Tuesday, May 8, 2012

new direction/ Linked In/ job interview

May 2 New direction: Today was my day off and I worked a lot on my TV production company job search.  I have made a lot of progress since Apr. 25, 2012.  In a week, I got production companies rejecting me saying they're not hiring.  However, there have been some that will keep my resume.  I did one job interview and didn't hired.

Networking: I talked to a TV producer today for 45 min on the phone and he gave me a bunch of tips.  I took down notes.  I also went through my old emails and pitched to some TV production companies again.  I sent some Linked In Invitations to them.  I reminded them of my The Vertex Fighter script.  It's networking.

Script pitch: I also sent my script to a couple of people.  One person is in development, but the other one is the TV producer I talked to today.  He will read it and give me feedback.

Rain script: It was also good today because I spent a couple of hours typing up my Rain script.  I haven't done that in months.  I've been writing scenes, but there is a lot of scenes that don't exactly work or fit into the script.

I also managed to put in a car chase scene I wrote back in 2005 into this script.  I wrote the car chase in 2005, but I didn't know where to put it.  I just kept it on a disk.  There were some rewrites of what characters actions are, but I thought it worked.

Comparisons:

Car chases: Here's a tip for writing car chase scenes.  Back in 2001 I was writing a car chase and there were 5 people in one car.  That is way too many people.  There is usually 1-3 people in a car.  I remember watching Four Brothers and in a car chase, 3 of the brothers are in a car.

In The Transporter, if I remember correctly, Jason Statham said to these bank robbers that there are too many people in the car.  You have to lose a person so it won't weigh the car down and make it go slower.

Writing: I haven't been writing scripts too much because I think of the saying "Focus on tasks that bring the most results."  Working at my restaurant brings money, and looking for an office job has the potential to lead me to making more money.  I haven't gotten paid yet for my writing.

I have gotten 2 short stories published from the Poetry Institute of Canada, and there are my 2 blogs that can be read by anyone with internet access.

May 3 Combination: There is kind of a brick wall I hit with this new direction.  I applied to all these TV production companies in Edmonton and I'm done.  There were some that were really far away like I had to take 3 buses, so I didn't apply there.  I applied to the ones I could get to even if I had to take 2 buses to get there.

Yesterday I spent 6hrs with this new job search.  2 hrs I spent writing the Rain script.  I spent 8 days with this new direction.  Maybe I need to combine my office job search with my TV production company job search.  Like spend 1hr looking for an office job, and 1 hr on my TV production search.

Do you have any questions or comments about this?  Am I going in the right direction?

Linked In: Today I sent some more Linked In invitations to my college writing friends.  I'm friends with them on Facebook.  However Facebook is more for fun.  I tried to look at their friends, but it's not all professional.  At least on Linked In, the places the people work at are right there for you to see.  You can then decide if it's relevant to your job search.

I also sent invitations to a couple of teachers from college.  It wouldn't hurt if I had this connection.  I am doing something different.

May 4 Reject: I got an email from a producer.  I pitched her my The Vertex Fighter script back in 2011, and she rejected it.  It's been about a year and a half so I emailed her again about it.  She rejected it because she's developing something else.

Job interview: I met up with another producer today and we talked for about half an hour.  I may get a few days work if they need me.  I got a lot of information and tips.  Go to Film and Video Association (FAVA) to take programs to learn how to make a film.  In a one class, the final project is the film.  Make a short film of my own that could be 5min long.  It's to showcase your work.

She told me that a Mac computer is often used to edit your own films.  A PC editing program is called Premiere.

May 5 New plan: Here's the new plan.  I should spend my 1 day off a week, to look for a TV production company job.  The other 6 days I look for an office job.  I already spent 10 days on my TV production company job search and made a lot of progress. 

Advice: I've talked with 3 producers and they have all said it's really hard to get into the TV industry.  One producer said that since Stephen Harper made all these cuts to the art funds, the producers are losing out getting money for their projects.

One other producer said (paraphrase): "I don't mean to discourage you, but it's hard to get into the TV industry."

May 7 Industries: Becky Celestine sent me this article called "The 10 Best Sectors that are Boosting the Economy."  It talked about banks and the auto industry.  Did you know that India-based firms like the IT tech industry, they have paid $15 billion in taxes to the US treasury in the past 5 yrs? 

You can click on each headline and it will lead to another article about it that sources the information. 

http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/the-10-best-sectors-that-are-boosting-the-economy/

Profiles: Roxanne Porter sent me this article called "10 Things that Aren't Appropriate for a Nanny Profile."  I'm not applying to be a nanny, but the info can be applied to any resume to any job you're applying for.  Some tips are like don't give out your social security number right off the bat, until you are hired so there won't be identity theft. 

It talks about your social media profile and not to put it on your nanny profile.  Most employers do research on you on the internet.

http://www.nannyjobs.org/blog/10-things-that-arent-appropriate-for-a-nanny-profile/

May 8: Today I finally called to book a career counseling appointment.  I was really busy for the past month with my 2nd part-time job and my new direction.  I do something different and make money, and it might lead to another opportunity.

Job offer article: I got this from Yahoo.  It's a Monster.com article about "7 Good Reasons to Turn Down a Reasonable Job Offer."  #5 talked about the commute.  Test out the commute to work at the time you would leave for work.  Is it too hard to get there?

#2 talked about if the work is too hard or too easy.  If it's easy, it's boring, and you'll be quitting.  Unless you really don't want a challenge.  I'm also thinking about the Fruit Place.  It was too physically hard and I didn't feel it was worth the effort to get paid that amount of money.  It's subjective for each person to think if they're getting paid enough for the effort.

Kind of like Call Centre #5.  I got paid $9/hr to sit and wait for the computer to make the phone call.  It wasn't physically or mentally challenging so it was fine to get paid min. wage.

http://career-advice.monster.ca/job-interview/following-up/good-reasons-to-turn-down-a-job-offer-ca/article.aspx?WT.mc_n=Ycanada_YToday

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