The start your amazing career challenge
In five days, we’ll design your career strategy plan, where I personally help guide you to know exactly what to do right now for your career .
And is simple enough to fit on a napkin.
Are you using this time right now to get experience for your career?
You can be. As of June 15, production has started back up and there are film shoots happening every week.
Check our instagram page and you’ll see myself and many of our Friends in Film working on paid, professional sets.
This is happening in cities across the US, like Chicago, Los Angeles, NYC, Atlanta, Washington DC, as well as London, Vancouver, Toronto and Sydney.
Shoots are quietly happening with covid requirements in place.
With masks, with safety protocol, and getting covid tests before each shoot.
It’s a very good time to enter the film industry, due to the slower paced, kinder and gentler shoots.
And many old industry professionals don’t want to deal with wearing masks, so they are turning down shoots, or even deciding to do something else.
The opportunity: It’s a great time for newcomers to come in!
Here’s what A-list Mentor Anton, a production supervisor on the Bachelor said on one of our A-list Work-Study calls:
VIDEO OF ANTON
So, what are you doing for your career right now?
Is it working?
Are you finding the auditions you want? Getting traction on your self-taping?
Are you growing your connections or do you feel dead in the water?
Are you confident about your resume?
Are your films attracting the attention of executive producers at production companies?
Do you know how to find the professional work?
Professional work is NOT POSTED. It’s all word-of-mouth.
(If you’re not sure what to be doing right now, I have good news… Read on.)
If you know that your strategy is missing something and you’re tired of feeling like you’re chasing an invisible carrot, I’m willing to bet that the real reason you’re stuck isn’t what you think it is.
Yes, the film industry is that the most desirable industry in the world…
Yes, many actors, filmmakers, film school students are trying to enter the industry all the time…
and yes covid has adjusted filming in the wearing of masks and the slowing down of the shooting process…
But are any of these factors the real reason you’re stuck?
I don’t think so.
In fact, I believe…
The real reason youve got little response from film professionals
The real reason you can’t find the opportunities that get your career moving
The real reason it feels like the film industry is a closed shop
The real reason you feel like you don’t feel like people care whether you get into the film Industry Comes down to one thing…
You have no career strategy.
Here’s the deal: Most people have a chasing gigs strategy.
Tell me if this sounds familiar…
Your current job is sucking the life out of you and you feel further and further away from your dream.
You know that in order to make some decent money you have to invest a lot more in the current job but you’re just not interested in spending your valuable mental energy to build a career in a job that you don’t care about.
If you’re going to have to work hard, you’d rather work hard in the film industry which gives you the life you want.
But.. You talk about your aspirations and are met with skepticism and doubt.
You feel you have to do something… so you take a class.
After the class, you have some knowledge but don’t know what to do with that knowledge.
All the advice that you are given is the same. “Stick with it.” “It takes time.”
You know that you want a good life and, you know that you’re not living up to your own dreams, can see no way to do anything significant towards your dream.
You might land an opportunity on a low-budget film, and although you’re excited about it, when it ends you’re still in the same place.
Over and over you feel like you make small steps of progress… but then are still in the same place.
What happened? You ask yourself…
Why do I always end up in the same place, no matter what I try?
Most people won’t admit it, but this is the question we’re all desperately trying to answer.
And the good news is I’m about to just do that…
It turns out, the secret to building a career with momentum, has almost nothing to do with your abilities and talents. Yes there are things you need to know and basic protocol you need to follow, but at this point, most people are doing the same thing over and over to try to break in, and that’s why you hear that it takes 10 years from your film professors and acting coaches.
But the liberating truth you must understand is this…
There’s no such thing as I’m not talented enough.
I’ll say that again, because it’s important…
There’s no such thing as I’m not talented enough.
Today, with a slower paced film sets, it’s a great learning environment.
These slower paced film shoots can set you up with the experience you need.
Filming is happening again. And the number of shoots is increasing every month.
Soon it will be to the point where there are so many shoots happening at once because of the pent up demand, that if you are already working on sets and know people, you’re going to get the chance to work!
Demand exceeds supply. That’s the time to get in.
I’ve only see this happen one other time in the early 2000s in Los Angeles when there was so many shoots happening and not enough people to work on them.
Timing is everything!
Who knew that covid would provide such a opportunity for newcomers … if you know what to do.
To put it another way…
If you want to get into the film business, you need a strategy and you need to treat it like a business!
The real secret to The film business, is simply to meet people personally by working alongside them.
