It feels like there's two different mindsets among people in life. There are the people who are first motivated by passion and then there are the ones who are first motivated by money. It's the type of thing that leads to huge conflicts, especially when you deal with creative people.
Living in both of these worlds, I have no idea how we can distinguish why particular people have this mindset. I do have my theories on the "money first" types, though. First off, not seen those people confront death in their immediate family at an early age. I became more motivated to follow my passion when my brother in law died suddenly at 21 when I was 22 and trying to get accepted to law school somewhere outside the Southeast.
Second, I haven't seen those people really have a passion for anything. You get a sense that they're just going to slug it out at any old job paying enough for their purposes, have no real enjoyment in anything & then die sooner or later. For me, that's depressing as hell. At least do something you like, even if it's in your spare time.
Third, the true "money first" types are more than happy to tell the "passion first" people to try shoehorning themselves into holes that simply do not fit them for whatever reason. I have had to confront this in my own home, which no one should have to deal with.
Finally, the "money first" types hate their lives & what they do. Perhaps they recognize the bleakness of their own existence that I mentioned. Unfortunately, I've seen quite a few operating under the old "misery loves company" umbrella & try taking everyone around them down with them. It's these types I have been excising from my life since that shit doesn't work in modeling, where I plan to utilize as many opportunities as I can get.
Dealing with a lot of personal issues lately. At least I did find out my immediate family is still with me but I'm not so sure my husband is truly with me. He makes me wonder at times, especially with certain comments I've gotten recently. For instance, he apparently thinks I sit on my ass & do nothing all day since I don't have some full time job that provides me with a W-2. I look at opportunities & take advantage of networking while he outright told me "networking is a waste of time" and refuses to do it. My husband is a bit of a misanthrope; he'd even admit it to you. He's not the type to go to fashion events, while that's totally my thing. In some ways, I missed out on things since I lived in NC and never got to do entertainment stuff until I graduated from law school and moved to NYC.
I could deal with his having different interests from me and having other friends. That's fine and I think that's healthier. We don't need to be attached at the hip; no couple should aspire to that. Just remember that if you get married, your spouse's problems become your problems. I had no clue just how much this was the case until my husband became outright despondent over his job situation & started taking it out on me. It seems he falls in the "money first" crowd while I'm part of the "passion first" crowd.
I wasn't actually part of the "passion first" crowd until later on in my life. I think maybe it started with my brother in law's death or when I learned there was such a thing as entertainment law. Yeah, I think it was when I learned there was such a thing as entertainment law. I knew I would never be happy in the average law firm setting and had no desire to kill myself to be number one in my law school class. I also knew the power of relationships and "you can't take it with you" with my brother in law's passing and watching my sister's reaction to it while trying to take care of their son by herself. I vowed that if I ever found a love of my life (which I felt didn't exist), I wasn't going to let some law firm break up my relationship. I figured once I found the love of my life, it was going to be a set "forever & ever" thing. Who likes dealing with divorce & all the mess of break-ups?
But when you're dealing with 2 different mindsets and 2 different levels of ambition, you're going to have serious problems. As an older, wiser person I have to say don't marry someone who doesn't have some ambition unless you lack it yourself. I'm hyper-ambitious so being around people who aren't drives me crazy. Ambition seems to be one of those things like financial attitudes: they say if you're a saver, don't marry a spendthrift & vice versa.
My husband is from a "money first" family so I feel some concern that this attitude has rubbed off on him way too much for me. My family has its own flaws but no one ever told me I couldn't bother having dreams, ambition or sights outside my hometown. Eventually, they stopped having any moments of doubt in me when I said I was going to do something. I have continued on my not seeing people in my husband's family since their comments to him since I refuse to go anyplace where I am not welcome & have yet to receive an apology from anyone. What's the point in that? None of these people are co-workers, pay my salary or are sharing public transit with me. To my mind that means there's no point in putting up with their bullshit or disrespect. We'll see how my husband handles this & if he respects what I told him long ago about how I would not put up with abuse from in-laws (it was a chief reason I refused to get married).
Call me jaded, an old soul in a young body, whatever but I'm done putting up with people or situations in my personal life that I don't have to (and family is not a "have to" thing in my book since I am not raising children; even if I were, I think we should teach children not to put up with emotional abuse or rudeness from people who are supposedly there for you all the time & your #1 cheerleaders). I'd rather be done with that relationship and emotional tie than deal with negative feelings and situations arising from certain people. Common parlance would call this "cutting toxicity out of your life." That shit is toxic to an entertainment career as well & I know it would mess me up in other ways. Goes back to the wanting people around me who are going to bring out my best, not my worst.
So you "money first" types can have more peaceful relations with the "passion first" camp, here are things you shouldn't be saying/doing to those people if you want to actually be in their lives:
1. Implying that their careers are invalid because they aren't earning a paycheck for it. I've done quite a bit that means far more than a paycheck & has boosted my industry reputation.
2. Asking when they're going to "get a real job."
3. Assuming that if they are at home, they don't actually do anything. I'll have you know that I spend most of my days on the computer following up on messages, networking, reading up on current events, writing, looking for paying work, updating my social media (since if you're going to have fan pages & a website, you have to update those on occasion), doing legal work, organizing my e-mail/files/etc. Then there are those domestic tasks I'm asked to do like dishes, paying bills, feeding cats, moving the car, figuring out dinner, etc.
4. Equating being at home with being a leech. A leech is someone who does NOTHING; a leech doesn't network or go to events or try to stay current on anything. Vacation is a concept unheard of to the self-employed & definitely to many creatives.
5. Calling them lazy or unambitious (implying it also counts). Let me tell you something: it's damn hard to follow your passion if you work in this business. The majority of people working in this industry take far lower pay in exchange for doing something they love. Serious actors and other creative types constantly spend time on their craft with classes, shows, networking, etc. Ask yourself how much networking YOU have done lately. Let's see how many contacts you've forged.
Oh, and every career advice article out preaches the gospel of networking & tells us that "it's not what you know, it's who you know." The people who have the contacts win out every time.
Let's also not forget the fact that creatives think outside the box & reach out to people in ways you'd never bother with since you're stuck in the conformity box. I, for example, don't go around being needy or trying to impress any potential employer. As far as I'm concerned, you need to be selling me on a job just as much as you expect me to sell to you.
6. Pestering the person because they haven't made money after a certain set time period. Entertainment industry success is a marathon, not a sprint. Tons of major movies took years to get made (for instance, Avatar took 10 years).
No creative I know thinks any of these acts are cool. I know I don't. It just makes me lash out & want to tell you to go fuck yourself. It also leads me to brand you as a jealous hater. Yes, we know the people who do this shit are jealous since they don't have a clue of the big picture & would rather drag us down to their level.
Now I'm not speaking of people who were told by industry pros that they have no skill at something or need to do something & just won't bother. You have to be a little realistic if you're going to work in the creative field & please, have some talent or go develop it. I'm talking about people who have some talent & a track record, who have signs that they should be doing this.
The irony is every single thing I've been doing in recent times circles back to this industry. I even got a recent paid freelance job with someone who works in this industry. If you read all my stories about how this industry comes in even at the most mundane times and when I'm doing something completely unrelated to entertainment, you'd have to notice the obvious and glaring signs in front of you. I already saw them & decided not to ignore it like some would have me do (i.e. people who aren't my friends & who I most likely didn't choose).
