There’s an old saying in this world that goes something like this… “The answer is always no… until you ask.” Which I agree is true… but perhaps not entirely complete. I’d also note that a “no” has the distinct possibility of turning into a “FUCK NO!!” after you ask. It’s just as important to know how to contact someone you’d like to work with, than to even do it at all. If you tweet @ a celebrity that they should totally “stop by the studio when you’re in town,” I imagine you’ll never hear from them, or if you do, it may be from their lawyer and have a restraining order attached. It’s also important to remember that this can go both ways for creatives… It’s not easy and takes quite a bit of courage to reach out to someone you’d like to work with and have them take you seriously or at the very least not be creeped out. So if this happens to you (Yes I’m talking about you ‘hot girls who never pay for drinks’) maybe take a beat to figure out if the person you’re speaking with either has some legitimate talent or is just trying to add you to the collection of skin suits hanging in his/her closet.
To start researching this topic I basically called a bunch of my friends on the management side of things and asked them about all of the dumb ways people have made contact with them throughout the years, but I also wanted to know some of the successful ways people have made contact and try to make sense of what works, what doesn’t and why. I asked my best friend on the planet Daniel Bodansky who just so happens to manage some/all of the most successful late night TV hosts of all time, as well as a lead writer on SNL, and numerous comedians with multiple Netflix specials(you get it, he’s a big deal), what he thought about it and he filled me in on one factor I definitely didn’t really consider… timing. Take it away Dan…
– Daniel Bodansky (Manager, Dixon Talent)
In our world today it’s incredibly simple to gain access to nearly anyone on the planet via social media, but that access has become less and less meaningful. In general we are all so numb to the random DM and fed up with the unsolicited “let’s shoot” comments on Instagram that I often cringe before allowing a random message through. It’s a pretty far fetched notion that anything tangible will come from just randomly hitting up someone’s twitter handle but I guarantee that your odds will be much greater if you follow the rules I’m laying out, the more the better. To dive into those rules and the rest of this post head on over to our friends at Fstoppers by clicking here…
– J
