What Type of Person Thrives in the Entertainment Industry, According to a Story Associate Producer at Pilgrim Media Group
Dannia, a Story Associate Producer, reveals that success in entertainment hinges not on "networking," a term Dannia finds off-putting, but on genuinely maintaining connections; Dannia emphasizes the importance of "following up on your connections and keeping them alive," transforming transactional interactions into meaningful relationships.
Networking, Relationship Building, Communication, Persistence, Following Up
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Dannia Alfonso
Story Associate Producer
Pilgrim Media Group
NYU - Tisch School of the Arts
UCLA Anderson - MBA
Film, Media Arts, Visual Arts
Arts, Entertainment & Media
Communication and Marketing
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Following up on connections is more important than networking. Dannia emphasizes the importance of maintaining relationships with people you meet, rather than just making initial connections.
2. The entertainment industry relies heavily on networking and relationship building. Dannia's experience highlights the value of nurturing professional relationships and keeping in touch with people you've met.
3. Don't view networking as transactional. Dannia advises against seeing networking as a chore or a transactional exchange. Instead, focus on genuinely connecting with people and maintaining those connections over time to build a strong professional network.
Transcript
How would you describe people who typically thrive in the entertainment industry?
Remember that story about how I got my first job because a friend of a friend knew someone? That's how people are successful in the entertainment industry: networking. Which is like the worst word in the world, if I'm being honest.
I'm really bad at it, despite that story. Networking, and I think what it really comes down to – and this is something I've been thinking about – is what all my professors, coaches, and advisors keep telling me. "You need to network. You need to network."
That word has such a connotation that it makes things really difficult for me. I think a better way to look at it is following up on your connections. So, the girl who got me the job, I'm still kind of friendly with her. She's no longer in the TV industry.
A good networker would be me sending her a message, "Hey, what's up? I haven't heard from you in a really long time. How are you doing?" Instead of just lurking or following her on Instagram. That's the real crux.
This is real talk. Networking is following up with these people you make relationships with and keeping those relationships alive. Not letting them fizzle out because of time. If someone could have put that in those words to me instead of this bull**** networking, I think it might have made more sense.
Networking feels like a chore, like I need to give and take. It feels very transactional when it shouldn't be. It's just checking up on someone you've met or following up to make sure they're okay. The last couple of years have been kind of weird; that's enough of a premise to reach out to anyone you haven't contacted in a while.
So, if you really want to be successful, you really have to know how to follow up on your connections and keep them alive.
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