Chris Diani's Lounge Discussions

Congrats!

APPLAUSE & CONGRATULATIONS EMANUEL!!!!!!!!!

Thank you guys, I appreciate it! :)

Congrats! Just got back from Chicon (the World Science Fiction Convention) where our film "Pig" won Best Sci-Fi Feature. Would love to pick your brain sometime about how to approach other Cons about screening our film. Where is your film playing next?

Congratulations! I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have :) in terms of our next, we signed a distribution deal that controls our festival appearances for that particular title - however I have other projects in festivals, Chicago, NYIIFV coming up, and a few other smaller festivals - AFM screenings and working on AFI :)

@J. Brian--I couldn't agree with you more. FB for me is all about friends and family. I won't include 1,000 people there. This is all about networking and putting the business in "show business". I reached 1,000 people here very quickly. I'm able to put projects together with people from other states who I wouldn't have known otherwise.

I take a more pragmatic approach to accepting connection requests; if these people have made the time to connect to me, then I'm willing to give them a chance to audition or prove themselves when the time comes that I need someone in their field. For all I know, one of the dozens of actors who've connected to me may not be good for the project I'm working on today, but they could be perfect for the project I'm working on five years from now - what's the point in my seeking them out again when I can have them in my online Rolodex? That said, I'm pretty careful about who I send requests to - usually it's agents, managers or producers I'd like to get into business with. One of my favourite connections was a writer/producer that I'm a huge fan of - I even interviewed her for an article a couple of years ago - that just happened to be a connection of a connection. I'm not trying to raise numbers for the sake of it, but if people want to know what I'm up to, far be it from me to resist that unnecessarily. And, frankly, I think Spielberg has better things to do than look through my Stage32 connections all day. Actually, talking of six degrees of separation - one of my friends, a writer, was hired by Spielberg himself for Terra Nova. So I'm sure if I had something he desperately needed to see, it could be arranged.

Just so we're clear: nowhere in this thread have I advocated a wholesale rejection of all connection requests. A deliberate approach to networking is still a valid form of networking. I do love hearing about how other people connect, even if their networking style is completely different from my own approach. Like I've said before: do what works for you. One thing no one has really touched upon yet is the difference between a network and an audience. Kriss mentioned connecting with people who want to know what he's up to; I prefer to use Facebook and Twitter for that purpose, leaving LinkedIn and Stage 32 for professional connections and potential collaborators. That's not to say someone can't be both a professional connection and a member of your audience (in fact, I'm planning on working with a young filmmaker I met via a fan letter she wrote after watching my first feature), but the larger your network gets, the harder it can be to discern who is who. Tom, I'm a bit of a moving target right now, but beer will definitely be on me if we ever do meet. I'm currently developing a screwball rom-com set at a furry convention titled "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits." What are you working on?

I have network connections with people in my own city and state, but keeping my network that tight would be choking the life out of anything bigger I want to accomplish. Keeping a close circle of friends is one thing, but when you're trying to build a career in the entertainment business, it's about numbers because those number can produce contacts for you that some of your best friends could never get. For example, I live in Louisiana, yet I am closely working with producers in Missouri and Michigan who were able to use their connections in their networks to secure two well known sci-fi actors and a well known sci-fi director for my next movie. These 3 guys have lots of pull in the Roddenberry circle of actors and producers, among other groups. No body I know personally in Louisiana could have done that. In this business, you're going to work with people from all over the world at some point... some of whom you may never meet face to face.

I try to reach out across the vast pond from Asia. so I try to connect with lots of people through social media as I am not often able to network at many usa film fests