Living off your art

Convener: George Mann

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

Following the session "How can artists run good businesses that earn them a living and are sustainable?" held on the 25 February 2012 I changed the name of this follow up ‘action’ session to the above.

Core Issues?

I began the session asking to identify the ‘core issues’ that make it difficult for artists to run successful businesses and make a living in order to get the ball rolling, they were deemed to be:

1.     State of Mind

-Young professionals finding it hard to ask to be paid and finding themselves in cycle of unpaid work that’s difficult to escape –like attracting like…  they feel unprepared when leaving education and that there’s no support. Doubt as to just how true this is, we collected more info about organisations, books, etc that offer help. See below…

-Business is a dirty word: it was felt that many find it difficult to accept that making a living off your art involves business, and prefer to think of it differently, some even to deny the fact –but we agreed it shouldn’t be like this.

-The myth of the poor artist and that this is the way it should be, a romanticised way of life (when in fact many professional artists in many professions are highly successful and comfortable financially or, quite frankly, rich).

The three ‘issues’ identified above are considered to be part of the problem facing artists and perhaps behind the statistic 50-75% of artists end up leaving the profession after five years because they cannot make a living.

2.     Education

-There are not many well-known organisations offering support to artists running self employed / company businesses providing training in business management, or access to different business models available. This point, it was argued, is not entirely true, there are many orgs out there, ITC for example, but perhaps we haven’t done the research to find out? Or perhaps they’re not well known enough.

-Uni’s and drama schools etc., can do more to prepare –educate – guide their students towards the information we’ve discussed and collected through these two sessions. Only one or two actually do this for their students.

-It was felt that although some know about business help –courses, training, info such as books, access to the help mentioned above requires money and although we recognise the above cannot be run/produced for ‘free’, we agreed that they were expensive, more so for students.

-Can the ACE help make this type of training affordable?

-Someone points out that if artists were trained to run businesses properly, efficiently, well, that this would help art thrive. Business can help art thrive, it needn’t be a dirty word or concept.

3.     Lack of protection for companies and artists from bad conduct.

-Theatre’s misbehaving, i.e. not adhering to contractual agreements on marketing support, for example, letting down companies and artists…

-Artists and companies feel vulnerable to political consequences if they voice their concerns about misconduct they’ve experienced in their dealings with theatres –such as repeated bad practice of not putting up posters/flyers etc. For example, by voicing their concern, they may find themselves unable to book tour dates at said venue in the future…

-Artists, it was felt, should come together to support each other, so that concerns and reports of bad conduct can be aired and backed up by the community, this way theatres cannot so easily ‘misbehave’ knowing that there would be consequences, that other people would find out.

-Can ACE do anything to make sure theatres that they fund are doing a good job? We say this knowing that they’ve recently suffered massive cuts, so where these people would come from is anyone’s guess…

What Can We Do?

Talking is all very well, but really, what can we do, what difference can we make, how can we change the status quo?

We felt there were two ways of doing something about this:

1.     Communication

There is a severe lack of communication about how artists can run their businesses, be they self employed, or wanting to establish a company, and if this was improved then artists would know what is out there, and how to find it –as there is stuff out there, even if it’s not ideal…

2.     Promote learning/education

…About how artists entering the industry can run their businesses, successfully. This involves uni’s, drama schools, the ACE, ITC –they could all do more, work together, to help make the arts thrive through good business management.

How can we encourage drama schools/uni’s to make sure they properly prepare their students before leaving their institutions, to lessen the shock of the ‘real world’ to provide access to and guidance about making a living off your art?

The two, communication and promote learning/education kind of sit together, and practically we felt the next steps could be:

Website/Webpage

There needs to be a site or page, perhaps on the new D&D website (?), that becomes well known, a place artists know about and direct other artists who are starting up or who need business guidance.

A forum?

Perhaps on the abovementioned site/page to ask questions openly to a membership (free) and community of artists who can reply, like a notice board.

Create a D&D Satellite

To raise this issue with people in the arts who have influence and can actually bring about change, high profile critics such as Lyn Gardner, ACE representatives, MPs in the cultural department, Business school reps, ITC reps, Equity reps, BECTU reps, drama schools/uni reps with and without business prep courses, life coaches, Princes Trust, Venues and Theatres and Festivals, etc. Put these issues to them and see what could be done practically, make them give a s**t about it, see it’s importance.