You will find that the people that you may be putting up on a pedestal because you want them to hire you, And they a really very similar to you. They wanted to do something creative to!
They wanted a better life too!
They wanted to work with people that were fun and creative and get the opportunity to travel too!
We will find they are not scary, serious people, they are people with a passion like you.
So in order to connect with these people in a way that’s not coming across as desperate or too aggressive, you must come across like a professional, similar to them.
– Similar language
– With understanding of how it works
– With confidence
Most people want to get in the business, but have no clue about with the business is and therefore it feels like something that you need a lucky break to break into.
What if I was to tell you that that is 100% not true.
And what if I was to tell you that you thinking that you need a lucky break is what is causing you to waste years of trying and thousands of dollars on classes and workshops that do not result in you getting professional work.
You thinking that you need a lucky break, is causing you to not get a break at all.
Can I be blunt with you?
The fact is there’s a lot of shiny objects that you can be spending your time on that do not result in professional work.
Like taking classes, improv, scene study
Like paying thousands of dollars to create an acting reel.
Like working on student and no budget films for years and years.
Like working on your YouTube channel. Like going to film festivals and trying to get jobs from talking to professionals.
You’ll find that the professionals you need to meet are not there.
So the problem is with free shoots you can be spending your precious time, working for free and having fun, but making no progress towards your actual goals.
And it’s very sneaky because it feels like you’re doing some thing, but you have no plan to turn that into professional offers to work.
Most people cannot make the jump from freebie work to video work.
And then an even tinier percentage rarely make the transition from the video work into the more desirable professional work that has good budgets and can actually propel you towards a life that is really extraordinary.
When you dabble in film, you never get to experience what an extraordinary life can come from working in film as a career.
In other words, while you may feel like you’re doing something for your career, all your efforts…
… Do…
… Not…
… Lead to professional work that gives you a great life…
And this is why careers cannot get off the ground and newcomers get stuck..
Film school graduates and people with Mfa degrees, invest $100,000 or more in their career and graduate from film school with student loan payments of $600 a month for 20 years, and are not able to break into the paid work… ever.
They have to take a job working for a bank or the government or restaurant to start paying back that debt, and are not able to put the focus and the time into doing what it takes with an actual career strategy to move up the ladder into the professional work.
This is such a unfortunate situation that so many people get caught in.
So, if you want to develop your career, if you want to manage your career and do what will get your results in the professional industry, your mission is simple…
You need to build an amazing career strategy that you can consistently work, to start getting your own experience, getting familiar with the many jobs on film sets, and seeing what you like to do on professional sets, and at the same time start building professional connections with people who will hire you.
And to do that you’re going to need a solid career strategy.
Here’s a picture of me when I was clueless on how to make a career out of what I wanted to do.
Here’s a picture of me, after I figured out how to get on professional sets to start building experience.
The real secret to getting consistent paid professional work is to become just like the successful professionals that are working every day on set.
When I started to get into the film industry, I was trying to get somebody to give me a chance.
I was calling production companies, emailing my resume, going to film festivals, and I felt like…
People didn’t want to help me.
I didn’t have the experience I needed to be useful.
I did not know what to say so I felt a little foolish.
It was hard to have the confidence when I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing.
I was spending money on classes but had no idea how I was going to apply it to make it pay off with professional work.
I had no idea how other professionals got their knowledge, how did they learn what they do so well?
I wanted to be able to personally talk to them, to ask them how they got to where they are today.
In order to do that I need to develop friendships.
I need to get inside.
I realized that I should become like the people that were doing the kind of work that I wanted to do.
I wanted to work on National Geographic, with exciting, adventurous people.
So I went on a quest to learn everything about those films, and the people involved in making those films. I knew the lenses, the cameras, the music, the animal behavior, I knew what was shot win and remembered certain scenes so that I could talk about those scenes with the people who shot them.
With my insane amount of research and knowledge, I started opening doors because I was unlike the other people that wanted to be in this business.
So I’d like to get you started in a similar way, a way that makes you feel confident, a way that gives you the knowledge of how the industry works for what you wanna do, to give you a personalized career path that fits exactly what you want to do.
For me, it was producing or doing camera on wildlife films.
For you, it may be acting in feature films.
It may be producing movies you love that push boundaries.
It could be doing make-up, or costume design on features that the world talks about!
It could be winning an Oscar or a slew of Emmys.
A career strategy starts with what do you want to do as a job.
Next, what lifestyle are you looking for from that career?
If you can describe the lifestyle and be clear on it, then you can confidently know what sector you want to work in.