We'll see how things go & I did decide to look into marriage counseling (since some of this is being piled on top of all the BS I've already had to deal with in recent months, which I think is a shitty thing to do to someone). However, the old fire is definitely still there & I feel the same as I did in college i.e. NO ONE & NOTHING will stop me from doing what I want to do. I also won't be violating my own principles or things I said I'd never tolerate & that's just the plain truth. My sister decided to look into it to deal with her own marriage & as far as I know, things are okay with her. Therapy is helping me, after all.
Showing posts with label following your passion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label following your passion. Show all posts
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
There is No Love for Redheads
Seriously. There is NOT, even among so called people who claim they have love for us. When I say "us," I mean the real redheads. People who had to grow up with the hair color & deal with life's slings, slights and insults. You can't actually get my color out of a bottle (if by chance you do, let me know what dye it is since then I can compare your hair to mine & share the news with my childhood family since they'll want to know) & those who know me say I epitomize much of the lore. I certainly have the temper, the skills and the sensitive skin my husband says hates me.
First off, I was in a fashion show last week & in need of false eyelashes. False eyelashes are a bit of a novelty to me since mine are pretty long naturally. My mom outright envies me for mine since she says I'd never need to wear mascara. I rush to the local chain drug store located on the same street where I'm hosting City Bar's off night show that evening. Do you think I find any for redheads?
HELL NO!! You can find them aplenty in black or brown but red? Why not just ask to buy plutonium or edible underwear in an XS or the answer to the meaning of life? I think I'd more likely find the answer to the meaning of life in a chain drug store than I would have found fake eyelashes for redheads. Is it any wonder I mostly shop online when I have to get something?
Then I learn about this website through a Facebook friend who was in a redhead appreciation group. I decide to take a look around since I am the demographic this website claims to "love." I discover something about applying to model for them.
Take a look at this page & tell me what's wrong. Still looking? I'll go ahead & tell you.
They require professional photos of redheads applying. Okay, I can manage that having done these shows recently & getting quite a few professional photos, a few by myself in fact. You even get a nice full view of my body in many of them. I'm pretty sure some of the guys who've seen them have totally drooled. Actually, I know they did since some outright told me I looked sexy in some. I like to think it's within the bounds of good taste & a classy sexy, not a slutty sexy that's going to damage my enforcer cred. Who says I can't be sexy?
They ask some questions. Okay.
Here's the problem: they require you to pose in THEIR product before deciding if you can model it. There's no free shirt or any offer to get one in order to do this.
Instead, you have to pay a minimum of $15 to buy one of these shirts. After shipping & sales tax (depending on where you live; the good state of NY loves to charge you sales tax for online purchases at every single turn), you're looking at spending closer to $20+ just to be considered to model for these people.
What the fuck?!?!? In the fashion shows I have done & in my modeling experiences, no one demanded anyone to purchase their product in order to be considered for posing with them. No designers, managers, no one AT ALL that I know is legitimate.
This site says nothing about paying models for their work, offering shows or anything of that nature. In fact, Model Mayhem outright forbids people from posting castings where anyone has to pay money to be considered!
This is akin to charging a job applicant money to apply for a job. We'd call that a scam. This is not even recouping your investment like paying the $25 photo fee with Central Casting where one day on an extra gig will pay that back & give you extra.
I wrote the people on this site about this. They claimed no one had complained, they'd "always done it this way" and totally tried telling me that was remotely acceptable.
For a site that claims to "love" redheads, this natural redhead says they are full of shit. Maybe they'd gotten no complaints because the women who'd applied to be models weren't lawyers in the entertainment industry. Maybe they'd not gotten professional models who know the deal & that this is bullshit no one should be subjected to. Maybe they've only gotten applications from rich people or the spendthrifts of the world. Some of us actually work for a living & don't go around wasting our money (hi, there). Granted, if I were left to my own devices I'd probably end up some old woman who died alone with a million dollar estate b/c I'm seriously frugal & keep things until they are literally falling apart but that's another story.
These people have only earned my contempt & certainty that they aren't professional. What celebrity would want to associate with someone who is classist to women who might want to model but can't afford to buy a shirt of theirs for photographing purposes? Who would want to deal with someone whose casting offer wouldn't be kosher on any professional job search site for models? I certainly do not.
I also don't feel like helping or benefiting someone who'd charge me to even consider me for something I'm more than fucking capable of doing & probably a hell of a lot better than any fake redhead. When I complained about this policy, I pointed out what I do in a general description. Smart people know a potential business ally when they see one & tend not to go around pissing them off. In fact, I can identify an entertainment professional by how they treat me.
I don't ask anyone to brown-nose to me or kiss my butt but I do get close to that treatment sometimes. All I ask for is basic respect and recognition of the reality of who I am and how it might affect them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it might be foolish to piss off the entertainment attorney, especially one who is unique & different like I am.
I also don't think my mentioning what I do makes me a threat maker; it makes me a realist & a strategist. Googling me would just lead to that information anyway so why not mention it in advance in the hope of A) making the person I'm contacting more apt to talk to me or B) taking some of the fear away by showing that person I'm a real human being instead of some cold machine whose name triggers the sound of thunder in the distance anytime it's spoken. Gee, psychology proves that you're more likely to talk to & befriend people who are like you. If someone can prove there's commonality, you're more likely to follow up with them. Applying that principle is far more helpful than some basic form letter everyone is used to seeing. Take it from the person who got a lot of contacts by just being herself.
By that token I will not be apologizing or hiding my success for anyone. I'm damn proud of it! You would be as well. I don't know any other successful person who hides that fact or tries to shame themselves over it to make some insecure jerk feel more comfortable. It's not my job to coddle or cater to someone else's shitty feelings about themselves. That's the very reason I did housecleaning in my life. Having a passion is far more important than a pile of money & I'll die far happier having that than I would a sack of money doing something I hated.
I also think we can all be successful in life without having to step on others to feel good about ourselves. My friends' success, for instance, does not diminish or take away from mine. I don't get jealous or envious of other people since I don't know their circumstances & they might very well ask me to help them on things.
Speaking of which, maybe I partially won the war. I'm now talking to my childhood family again on a more limited basis & I like to hope that maybe I've been able to assert myself as an adult and get treated accordingly.
I was in a blue funk starting last night & going into today but this evening made me feel better. Making cookies I was craving, venting to a friend (thought I only ended up talking to him b/c of the need to discuss a business matter) & being around creatures I like such as my husband and the cats are a great antidote. Guess that dream I had this morning where my family came to visit and sprung Psycho Boy on me didn't help my mood either. I remember totally losing my shit in this dream & we were living in a house.
Basically, I feel like my life is "hurry up & wait." It's also in a holding pattern & I hate that. I like to be active & feel like I'm doing something productive, particularly in the direction of financial rewards. Sitting around & waiting for things isn't something I do; calling me ambitious might be an understatement. I also don't do things at the last minute & get pissed if you spring that on me, especially if I'm not being paid to have that kind of availability.
Hopefully, things are going to get better. I like to think a friend of mine is right about holding true to my standards & how someone out there will appreciate and respect my skill set. I just feel like you live by your standards/code or you've got nothing.