Partner ITC with ACE?

Encourage a dialogue and partnership between organisations such as the ACE and ITC who could make training courses of this nature more affordable and available to artists who need it, be they start-ups or well established artists needing a helping hand.

Who will do this?

I acknowledged along with many others that I don’t have the time nor money to really take on the above tasks, but that there are people out there, the influential people we mention above, who could include these tasks as part of their job description and could be better placed to make a difference.

So we have concluded that what is most important at this stage is:

Organising a satellite D&D to get the right people together, and

Getting this info, which in itself is helpful and a good start up on the D&D website –a place, a forum, a community that exists already and continues to grow.

The right people need to do this

Tips, advice, organisations, & comments that came out of the above discussion:

Helpful Organisations Online:

Creative choices: help with developing your career in the arts, fantastic stuff to help you here…

http://www.creative-choices.co.uk/

Free Cycle can help you acquire set, props and costume for free: a grassroots movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns.

http://uk.freecycle.org/

CIDA: If you’re a creative individual, business or arts organisation looking for support to take your creative business or project further, you’ll find it here, whatever stage you’re at.

http://www.cida.co.uk/

Heads for Business: To bring together the top leaders of today and tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business.

http://www.sife.org/Pages/default.aspx

PANDA ARTS: PANDA’s mission is to proactively support a vibrant enterprise culture by nurturing talent, creating connections and providing an authoritative voice for the performing arts sector. PANDA supports 
Anyone working, or aspiring to work, within the performing arts sector within the NW and neighbouring regions. http://www.panda-arts.org.uk/#

Arts Council: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/

Arts Oracle: http://www.artsoracle.com/

Helpful Books:

Screw Work Let’s Play – John Williams (not Spielberg favorite composer)

Sales on a beer mat – Mike Southon

So you wana be a theatre producer – James Seabright

Comments/Thoughts:

From Tanja Raaste:

I attach the info on the course I'm running at Blue Elephant through 2012. Thank you for putting up the info onto your new blog.  Do send me the link when it's up, and I'll feature it on my resources page (which is still under construction:  click here )

Another resource you might want to put a link to is my newsletter (see links below my signature below) - the newsletter mainly deals with arts business issues – you can have a flick through the past issues (link below).

Kind regards,

Tanja

Tanja Raaste

07980 619 165

www.nordicnomad.com 

Business Skills for Artists – new course at the Blue Elephant Theatre.  Details here.

Sign up to the monthly Nordic Nomad Newsletter here.  For past issues - click here.

-Actors agents, although work for some, also help distance actors/artists from the reality of business and of money, this can lead to difficult situations, feelings of powerlessness and in rare cases corruption. It’s good that actors know this is not the only route…

-Artists can apply for working tax credit, did you know this?

-Perhaps the current trend of arts businesses being charities and not-for-profit orgs puts pressure on others to follow suit when in fact their business model does not suit this? Again, is it wrong to make a profit? Is it wrong to want to make a living, buy a house one day, be comfortable as an artist…? This probably adds to the perception of the poor artists myth, and the moral stance some take in believing that business is a dirty word in the arts.

-Business is a creative ‘thing’, it can be exciting to run your own arts business

-Business and art engage two different parts of the brain, which is a challenge but also helps us separate and not mix the two where they shouldn’t be mixed.

-There’s an inherent violence and difficulty in the arts, it’s not easy, it is hard work, and no amount of education and guidance will change this fact.

-EVERYTHING is negotiable, no doesn’t always mean no

-Can ACE do things with Uni’s and Drama Schools AND ITC, pairing, arts management courses in conjunction with…?

-NPO’s are not obliged but they are encouraged to mentor and help other artists with their own businesses/companies

-Can someone create a list of willing venues who would help artists, mentor them?

 http://devotedanddisgruntled7.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-can-artists-run-good-businesses.html

Another useful resource:

26 March: Starting a Performing Arts Company

Former Director of ITC, Mary Loughran leads this fascinating and exciting one day course, providing an overview of the essential skills required for setting up and running a performing arts company.

10am - 5pm at the Albany. 

For more info you can check the ITC website: www.itc-arts.org

 

Can actors earn a living from theatre? (And is ‘money’ a dirty word?)

