Trying to find the formula to "make it" in the film business? These resources should help get you started.
There’s more to “making it” in Hollywood than you might think. Most of the advice you’ll hear such as “You have to pay your dues” and “It’s all about who you know” are either discouraging, misleading, or misunderstood. Learn from industry veterans what they don’t teach you in film school for how to build a career you’re proud of in filmmaking. You’ll discover the types of creative jobs that are right for you, how to network with industry experts, and much much more.
If you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over (particularly when it comes to burnout and over committing to too many projects), or if you feel as if you’ve been ‘paying your dues’ far longer than you anticipated, this conversation is for you.
In this candid and deep conversation, Anthony provides not only answers but also specific action steps you can take to help you decide if a job is worth sticking with or not, and if it is genuinely time to move on how you can do so without destroying valuable relationships along the way.
My interview with Matthew will cover the exact cold outreach email networking steps he learned in the Optimizer program that took him from working in a paint store to, as he calls it, “working jobs he thought would be his endgame.” (pun intended Marvel fans)
If you’ve ever felt as if a specific disability in your life has been sabotaging you from achieving the life you dream of, you’re going to love Erik’s advice on how to not only to accept your disability (and yes, we ALL have one) but how to turn it into your superpower.
If you love what you do but you don’t want your career to destroy you, Jerilynn and Kimi can definitely guide you in the right direction!
This is a wide ranging conversation appealing to anyone looking to make a career transition, find purpose and fulfillment in life, and wanting better strategies for choosing the right projects to match both your lifestyle needs and your creative needs.
If you struggle with building your network, finding a mentor, and reaching out to strangers you admire, this conversation will help you take your networking game to the next level so you can connect with any industry ‘expert’ in the biz.
This conversation dares you (and me!) to test your beliefs about who you are and what you do beyond your job. Erica challenges me on my own beliefs about what the success path for creative professionals really looks like and questions whether it can truly be distilled into simple action steps.
If you struggle with defining what success means to you, and you are often so consumed by your work and running on the empty hamster wheel chasing success that you find yourself burned out, this candid conversation is a must-listen.
At the epicenter of the conversation last August during the most contentious portion of the IATSE contract negotiation was perhaps the IA Stories Instagram account where IATSE members discovered they weren’t alone in enduring the horrors of working in Hollywood: Burnout, abusive working conditions, and sacrificing everything – including even their lives – to simply keep their jobs in the entertainment industry was apparently everyone’s story.
When Optimizer students Nick Towle and Fabian Corrado originally came to me, neither one of them knew each other. But they both knew they were tired of the jobs they had, they felt stuck after trying for years to make a seemingly impossible career change, and they were ready to do anything to get on the right path.
Two members of the costume department discuss the realities of working in Hollywood production, how they’ve been exploited, and most importantly what steps we can take to affect positive change in the entertainment industry.
Learn what it really takes to get the attention of the biggest writers & producers in Hollywood so you can work on projects you love while also being treated with respect.
