How to Get the Next Gig
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I’ll share with you someone who should be working more. Specifically, I want to share the experiences I’ve had that show me why they are not getting the gig — even though they have vetted completed projects. Their experience is not an outlier and there are lessons for every artist looking to land their next gig.
The content creator in mind does exquisite work and he creates in different genres, compilations and formats.
They’re all good, and they’re all totally different. He is a rare filmmaker who should catapult to huge success and accolades. He should be one of the ones we hear about later in a statement like, “They were an overnight success.”
I’ve come to experience that he gets frustrated at almost every communication and I wanted to understand why in order to help.
He said he comes from a foreign country, where they teach that language in school, and not many people take that language course in other countries.
My attempts to offer suggestions like trying an online text language converter or app to do so were met with pushback. I understand how frustrating it is to not understand what someone wants or is communicating to me. It is up to me to find a way to understand. In this case, we wanted to monetize his content for him so he could fund his next episode, but we needed what we consider simple deliverables. We were looking for what is required by a said platform to monetize the content (log it, load it, spin it in rotation, metadata, QC, etc.). It could be a certain file format or posters with a specific size and no laurels request.
His response was he thought we had these items because we had screened his content in a theater. The problem is, a theater has different specs that would not work for the deliverables requested.
To me, he is thinking for us instead of delivering what was asked by the platform. When I told him we could not use what we had, and shared what was needed, he did not take it well.
So, although we have a signed agreement, we do not have the deliverables. We cannot magically create the deliverables needed as we do not have the original or source files to do so. We cannot help this creator or now do business with this creator because of the above.
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?
To avoid hitting a wall similar to the above and to get the next gig, you have to ask yourself when dealing with the person offering you money/job a few key questions:
“Did you listen?”
“Were you polite and professional?”
In case the conversation takes a deeper dive than you expected, did you research aspects of what the company does that you do not fully understand and/or the person you are going to meet with?
Don’t research on forums where other people give you their opinion; you need an expert in this area. It can come from interviews and press articles online; it can come from definitions of what that title or position details are. Sometimes you can find this by searching a college curriculum course in this area. Or the FAQ of that company’s website or a union that represents these skills. Taking responsibility for what you know and don’t know shows you are truthful, willing to learn and, most importantly, willing to deliver on what is needed.
Not everything will work, and that is OK. Learn from what you experienced and apply it to your next move forward. You may decide after all that is not the direction you want to go. Love what you do, and do what you love. Best wishes on your journey.