First off, I was in a fashion show last week & in need of false eyelashes. False eyelashes are a bit of a novelty to me since mine are pretty long naturally. My mom outright envies me for mine since she says I'd never need to wear mascara. I rush to the local chain drug store located on the same street where I'm hosting City Bar's off night show that evening. Do you think I find any for redheads?
HELL NO!! You can find them aplenty in black or brown but red? Why not just ask to buy plutonium or edible underwear in an XS or the answer to the meaning of life? I think I'd more likely find the answer to the meaning of life in a chain drug store than I would have found fake eyelashes for redheads. Is it any wonder I mostly shop online when I have to get something?
Then I learn about this website through a Facebook friend who was in a redhead appreciation group. I decide to take a look around since I am the demographic this website claims to "love." I discover something about applying to model for them.
Take a look at this page & tell me what's wrong. Still looking? I'll go ahead & tell you.
They require professional photos of redheads applying. Okay, I can manage that having done these shows recently & getting quite a few professional photos, a few by myself in fact. You even get a nice full view of my body in many of them. I'm pretty sure some of the guys who've seen them have totally drooled. Actually, I know they did since some outright told me I looked sexy in some. I like to think it's within the bounds of good taste & a classy sexy, not a slutty sexy that's going to damage my enforcer cred. Who says I can't be sexy?
They ask some questions. Okay.
Here's the problem: they require you to pose in THEIR product before deciding if you can model it. There's no free shirt or any offer to get one in order to do this.
Instead, you have to pay a minimum of $15 to buy one of these shirts. After shipping & sales tax (depending on where you live; the good state of NY loves to charge you sales tax for online purchases at every single turn), you're looking at spending closer to $20+ just to be considered to model for these people.
What the fuck?!?!? In the fashion shows I have done & in my modeling experiences, no one demanded anyone to purchase their product in order to be considered for posing with them. No designers, managers, no one AT ALL that I know is legitimate.
This site says nothing about paying models for their work, offering shows or anything of that nature. In fact, Model Mayhem outright forbids people from posting castings where anyone has to pay money to be considered!
This is akin to charging a job applicant money to apply for a job. We'd call that a scam. This is not even recouping your investment like paying the $25 photo fee with Central Casting where one day on an extra gig will pay that back & give you extra.
I wrote the people on this site about this. They claimed no one had complained, they'd "always done it this way" and totally tried telling me that was remotely acceptable.
For a site that claims to "love" redheads, this natural redhead says they are full of shit. Maybe they'd gotten no complaints because the women who'd applied to be models weren't lawyers in the entertainment industry. Maybe they'd not gotten professional models who know the deal & that this is bullshit no one should be subjected to. Maybe they've only gotten applications from rich people or the spendthrifts of the world. Some of us actually work for a living & don't go around wasting our money (hi, there). Granted, if I were left to my own devices I'd probably end up some old woman who died alone with a million dollar estate b/c I'm seriously frugal & keep things until they are literally falling apart but that's another story.
These people have only earned my contempt & certainty that they aren't professional. What celebrity would want to associate with someone who is classist to women who might want to model but can't afford to buy a shirt of theirs for photographing purposes? Who would want to deal with someone whose casting offer wouldn't be kosher on any professional job search site for models? I certainly do not.
I also don't feel like helping or benefiting someone who'd charge me to even consider me for something I'm more than fucking capable of doing & probably a hell of a lot better than any fake redhead. When I complained about this policy, I pointed out what I do in a general description. Smart people know a potential business ally when they see one & tend not to go around pissing them off. In fact, I can identify an entertainment professional by how they treat me.
I don't ask anyone to brown-nose to me or kiss my butt but I do get close to that treatment sometimes. All I ask for is basic respect and recognition of the reality of who I am and how it might affect them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it might be foolish to piss off the entertainment attorney, especially one who is unique & different like I am.
I also don't think my mentioning what I do makes me a threat maker; it makes me a realist & a strategist. Googling me would just lead to that information anyway so why not mention it in advance in the hope of A) making the person I'm contacting more apt to talk to me or B) taking some of the fear away by showing that person I'm a real human being instead of some cold machine whose name triggers the sound of thunder in the distance anytime it's spoken. Gee, psychology proves that you're more likely to talk to & befriend people who are like you. If someone can prove there's commonality, you're more likely to follow up with them. Applying that principle is far more helpful than some basic form letter everyone is used to seeing. Take it from the person who got a lot of contacts by just being herself.
By that token I will not be apologizing or hiding my success for anyone. I'm damn proud of it! You would be as well. I don't know any other successful person who hides that fact or tries to shame themselves over it to make some insecure jerk feel more comfortable. It's not my job to coddle or cater to someone else's shitty feelings about themselves. That's the very reason I did housecleaning in my life. Having a passion is far more important than a pile of money & I'll die far happier having that than I would a sack of money doing something I hated.
I also think we can all be successful in life without having to step on others to feel good about ourselves. My friends' success, for instance, does not diminish or take away from mine. I don't get jealous or envious of other people since I don't know their circumstances & they might very well ask me to help them on things.
Speaking of which, maybe I partially won the war. I'm now talking to my childhood family again on a more limited basis & I like to hope that maybe I've been able to assert myself as an adult and get treated accordingly.
I was in a blue funk starting last night & going into today but this evening made me feel better. Making cookies I was craving, venting to a friend (thought I only ended up talking to him b/c of the need to discuss a business matter) & being around creatures I like such as my husband and the cats are a great antidote. Guess that dream I had this morning where my family came to visit and sprung Psycho Boy on me didn't help my mood either. I remember totally losing my shit in this dream & we were living in a house.
Basically, I feel like my life is "hurry up & wait." It's also in a holding pattern & I hate that. I like to be active & feel like I'm doing something productive, particularly in the direction of financial rewards. Sitting around & waiting for things isn't something I do; calling me ambitious might be an understatement. I also don't do things at the last minute & get pissed if you spring that on me, especially if I'm not being paid to have that kind of availability.
Hopefully, things are going to get better. I like to think a friend of mine is right about holding true to my standards & how someone out there will appreciate and respect my skill set. I just feel like you live by your standards/code or you've got nothing.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Turning Lawyer Applicants Into Indentured Servants & A Serious Lesson in Business Etiquette
So, if you've done your homework before reading this blog you know that I have 2 different core audiences in the professional world: attorneys & entertainment professionals. This one's going to have something for both (though this is still ultimately the place where I can be myself; if you're fortunate enough to do this, you really should).
First off, NY state is soon to be the very first state in the US to require all new attorneys to undergo 50 hours of pro bono work before being admitted to the bar & provide certification of this to the bar examiners. This article is a good overview on the issue & addresses some things.
However, I feel the need to comment since I don't think it goes far enough & doesn't cover things I've said:
1. You may know I'm doing my first stint of Monday Night Law this year. If you read one of my earlier entries, you read about a conversation I overheard about someone being turned down for pro bono work she actually wanted to do & cared about b/c the organization only wanted BigLaw attorneys trying to meet their pro bono requirement.
Now what about these aspiring lawyers? They're not going to have malpractice insurance to cover them. If these organizations are so strapped for cash, they can't cover experienced attorneys volunteering then how are they going to cover these new folks?
