Some folks just find self-promotion creepy. If you were the kid in class who kept your hand down so the teacher could call on you when she was ready... As the kid with his hand up, I took your education from you. Why not? You weren't using it!
Get comfortable with self-promotion. Even if you're one of the lucky few who "gets discovered", your career will belong to the person who discovers you. Passive agression gets you nowhere in the end, ladies and gents.
Hey! Wait a second! I was that Kid and it all it ever got me was spitballs and paper airplanes to the head!! Tenny, are you trying to trick me into something?!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, self promotion is something I’m always trying to work on. It is scary and time consuming but it all comes down to whether or not you believe you have something of value to offer and we all do. In all of the 7 years I have lived in Tinsletown, I have not known one person who was “discovered”. With any successful person I’ve know, it always came down to talent, hard work and lots self promotion and innovative self promotion at that.
The idea of being discovered, however, is still strongly ingrained in the public consciousness due to its propagation by reality TV game shows. They show you all the “discovery” and none of the hard work that the folks on American Idol or whatever, went through to get where they were. I guarantee you that all of those people raised their hands high, a lot.
Some actors, writers, what have you think that if they just hang out in the right acting class or breakfast spot frequented by movie moguls long enough, they will hit pay dirt. But seriously folks, would you pay a guy you didn’t know to fix your computer, just cause he’s 22 and acts and dresses EMO? As one casting director once said to me “I like that guy. He’s really cool. I’d definitely have a beer with him. I have no idea if he can act.”
The point is that most of the ideas people have about how to get ahead in the entertainment business were outmoded in the 50’s if they ever existed at all. The trick is to stay ahead of the curve, do your homework, find the answer and raise your hand! Here endeth the rant.