TASK 3b - Theories Relating To Networking

It is a very small world and this industry. In one way or another, every one is linked. This could be though a friend of a friend, a colleague, a boss or even someone that goes to the same gym as you. In a professional networking ideal, it is very important that you have a good relationship with people. What you are striving for is to have the other contact want to do things for you. This could be a little a favour as name dropping. But this has to work in two ways, you have to give, to people to endeavour them to help you.

People need different amounts of interaction with others. This can differ from person to person, even within a family. For example, my younger sister is happy to get on with her life in her bedroom with the door closed. She could be in there all day, doing homework, being on the computer, making dresses, playing the guitar, anything that she wanted to get up to. But she is quite happy getting on with them on her own. Where as I get so lonely if I have to be on my own for an evening. I hardly spend any time in my bedroom. When I go to my family home, I only really go in my room to sleep unless I am staying round a friends house. I stick to my mum like glue just because I just need someone to talk to. I just get very sad when I am on my own. I think this is because I have hardly spent any time on my own growing up. After school I would go straight to dance classes, where there would be lots of people, then back to the boarding house, where I am surrounded by people. Or back home where my mum would help me with my homework or we would sit and have dinner together. Where my sister, would have to wait for my mum to come back from driving me all around the country. I then moved to London at sixteen, where again I had a huge influx of friends, that I spent all of my time with. After graduating, I have spent six months on tour having to spend about fifteen hours a day with people. I am now on another tour where again, I am always surrounded by people. I am completely in my comfort zone when I am with people. So that is probably why I like to be in those situations more than my sister, who has quite a quiet first impression. This also means that she is a lot more independent than I am.

Putting yourself in the limelight, in front of impressionable people is always a daunting task. You want to show yourself in the best light to get the most out of the position you or someone else have put you in. However discouraged you may feel, this is the most important time to empower yourself. You must have not fear when it comes to representing yourself. No one wants you to do as well as you do.

Hofstede said that people from more individualistic countries had a greater desire for affiliation. I can understand this. If you look at a country like Africa. The average individual might not know that many people, but their relationships with them are far greater because they make the most of what they have. Whereas in a highly developed country such as America, life is fast paced and everyone wants things now. Fast food; fast broadband; fast cars, etc. This obsession even includes our affiliation with people. Not only do we need things straight away, we can easily get bored with what we have and who we are with. This is why we don't have deeper relationships with all of our acquaintances. It seems to be that we take what we need from people and that is that. What we now need to utilise is the ability to do that in such a way that people enjoy doing it for you.

This is where who you know is important. Having a network of contacts that can help you is always great. But having this network of people and them either not liking you, or not knowing you well enough is as good as not knowing them at all. Here we find that it is not who you know, but what you make of it. It is always very important to make a natural give and take relationship with someone. Making them happy to do something for you because they know you would do the same had you been them. This is harder when it comes to someone that is a higher status than you are, whether it a boss, or a dance teacher, musical director. You must always look to make a good first impression. Even to the person taking your name in an audition, when you are waiting in a room with fifty other girls. They are often one of the most important people you have to impress. As they could have been put there to watch how you interact with others in a highly stressful situation.

Many people deal with people and situations differently. This I believe is partly innate as the way you are is partly in your genes, it could also be due to your star sign. As Leo, Like the lion is a natural leader, whereas a Cancer, Like the crab, needs it's shell for protection, and so they need reassurance and intimacy. These all really relate to how a person things and the actions that they take. But it is also a development of the mind. Someone who hasn't had worldly experiences will evaluate life differently than to someone who has gained knowledge through experience.

Decision-making is a skill we develop as we grow up, this could be through what our parents have told us, the school we went to, but mainly the experiences we have had. We can choose to learn thing and we can choose to ignore them. By doing this we can find out for ourselves, what we like and what we don't. But how are we to know about something, if we don't allow ourselves to be immersed in the learning process.

In the last reader we touched upon Schon's theories. I went into Google Scholar to se what more I could find on him. I read that Schon said that we build on our experiences, Like lego pieces building a ladder. I have used this metaphor – a ladder, rather than something like house or bridge because you can never stop learning. It is impossible to know everything about everything. This is also because things change and develop. So you could learn about A, move onto B and by the time you get to C, A has been improved or evolved into something else.


References
http://www.thecommonwealthpractice.com/reflectivepractitionerreview.pdf

TASK 3A - Current Networks

I am a huge fan of social and professional networking sites, I am part of a large amount of different sites, all of which many of my friends, relatives and colleagues are also on.

Facebook – I mainly use Facebook for domestic use. However, as it is such a huge site, I have also created a professional account. This has pictures of my headshots and information about me and the work I have done. I use this to add relevant people within the business and it's good because they often put up things that interest me about auditions or classes that are going on.

Twitter – Twitter is the new up and coming site. I use my professional Twitter way more than my professional Facebook. This is because it is so much quicker to read and understand. You can follow people with out having to get them to accept the request. And again people constantly put up information about jobs and classes or just their opinion on a show or television program. I love messaging people on Twitter as it is very casual and it then also becomes a topic of conversation, 'Yes! I Tweeted you!' I went to the Surviving Actors open day, to mingle and meet lots of people and someone that worked for Spolight recognised me from my headshot that they had seen on Twitter. That is what it is all about. People remembering you.

