Why people who don't know you won't hire you

question 177: What's the most humiliating job you've ever taken for supplemental income?

Uhhhhhhh... I was saving this for my first David Letterman appearance, but I suppose I can give all of you "my insiders" the first audience. I had been in Los Angeles for two years working as a waitress and decided, "That's it! If I'm going to be working and not getting auditions, I may as well be working in a place where I'm meeting people in high places."

So, I got into the temp pool at MGM/UA and began creating relationships with all of the big wigs because I was on the top floor. After almost 6 months of developing relationships with people and discussing development, production, post, publicity, marketing, and even acting, the human resources woman told me she had a special job for me, where I'd get to meet everyone in the company. I was SO excited.

CUT TO:

EXT: MGM/UA OUTDOOR PARK AREA- DAY

Me in a stupid outfit, serving birthday cake for "Leo the Lion's" first birthday party. Yes, I put on a smile as the big execs that had treated me like an up and comer for 6 months, started barking orders about wanting an "end piece" or "just a sliver because she's on a diet," or "cut the piece from the center so I can have a piece of the Lion's head." I mean really! It was utterly humiliating.

The next week I found myself in a small windowless room with 3 other temps stuffing W2 forms. I came across Brad Pitt's in my pile and shoved it in my bra for the remainder of the day before mailing it off to his accountant (with a lipstick free kiss). I suppose that's the closest Brad Pitt will ever be to my boob.

Not the most educational blog entry, though I hope it amused you and will inspire you to share your least favorite "make-a-buck-jobs-to-survive" with this person who is clearly torn about a job he may potentially take.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry coach, The Greenlight Coach, visit www.thegreenlightcoachblog.com

Networking Obstacles? You're not alone

There is a system for getting jobs in the entertainment industry

question 176: How do I research the new fall line up?

First, shameless plug for my friend Andrew: EVERYONE WATCH VAMPIRE DIARIES

Second, you research them in a number of ways, the cheapest, and most direct way, is to go directly to the sites and look under "shows":

http://beta.abc.go.com/

http://www.nbc.com/

http://www.fox.com/

http://www.cwtv.com/ (here you'll find the Vampire Diaries)

http://www.cbs.com/

Then there are the numerous cable networks that have original content. To name a few:

Lifetime, TNT, A&E, HBO, Showtime, Disney, Nickelodeon, Sci Fi, and check out http://www.google.com/Top/Arts/Television/Networks/Cable/ for a longer list.

For more tip and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, The Greenlight Coach, visit www.thegreenlightcoachblog.com

Question 175: What does it mean when a casting director says, "great job" and then doesn't give you a call back?

It means different things from different casting directors. YOUR job as an actor/actress, is to go in prepared, and do the best audition you can do. An audition is a job. Your acting in front of people, right? So you're doing your job. Treat an audition with as much respect and hard work as you would if you booked the job you're auditioning for. Show up on time, do your job, then leave and let it go. If someone say's "Great," then great. If they don't call you in, it doesn't mean you weren't great. It could mean you get called in 7 years later, for a part that you're perfect for. You just don't know. Sorry...

Analyzing what people mean is futile. Even if you asked, you have no guarantee that they'll tell you truthfully what they meant. Confidence must come from within you, NOT others' opinions of you.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, The Greenlight Coach, visit www.TheGreenlightCoach.com

question 174: How do you answer the question: "What are you working on?" when you're not working on anything?

My sister works in ad sales. There are some days that she sells an ad space. Let's equate those days to the days that you are working on a job. The rest of the days, if her boss were to ask her, "What are you working on?" her answer would be all of the appointments she's making, the new business she's working on breaking, the relationships with clients she's developing. I could go on and on about everything my sister is doing when she's not on "the" call getting the news that a client is buying ad space.

So, what do you mean "you're not working on anything"? If you aren't doing business when you're not on a "job" than you're not working right. If you are working right, then you can answer the question based on what you're working on. People know this is a freelance industry. They don't expect you to be on a project at all times. But if you're not confident about what to do when you're not on a job, then you should get coaching, because you can be "working" all of the time.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry coach, The Greenlight Coach, visit www.TheGreenlightCoachBlog.com

question 173: What's the most professional way to let all of my contact know I've changed my contact info?

It depends on if you want to spend money or not. You can have cards/postcards made up with your personal logo (if you have one) and/or the new contact information. Then mail it out to everyone. It's just like those "We've moved" cards you get from your friends when they move to a new house. The reason why this may be worth the added expense, is because people will hold on to the card until they change it in their address book.

