if it's april fools, it's got to be sales

GUEST BLOGGER - Carolyn Hill, Independent Sales Rep 

Send the link.

Get the board.

Book the job.

April Fool’s!

I can’t tell you how many people told me to stop right there. But, I can’t because Jerry has generously given me the space to say a couple of more words about sales in this tricky commercial market. And, I love that I’m following on the heels of the mighty Scott Cymbala, with whom I had the pleasure of working with at Elias Arts.

When I was first starting off in sales in the early ‘90s as a baby rep on staff at Crossroads films, my above three-line poem was possible. I would messenger out three quarter inch reels, get a call and board faxed, book the job.  I should think it was because I really knew what I was doing. But, the truth is, it was really about how many projects were out there and how many commercial production companies existed at the time.

Back then, commercials were a segregated aspect of the film business.

Feature film directors did features. Commercial directors did commercials. And the new people out of Art Center slummed it in music videos i.e. Michael Bay and Tarsem.

Here in 2010, we’ve got Oscar-nominated feature film director Lasse Hallstrom directing a Bertolli pasta commercial for McCann/New York. And why wouldn’t he want to go to Rome and shoot food and people? Looks delicious.

It’s about the directors reel. It’s about the production company. It’s about the treatment.

April Fools ! (got you again) 

I need to add words like :

Cost consultant

Client

Testing

It’s a time of getting a script on a Friday and needing a full character exploration by Monday afternoon. Oh, and it’s for Rhythm + Hues and they are in LA and you sent me the project at 4 p.m. on Friday and need it by 4 p.m. on Monday and we’re bidding against Passion. SO, we have to knock it out of the park ! Because another thing I’ve learned is that doing a good treatment can mean something. Joe Murray, who is a new director/cinematographer with R+H, taught me this most recently with a Nissan project he was bidding. It turns out the creative director remembered his previous great treatment and wanted to bid him again.

But, is it all recession awfulness? Not really. The more screens, the more advertising based work for all of us. It’s all about packaging and non-broadcast work. That gives me hope. You have to have hope.

To sum it all up, Nick Litwinko, my EP at Blind, has determined that this business in 2010 is like living April Fool’s day every day.  Be ready to laugh.

Carolyn lives in New York City with her husband, Wayne Bjerke, who works at Grey Advertising and their daughter Paige. www.carolynreps.com