2. Why should new attorneys get to be involved in programs to "get experience" when there are tons of unemployed attorneys who could use it? What about the attorneys who actually WANT to be there getting the experience & feeling good about doing it? Don't they count?
3. Let's expand on that that whole "reluctant volunteer" issue: many of these volunteer projects won't take new attorneys. Monday Night Law doesn't take attorneys admitted less than 2 years. Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts won't take you unless you've been a lawyer for 7 years (I'm heading into my 5th year, even though I've been doing far more in this business than their majority BigLaw volunteers probably have; reading Yelp reviews of them also makes me adamant about never recommending anyone I know there). Presumably, you want to take on pro bono work that might have relevance to what you want to do, right? Or maybe you'd like to do something you'd actually, oh I don't know, ENJOY?
What if there's no opportunity for that? Then what? Are we now subjecting people who can't afford legal counsel to bitter, miserable law students/graduates who are only there to get this pro bono requirement met & could care less about their problems or them as people? The requirement doesn't say "50 hours of pro bono work where you built rapport with clients" or "50 hours of pro bono work where you helped clients w/their matters." It just says "50 hours of pro bono work." Not a word about the quality of it.
I would hope that the students commenting on this article are right about people caring about using their schooling to help others but I can't help but wonder about the elitist types who don't want to be there, are miserable & will take it out on any organization they work with as well as any clients walking in the door. You know there are some.
I personally CHOSE what I did & don't regret it. Working at my school's legal clinic proved to me that I wasn't really cut out for the politics & craziness of a law firm. The helping people aspect was great (and that makes a lawyer feel better since if you're not in charge or a veteran lawyer, you're often made to feel useless, incompetent & like you've got a permanent case of two left feet or foot in mouth disease). The life lessons & war stories were great truths I use to this day. However, the stories I heard about law firms & the time I was yelled at by one of our professors in the second phase of my work there were enough for me to say "Nope, not happening for me."
There are some projects I would have no interest or desire in doing. Helping someone convicted of many sorts of crimes is one (rape, animal abuse, neglecting children, hate crimes, etc.). Anything dealing with illegal immigrants is another. I have some very personal beliefs on these subjects that would make representation by me not only ineffective but verboten under ethics rules (attorneys can't take cases where they will not be able to provide zealous advocacy or effective counsel due to personal biases, religious beliefs, etc.). If you have to subject someone to a more rigorous screening process than you would for something where you don't have personal biases, then you can't effectively counsel him/her.
These are some of the individuals lawyers come in contact with & the people society doesn't like or approve of do need legal counsel. However, I know there are certain cases I can't take & certain projects I wouldn't be a fit for. I'm sure there are attorneys who wouldn't be able to deal with some of the matters I have but that's why there's a little something for everyone. At least, when you're licensed.
4. Some schools apparently have some very competitive clinic & internship/externship programs. Fortunately, I didn't attend such a law school but I've read about places where if you aren't on law review or top of the class you won't get into any of the law school programs. If you're in that boat, then what do you do? Again, there's that problem of not getting the opportunity you want & being forced into something where you & everyone around you will be miserable.
I have to wonder if this is a "do good" way to project yet more elitism into NY bar admissions. No one's going to say "Oh, it's a bad idea to require lawyers to help the less fortunate," but if you're dealing with a lower ranked student at one of these schools with a competitive clinic/internship/externship program who then has no ability to meet the requirement (presuming the outside organizations also try instituting grade requirements, which isn't uncommon at some places & especially considering nearly all the decision makers in the legal field view GPA/class rank as the only way to determine one's value as a human being), you've just shut out the attorneys who are ranked lower in the class. You see where I might get that notion & why it could raise hackles?
5. Then, to get away from the issues I took with this requirement was the point brought up by many about the whole notion of indentured servitude of lawyers. In case you haven't heard, the legal job market sucks for new grads. Even BigLaw isn't taking all the top GPA/law review members & starting a business without money, contacts, etc. is extremely hard. Some of us are good hustlers. Some of us are great at networking. Some of us can get breaks by doing this stuff.
However, you can be a good networker & still have problems in this economy. You can't MAKE someone give you a job or an opportunity. You can't make someone do something they don't want to do. Plain & simple.
So I do think the people pointing out this being indentured servitude that the folk imposing this aren't going to have to do personally do make a good point. It does seem like you shouldn't outsource your own pro bono duties or even duties to help society/your fellow man in general to the attorney applicants, who really have no say in the matter & can't object.
In sum, I think it's a noble idea but misguided. You can't really force anyone to be a good citizen. It's either there or it isn't. Kind of like what my law school Ethics professor said in class. He said he couldn't instill Ethics into us as 20 somethings & either we had ethics or we didn't. Same goes for this. You've either got a sense of altruism & care about helping people or you don't. I don't think this requirement is going to make a selfish, elitist scumbag become Mother Teresa all of a sudden.
Plus, the people imposing this requirement ignore the issue of classism among the poor. Those people will know in a second if some aspiring NY bar applicant is being patronizing or just there to collect hours vs. really caring about their issue, empathetic to that client & "gets" it. It is a different world & if you don't brief people on it, they will give off a terrible impression to the client + may even discourage that client from ever seeking out a lawyer again. We know not everyone involved in pro bono projects cares about the work or the people coming for help.
So, that's a special lawyer issue that is definitely important to the community at large & I'd love to know what non-lawyers think about it, especially those who'd likely have to go to these organizations to get legal representation. I wonder if the Chief Justice is taking statements from those people directly; if not, he should consider them.
Now, we're going to look at business etiquette. Consider the following scenario:
You have an e-mail account that is not available to the general public. The only acceptable way someone would get the address is by A) getting your business card or headshot/resume (most likely from you), B) being a member of a bar association or networking group you belong to i.e. an attorney or entertainment professional, C) you initiating contact with the person.
I say "acceptable" to mean a method where it was okay for the person to reach out to you. Those who have this e-mail also know not to pass your information along without asking you first. The majority of your contacts are attorneys, entertainment professionals working behind the scenes or people you've told not to spread your info around without asking.
Attorneys & entertainment professionals generally don't share your info without asking since they get hassled enough by strangers & if they share your info without asking, they know you could (and probably would) do it right back to them. If they do it to lots of people, they will effectively get blackballed. Everyone knows this.
Another fact about this e-mail account: your full name is not associated with it. That means if you sent an e-mail to someone using it, they would not get your name unless you put it in there. You're extremely conscientious & paranoid about giving out your name to strangers since you come up first in a Google search. So, this account is one of those insider things.
Rule #1: Do NOT use a "secret" e-mail, phone number, fax number, screen name or social media account to contact a stranger. Assume a 98% chance that you will piss off that stranger. This is why getting lists of contacts for the entertainment industry doesn't really work if you don't have a personal friend/contact of that stranger that will vouch for you.
The same goes for lawyers who don't have law firms. Don't contact lawyer/film execs through a secret means. Secret means you wouldn't find it in an online search & have no one to vouch for you.
Rule #2: If you spam someone, be prepared to tell the person how you got that secret means of communication, apologize & take what's coming to you. You ARE in the wrong. Make no mistake about it.
