I’m not good at networking or socialising. At least I never thought I was. People kept telling me to go to certain parties, but until recently I thought I’d just make a fool of myself, trying desperately to impress „the important people“.
But then I realised that maybe I had the wrong conception of these kind of things. It turned out that I just had to get to talk with people, be myself, tell something about me, and to have a bit of luck. And suddenly I had a great opportunity at hand!
But before I realised that, I came to understand something else: It’s never wrong to be where the action is. I was in Cannes during the film festival this year. I did not have anaccreditation and I was aware I wouldn’t be seeing much (which turned out to be completely wrong, but that’s another story), I just came to enjoy the athmosphere and the sun.
It’s never wrong to be where the action is.
On day one of my visit I had already seen my first red carpet show and was so thrilled about it and happy with my visit that I thought the day was over. So I went to a bar to celebrate all by myself. But that day wasn’t over by far and I wasn’t all by myself for long. Within minutes I got talking with two Americans at the next table. At first I was a bit disappointed that they weren’t film people, but they were nice and I stayed for longer than I had anticipated. And after a while I found out they were pilots of a private jet belonging to a Hollywood producer.
Actually, I didn’t care much about this fact as I didn’t look at this as a business contact. But later I told one of them about the film script I’m working on. He was suddenly all interested and asked a whole lot of questions about it and then said, well, give it to me and I’ll give it my boss. For some reason I didn’t take this too seriously either and just kept on talking about something, wondering why the hell he wasn’t listening, but talking on the phone, until I heard the words: „I’m sitting here with this young, interesting, european film-maker. Could she send you her new film script?“ And then he handed over the phone to me!
And there I was, talking to a Hollywood producer at 2 am about my screenplay. And he did invite me to send the script over!
There I was, talking to a Hollywood producer
at 2 am about my screenplay.
The next day it took me a while to realize what really had happened that night, but the fact is, I got my first connection to Hollywood and whatever the outcome will be, at least I know now what being in the right place at the right time and talking to people can be worth.
-Carmen Moreno
