Are You Waiting For Your One Big Break? Better Get A Comfortable Chair!

Are You Waiting For Your One Big Break? Better Get A Comfortable Chair!

Nathan Hangen is remarkable for coming up with some of the most quotable lines in the points he makes. One of his recent gems:

Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking you’re just one great article away from fame.

This is the exact type of mentality I see all the time in the comedy industry (as well as my previous experience in the music industry) where people just are waiting for the “big break”. Waiting for that one show, that one time, that one “right place at the right time” moment where an influential big-time producer or agent “discovers” them – and it all comes together in one fell swoop.

So they work on their act continuously and improve their performance as much as they can. They get on stage over and over and over again. Now, this is obviously a worthwhile investment of time in some extent… but too many times I see brilliant performers that should be household names working the same crappy one-nighter gigs in the middle of nowhere. For years. Forever.

Wondering why it hasn’t happened yet.

Getting jaded that less talented individuals are succeeding and they’re not.

Blaming everyone else but themselves.

Always starting out their sentences with “If only” and pointing to external sources.

Convincing themselves that great content will always be found on it’s own.

A screenwriter can write a script, send it out unsolicited to studio executives and film agents, move on to his next project and no matter how brilliant his work is, he easily can end up going absolutely nowhere. No one will ever find out about the Academy Award winning masterpiece as it’s shuffled in with a thousand others piling up on someone’s desk.

Yes, I agree that talent will ultimately decide whether or not his script will be picked up for production once seen, but if no effort is being made by him to actually get it considered, then what can he possibly expect to come out of it barring a complete fluke miracle?

At some point, even a little amount of “marketing” needs to be done. Some way to show his brilliance to those strangers who can help his career and make his work stand out from the crowd. Through utilizing contacts, connections, exposure, press, whatever it takes to increase the chances of great content being found.

Competing against a 100+ scripts being sent to movie studios daily to be read and considered, it’s as simple as finding a way just to get his work to the top of the pile.

Sometimes that’s all it takes… but also takes a load of time, energy & work to accomplish.

Are you just pumping out blog posts waiting for the “right place, right time” moment?

Or are you doing to something to get your blog to the top of other’s piles?

Laugh your ass off *and* educate yourself at the same time! Get the most hilarious free marketing tips for your business sent to your inbox. Stuff that's just too damn good to post on this blog, only available exclusively if you subscribe to my e-mail list now.

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  • Great advice Jordan and very timely for a lot of people I think. I am in the process of rethinking my whole marketing strategy and those were my thoughts exactly. I need to focus on the most high impact sources of taking my name out. Remarkable content is a lot, but it does need a push.
  • Thought provoking piece, Jordan.
    At some point we bloggers must realize that the posts alone are not at all the answer. You have to have some real accomplishments, things that separate you from the crowd. Working relentlessly, beyond what most others are willing to do, is a good start for gaining recognition. There is no way to get noticed so long as we do the same as everyone else.
  • I've said this to others, but I kept finding myself thinking that when there's nothing else on my plate, to just write more. Eventually I had a podcast, a video show, a variety of other blogs, and a ton of other shit that no one really cared about.

    Looking back, my blog was most popular when I wrote guest posts. The act of being with the cool kids made me cool by default. My content was secondary.

    This is exactly why so many douchebags are popular...their content sucks but they know how to network. Sad reality, but it's reality.
  • You make some valid points although I would have preferred some recommendations for comfy chairs for waiting in.
    Any plans for a follow up post on chairs.
  • Top work here Jordan, Nathan is right. I like your example of the crappy gigs with people getting frustrated they haven't been signed up yet.

    I think a lot of it is down to media and showing people like Ricky Gervais having a series in the UK then taking it to america next thing he is staring in his own films a multi millionaire. What they haven't seen is the amount of years of work he put in and the struggles, the amount of times people said he was way too chubby and so not funny etc.

    Reality check, you have to put the hours in, same as you brother, people laugh at your gigs (I hope lol) but what they don't see is you driving all over the place to do those gigs, you have to put the hours in, it's a simple as that.
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