Rule #3: If you're going to send your newsletters/updates/impersonal correspondence to a stranger, be prepared to accept any such correspondence that stranger may send. This includes information about fundraising campaigns for films, newsletters & any other business correspondence. If you want someone to care about YOUR company/updates/life, you'll have to do the same for your recipients. This is life.
Rule #4: If the stranger reaches out to you about networking & says you may be a useful contact (especially where that strangers is someone who could hire your clients), you seize that opportunity to be friendly. If that person was someone you chose to target with your materials, any rational person would conclude that you are open to networking with said person. After all, why waste your time with people you don't see an opportunity in dealing with?
Rule #5: Follow up with people who could hire your clients or otherwise help your business. To only look at the present time & not the long term future is stupid. For those in the entertainment field: not networking with entertainment lawyers is stupid, presumptuous & will screw you sooner or later.
Most entertainment folk know better than to snub lawyers; even your newest actors tend to be at least polite to entertainment law attorneys. As one person told me once, we serve a useful & important function. Don't you fucking forget it; if you're going to do anything professionally in entertainment, you will need us. It's just a matter of time. Find someone who makes a living in the entertainment field who doesn't have a lawyer or an agent/manager who is a licensed attorney. I dare you.
And as you don't piss off entertainment lawyers in general, you don't piss off someone who knows a lot of attorneys & has extensive contacts in entertainment law. Guess who most of my lawyer contacts are? Entertainment law attorneys. Common interests, people.
I also look out for my friends & if I hear they're going to be working with someone I know is a jerk, I'll be saying something.
Back to the scenario:
You get a newsletter from a total stranger in this "secret" e-mail account. It contains your full name in the Recipient line. You don't know the name in any context. This isn't a LinkedIn contact, a member of a LinkedIn group, a business contact, a lawyer or someone who'd have a legitimate reason to have your e-mail. Nor did this person acknowledge that they're sending you this thing & don't know you.
In doing your homework, you learn this person could be a good contact & might be able to answer a simple informational question. Sort of a cross between informational interview & "What's it like to do X?" inquiry. You get a response by phone then send your info so the person can do their research on you.
You hear nothing. Then, you take an opportunity to meet this spammer/potentially useful contact in person. Figuring maybe this person's busy, you're not too phased with a lack of response to your e-mail. After all, you know people in this stranger's line of work tend to be busy.
When you hear this person speak, you get an impression of competence & the person does have some sense of humor.
However, you ask this person directly about what you wrote in e-mail & guess what the stranger does? The stranger attempts to recruit you for one on one time & charge you money for it.
Remember, this person reached out to YOU & had no way of having your private e-mail account. You asked everyone who had that personal e-mail that may have dealt with this stranger & no one knew this person. Presuming professionals aren't going to send out your info for you to get spammed & that these individuals have no personal animus toward you to get your name added onto a spam list, you have to conclude that the stranger is not only a spammer but a total asshole. This was NOT you making first contact & then trying to get a freebie.
Who was this person, you may ask? Well, as I feel it's my duty to inform those I know in the business about professionalism & counter the BS where I can I'll tell you. That would be Jenn Lederer of The Dream Management. Her competence is not a concern for me (the typical reason I'd not work with someone in this business). It's her lack of business etiquette.
I also wonder how much respect she actually has for lawyers considering when I saw her speak, she told actors to see about getting a writing to get reel footage for student films but that the filmmakers could choose at their leisure whether to give it up or not. Not wanting to announce to the entire room my entire resume or background, I thought loudly "That's a contract! If these people don't act, the performer could sue & maybe even get an injunction against the film getting a distribution deal, going to festivals, etc. At the very least, they might be able to get some money. Depends on what this contract says & what you include or not."
I've also told people not to waste their time with anyone who won't sign contracts or freaks out when you mention discussing the work with your lawyer or manager since that shouts "unprofessional." Even on my company's no budget, no name films you'd better believe there were contracts. That "smile & a handshake" stuff doesn't cut it if you want to be a working professional in entertainment. No professional I've met has EVER said this to an actor & or devalued lawyers in this way.
This leads to Rule #6, which is especially for renaissance people: various careers or sides of a person don't exist in a vacuum. If you think I'm not going to use knowledge I get about you in the context of my film company work or legal work, then woe unto you. Treat me like shit in some other context & like every single other professional who works behind the scenes in entertainment, I will take notes & make sure you're not subjecting my team to your crap. We have no patience or time to be magnanimous, nor should that be expected of us. Demanding it from us definitely won't get you anywhere. That's why such complaints don't impress me.
My lawyer side doesn't vanish just because I'm doing an acting gig. That producer trainee/film exec side doesn't go away if I'm at a lawyer event. I watch how you conduct yourself, how you treat people, what you say, etc. Renaissance people are the people you'd better be impressing hardest since we ARE doing so much stuff & probably have more contacts among so many areas than the average person. We could help you or we could ruin you.
I'm hardly an unreasonable person, overly sensitive or insist on ego stroking but don't you find that screwed up? I don't even know of an attorney charging law grads, new lawyers or anyone else for informational interviews or networking meetings (and you'd expect that from the dreaded lawyers; hell, I could make a fortune from it if I were an asshole). I could guarantee most lawyers' busy schedules would put her own schedule to shame, no matter how busy she is. I also wrote her the next day to mention these truths to her (I also mentioned being from NC & having friends + family living there considering she'd claimed people in NC had no souls during her talk to see if she gets that maybe I'd find it offensive).
If she apologized, it would be all good but since she has not, I'm afraid her actors won't be working with my company. After all, if she's that disrespectful to me a.k.a. "the enforcer," how's she going to treat a producer or director? Is she just going to further actor/director conflicts vs. helping find a solution? That's what I feel like she'd end up doing.
I should however, thank the acting coach who had her speak since I likely wouldn't have been able to have that conversation in any other forum & it saved me a lot of time and headaches. John Pallotta, you're awesome (and he is, really).
So kids, you violate business etiquette at your own peril. If you think you don't need to learn it, think again. Remember, I'm one of those easygoing, non-asshole lawyers who acts like a real person. Imagine how I'd react to this if I were a stereotypical lawyer. Imagine if she were a law firm associate pulling this mess with a law firm partner.
First off, NY state is soon to be the very first state in the US to require all new attorneys to undergo 50 hours of pro bono work before being admitted to the bar & provide certification of this to the bar examiners. This article is a good overview on the issue & addresses some things.
However, I feel the need to comment since I don't think it goes far enough & doesn't cover things I've said:
1. You may know I'm doing my first stint of Monday Night Law this year. If you read one of my earlier entries, you read about a conversation I overheard about someone being turned down for pro bono work she actually wanted to do & cared about b/c the organization only wanted BigLaw attorneys trying to meet their pro bono requirement.
Now what about these aspiring lawyers? They're not going to have malpractice insurance to cover them. If these organizations are so strapped for cash, they can't cover experienced attorneys volunteering then how are they going to cover these new folks?
2. Why should new attorneys get to be involved in programs to "get experience" when there are tons of unemployed attorneys who could use it? What about the attorneys who actually WANT to be there getting the experience & feeling good about doing it? Don't they count?
