Last Friday’s post garnered this response:
Truth in @TheAnonymousPA‘s How to Write http://t.co/f4MxgX4i5u – but ends on some truly bad advice.
— Michael Sullivan (@redrighthand) June 20, 2014
@redrighthand curious what the bad advice is. — TAPA (@TheAnonymousPA) June 20, 2014
@TheAnonymousPA To not attend writer meet-ups. Not everyone at a meetup is a delusional wannabe. There are many WritersAssts and Scriptys. — Michael Sullivan (@redrighthand) June 20, 2014
@TheAnonymousPA The point of a meet up is not to learn to write. It’s to meet other writers. Some have no real future – gotta weed em out. — Michael Sullivan (@redrighthand) June 20, 2014
@redrighthand That’s fair. My batting average at those things has been frustratingly low, but I suppose one shouldn’t dismiss them entirely. — TAPA (@TheAnonymousPA) June 20, 2014
@TheAnonymousPA Leaving to chance that you’ll meet the right writers to form a group is no the way. Proactivity is. Meetup’s a good start — Michael Sullivan (@redrighthand) June 20, 2014
@redrighthand In my defense, I didn’t mean you should leave it to chance; just that there are other ways to meet writers.
— TAPA (@TheAnonymousPA) June 20, 2014
@TheAnonymousPA at any mass of creatives, there going to be more chaff than wheat, but it’s a good way to get started — Michael Sullivan (@redrighthand) June 20, 2014
Michael makes some good points. Sturgeon’s Law applies to people as well as art, I guess. I’ll be honest, part of that post was born out of frustration, and comparing it to similar events I had been to recently.
I’ve gotten more involved with my school’s alumni association, and met some great people. I made friends at the live Scriptnotes event last month. And while there have been many people who just fell off the turnip truck at my TAPA events, A) that’s to be expected at a PA event and B) I still met quite a few working, knowledgeable, and experienced people there. I saw nothing of the sort at the writers’ group last week.
But apparently, I was standing in the wrong corner of the room:
@TheAnonymousPA @redrighthand I’ll chime in considering I was at said mixer. Also present: an actual showrunner, 3x WAs and past TV fellows. — Alex Freedman (@TVCalling) June 22, 2014
@TheAnonymousPA @redrighthand It’s one thing to dismiss some circlejerks (a la Pitchfest), it’s another to devalue every writer-based event. — Alex Freedman (@TVCalling) June 22, 2014
So, mea culpa to the group’s organizer Derek, who also reached out to me over Twitter:
@TheAnonymousPA Sorry if you didn’t have a good time at the Meetup. Feel free to DM me if you have suggestions on how to make it better.
— Derek Housman (@DerekHousman) June 22, 2014
I actually wish I did have some suggestions for improving the event; I’d use those suggestions myself at my own TAPArties. When you invite the public to an event, the public will show up.
It’s hard for someone organizing a group like this to ensure that the experience is great for everyone. If you create an exclusive guest list, you’ll inevitably miss some diamonds in the rough. Let any rando in off the street walk in and, as Michael said, there’s going to be a lot of chaff.{{1}}
As an aspiring writer/director/whatever, you can’t leave it up to the organizers to do the sorting for you. You’ll have to do it yourself. For whatever reason, I had a hard time doing that last Thursday.
Let this be a semi-retraction to Friday’s post. Just because I had a lousy experience this one time (and honestly, I’ve had some good experiences with the same group in the past), that doesn’t mean you will next time.
No one meet-up is going to change your life. Sometimes you’ll meet a dozen great people, sometimes you won’t meet anybody. Alex and I had contrasting experiences on the same night.
The lesson to take away from all this is to keep getting yourself out there. Meet new people. Reconnect with old friends. Never eat alone
Of course, whether you want to be a writer, a dolly grip, a casting director, or anything else in this town, you should also be practicing your craft as much as possible. There’s no sense in creating a network to help you in your career, if you can’t actually do the job. That’s why I write this blog.{{2}}
What do you do?
[[1]]I might be letting the metaphors get out of hand.[[1]]
[[2]]Also, so I can complain about stuff, then contradict my complaints less than a week later.[[2]]
One Response
TAPA, could you do a post on other networking events and organizations that hold similar meetups in the LA area? After this discussion, I am intrigued to go check one out but not sure where to find them.