Convener: Andrew Piper

Participants: Emily Hodgson, Sian Rees, Adam Milford, Aliki (?), and others who joined later

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

The short answer to this question was: no. An actor on Equity minimum working on a year’s contract in the West End (among the best of the Equity minimum rates) will earn significantly less than the average London wage. Most actors do not work on 12 month contracts, but are contracted on a production-by-production basis for a few weeks or months at a time. This means that doing other work – either related (tv, voiceover, corporate training) or unrelated (temp jobs, bar work, box office/ushering) – was essential. Significantly, this is still true as the actor gets older and more experienced.

When working on a non-creative job our sense of ourselves as artists (or even jobbing actors) fades very quickly. We felt that it was important to have creative projects of our own during these periods – not just developing & maintaining skills - but that when most of our energies were taken up with trying to find temp work to pay the bills, these were hard to maintain. In addition, as actors we have to make ourselves available for paid acting work, and this will almost always compromise the commitment we can make to personal projects.

Unpaid theatre work makes this task even harder. Sometimes this is about feeding the soul, or increasing our exposure to the industry, but committing to these projects is always a gamble as often they turn out to be neither artistically satisfying nor a successful showcase. This is especially frustrating on projects when the actors are the only ones not getting any money. Some of the actors said that they no longer worked for no money, out of principal; they would work for low wages when they recognized the artistic worth and the low budgets, but never for no money at all.

Often we are urged to create our own work, which some do very successfully, but others hated having to turn themselves into entrepreneurs when that was neither their skill nor their interest. Also, while one-person plays are very portable, one of the things we love about acting (and which makes us better actors) is working with other actors.

Acting isn’t a luxury or a hobby for us – it’s what we need to do. Just because we enjoy it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get paid!

Most of the actors in the group said that they hankered for ensemble companies – longer contracts to cover multiple productions - perhaps including some development work for new writing. This would give us:

• a greater degree of financial security
• the chance to develop longer-term artistic relationships
• a chance to develop as artists
• a more-deeply engrained sense of ourselves as valued collaborators rather than disposable commodities, hired & let go several times a year. (or not hired at all!)

We noted the high drop-out rate of actors from the profession. One statistic mentioned (unverified) was 50% after 5 years, 75% after 10. While this could be seen in some ways as necessary, Darwinian wastage, the reasons for this wastage often have nothing to do with an actor’s talent for doing good work. How can the industry do more to support talented artists who perhaps lack the self-promotion skills that many, less talented artists may have in spades? Do you want an industry where the primary skillset of the artists is self-promotion?

As actors we often accept the low-status position that the industry tends to keep us in: don’t call us, we’ll call you. We contemplated whether it is healthy to be constantly trying to ingratiate ourselves with the gatekeepers to good, paid work. (And the gatekeepers are getting ever more restrictive in who they will even consider for audition). For our own mental and artistic health, some of us felt that we needed to focus more on being the kind of artist we want to be and let that attract others to us. But this is not easy for an actor, who needs to be part of a company in order to practice his/her art.

We discussed recent news articles about the dominance of public school and/or Oxbridge educated actors, and while we acknowledged that there were advantages they had which were not available to us – wealthy parents to subsidise their living arrangements, ready-made networks of influential family and friends – there was something we could aim to emulate, which was their confidence and sense of entitlement. (Note we use the word ‘entitlement’ not to foster resentment that we do not have the career we want, but to express a sense that we absolutely belong, that we approach directors with a confidence that we can be great in that part, but that if he/she does not want to cast us then that does not diminish our ‘star quality’ and we will find another home for it). Bitterness and resentment at inequality will not help us either as artists or as actors wanting work.

“This is me. You may like it. You may not. But this is me.”

Convener’s coda:

The fact that we are all agreed that earning a living from theatre alone is impossible – primarily because the wages are not enough to sustain between short-term contracts – has significant implications for any theatre-makers who use actors in their work. If actors are low-status commodities to pick up when needed and put down as soon as a project ends then they cannot develop as artists, and theatremakers will struggle to find people with the skills to bring their work to life. We need to find ways of developing longer-term relationships (and, where possible, contracts) that means that creative talents can be nurtured and developed, at the same time as earning a living.

