Resources, tools, tips and tricks for storytellers who want to take control of their career, their stories, and their futures.
THE SWEET BUILD: My framework for creative and career success
MY FRAMEWORK FOR CREATIVE AND CAREER SUCCESS...Was this forwarded to you? Join us and subscribe here. ON CURRENT AFFAIRS Hey, Reader, This week was… I am still processing my feelings, which range from rage to sadness. And I encourage us as artists to sit in our emotions (not forever of course) and feel them so that we can authentically transfer them onto the page or screen when the work calls for it. But I do feel a renewed commitment to telling and sharing stories for my community and audience. And I remain open to how that might look because I’m focused on the mission not the platform. But I hope y’all are taking time to process, do nothing, love up on each other, and plot. Last week’s newsletter talked about the perspective that guides my career: It’s all about the work. You can read that issue here. CONTRIBUTORS TO MY SUCCESS Here are eight of them:
Alright let’s get into them... but before we do, I have BIG NEWS! *drumroll please* INTRODUCING THE BUILD BUNDLE For the past few months, I've pulled together nearly every workshop I have ever taught, along with tried and true tactics, examples, and strategies, directly from my own experience, to help you accelerate your journey, AND build your career to last. Introducing The Build Bundle, a resource with six courses, 25+ lessons, sample pitches, and more. 1. PITCH YOUR FILM OR TV PROJECT BUNDLE 2. MAKE YOUR SHORT FILM BUNDLE 3. DEVELOPING A WRITING PROCESS, PRACTICE, AND SCHEDULE WORKSHOP 4. CREATIVE CAREER PLANNING WORKSHOP 5. BASED ON: ADAPTING IP WORKSHOP 6. THE CREATIVE COMEBACK WORKBOOK PDF + BONUSES:
I've taken everything I learned, gathered templates and samples directly from my career, and have compiled them into The Build Bundle. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming. 1. OPERATE FROM A MISSION My north star and mission guide my work and my decisions. They help me identify which projects to take on. They keep me focused in my actions. But most importantly, they keep me committed. Because my mission is bigger than any business, I am not beholden to industries. I’m also not desperate for these industries to get it. Hollywood is just one vehicle that I use to walk in my mission. But HONEY CHILE’s podcasts, newsletters, social media, events, are all ways that we fulfill our mission. I also find that folk, particularly in Hollywood, who don’t have a mission, but really just want to be put on, tend to struggle to make sense of themselves and their career, because they are consumed with me, me, me, versus something bigger than themselves. I am clear that this ain’t about me. I am a vessel. It is about the work and the mission. This business will eat you up if you are consumed with being seen and validated by it. Now that doesn’t mean your mission has to be hella “lofty.” Could be to make people laugh (which is very important), but be clear on it and the why behind it. 2. DELIVER AMAZING WORK AKA FOCUS ON THE CRAFT Excellence begets opportunity. A quick note on excellence. This isn’t about being excellent in the eyes of white folks in the hopes for proximity or acceptance. I show up and deliver excellent work because my audience deserves it. Period. Okay, an example. Getting staffed on BEL-AIR was partly due to the fact that years ago I delivered an amazing draft of a feature film to an executive that was producing the project. That executive eventually began working for Westbrook (and brought me on to write a project for them) and put in a word for me about BEL-AIR. Oh and I originally got a meeting with this executive back in the day because she read the script that became REALLY LOVE and liked it. I’m gonna keep saying this. The work and the craft are the most IMPORTANT things. Everything springs from the work - the joy, the dreams, the proficiency, and more work. If you're having trouble establishing your writing practice, The Creative Comeback Workbook or The Build Bundle may help. Plus, our audiences deserve our best. I was telling a writer the other day that I will take a draft of a script through SEVERAL rounds of writing and rewriting before I even submit it to producers, so before it even gets to the studio or the network. Put in the work. 3. BUILD WIN/WIN RELATIONSHIPS A lot of opportunity has also come my way because of my network and my network has been the result of many of the components in this email: operating from a mission, delivering amazing work, being of service, building audience. And your network doesn’t have to just be industry people. I got staffed on Grey’s Anatomy because a former colleague from my days of being an impact producer reached out to me. His partner worked at ABC and secured an interview for me. You want relationships with people who can hire you. And I prefer these relationships to be built upon mutual respect, which is where deliver amazing work comes in. They need you as much as you need them. And this is why you want to just be kind to everyone because you never know who will be in a hiring position one day. Shoot, I hope y’all remember me whenever y’all are hiring! You want relationships with people who you can make thangs with. I am so grateful to Regina Hoyles, the producer of tender and LOOK BACK AT IT. She was incredibly instrumental in making those projects happen. Gather your tribe and work with them over and over. 4. GO AFTER OPPORTUNITY I am always looking for opportunity and I'm always going after opportunity. So going back to the BEL-AIR example, I read in the trades that BEL-AIR got a Season Three pickup. Now usually when a show is announced in the trades or that they got picked up, the room is already decided. But I still hit up my reps and sent the announcement to them. Then I hit up the exec on the film side of Westbrook that I worked with and let her know I was interested and asked if there was any way she could put in a word for me. I hit up everyone I knew who had worked on the show to see if they could put in a word for me with the showrunner. I prepared my butt off for my showrunner meeting. Rewatched the seasons, came with pitch ideas just in case. Sent a thank you note reiterating the value I bring and my interest in the show. And after my interview, my former Grey’s Anatomy boss also put in a word for me. I never think that opportunities are a given for me. I am clear on my value and I know how to articulate it, but I go after thangs I want with absolute gusto. At HONEY CHILE, we develop our own projects. We don’t wait for projects to come to us. More and more these days, we engage in shopping agreements directly with authors and then look to attach producing partners and package the project to go out to market. I talk more about going after IP in our BASED ON, which is part of The Build Bundle. Sometimes going after opportunity also looks like speaking up. Another example. My homeboy, a musician who co-owns a record label, called me asking me if I knew anyone who did treatments for music videos. I have never done a treatment for a music video, but I wanted to get into music videos, so I said, I’d love to do it. I created a visual treatment like a director would and mentioned that if for whatever reason they are looking for another director, I’d love to throw my hat in the ring. He offered me the job. Here’s U & I, the music video I directed for BeMyFiasco because my homeboy gave me a chance after I spoke up. BTW: My shot list for this video is included in The Build Bundle. 