It Pays to Be Connected….
Isn’t that always the case? Regardless of the field?
Unfortunately, that has not really been my experience.
When your parents co-owned one of the local Chinese-Canadian restaurants in small town Ontario, it doesn’t get you much beyond broken fortune cookies and leftovers from the nightly buffet.
It’s not like I ever expect to be handed anything – if you don’t expect it, you don’t get disappointed.
I apparently never dated the right people either- I know a lot of people who are where they are today through that extended familial connection.
I was caught up in one such situation just this past week. Her sort of father-in-law has been in the business a long time and got her a couple gigs at the big studio that shall not be named and came into our office to “introduce” himself- to let us know it is his daughter-in-law who was coming in for the interview. It wasn’t a threat exactly but the implication of mutual back-scratching was clear.
But what you do with the leg up is your decision. The entertainment is rampant with that kind of nepotism and given the state of my job situation- think dumpsters of garbage being unloaded on your head and being given only a plastic spoon to dig yourself out with but you can’t use your hands- I am ready to blow this popsicle stand.
But I digress.
Will this person flame out? Will the other people I see being ushered into opportunities most of us only dream of make the most of it, prove their worth, make their own name or simply be content to ride the coattails of their connections?
Sometimes I resent it- not being handed an opportunity on a silver platter- though one could argue that I got this position through a friend. He told me about the rights management contract job and I went for the interview- more on a lark than anything else. When my supervisor left the company, he said me being connected to and upper level executive was definitely a factor but my friend didn’t actually get me the barely above minimum wage job and my supervisor could tell I wasn’t a dummy. It all worked out, I guess.
When I got into production finance, my friendship with the VP of Finance was also a factor but again, the person who hired me could tell I wasn’t a dummy and we have been work colleagues and friends ever since.
But I may be ready to chuck it all again and start anew- as has been my MO for a long time until I landed in kids entertainment. I have been in this business almost five years and I am tired.
I just wish I knew what I wanted to jump into next and if I know anyone who can give me a hand with that.
AngryEgg 