Lyricists who want to meet composers (and vice versa)

Convener: David Cotti

Participants: Jen Toksvig, Jen Lunn, Dan Woods, Dan Willis,  Imogen Butler-Cole

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

General discussion of songwriting and musical theatre, exchanging of e-mails, recommendation of mercurymusicals.com as a good general resource for finding collaborators.  Perfect Pitch was also mentioned (after the session) as an organization worth contacting.

How can the “professional” world and the “fringe” play nicely?

Convener: Alex Lehman

Participants: Sarah Boesen, Dick Bonham, Aaron Paterson, Jake Orr, Nir Paldi, Sarah Gee, Gill Nathanson, Matt Ball

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

Basic Summary:

Started with discussion of all-volunteer show You Me Bum Bum Train vs Equity complaints about free work degrading the industry, as well as industry ‘gate keepers’ like Spotlight not recognizing alternative theatre artists. It became apparent that some ‘establishments’ are genuinely reaching out to developing artists in the form of support and space and can often be called upon to provide advice as well. Also reinforced was the idea that the “fringe” exists outside of the “normal” theatre world for a reason, that it already has its own support network, and to trust that. The importance of social networking as a way of breaking down barriers was discussed as well.

Notes Taken:

You Me Bum Bum Train: problem from paying actor’s point of view, what did they offer the workers? (implied: nothing) Show couldn’t become financially.

YMBBT counterpoint: it’s OK as long as all are aware of what they’re getting into. The way it’s approached is fundamental to whether it’s OK.

What does “fringe” even mean? Is it defined financially? Who are the “gate-keepers”?

Devised world version of Spotlight is the scratch performance

RE: Fringe vs. Professional, not helpful to define ourselves “against a center”

Arts Council has begun encouraging/requiring larger institutions to reach out to smaller companies & this has so far been a good system

In Devon, the organizers of the Fringe Theatrefest (of whom Gill Nathanson is one) worked closely with a large, local venue who donated infrastructure and space – even converting a main performance hall into a studio space.

Difference between London and regional theatre environments: in regional theatre, everything is more dispersed and there is more a sense that you have to actively seek out contacts among the theatre community in order to survive.

In some ways London feels more disconnected than regional because of the huge variety on offer.

“Fringe” is more of a meaningful term in the context of London than it is up north in Leeds, for instance

How is National Theatre Wales (represented by Matt Ball) reaching out to fringe artists? By giving people time and space to talk about their work. Starting scratch nights. Running an artistic development programme.

“Why” is NTW doing that?

Paraphrased: ‘Because we’re responsible for our country’s theatre. It’s important that that process be holistic. We need to ensure that Welsh theatre artists feel empowered and that there isn’t a sense that you have to go to London to make theatre.

General comment that Wales is a great place for funding and support.

Incubator Project is a good thing to know

London artist asking herself if she should “Move to Cardiff” for her career, but staying in London for personal relationship

Story about frustration of arts council funding which is available for R&D, but not for actually paying to put the show on in front of an audience.

Value of befriending entry level workers at arts institutions – today’s admin assistants are tomorrow’s gate-keepers

Getting ahead is all about developing professional relationships. Reinforce importance of Twitter for getting advice from people you wouldn’t normally have access to.

OK to talk to venues, especially when seeking advice on how they like to be approached and how their selection processes work. Also talk to other companies.

Mentorships are great – how can they be encouraged? (again, one participant found a mentor through twitter)

CPT & Emerging Artists as good resources

Another possible definition of ‘fringe’ vs ‘professional’: the difference between working the festival circuit to taking the next step to establishing yourself in the programmed world. Expression of difficulty in making that transition

Wide Awake Devon – mentoring program in Devon

Listing mentoring time as an in-kind donation on funding applications. Importance of listing in-kind donations for emerging companies.

Regional, smaller communities communicate more with each other.

Money and Audience are the points of competition amongst theatres. Complaint that big venues don’t do enough audience development, leaving fringe theatre with less public awareness. Do people even want to see theatre? How and in what form? Big venues as powerful force in developing public taste.

Not much small scale touring is possible anymore in regional theatre.

‘Fringe’ is sometimes seen as a stepping stone to somewhere else. Really, it is also its own destination.

Big organisations are often willing to be helpful in small ways – offering a free desk for an afternoon or half an hour to speak to an administrator. OK to ask big venues for help.

How does one find the balance between going too far in being persistent vs. being a nuisance? Sometimes it’s about not taking no, but not hammering on the same thing over and over – receive criticism/response and propose something new (example of rejected performance proposal coming back as a ‘lunch time’ event)

OK to ask a company you like if you can shadow them for a few days.

