“Lets do lunch!”
It is not only one of the most cliche Hollywood sayings, but it is also one of the most important to boot. Personal relationships are key to being successful in filmmaking. Everyone you meet on various sets could be people that you are working with long into the future. In addition to that, you never know where people might end up. You could be a Production Assistant and ten years later your fellow ex-PA could be a line producer and you could be an assistant director. People go in all sorts of different directions and you’ll see a lot of familiar faces throughout your career. You’ll also meet people outside of the business that can effect your future films. You never know who might invest in your future films, or who might inspire a new story.
To keep relationships active, sometimes you’ll have to “do lunch”, or go to parties and industry gathering. “Friend” co-workers and friends of friends on Facebook. When the Holidays come, it doesn’t matter if you celebrate christmas, hanukkah, kwanzaa, or festivus, it is a great excuse to send a card or note to keep in touch with your contacts. Even mass emails, Facebook messages, or text messages will go a long way to remind people that you exist and hope to work with them again in the future. Keeping in touch with people you meet on set will lead to a lot of future jobs, more so than sending out resumes or applying to gigs on Craig’s List.
