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?