5. MAKE + SHARE YOUR WORK There are many benefits, a different type of ROI, if you will, that can come from making your own work: Getting better at your craft. Some art forms require you to do, in order to learn. Building audience, which we’ll talk more about in a bit. Getting hired. I’m not sure I would have been able to direct U&I if I hadn’t directed tender. Also, having two shorts under my belt has allowed me to be considered for feature film directing opportunities. 6. BUIILD YOUR AUDIENCE I also think it's imperative that we build an audience. Start doing it day one. Share your journey and what you’re working on, on social media. Create on social media. Start a Substack. Be of service. And take your audience along with you from project to project. Find ways to bring them into your making process. Part of building an audience is sharing the work. I know a lot of times, and I mentioned this in the last newsletter, we're scared to do so. But, if you operate from a mission, you realize that things are bigger than you and bigger than your ego. In building audience, it’s also important to have direct mechanisms to contact the audience. I am a huge fan of email and newsletters because social media platforms can go away at any point. Also, being in contact with your audience allows you to start understanding the type of stories they’re interested in and how they like to consume their stories. 7. BE OF SERVICE I think it's so important that we find ways to facilitate knowledge exchange and be of service to our fellow creatives. When I first moved to Hollywood, I volunteered for a bunch of organizations and film festivals. Before I was a full member of the WGA, I was an an associate member and I would help to organize events. I volunteered to help friends on shoots so I could get set experience. And as I learned things, I shared what I was learning on social and via The Create Daily (RIP!). I will say that as my platform has gotten bigger, it's been getting more difficult to be of service to folks directly. There are just too many requests. But that's why I have this newsletter and our podcast, among other ways. And I have found that since I’ve been intentional about servicing creatives for 12 years now, I have so many folk speaking my name in rooms and folk who show up to support the work. Reciprocity is a beautiful thing. 8. DEVELOP MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME AKA THINK ENTREPRENEURIALLY It helps give you a peace of mind when the industry is dry, like Hollywood is now. I shared this recently, but I want more us to think entrepreneurially in our careers, which can mean identifying opportunity and going after it. Because I’m an entrepreneur, I think about ways that I can diversify my income streams. So in addition to my writing and directing (also one of the reasons I write features and TV), HONEY CHILE makes money from consulting, producer fees, sponsorships, events, courses, speaking engagements, products, affiliates. We’re also launching an alternative fundraising initiative called The HONEY Fund. We’ve just launched our publishing arm, re-releasing my book The Creative Comeback Workbook. Look for romance novellas coming from us soon. Then on top of that, it's about being a good steward of that money and learning about how to make your money grow for you. On this episode of The Creative Cut Up, I talk about how adopting the Profit First model changed my life, my business, and my finances. THE SWEET BUILD My goal is to encourage and embolden you to:
We’re building careers on our own terms. We’re building our audiences. We’re building new tables. We’re building companies. We’re building ecosystems. We’re building new ways of doing things. And we’re building artists who know their value. Who’s with me? BTW: Bring your community along, forward them this email and encourage them to subscribe. IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING...Promote your project or business in The Sweet Build. Want to get in front of 1,300+ motivated storytellers? We're offering an introductory flat rate of $500. Inquire today by responding to this email. This email was sent by Kit. And I really enjoy working with them because I can also sell products through them. I sold the first 21-Day Creative Comeback Challenge completely through Kit. It's an awesome one-stop shop. Here's my Kit affiliate link. Ever wonder how people send those automated DMs? Well, I did! We use Manychat. It's a great way to send links to products, podcasts, articles, and more. You also know who's super interested in your content and can follow-up accordingly. Here's my Manychat affiliate link. How do I stay organized? I feel like I've tried all the productivity software girls. And none can really compete with Notion. She has it all. It takes some time to learn, but chile... once you do! You can build custom databases (we track contacts, projects, more), create custom pages and more. I LOVE it. Here's my Notion affiliate link. |
THE SWEET BUILD with Felicia Pride
Resources, tools, tips and tricks for storytellers who want to take control of their career, their stories, and their futures.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WORK... Was this forwarded to you? Join us and subscribe here. SPONSOR MoralesHR As you search for your next role, a great resource for you is MoralesHR. They help their clients fill their talent gaps by supporting searches for fractional to full time needs at all levels up through an Executive reporting to the CEO. Every individual that joins their community has the opportunity to speak to someone live and is pre-vetted for potential connection to a client in the future....