For instance I knew that I wanted to travel the world being part of a film crew, so the sector would be wildlife and travel documentaries.
Each sector in the film industry gives you a different life, so the next step is to determine what sector will give you the life that you want.
Next, what shows in that sector, would be ideal for you to learn on? What shows, what production companies, what producers, who is doing the kind of work that is the most similar to what you want to do?
Next, what assets do you have now that you can use to get work on set?
The chart above describes the Start your AMAZING Career Strategy.
So simple it fits on a napkin. Where you can draw it out yourself, and it is so simple for you to see what to do.
Napkins force simplicity. And simplicity makes you take ACTION.
I stumbled across the simplicity of a napkin when I was back in Wisconsin. My dad was a high school guidance counselor and asked me to explain how to get into the film industry to his students. I was at a restaurant with my mom and dad, and sketched out what I had done back in Africa, when I first got the idea to get into film.
Looking back at what I did, it was very clear. This is all you need to do.
So, I make it very simple for my students and then they can do it too.
Introducing the Napkin Challenge – how to start your amazing career so simple it fits on a napkin.
Together we’ll build a Career Strategy that converts your passion into a full-blown career and is simple enough to fit on a napkin.
To be clear, this is not a course.
This is a live, interactive challenge where we will work together for five days to build a strategy for your career on a napkin.
Here’s how it will work…
The challenge kicks off on Thursday, August 30.
Each day, you’ll be invited to a live training where I’ll teach the core lesson, answer your questions, and give you a simple action item to complete prior to the next lesson.
You’ll also be added to the members only community where you can get all your questions answered in real time and and interact with your fellow napkin challengers.
The first two days we focus on strategy, which is super important as I’m sure you can imagine, and days three through five we will actually design, test and document your amazing career napkin.
There are five lessons over seven days, and we have a few catch-up days so you don’t have to worry about falling behind. Also each session is recorded so if you can’t make a session you’ll still have access to the content.
At the end of this challenge you’ll have a simple, actionable clear strategy plan that will get you started with knowing the exact jobs that you should be going for, The exact kind of shoots that you can be getting experience on, and the exact people that you should be meeting to get on the radar, and get opportunities to shadow, intern, and assist them to start your own own career.
In short… By this time next week you’ll have your own amazing career napkin suitable for framing.
At this point you’re probably wondering how much? The good news is it’s affordable.
I decided to price this challenge at $38.60.
The amount of going out for dinner.
So there you have it.
The secret to solving all your career challenges could be just a napkin away.
I hope you’ll join us.
Here’s what you get when you joined the napkin challenge.
Five days of live interactive training via Facebook live in a private Facebook group. 60 to 90 minutes of live daily training from Janet Urban.
The napkin challenge workbook: a downloadable workbook for taking notes and completing the daily assignments that will help you build your amazing career napkin.
The napkin challenge recordings: Keep access to all the recordings inside our private Facebook group. You can go back anytime and review any of the lessons to help you execute your Plan.
A 295 value for just $38.60
I want to join the Napkin Challenge
Challenge schedule
Friday, August 31 11 AM Pacific 2 PM Eastern discovering your big career idea
Saturday, September 1 bonus live Q&A call.
Sunday, September 2, off
Monday, September 3, proven career models
Tuesday, September 4, crafting your napkin and creating your game plan to hit the ground running.
How it works
Each day during the challenge we will stream live into the Facebook group.
All you have to do is head over to the group at the time of the call and will be there streaming live parentheses don’t worry, will send you reminders too)
During those 60 to 90 minute calls, Janet will go in depth on each exact strategy she used to plan and build her amazing career napkin while helping you create your own too!
Engage with Janet, as well as fellow challengers inside the private Facebook group as we help each other plan our napkins and get valuable feedback to optimize your strategy.
And if you fall behind one day, don’t worry! All calls are recorded and available right inside the Facebook group. Go back at your own pace and review any of the materials you missed (or if you want to watch it again!)
By the end of the challenge you will have all the support and training you need to leave with your own career strategy napkin. Plus I’ll give you a 90 day career priming guide for executing and optimizing your plan!
Let’s build a amazing career napkin that gets you started in a concrete way from scratch in just five days!
Join the napkin challenge and get five days of interactive live training with Janet, the napkin challenge workbook the napkin challenge recordings the private challengers only Facebook group support from Friends in film team bonus: live Q&A call to help you get the most out of the challenge
Value: 295 Join us today for $38.68
I want to join the napkin challenge
Wait! Before you go… Click play to see how a napkin challenge can help you start your career in a clear concise way with confidence!