"The meeting" share stories, tips, etc...

[Terrance Mulloy]

Originally Posted by Jules

Why? Are they going to pass on you because they don't think you hydrate yourself properly?

Well, it's common courtesy for one thing. I think it's rather bad manners to leave your trash lying around for them to clean up.

[Jules]

Oh, yeah.

[Geoff Alexander]

Originally Posted by Greenwood

Did the phone meeting thing before several times, but have a face2face coming soon. She's the head of development @ Rainforest films.

Are dev execs a different animal? My past meets have been w/ reps for the most part.

Definite no-no's, or dare I say, do-do's? (lol)

I'm sure there are other threads on this topic in the archives, but that can be said for virtually every thread. Trends, habits, taboos etc change fast in this game so maybe it's time for a fresh meeting thread.

So give up the goods...

Be nice to the assistant.

If you are meeting somewhere with props in the lobby from movies, don't pull out your phone and ask the exec to take a picture with you in front of the Terminator robot. It makes you look like a tourist.

Ask the exec where they were before this company, get some background on them and get them talking.

Don't ever be critical of another company's movie--the exec may have been that place before they got this job. (someone did this once in a meeting with my partner, they were ripping on a movie and it was something he had produced. He didn't take it personally, but it told him the writer didn't even have the initiative to do the research on the kinds of movies he made.) People think that it makes them sound like insiders to be critical, in fact it makes them sound like a$$holes.

[Tigre de Oro]

What are the suggestions on setting up the meetings? For example if I want to set up three or four meetings with prospective managers. Do I schedule a meeting with the "best" manager first, or save them for last?

[Why One]

Originally Posted by SBScript

If you are meeting somewhere with props in the lobby from movies, don't pull out your phone and ask the exec to take a picture with you in front of the Terminator robot. It makes you look like a tourist.

LOL

[peasblossom]

Originally Posted by acquaformosa
Don't turn down the offers of water.

Originally Posted by scripto80

Hahaha this is so true. I find that when I decline a drink in any setting, the person offering looks at me like an alien, and then a series of "Are you sure?"s follow to the point where it then gets awkward, and thus the entire mood is set from the very beginning....all over water, lol.

I have a particular brand of bottled water I drink, that I carry around with me. Would this make me seem a little too eccentric? Is it better to arrive at the meeting sans bottle of water? Just curious.

[emily blake]

At my first meeting I got the bottle of water and said to the assistant, "You know what they say, never turn down a bottle of water at a meeting," and the producer was like "Did you read a book on meeting protocol or something before you came over here?"

So next piece of advice: Don't talk about things people told you to do at meeting while at a meeting.

[wcmartell]

First rule of meetings: don't talk about meetings.

VAULTS: Um, part of your job is to do reseach and know things... like that Paramount sold most of their pre-1950 films to Universal, and now those are Uni titles. This stuff is pretty easy to find. But if there is a recent DVD release from a studio, they own it.

As for companies that are out of business - someone owns that stuff, but it may be tied up in legal issues. Again - a recent DVD is a good indicator. But if you have a meeting at Warner Bros, knowing who owns the New World catalogue won't matter... you want to know what Warner Bros has. There are a bunch of copyright and producer things that might get in the way of this becoming a paying gig - but you are opening a door, here. If track down some old film and discover there is a problem, they have invested their time in this project and may try to solve that problem.

All of this fits into that "what are you working on" thing, that allows you to pitch them some project. You may have noticed they like to do remakes at the studios.

- Bill

[iggy]

Thank you for explaining the VAULT. It is fun to think of how to update some of the old films. I will do further research.