nothing to take lightly.
Although Sarah and I had loads of training, strong networks of friends and colleagues, and years pounding the pavement in NYC under our belts before heading west, we weren’t spared a few rude awakenings upon landing in the City of Angels: Those producer and agent meetings everyone promised on your exploratory trip disappear into the ether! Your survival job likely pays 50% less in LA & there are 1000% more candidates for it!
Ah, well…no regrets – sometimes you know it’s now or never, and, well, we chose now. Looking back, I realize how much those first 3-6 months in town lay the foundation for the years to come. I certainly could have benefited from a more systematic exploration of where I was already at in my career and what resources I did and didn’t have at my disposal.
At Minerva we focus on what to do once you’ve landed in LA (and once you’ve been landed…and landed…). Yet we’ve always hoped to find a way to encourage readers in other markets to make the most of the opportunities in their own back yard. And now, in our first partnership with another actor news source, we’re teaming up with entertainment career expert Jenny Yerrick Martin to bring you her new e-book compilation, The “Launching Outside Los Angeles” Career Kickstart Kit, a comprehensive guide to 1) exploring and exploiting all the resources in your home town and 2) determining when & how to make your move to LA.
Jenny is the founder of YourIndustryInsider.com, a wonderful website that publishes loads of useful information for anyone pursuing an entertainment industry career. The site is especially awesome for its numerous interviews with industry players, which focus on how they progressed from one career stage to another. Jenny, in fact, launched her production career in Minneapolis, and then (reluctantly) relocated to LA when a contact offered her a job with a big salary jump and a free place to stay. In other words, she knows her launching. Jenny has worked for many years as an industry hiring executive and now does professional resume writing and career consulting, in addition to her work on the site.
One of the biggest misconceptions of film industry aspirants, says Jenny, is that “…it’s only the things you accomplish in LA that matter to people hiring you here. But Hollywood doesn’t care so much where you’ve done something as much as that you’ve done something. Winning a local film festival, getting your SAG card in a regional market – these things show that you can get something done, and that’s what matters to people.”
The “Launching Outside of LA” Career Kickstart Kit consists of three components. The guidebook includes sections on goal setting, maximizing internship opportunities, obtaining & using the “Six Kinds of Hollywood Currency” (hint: talent’s not #1 on that list) and even a section on gently and effectively handling the ‘naysayers’ on the path to your Hollywood dreams. The nearly 40-page companion workbook leads you through exercises to help determine your time-line for relocating (if you choose to make the jump), mining your network at home and in LA, crafting your elevator pitch, and recovering from career setbacks. You also receive an additional 12-page resources packet with links to state film boards, unions, film fests, and entertainment industry job search sites.
So how exactly would LOLA have enhanced my road to LA? Certainly, taking the time and attention to write down each & every possible connection (and how to best nurture it) would have yielded some unexpected – and possibly very productive – additions to my network. Also, before coming to LA my network consisted of actors and directors; coming to LA was the first time I met the many other industry pros early in their LA journeys (agency & writers assistants, publicists) and got a real appreciation for the team it takes to bring work to the marketplace. LOLA gives you insight on several career paths (including the music industry). “The more you know what drives someone else in the business,” says Jenny, “the more authentically you’ll be able to connect with them,” enabling you both to help each other as you scale the heights of your success.
The $39 price tag for the “Launching Outside Los Angeles” Career Kickstart Kit might seem like a big chunk of change, especially if you’re saving your pennies for move. But we’re positive the content (and the workbook to help you apply it) is a great investment, providing you with insider insight and strategy you can use to give you an advantage as you pursue your dream and establish yourself as a member of the entertainment community. And if you are going to take the plunge, do so by October 20th, because until that time, included in the purchase price, is a 30-page guide called “YII’s Entertainment Industry Overview- A Quick, Easy & Essential Guide to Lay of the Land” which provides an overview of the main organizations within the mainstream film, television, and music branches of the biz, how each fits in to the whole and what the main departments are within each organization. Additionally, if you purchase it in the next 30 days, you’ll be entered to win a drawing for a free Brainstorming session.
Mid-way through the LOLA guidebook, Jenny quotes Mike Knobloch, President of Film Music & Publishing at Universal: “You can create your own opportunities by being industrious and smart, but my steps couldn’t be replicated. There’s no way to do what I did. But everyone who is a working professional becomes the beneficiary of a series of happy accidents.” LOLA will undoubtedly help you uncover the steps unique to your best path, and help you take the utmost advantage of all the happy accidents the acting gods send your way.
Click here to visit Your Industry Insider. This is an affiliate link. What does that mean? It means that if you click through, and then proceed to buy the product, we get a little cash for having directed you there. Don’t worry – we haven’t sold our souls. In fact, we’ve been asked many times to be affiliates for products and this is the first time we’ve said yes. We believe in LOLA & are excited to share it with you. From time to time we’ll share affiliate posts with you, which help us achieve our goal of providing the best online actor resource out there, and a free one at that.