3. Let's expand on that that whole "reluctant volunteer" issue: many of these volunteer projects won't take new attorneys. Monday Night Law doesn't take attorneys admitted less than 2 years. Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts won't take you unless you've been a lawyer for 7 years (I'm heading into my 5th year, even though I've been doing far more in this business than their majority BigLaw volunteers probably have; reading Yelp reviews of them also makes me adamant about never recommending anyone I know there). Presumably, you want to take on pro bono work that might have relevance to what you want to do, right? Or maybe you'd like to do something you'd actually, oh I don't know, ENJOY?
What if there's no opportunity for that? Then what? Are we now subjecting people who can't afford legal counsel to bitter, miserable law students/graduates who are only there to get this pro bono requirement met & could care less about their problems or them as people? The requirement doesn't say "50 hours of pro bono work where you built rapport with clients" or "50 hours of pro bono work where you helped clients w/their matters." It just says "50 hours of pro bono work." Not a word about the quality of it.
I would hope that the students commenting on this article are right about people caring about using their schooling to help others but I can't help but wonder about the elitist types who don't want to be there, are miserable & will take it out on any organization they work with as well as any clients walking in the door. You know there are some.
I personally CHOSE what I did & don't regret it. Working at my school's legal clinic proved to me that I wasn't really cut out for the politics & craziness of a law firm. The helping people aspect was great (and that makes a lawyer feel better since if you're not in charge or a veteran lawyer, you're often made to feel useless, incompetent & like you've got a permanent case of two left feet or foot in mouth disease). The life lessons & war stories were great truths I use to this day. However, the stories I heard about law firms & the time I was yelled at by one of our professors in the second phase of my work there were enough for me to say "Nope, not happening for me."
There are some projects I would have no interest or desire in doing. Helping someone convicted of many sorts of crimes is one (rape, animal abuse, neglecting children, hate crimes, etc.). Anything dealing with illegal immigrants is another. I have some very personal beliefs on these subjects that would make representation by me not only ineffective but verboten under ethics rules (attorneys can't take cases where they will not be able to provide zealous advocacy or effective counsel due to personal biases, religious beliefs, etc.). If you have to subject someone to a more rigorous screening process than you would for something where you don't have personal biases, then you can't effectively counsel him/her.
These are some of the individuals lawyers come in contact with & the people society doesn't like or approve of do need legal counsel. However, I know there are certain cases I can't take & certain projects I wouldn't be a fit for. I'm sure there are attorneys who wouldn't be able to deal with some of the matters I have but that's why there's a little something for everyone. At least, when you're licensed.
4. Some schools apparently have some very competitive clinic & internship/externship programs. Fortunately, I didn't attend such a law school but I've read about places where if you aren't on law review or top of the class you won't get into any of the law school programs. If you're in that boat, then what do you do? Again, there's that problem of not getting the opportunity you want & being forced into something where you & everyone around you will be miserable.
I have to wonder if this is a "do good" way to project yet more elitism into NY bar admissions. No one's going to say "Oh, it's a bad idea to require lawyers to help the less fortunate," but if you're dealing with a lower ranked student at one of these schools with a competitive clinic/internship/externship program who then has no ability to meet the requirement (presuming the outside organizations also try instituting grade requirements, which isn't uncommon at some places & especially considering nearly all the decision makers in the legal field view GPA/class rank as the only way to determine one's value as a human being), you've just shut out the attorneys who are ranked lower in the class. You see where I might get that notion & why it could raise hackles?
5. Then, to get away from the issues I took with this requirement was the point brought up by many about the whole notion of indentured servitude of lawyers. In case you haven't heard, the legal job market sucks for new grads. Even BigLaw isn't taking all the top GPA/law review members & starting a business without money, contacts, etc. is extremely hard. Some of us are good hustlers. Some of us are great at networking. Some of us can get breaks by doing this stuff.
However, you can be a good networker & still have problems in this economy. You can't MAKE someone give you a job or an opportunity. You can't make someone do something they don't want to do. Plain & simple.
So I do think the people pointing out this being indentured servitude that the folk imposing this aren't going to have to do personally do make a good point. It does seem like you shouldn't outsource your own pro bono duties or even duties to help society/your fellow man in general to the attorney applicants, who really have no say in the matter & can't object.
In sum, I think it's a noble idea but misguided. You can't really force anyone to be a good citizen. It's either there or it isn't. Kind of like what my law school Ethics professor said in class. He said he couldn't instill Ethics into us as 20 somethings & either we had ethics or we didn't. Same goes for this. You've either got a sense of altruism & care about helping people or you don't. I don't think this requirement is going to make a selfish, elitist scumbag become Mother Teresa all of a sudden.
Plus, the people imposing this requirement ignore the issue of classism among the poor. Those people will know in a second if some aspiring NY bar applicant is being patronizing or just there to collect hours vs. really caring about their issue, empathetic to that client & "gets" it. It is a different world & if you don't brief people on it, they will give off a terrible impression to the client + may even discourage that client from ever seeking out a lawyer again. We know not everyone involved in pro bono projects cares about the work or the people coming for help.
So, that's a special lawyer issue that is definitely important to the community at large & I'd love to know what non-lawyers think about it, especially those who'd likely have to go to these organizations to get legal representation. I wonder if the Chief Justice is taking statements from those people directly; if not, he should consider them.
Now, we're going to look at business etiquette. Consider the following scenario:
You have an e-mail account that is not available to the general public. The only acceptable way someone would get the address is by A) getting your business card or headshot/resume (most likely from you), B) being a member of a bar association or networking group you belong to i.e. an attorney or entertainment professional, C) you initiating contact with the person.
I say "acceptable" to mean a method where it was okay for the person to reach out to you. Those who have this e-mail also know not to pass your information along without asking you first. The majority of your contacts are attorneys, entertainment professionals working behind the scenes or people you've told not to spread your info around without asking.
Attorneys & entertainment professionals generally don't share your info without asking since they get hassled enough by strangers & if they share your info without asking, they know you could (and probably would) do it right back to them. If they do it to lots of people, they will effectively get blackballed. Everyone knows this.
Another fact about this e-mail account: your full name is not associated with it. That means if you sent an e-mail to someone using it, they would not get your name unless you put it in there. You're extremely conscientious & paranoid about giving out your name to strangers since you come up first in a Google search. So, this account is one of those insider things.
Rule #1: Do NOT use a "secret" e-mail, phone number, fax number, screen name or social media account to contact a stranger. Assume a 98% chance that you will piss off that stranger. This is why getting lists of contacts for the entertainment industry doesn't really work if you don't have a personal friend/contact of that stranger that will vouch for you.
The same goes for lawyers who don't have law firms. Don't contact lawyer/film execs through a secret means. Secret means you wouldn't find it in an online search & have no one to vouch for you.
Rule #2: If you spam someone, be prepared to tell the person how you got that secret means of communication, apologize & take what's coming to you. You ARE in the wrong. Make no mistake about it.
Rule #3: If you're going to send your newsletters/updates/impersonal correspondence to a stranger, be prepared to accept any such correspondence that stranger may send. This includes information about fundraising campaigns for films, newsletters & any other business correspondence. If you want someone to care about YOUR company/updates/life, you'll have to do the same for your recipients. This is life.
Rule #4: If the stranger reaches out to you about networking & says you may be a useful contact (especially where that strangers is someone who could hire your clients), you seize that opportunity to be friendly. If that person was someone you chose to target with your materials, any rational person would conclude that you are open to networking with said person. After all, why waste your time with people you don't see an opportunity in dealing with?
