Hello!
Hope you all had as lovely a weekend as I did. It started with a wedding set-up on Friday night for Look Events with Kristy (owner and dear friend) and her dad at the Royal Executive Inn in Nisku. (More about that later!) Then I spent all day Saturday brainstorming and researching for my latest project with Meghan, Makenzie and Charles (more about that later as well!). Finally today I was at the St Albert Children’s Theatre for rehearsal (a real treat) and then hosted my first production meeting in years and oh lord did it feel good!
A look at our preliminary and now completely different map, and forever my inspiration, Departures.
I love being able to be a part of all of these projects, and it’s really all thanks to one thing : Networking. So let’s talk about that!
Back in 2010 (seems like ages), I was in Film School in Vancouver, BC and took a class all about networking with Kat Montagu, a writer and instructor at VFS. In our first class she described herself as a super-networker and quickly proved herself to be one for us. We went on a few field trips and she showed us how we could set up informational interviews — and in many instances, set us up with industry professionals in our chosen fields. She was (is, I still have notes from her class and am friends with her on Facebook) an invaluable resource and an inspiration to me — I too, will be a super networker one day! So big thanks Kat, it is much appreciated.
As Film School came to an end, I was approached by our program manager (?? I don’t remember the title, sorry Bob!) Bob Woolsey, to help out with his webseries, Bob and Andrew. It was my first ‘film job’ and man oh man was I happy to be there. I took on the role of line producer, so mostly I helped out with locations, feeding the cast and crew, trying to get extras, props, etc. and what a learning experience it was! It was there I met a lot of the amazing people who hooked me up with other gigs and even helped me out with my very first project, Miles Off Track. (Oh and did I mention I met my best friend, Andrew, there? Best. ever.). I can’t find the words to describe the time I had with all of these friends and how much I learned from each person, but suffice to say, they are all life changers and I’m forever in their debt.
When I moved home to Edmonton in 2011, I didn’t really have a clue what direction my life was going in. I was feeling like I wasn’t quite educated enough, quite experienced enough or like I had any idea what I wanted to do outside of ‘something with film’. So I sat down one day and looked at what I had and what I could do with that and I came up with ‘travel the world, meet up with people you met in film school and make a tv show.’ I set off to Nova Scotia/Europe/UK with plans to work in London for 4-6 months before heading across Asia, hitting up India, South Korea and Japan, to name a few.
About 3 days into my trip, I realized that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to do that. I knew lots of people who were going to get me across the globe in one trip, but being alone on the road was way worse than I had expected. I am a creature of habit and suddenly my whole life was in one backpack. The comforts of home — and my cats! — were on the other side of the world and the loneliness and insecurity was often crushing. But! I thought to myself, I’ll make the most of it for the summer with the money I saved up and then I’ll head back to school to pursue an education that will enable me to do this one day again, but with a team.
Having tried a couple life roads now — and being 23 going on 24 — I jumped into Theatre Production at Grant Mac with everything I had and dedicated myself day in and day out to being the best I could be. And has it ever paid off.
In the summer between my first and second year of school, I worked as a Summer Production Assistant at the Edmonton Opera. My boss, Clayton Rodney, was my drafting instructor as well as a monitor for shows at the school. Due to our shared love of sarcasm, we immediately hit it off. It was my first entertainment job with an established company and every day was a dream! … even if it was usually me painting drawers or sweeping floors, I loved every minute of it. Getting a chance to work with people who every day are willing to teach me something new. I went in to my second year of school with many more skills and perhaps a bit more humility. It was my turn to pass on what I had learned to others and to help them in whatever way I could and man did that feel great!
Second year ended and I was over the moon to be offered a full time job at the Opera, as a production assistant, working with Clayton, the man who changed my life. Now, I’m totally one to gush, but he’s not exactly the type to enjoy being gushed about, so I won’t go into it too much, but suffice to say, I am forever indebted to him. He took a chance on me and I hope every day that I can make him proud that he did. I learn so much from him every day — work and life stuff, and because of him I’ve been able to get my first car and am now working on getting my first condo next fall! (What!) From crying in a filthy room in Paris, looking at schools, not having a clue what to do, to working at the Opera, St Albert Childrens Theatre and Look Events. In 2 years my life completely turned around, and I am the happiest I’ve ever been. All thanks to networking.
So now, here I am, working three jobs, and planning a project with my best friend and two more of our incredibly talented and motivated friends. One that will see us traveling across the US, using our powers of networking to get us from Point A to B to maybe even Y or Z. I can’t wait to get started and see where this wonderful gift can take us.
That’s it for this post! If you have a networking tip or story you’d like to share, leave me a comment! Thanks for reading :).
P.
Production Assistant Life 