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In part one, we looked at how breaking in to any creative profession is a matter of persistence, craft (talent), and luck, and that you can work on your craft and learn the skills of enduring which let you persist. These are the tools that you wield to break into a creative industry. They are the areas where you have influence. Luck is out of your control, except for the fact that the longer you persist the more chance you have of being lucky. So, if you focus your effort on developing your talent and persisting, you are doing everything you can. Almost…
Get to Know Your Industry
Creative industries are made up of people. It’s obvious but worth stating. It can feel like you are dealing with a faceless machine, but it is a person who decides to read your manuscript, to take your call, to watch your performance. Getting to know the people inside the industry that you’re trying to break into makes a huge difference to your chances. This is because if you know the people inside your industry, you have insight into what the industry is thinking, what it wants, what it likes..
The people inside a creative industry are the ones who help you break in, who can make you better at what you do, and be your champions. Their decisions are important, and they make those decisions based on all kinds of factors, some explicit, some not. There are trends – a feeling that long, historical novels are absolutely of the moment in book publishing, or that animation is the coolest thing on streaming, or that drama as podcasts are the new thing in audio. There are unspoken rules – a particular magazine may say that it takes multiple submissions, when really the editors prefer just one per writer. Then there are the personal tastes of the people involved – this agent loves vampires portrayed in unusual ways, that editor likes horror, but not overtly cosmic horror, this one likes ornate language, this one is uncomfortable if a sentence has more than a handful of words. Get to know the people and their tastes, then act accordingly. It does not mean changing what you do or the nature of your work, though you can if you want to. It does mean knowing enough to make sure that it gets to the right person in the right shape.
Meet People
It is a simple truth that people respond to other people. If you meet someone in person, they are more likely to read your email. If they know you well, they are more likely to consider your work. If they are introduced to you by someone else, they are more likely to be open to a chat or to give advice. By knowing people and being known you are helping your chances of breaking in. In fact, there is a case that could be made that becoming part of an industry’s community is breaking in, and that your work being taken up is a byproduct. There are good arguments against this too, but there is a useful idea– understanding and being a citizen of a creative profession is part of the persistence you need to apply to breaking in, and increases your chances of being lucky.
This is not about toadying or snaking your way into good graces – it’s about actively becoming part of the industry that you want to be a part of, and using the knowledge you gain to inform what you do. Be authentic, be your professional and creative self. Do not be unpleasant, or unethical, or anything else that you would not be happy to explain to a sharp-witted and older relative that you like. Be good, in other words, and be part of the creative world that you want to be. Make its people, culture, and mechanisms – both stated and implied – part of the air you breathe.
Learn From Others
One of the most useful parts of being part of any creative industry is that it makes every part of your craft and knowledge better. There is nothing like seeing how others work and how things work to improve what you do and how you do it. This is the cultural knowledge of an industry, the things that are transmitted non-explicitly by actions. This is the other way that being part of the community helps you break in; it makes your craft better. You can and should also ask those people that you meet for advice. Ask someone who has done something how they did it, or how they approach a particular aspect of their craft. Most people in a creative industry love explaining how they do what they do.
Personally, I avoid the ‘could you help me/look at/work with me’ angle, or the ‘how do I become successful?’ angle as they are both likely to shut down any response and the unlikely to get you anything useful. Make the questions specific: ‘How do you structure action scenes?’, ‘How did you get that effect with the lighting in this scene?’ The answers you get will make your work so much better, and you will have made your connections stronger. All of which will make your chances of breaking in much higher.
Last thing…
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Edited by Greg Smith
Written without AI