Rule #5: Follow up with people who could hire your clients or otherwise help your business. To only look at the present time & not the long term future is stupid. For those in the entertainment field: not networking with entertainment lawyers is stupid, presumptuous & will screw you sooner or later.
Most entertainment folk know better than to snub lawyers; even your newest actors tend to be at least polite to entertainment law attorneys. As one person told me once, we serve a useful & important function. Don't you fucking forget it; if you're going to do anything professionally in entertainment, you will need us. It's just a matter of time. Find someone who makes a living in the entertainment field who doesn't have a lawyer or an agent/manager who is a licensed attorney. I dare you.
And as you don't piss off entertainment lawyers in general, you don't piss off someone who knows a lot of attorneys & has extensive contacts in entertainment law. Guess who most of my lawyer contacts are? Entertainment law attorneys. Common interests, people.
I also look out for my friends & if I hear they're going to be working with someone I know is a jerk, I'll be saying something.
Back to the scenario:
You get a newsletter from a total stranger in this "secret" e-mail account. It contains your full name in the Recipient line. You don't know the name in any context. This isn't a LinkedIn contact, a member of a LinkedIn group, a business contact, a lawyer or someone who'd have a legitimate reason to have your e-mail. Nor did this person acknowledge that they're sending you this thing & don't know you.
In doing your homework, you learn this person could be a good contact & might be able to answer a simple informational question. Sort of a cross between informational interview & "What's it like to do X?" inquiry. You get a response by phone then send your info so the person can do their research on you.
You hear nothing. Then, you take an opportunity to meet this spammer/potentially useful contact in person. Figuring maybe this person's busy, you're not too phased with a lack of response to your e-mail. After all, you know people in this stranger's line of work tend to be busy.
When you hear this person speak, you get an impression of competence & the person does have some sense of humor.
However, you ask this person directly about what you wrote in e-mail & guess what the stranger does? The stranger attempts to recruit you for one on one time & charge you money for it.
Remember, this person reached out to YOU & had no way of having your private e-mail account. You asked everyone who had that personal e-mail that may have dealt with this stranger & no one knew this person. Presuming professionals aren't going to send out your info for you to get spammed & that these individuals have no personal animus toward you to get your name added onto a spam list, you have to conclude that the stranger is not only a spammer but a total asshole. This was NOT you making first contact & then trying to get a freebie.
Who was this person, you may ask? Well, as I feel it's my duty to inform those I know in the business about professionalism & counter the BS where I can I'll tell you. That would be Jenn Lederer of The Dream Management. Her competence is not a concern for me (the typical reason I'd not work with someone in this business). It's her lack of business etiquette.
I also wonder how much respect she actually has for lawyers considering when I saw her speak, she told actors to see about getting a writing to get reel footage for student films but that the filmmakers could choose at their leisure whether to give it up or not. Not wanting to announce to the entire room my entire resume or background, I thought loudly "That's a contract! If these people don't act, the performer could sue & maybe even get an injunction against the film getting a distribution deal, going to festivals, etc. At the very least, they might be able to get some money. Depends on what this contract says & what you include or not."
I've also told people not to waste their time with anyone who won't sign contracts or freaks out when you mention discussing the work with your lawyer or manager since that shouts "unprofessional." Even on my company's no budget, no name films you'd better believe there were contracts. That "smile & a handshake" stuff doesn't cut it if you want to be a working professional in entertainment. No professional I've met has EVER said this to an actor & or devalued lawyers in this way.
This leads to Rule #6, which is especially for renaissance people: various careers or sides of a person don't exist in a vacuum. If you think I'm not going to use knowledge I get about you in the context of my film company work or legal work, then woe unto you. Treat me like shit in some other context & like every single other professional who works behind the scenes in entertainment, I will take notes & make sure you're not subjecting my team to your crap. We have no patience or time to be magnanimous, nor should that be expected of us. Demanding it from us definitely won't get you anywhere. That's why such complaints don't impress me.
My lawyer side doesn't vanish just because I'm doing an acting gig. That producer trainee/film exec side doesn't go away if I'm at a lawyer event. I watch how you conduct yourself, how you treat people, what you say, etc. Renaissance people are the people you'd better be impressing hardest since we ARE doing so much stuff & probably have more contacts among so many areas than the average person. We could help you or we could ruin you.
I'm hardly an unreasonable person, overly sensitive or insist on ego stroking but don't you find that screwed up? I don't even know of an attorney charging law grads, new lawyers or anyone else for informational interviews or networking meetings (and you'd expect that from the dreaded lawyers; hell, I could make a fortune from it if I were an asshole). I could guarantee most lawyers' busy schedules would put her own schedule to shame, no matter how busy she is. I also wrote her the next day to mention these truths to her (I also mentioned being from NC & having friends + family living there considering she'd claimed people in NC had no souls during her talk to see if she gets that maybe I'd find it offensive).
If she apologized, it would be all good but since she has not, I'm afraid her actors won't be working with my company. After all, if she's that disrespectful to me a.k.a. "the enforcer," how's she going to treat a producer or director? Is she just going to further actor/director conflicts vs. helping find a solution? That's what I feel like she'd end up doing.
I should however, thank the acting coach who had her speak since I likely wouldn't have been able to have that conversation in any other forum & it saved me a lot of time and headaches. John Pallotta, you're awesome (and he is, really).
So kids, you violate business etiquette at your own peril. If you think you don't need to learn it, think again. Remember, I'm one of those easygoing, non-asshole lawyers who acts like a real person. Imagine how I'd react to this if I were a stereotypical lawyer. Imagine if she were a law firm associate pulling this mess with a law firm partner.
Friday, May 28, 2010
General Musings, Part 2
Here we go.
My thoughts on this:
1. I have to agree w/people who claim this story & the media as a whole are taking a liberal bias on illegal immigration. This would be the same as letting a murderer who escaped from jail be exonerated for calling 911 for a rape victim. You do the crime, you do the time. Whether a particular law should be enforced or even on the books is a whole other issue but I think the immigration laws should be enforced equally for all & the punishment for hiring illegals should be so severe to even damage the business of multi-million dollar corporations. Jail some of these executives in, to borrow a term from Office Space, "Pound me in the ass Prison" w/no bail & they'll get their act together.
In short, I don't have sympathy for illegals who whine about having to face the music when they perform their civic duty like we expect people to in an orderly & decent society. They should have thought about that before getting involved in a situation. Could this man not have made an anonymous phone call?
2. I also agree that illegals should not be using the state tuition rate, resources & seats in educational programs that citizens should be using and very well may have wanted to but for the illegal. There's a little thing called the library; if your city government is still funding your system, I suggest you use it. They don't care if you're an illegal & some even offer free English courses. Use them if you truly want to be an American & move up like so many people have done before you.
Second rant: Yesterday, after seeing an ad for an unpaid internship requiring 30-40 hours of work per WEEK (but "flexible") in a start-up beauty company I have to post a link to this petition.
The petition is here.
Demanding, aren't we? At least in my industry, the people I've come across are well aware that they're not paying you & actually appreciate you helping them. More people I see in the entertainment industry don't make those kinds of demands on people working for NO pay. I would never expect anyone to give up a paying day job & devote that kind of time to me w/out some kind of payment. I would certainly never label a person working that many hours for months on end an "intern."