Old Vic New Voices now have monthly access to advice.

Big orgs need to be able to do their own work as well, and some barriers to communication are necessary for that. Sometimes a person has one day a week where he/she is available to talk – reserving other days for focused work.

Arts Admin & Oval House have advisor services available

Question: What is the first step in creating site-specific work – apply for funding or talk to venue?

Conversation is always valuable, no matter what starts it or where it happens.

Going to shows is important for learning the character of a venue & help you target your future inquiries to places whose missions suit you.

Importance of following your interests rather than the perceived ‘rules’ or ‘hotspots’

Don’t take rejections personally!

What are some actions that can come from this?

How can we let the professional world know our concerns on this topic?

Good to talk to venues and explore the barriers, eventually you will find a way through. But, again, be respectful and don’t hammer away incessantly if a channel opens up to you.

ArtsJobs is good. Devisers don’t really derive any benefit from Spotlight, anyway – stick to the way the fringe works and don’t worry about the other theatre world.

Is it possible to encourage more in-school visits from professionals to talk to students about the transition from school to the professional world?

Is London a healthy place to make art, as opposed to a smaller city, more community oriented, and possibly with more funding available.

One participant’s personal opinion: A first she thought London was amazing because of all the opportunities to literally put her work in front of other people. But eventually she hit a gap when she wanted to jump from being an emerging artist to being and established company. Now feels it might be good at this point to leave and return at a later time.

The Point in Eastleigh do residencies for companies trying to make that leap

‘Place’ is important to the kind of theatre you make

In some other cities the professional world doesn’t play as nicely with the fringe as they do in London. For instance, local frustration with the Manchester Festival bringing in artists from everywhere but Manchester. Let to the creation of the Not the Manchester Festival.

Best to be honest, when speaking to venues and networking, about the fact that you’re new or confused or need help. Don’t try to pretend you know what you’re doing if you don’t. That’s much worse.

Just remember that there are always alternatives to the ‘mainstream’ systems.

Big theatre world as hostile to the fringe. Big theatre school invited a devising company to come to a casting call and when they wanted to hire a student for an Edinburgh show, the school director sneered and said that they didn’t advise their students to get involved with fringe shows.

Francis Bacon Performance Project

 Convener: Malwina Chabocka

Participants: Morven Macbeth, Lucy Avery, Jamie Zubairi, Danny Scheinmann, Seth Honnor, Kitty Martin

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

A designer/ deviser is looking for creative theatre practitioners and artists to work on an exciting large-scale design-led performance project about Francis Bacon. If you’re a director, writer, choreographer, sound designer, performer, dancer, aerial/ trapeze artist, musician, singer and would like to find out more, please email Malwina on info at malwinart dot com. 

Physical Theatre with Older Actors

Convener: Kitty Martin

Participants: Tamsin Clarke, Jon Pashley, Hugh Hayes, Sharon Eckman, Ana Brothers, Dodger Phillips, Abbi Greenland, Lawrence O’Connor, Lucy Westell and others who can and went.

 Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

Addressing physical performance with an older actor, we had the following thoughts & comments:

Although there are exceptions, it’s unusual to see older actors performing in Physical Theatre shows. It was noted that Frantic Assembly’s current show LOVESONG has some electric moments with older performers.

Physical Theatre is perceived as a young performers game. Are we missing a trick here?

There was conversation about what is Physical Theatre:

Isn’t all theatre physical to some degree or other?

There is more to Physical Theatre than strenuous athleticism and speed.

Good movement/physicality can be something that you can’t obviously see.

There is no support network or lab work focusing on physicality and older actors. European Theatre organizations appear to have the funding, internal structure and cultural approval to train and conduct R&D with an Ensemble over a long period of time. The UK is not set up this way.

There needs to be an acceptance that bodies change as we age and we can work within those limitations, abilities and rhythms and still produce stimulating work. It is more interesting to see people working with the limitations of their bodies and how they negotiate that – a metaphor for what it is to be a human being.

It is harder to find older actors who are fit enough to perform 8 shows/week of strenuous athletic theatre. Older actors are more likely to have family and financial responsibilities and are not prepared/able to work for very low pay.

Regardless of age, when people move with ease it is attractive to watch.