The free way to do it PROFESSIONALLY, is to send it out by email BCC ( did I say BCC? Because if I didn't: BCC!!!). People tend to do this when they change only their email address. I am one of those people who is guilty of not updating these when I get them, putting them in an inbox file titled "updated contact info," and forgetting all about them. That's why I prefer the aforementioned card, because I will save it until I add it. But that may just be me.

With email, you also run the risk of it disappearing into the email ether, but we run that risk everyday...

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, the Greenlight Coach, visit www.theGreenlightCoachBlog.com

question 172: I want to take a year off to make money but everyone says that I'll be starting over when I come back. True?

Who am I to argue with "Everyone?" Im me, so I will. The reason many (not "all": notice I'm putting the huge generalizations in quotes, so you can recognize when you're using that language) people have trouble breaking back into the industry after they've been out for a year or more, is because they don't maintain their relationships.

They usually leave the business for a stable job, not expecting to return, only to find a few years later that their calling is still tugging at them, and their contacts have dried up. Or they leave for personal reasons like an illness, an ill spouse or child, to take care of an aging parent, relocation for any of the previous reasons, and other less common reasons.

Obviously, if it's the personal reasons, it's usually the last thing on a person's mind to be maintaining relationships, so when he/she comes back it is a lot like starting over, but not quite.

In your case, however, you want to make money, create some savings, and come back. That's really no different than people who have side jobs, it just sounds like you're committing mentally to a specific, high-pay job as opposed to a side job, where people feel half in and half out.

What this all means to you is, you work, make your money, save, AND continue to maintain your relationships, obtain mentors, and go to networking events (if you're job is local). If it's not, and your contacts ask you why you moved, tell them it is for personal reasons, and you will be back. If you stay put, and get offered a job while maintaining your relationships, you can always ask for time off or quit (unless you've signed a contract).

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, the Greenlight Coach, visit www.theGreenlightCoachBlog.com

Question 171: I am so sick of hearing about how much competition is out there! What do I do?

Stop listening! As an actress, I was told not to move to LA because there was too much competition. I made the move anyway and at first, I was intimidated. Then, I spent my first two years in an acting school with 24 people in my class. Of those 24, 12 were girls, of those 12, 8 were my age, of those 8, 4 had a similar look to mine (notice I did not say type), of those 4, 1 did her homework, learned her lines, and took her acting career seriously. Suddenly, the competition didn't seem very competitive at all. Especially, because she was (and still is) an adorable red-head, with a giggly-girl-next-door, personality, which really isn't in direct competition with my type. Could be why after all of these years, that girl is my oldest friend out here. Like-minded people stick together. I cast her in my TV show, as soon as I had the chance.

Here's another example: I was the in-house Career Coach for the Cinematographers Guild for 7 years. There are over 7,000 members. I coached 1,000 of them. I know pretty good average. Yet when you think about it, 1,000 people have the advantage over the other 6,000. Break it down even further: of those 1,000 people they were broken up into approximately 10 different classifications. Lets examine one of the bigger groups: camera operators. Lets say I coached 200 camera operators, of those 200, 100 met with me regularly, of those 100, approximately 50, committed to overcoming their fears and obstacles, followed the tools, followed through on the strategies, and are now working regularly. Of those 50 working regularly, some work in TV, some on features, and others in commercials. So of the 7,000 members, how many are camera operators? Maybe 1,000 since they're such a big group and how many have the EDGE of the specific tools to generate work? Not that many if you break it down by medium.

So, don't get caught up with your competition. Be the best you can be at what you do, and get the edge.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, the greenlight coach, visit www.thegreenlightcoachblog.com

question 170: I'm having trouble creating my personal brand because I don't believe what I'm writing about myself.

I happen to know that this person is in my tele-seminar group where we are covering this topic in great detail on our call today. So, being that he's not the only one who has this question, I thought I'd share it with all of you.

My mentor, James Malinchak, tells a story about Mahammad Ali that I'll have to paraphrase: A reporter asked Ali how he became the "greatest fighter in the world." Ali replied, "Because I told them I was."

So, James tells the story much better, but the point is the same... like Michael Jordan, known to most as the greatest basketball player of all times. He wasn't always known as that, but when he decided that that's who he was going to be, the actions he took; practicing, leading his team, being a positive role model, made him the greatest basketball player of all time.

How does this apply to you? Who do you want to be when your dreams have come true? What do you want the press to be saying about you? Start there, with just that knowledge, and live up to it. You don't share your personal brand you live it, starting now and that's how people will perceive you.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, the Greenlight Coach, visit www.thegreenlightcoachblog.com