Thursday, November 8, 2012

literary agent/ TV production/ I got published


Oct. 2 Literary agent: I'm researching careers that I could be good at or interested in.  I found how to become a literary agent.  Ehow says:

1. Major in English, journalism, or business.
2. In the US, NYC, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco are good cities to be one in.
3. Work your way up in a publishing company.  Develop contacts.
4. Join an established agency.
5. Strike out on your own by opening your own agency.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2121717_become-literary-agent.html

Oct. 3 Blog: Hannah Howard sent me this article "How to Handle Negative Feedback on your Blog."  Don't apologize for what you said.  In some cases you should, but mostly people who rant, it's because they just don't like a lot of things.  Just say "I understand." 

Don't take it personally.  "One thing you have to learn when you put yourself out there for the whole online world to see is that you will not always please everyone. As much as you want to make everyone happy, it just doesn’t work all the time."  Yeah, I know.  It also says to stay calm.

http://www.longhornleads.com/blog/2012/how-to-handle-negative-feedback-on-your-blog/

Oct. 4 New direction: I'm going in another direction.  The other week I didn't look for an office assistant job at all.  Instead, I looked for an agent, and went through my Two Bits Linked In group emails.  Last week I was researching careers.  Now I'm going to look into all communications, publishing industry positions.  CPRS send me these emails and I bookmarked some job ads from them.

Communications strategist: I was going through my bookmarks, and I see this job ad.  I Google it, and it says that they look at how:

"...companies use language and the results they achieve, and they've sought out new ways of making language work better for their clients. That may involve introducing new forms of communication (migrating paper-based memos to email, for example) or it may mean running poetry workshops in law firms, to improve personal communication skills."

"Communication strategy always runs to the heart of a company's internal communications and, ultimately, productivity."
The education is human resources and advertising.
http://www.thewriter.co.uk/news/?id=161

Power Point: Here is a really good Power Point presentation about what a communications strategy does.  This would be used in a business class.
http://www.unescap.org/stat/disability/census-ws/Session5-Media.pdf

Community relations coordinator:
It says: "who works with a business, corporation, or other organization that wants to have a positive public image in the community."
The duties are: "event planning, marketing, and sponsorship of local programs."  That brings me to a flashback of gr. 8 and 9, when I was on the student council.  You have to plan and run dances and school events.

You prepare and deliver speeches, buy ad space, arrange public appearances, contests, etc.
http://www.mymajors.com/careers-and-jobs/Community-Relations-Coordinator


Public relations: This must be the law of attraction, because I was researching the above careers.  I emailed this young woman from college a few weeks ago and asked about the PR program she took at MacEwan.  She gushed about how much she loved it. 
She got hired at the company she interned at and said it was practical, hands on, and what you need to learn to get the job.

Oct. 13 Ingrid Veninger: I was reading the Globe and Mail and Veninger is a film maker.  She has a production company called Punk Films.  She created a contest $1000 Feature Film Challenge where people make a film for $1000.

IV: You don't have to wait for permission from anyone to do your art.  You can put $1000 on your credit card.  You can make a feature that can play festivals and hit the big screen.  And if we can keep costs low enough, we can make money on these films.
http://www.punkfilms.ca/

Freelance Writers: Today is my day off so I was reading the business section of the newspaper and job articles.  Now I'm going through my Freelance Writer's emails I got from the Linked In group.

Alan Kinsberg: I went through 7 emails and found out the TV writer Alan Kinsberg has a Facebook page.  I liked and subscribed to it.

Shawn MacKenzie: I found this blog post about Shawn MacKenzie.  The blog is by Karen S. Elliot.  Here's a good excerpt:

"....'anyone can write' mentality. And while this is true on a certain level, it leaves the field wide open for people with stories to tell but lacking the craft for the telling. A writer is first a craftsman—a wordsmith. Hone your craft if you want your work to soar. To that end, read great books and write, write, write. "

http://karenselliott.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/editor-spotlight-shawn-mackenzie/?goback=.gde_101577_member_101632075

Oct. 15 TV production: I found these notes I took at a job interview at a TV production company.  It was back in May 2012.  The studio was easy to get to.  It was a nice office, and had like 8 staff members and some contract workers.

It doesn't produce dramas, but corporate videos.  The duties were planning, shooting, editing, and delivery.  The position was a jr. account executive.  The job was commission- based.  The shifts were weekend and evenings to see the clients.

There's a little script writing.  It was mainly a sales role.  The clients will call and want a video made for their company.  You have to follow up leads by making phone calls.  Sell $20,000 video and make commission off that.  The set salary was $1000-1500 a month and a little commission.  Eventually it will be 100% commission.

There was some production and post- production.  I learn from people, and there's no book.
They didn't call me back.  There is so much selling involved, I wasn't really looking for a sales role.  I didn't think I was a fit for it, I didn't tell them that.

Oct. 16 Script doctor: I was reading a Screenwriting Goldmine newsletter about being a script doctor.  I Google it and it's really a script consultant.  He is a screenwriter who polishes and edits the scripts for dialogue, characterization, etc.
I did learn this:

"Under the Writers Guild of America screenwriting credit system, a screenwriter must contribute more than 50 percent of an original screenplay or 33 percent of an adaptation to receive credit.[6]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Script_doctor

Oct. 18 Linked In: A teacher from college added me on Linked In and I accepted.

Nov. 5 I got published: I put this on my Facebook status update.  I got published in the Golden Vanguard.  Here are two of movie reviews Daybreakers and The Fourth Kind.  I will later put the reviews up on my blog.
http://www.thegoldenvanguard.ca/movie-reviews/daybreakers-review

http://www.thegoldenvanguard.ca/movie-reviews/the-fourth-kind

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