Do audiences always/only want to see spectacular, extreme feats of physicality?

Will an audience worry about older actors who are not up to the physical demands?

Movement directors & safety – Regardless of age, it is best practice for physical theatre productions to engage a movement director who has responsibility for the safety and physical welfare of performers. It is essential for younger and older performers to avoid injury. Be safe – At the end of the day, it’s just a play and a story we are telling! Keep in mind we are doing this for an audience not for our own gratification.

Regardless of age, performers need to have an understanding of what they can do physically. An actor’s limits can be stretched with good quality, ongoing training. There is a balance to be had between pushing the body and working within it’s limitations. Older actors have a better understanding of where their body is in the space, than younger actors. There is an assumption that younger actors are more physically aware – this is misguided.

Regardless of age, all performers should be empowered to say “no” if they are asked to do movements which may compromise their health or cause injury. 

Ideally movement comes from each actor’s body. Older actors should be acknowledge for their physicality and valued for what they can contribute and what they can physically say about being of a certain age. If a particular movement is not possible, it is possible to find an interesting, valid alternative.

Role models – look for them – they are out there:

Barry Grantham, Pina Bausch, LOVESONG, Leonard Bernstein who conducts with his whole body….youtube – my friend Maya on Fire Island (try that!)

Conclusions:

We need to raise awareness that older performers have much to give and offer something different to younger performers. Both are valid.

Being safe is crucial.

It is useful to challenge assumptions, preconceptions and perceptions.

I have a job interview on Tuesday, help me to be really good at it when I get there.

Convener: Leyla Asadi

Participants: Dodge / Morven / Sally

Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:

LA: feeling slightly worried about this interview as I think I could do the job very well but need to think through how I structure my answers and deal with the presentation which is entitled; ‘How would I ensure the positive development of the company through the mission, vision and current artistic landscape.

Conversation

*Explained the company history and importance of their mission.

*Talked about grass-root companies working with the community but also wanting to venture more into venue-land. Impact on community spaces closing. *Even bigger need to keep those voices heard.

*Think about what the limits are, so I know what I’m dealing with.

*Think about ways they would like to see change. Look at corporate areas to make brand strong etc.

*Making sure the questions I may ask are relevant and don’t try to ‘tackle’ everything! Think about the scope of the job and what relevance the role entails.

*If you know what they are looking to do in the future or over next 3 years of funding, make sure those areas are addressed in presentation.

*Think about the artistic merits of the company and how you would enhance rather than change. A long standing company may want new influences but doesn’t want to change what the essence of who they are.

*Be specific in presentation.

*Use PowerPoint if possible to focus your presentation and its also useful as a back up.

*What to wear-something smart but not the power suit/briefcase combo. Neat and presentable :)

*How to approach the question about ‘what are your weaknesses/faults-over working is usually a good one! The need to get better at not overstretching yourself.

*Questions to the panel-make sure they are relevant and don’t come across as something that is asked just for sake of asking something.

*Part time job so how are the hours going to be managed? Set days? Is it flexible in terms of place of work? Etc.

Ideas

*Changing climate/closure/reduction of community based work will impact greatly so look at innovative ways to continue what is important to them (essentially not loosing their specialty as a company).

*Look at current trends/themes for inspiration.

*Rather than always devising new work maybe a known text that happens to have the same ‘issue-base’ but is not currently marketed in that way. This would potentially open up new audiences but not loose sight of importance of issues.

*Website-start a blog space where participants can contribute online with their ideas/stories-IF closure of community centres means less physical work in spaces. Make it clear that although some negative aspects may be present (i.e. unsolicited blogs) all interaction is useful as it may help evidence that increased awareness is needed!

*Look to highlight areas of what a producer does and bullet point what I would do to build/develop on current practice. Pick ones that are most appropriate and use to explain how I would develop them.

*Presentation-intro what I like about the co/where I think I could help take it/focus on 3 main ideas-BE SPECIFIC, USE EXAMPLES-with at least one being backed up by an example of past experience.

Good Tips

1.Prepare for the moment-prior to interview don’t worry about what may be the outcome etc.

2. Seems obvious but listen to questions and answer them (easily to misinterpret or go off on tangent.

3. Don’t assume anything-just because they know you, you still need to spell everything out so they can tick their little boxes.

4. Don’t loose your personality!