Can I help you?

NETWORKING! ARRGHH! SCARY.

I used to have a big fear of ‘Networking’ and convinced myself I was useless at it.
Scarily driven people with agendas, surgically working the room, performing hit and run manoeuvres on the influential folk to get their business card before heading off to the next party/ function/ bar. All very clinical and not my sort of thing at all.

As an actor, I always found it hard to be self promoting. As a fundamentally self effacing person (as brilliant an actor as I may be- ok self effacing only applies in person) I found it hard to push myself forward as a product.

It was only as a writer that I started to find my networking feet. With a script, I had something to promote. A tangible object which, even though it very much came from me, was able to stand on its own merits. Here was something I could express great self belief in without feeling like I was a conceited, self obsessed dick.

And this afforded me a new perspective on the whole networking thing. Once I was able to scrape away the nerves and start to see beyond my own insecurities, it wasn’t scary at all. There’s nothing wrong or cynical about being focussed and driven. But networking can and should be more friendly than the surgical approach and doesn’t have to be conducted constantly looking over the person’s head to see if there’s someone more useful to talk to.
Suddenly it became obvious that networking wasn’t about ‘what can these people to for me’ and much more of about ‘what can I do for them?’

I went on to run a monthly creative networking night and loved smashing that ice, introducing people to someone that might be able to help them, whether with advice or as a collaborator. When you take yourself, your fears and your ego out of the equation, amazing things happen. And that’s an ethos I’ve carried into my dealings at the London Screenwriters Festival, various writing courses and associated drinks/ meet ups leading to me making some wonderful friends which in turn has led to leads and vital industry contacts for all of us.

Tonight I will be at the Black List Happy Hour in London catching up with some of those lovely people and meeting fabulous new ones. It's a great, relaxed place to recharge the creative batteries and remind yourself you're part of a creative industry, not some loner sat in front of a screen. 

If you’re there, say hello, it'd be great to meet you.

So what CAN I do for you? 

Philip is a script writer, editor, reader, illustrator, creative good egg.