Casting call pro – Casting call pro allows you to put up a profile with the work you have done and all your vital statistics. You can also apply for jobs and they give you loads of information on relevant things. There are web chats where people can blog about something they are concerned about and anyone can reply, helping them with the subject. It also shows you who has viewed your profile too. Which is great because I then jump on Twitter and contact them personally. 'Thank you for viewing my profile. I'd love to chat about any of the work that you do etc.' However, nothing is ever free, one should try to utilise it as much as possible to get the most out of your money.

Equity – Equity can help you in any bad situation that arrises. They also now send you emails about jobs that you can apply for.

Spotlight – Spotlight is very similar to Casting Call Pro, however this site is the one most used within the industry. Your Spotlight page can easily be printed off, or linked on an emailed. It is very clear with your details, headshot and resume all set out nicely. Spotlight not only emails you jobs but also articles that they think you would be interested in reading. Again, this is another thing that you have to pay for just because it's the right thing to do.

Emails- At the bottom of my emails I have set up a personalised signature. This goes as follows:

My name: Blake Curtis-Woodcock;

My profession: Actress, Dancer, Singer;

I then have my agents details;

A link to my Spotlight page;

A link to my professional Facebook;

and my Twitter name.

This makes it very easy for me to put in all my information without shoving it in someones face. If only one in every fifteen people look at any of the links that I have attached. That is one more than it would have been, had it not been there.

Another great networking tool is actually going out and meeting people face to face, whether this is going into someones office and waiting around until they have a free five minutes to chat to you. Or there are many networking evenings going on all the time. The hardest part is getting invited to them. I have been lucky enough to have been invited to a couple of these on a whim. They basically needed a few more girls walking around the place, so I jumped at the opportunity. They are club evenings where people chat and drink and have a good time. But being in a club is the best time for me to be business minded. Because you are able to make a good impression on someone and with the drinks flowing, it's all very casual. You can have a laugh and a joke with someone that you wouldn't be able to have in a board room. Being able to weenie yourself in this way could be a huge advantage. Remember: It's not what you know, it's who you know.

The reason people use these networking tools is simple:

To contact people;

To show what they have done;

To show your face;

To be remembered.

Celebrities having their own websites, telling fans when they are going to be somewhere, such as a book signing or gig. Even sections for buying merchandise. This creates revenue, and is also a free advertising method. Seeing someone with a Steps T-shirt on will make you think of the pop group. That is the most important thing, because if people don't hear about something for a long time they forget about it. However, now that I have mentioned this band you will notice things to do with the band, which you wouldn't have batted an eyelid at before. This is the brain working subconsciously. This is the best form of advertisement.

Years ago, you could not work as a professional actor with out an Equity Card. Macleod, Joseph Todd Gordon Today, called it, the actors right to act. Equity is a union that looks after actors, almost like an insurance policy. Many employers would not even look at your resume until you had acquired an Equity Card. Today however, it is not vital to have an equity card to work as an actor. But people still continue to pay a minimum of about £100 a year to be part of the union. Why is this? People still want to be a part of equity, not only for all the good it does for actors but because it's a highly recognised symbol of being a serious actor.

Having an equity card is an extra thing you can tell people to impress them. 'Yes I am part of Equity,' is always better than, 'no I am not.'

My ideal network, would be set out like a Facebook account. With different tabs for showing, the work you have done. Then being able to click on the individual job and a list of pictures, video's, comments you have made on these would come up.

There would be a video section where you could upload a showreel, but also little home made videos of dances or just you singing to the camera at home. It would be a very casual site where there would be different friends you could add, and put them into sections, Casting Directors, Actors, Film makers. You would be able to follow them as you do on Twitter, rather than having to send a request.

There would be people blogging about what is going on where, sections for reviews, for advertising dance classes and even a jobs section. To send off to be put up for roles. And a privet message section to anyone that accepts you as a privet message contact.

All this would be done as a website, however mobile sites would also be created so that it is easily accessible on the move.

To create this network you would need a team of computer specialists to create the website, but once it has been created you need people there at all times to stop it from crashing. You need a huge amount of money as paying people to work twenty four hours a day costs a lot of money. To generate this money you would need advertisement. But before all this, you need customers, there is no way that any of this would work without a huge network of people. People are like sheep when it comes to new things. I recently joined a new site called Branched Out. I did this because everyone else did. However I spent five minutes looking at it, realised I didn't understand what was going on and left the page. I haven't returned since. It is all well and good people joining, but many of these sites are a one hit wander. Not only do you need to take the horse to water, you need to make sure it drinks.

Although I try to use my networking sites as much as I can to get value of money, They are constantly changing and being developed. So there are always new ways that I can contact people with better information on myself. I still don't know how to use Equity and Spotlight as well as I could. I have worked out how to get auditions with my casting type sent to my email address. But I know there are more things on the site that I need to delve into more deeply. I have been very lucky and not yet had a chance to be an out of work actor. But I know as soon as that time comes I will have to learn very quickly to make getting the next job as easy and efficient as the last.

References

Www.getcited.org – Via Google Scholar

Task 2d - Inquiry

Blake Curtis-Woodcock - Task 2d - Inquiry

TASK 2C - Reflective Theory

Here is a link to my essay on Reflective Theory.

Blake Curtis-Woodcock - Task 2c - Reflective Theory