I also agree heavily w/another ad I read there.
Some of us DO get paid for our writing talent. I actually have, being a lawyer notwithstanding.
Also reminds me of the old adage "you get what you pay for." Pay substandard or nothing & you will not get high quality. I've worked w/starting businesses but I only pick those that have some staying power & are organized. Everyone thinks they can write but it's a lot harder than it looks & there aren't many good writers. There are fewer superior writers. Anyone who's been asked to read a film script can tell you this.
You also have to have a lot of passion to do such things & if the environment is not one of respect and treating people like human beings, you're not going to get very far finding people to work for no pay regardless of their employment status. People always want to know what's in it for them so if you don't have a good answer to that, you're doomed. That's just how it is.
My thoughts on this:
1. I have to agree w/people who claim this story & the media as a whole are taking a liberal bias on illegal immigration. This would be the same as letting a murderer who escaped from jail be exonerated for calling 911 for a rape victim. You do the crime, you do the time. Whether a particular law should be enforced or even on the books is a whole other issue but I think the immigration laws should be enforced equally for all & the punishment for hiring illegals should be so severe to even damage the business of multi-million dollar corporations. Jail some of these executives in, to borrow a term from Office Space, "Pound me in the ass Prison" w/no bail & they'll get their act together.
In short, I don't have sympathy for illegals who whine about having to face the music when they perform their civic duty like we expect people to in an orderly & decent society. They should have thought about that before getting involved in a situation. Could this man not have made an anonymous phone call?
2. I also agree that illegals should not be using the state tuition rate, resources & seats in educational programs that citizens should be using and very well may have wanted to but for the illegal. There's a little thing called the library; if your city government is still funding your system, I suggest you use it. They don't care if you're an illegal & some even offer free English courses. Use them if you truly want to be an American & move up like so many people have done before you.
Second rant: Yesterday, after seeing an ad for an unpaid internship requiring 30-40 hours of work per WEEK (but "flexible") in a start-up beauty company I have to post a link to this petition.
The petition is here.
Demanding, aren't we? At least in my industry, the people I've come across are well aware that they're not paying you & actually appreciate you helping them. More people I see in the entertainment industry don't make those kinds of demands on people working for NO pay. I would never expect anyone to give up a paying day job & devote that kind of time to me w/out some kind of payment. I would certainly never label a person working that many hours for months on end an "intern."
I also agree heavily w/another ad I read there.
Some of us DO get paid for our writing talent. I actually have, being a lawyer notwithstanding.
Also reminds me of the old adage "you get what you pay for." Pay substandard or nothing & you will not get high quality. I've worked w/starting businesses but I only pick those that have some staying power & are organized. Everyone thinks they can write but it's a lot harder than it looks & there aren't many good writers. There are fewer superior writers. Anyone who's been asked to read a film script can tell you this.
You also have to have a lot of passion to do such things & if the environment is not one of respect and treating people like human beings, you're not going to get very far finding people to work for no pay regardless of their employment status. People always want to know what's in it for them so if you don't have a good answer to that, you're doomed. That's just how it is.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
How You Know You're Following Your Passion
I work in Lower Manhattan & almost every weekday morning, I'm on the subway to go to work. Riding the subway is a unique, interesting experience. Some mornings you get free entertainment, an opportunity to buy candy bars, hear some interesting conversation and/or see some captivating people. It's one of those things I intend to do as much as possible, even once things start taking off in my career.
I feel like doing it is a way to keep yourself grounded & appreciate what you have. Not to mention the inspiration you can get from this ritual & it being cheaper than always taking cabs. I took MARTA in Atlanta but it has nothing on the NYC subway system.
This morning, I was sitting on the train as usual. What was different is that this guy in a suit carrying a style of bag you normally see lawyers with as well as what looked like a law book walked on. He stood in front of me & held the pole above my seat. He then opens the book, holds it in his other hand & starts reading. Since I always notice evidence of lawyers & law students on trains, I peered at the cover; it was a Constitutional Law book.
Two thoughts struck me:
1. Amazement that this guy could fully open & read the law book using one hand, hold the pole & not once stumble or lose his balance on the moving subway, even when we were traveling faster later on. I know I couldn't.
2. I LOVE doing what I do in the entertainment business. I love the fact that I can wear jeans & sneakers to work as well as be truly honest in doing things. I love that my opinion matters & that people listen to what I have to say. Even though I'm not making all that much doing it, I feel a true passion for it. The workday generally flies by, I have great co-workers to talk to & even if I'm not that busy, the day still moves on. I honestly look forward to going to work in the mornings & usually WANT to get up in the morning.
When I see lawyers on the subway, I'm happy not to be them. They usually look miserable & don't seem to have the passion I have for what I do. This is especially true w/younger lawyers.
I was struck by the fact that I'd be completely miserable if I were working in a law firm & having this calm, content feeling is great (finances be damned). I really think more people should figure out and follow their passion; the minute you start behaving like "a grown up" or tell others to do it & stop following "silly dreams", it means your soul has died.
People like that aren't able to see possibility & would rather whine about being miserable than take steps to change anything wrong in their lives. They really piss me off; if you aren't bothering to improve your own life, then don't whine to me about how bad you have it. Don't begrudge people of their happiness when you refuse to make yourself happy, okay?
I feel like doing it is a way to keep yourself grounded & appreciate what you have. Not to mention the inspiration you can get from this ritual & it being cheaper than always taking cabs. I took MARTA in Atlanta but it has nothing on the NYC subway system.
This morning, I was sitting on the train as usual. What was different is that this guy in a suit carrying a style of bag you normally see lawyers with as well as what looked like a law book walked on. He stood in front of me & held the pole above my seat. He then opens the book, holds it in his other hand & starts reading. Since I always notice evidence of lawyers & law students on trains, I peered at the cover; it was a Constitutional Law book.
Two thoughts struck me:
1. Amazement that this guy could fully open & read the law book using one hand, hold the pole & not once stumble or lose his balance on the moving subway, even when we were traveling faster later on. I know I couldn't.
2. I LOVE doing what I do in the entertainment business. I love the fact that I can wear jeans & sneakers to work as well as be truly honest in doing things. I love that my opinion matters & that people listen to what I have to say. Even though I'm not making all that much doing it, I feel a true passion for it. The workday generally flies by, I have great co-workers to talk to & even if I'm not that busy, the day still moves on. I honestly look forward to going to work in the mornings & usually WANT to get up in the morning.
When I see lawyers on the subway, I'm happy not to be them. They usually look miserable & don't seem to have the passion I have for what I do. This is especially true w/younger lawyers.
I was struck by the fact that I'd be completely miserable if I were working in a law firm & having this calm, content feeling is great (finances be damned). I really think more people should figure out and follow their passion; the minute you start behaving like "a grown up" or tell others to do it & stop following "silly dreams", it means your soul has died.
People like that aren't able to see possibility & would rather whine about being miserable than take steps to change anything wrong in their lives. They really piss me off; if you aren't bothering to improve your own life, then don't whine to me about how bad you have it. Don't begrudge people of their happiness when you refuse to make yourself happy, okay?
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