Natterings, v. 1.3 (or not)
Well, it's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone.....
Or maybe not.
So I got an application out on Monday for a senior researcher position at National Geographic (again; I applied for this or a similarly-titled job almost a year ago) and felt pretty accomplished. I also got an e-mail from the Smithsonian volunteer coordinator about a job fair they were going to be holding for positions in the Smithsonian gift shops and IMAX theaters. I thought, "What the hell. I need work--ANY work--and maybe I'll network with the personnel folks so I have a name or something when something more professional opens up." All I knew about job fairs was that you're supposed to take a big wad of resumes to hand out, so I did, knowing full well my resume makes me look like a semi-hotshot journalist and would do me absolutely no good in getting a job at a Smithsonian gift shop but also knowing my last retail experience was so long ago that I had to show I had been doing SOMEthing in the meantime.
So I get there and make my first stop at a table with two pleasant HR ladies handing out applications and saying you need to fill it out even if you have a resume, which you can insert into the form. So I do, and their first reaction is an impressed, "Oh, you're a newswriter! But you know we're not...." And I came back with what was my mantra of the day: "Yeah, I know you're only hiring retail clerks here today, and I know my resume doesn't match that at all, but I've worked retail in the past, I like the Smithsonian shops, and I NEED A JOB!!!!" Which was just fine with them....except they also were interviewing for a staff writer position with, I think, Smithsonian Magazine. DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!
Well, they weren't interviewing for it there that day, but they knew the editor was interviewing for it, and they'd pass on my resume if I'd like WOULD I LIKE? YA THINK? Which led to a huge mixup and the retail people losing my application because it was channeled to the other job and big delays, but the upshot is that I came away impressing both a series of gift shop managers AND the first line of people I need to impress for a magazine job. None of which is to say i've actually got a job: they kept stressing that they couldn't promise any more about the writing job than that they'd hand my resume to the editor the next day, which is more than I had even hoped for going in. Even the retail people couldn't promise anything, since there was only one full-time opening at one museum (American Indian, in case you wondered) and they have another job fair scheduled for Tuesday. But, all in all, it was an ego boost and at least I know I have a better chance than some of the other people I heard interviewing ("Well, there was this violent altercation with another co-worker..." "I did NOT steal from the cash register!', etc.)
I then went out and got drunk and sang karaoke very badly and paid for it the next day, making it one of the few days I've been glad I haven't had to get up and go to work. I had planned to go to the casting call for extras in the upcoming State of Play movie, but decided against it, not the least because I didn't have a half-decent even candid head shot, which they were asking for.
Instead, I went today. Huge lines. But it seems they're hiring 1400 extras. And by now I did have a halfway-decent head shot. since my father had responded to a frantic e-mail query looking for a picture of myself that didn't involve pajamas and no makeup on Christmas morning. I cropped and adjusted the color of a couple and printed them up on regular old printer paper and headed down. I knew enough to expect a wait so I had grabbed the same shopping bag holding a book and resumes that I took to the Smithsonian thing on Thursday. Good thing I did, because when it finally got my turn to talk to the casting guy, he said the director wasn't asking for one but that he'd like a copy anyway to help him get to know the talent. Since this is a movie about journalists, who knows? It might actually help. And he seemed to like my picture.
I do think it's kind of ironic that I started out in filmmaking right out of college by playing a news person as a featured extra in Marie (I think that's my camera lens just above the Channel 5 mic on the left), then went on to be a real-life news person, and now....might be playing a newsperson as extra, 23 years later. Who knows--this time next week I may go from complete unemployment to being a staff writer at Smithsonian, a Smithsonian shop clerk, AND a passerby in a high-drama scene between Russell Crowe and Ben Afleck.
Oh, and I'm trying to figure out what they need 1400 extras for (1400!) I mean, I know they use people over and over again in different scenes, so it's not like they have to hire 300 people for one crowd scene and a completely different 300 people for another crowd scene. Besides, as best as I can remember the BBC show State of Play, which this is based on, there ARE no big crowd scenes. Maybe they're planning a funeral for the dead girl? Or a big Senate hearing? Which....God forbid! That would only show how little they know about Washington.....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Robin Hood note: I stopped off at a used book store after the cattle call today and was browsing through their medieval history section when I ran across The Robin Hood Handbook. It looks really good; an extensive character and place glossary, a long section of quotes from primary source material, and another section that seems to put all that primary source material into a coherent narrative. I kept having to remind myself that the TV show and the legend have nothing to do with each other, but I'm sure the 2006 publishing date had something to do with the fact that the Beeb was kicking off the show with a big publicity push in 2006. And who's that on the cover? Patrick Troughton--Sam Troughton's (Much's)--grandfather, as Robin Hood!
Or maybe not.
So I got an application out on Monday for a senior researcher position at National Geographic (again; I applied for this or a similarly-titled job almost a year ago) and felt pretty accomplished. I also got an e-mail from the Smithsonian volunteer coordinator about a job fair they were going to be holding for positions in the Smithsonian gift shops and IMAX theaters. I thought, "What the hell. I need work--ANY work--and maybe I'll network with the personnel folks so I have a name or something when something more professional opens up." All I knew about job fairs was that you're supposed to take a big wad of resumes to hand out, so I did, knowing full well my resume makes me look like a semi-hotshot journalist and would do me absolutely no good in getting a job at a Smithsonian gift shop but also knowing my last retail experience was so long ago that I had to show I had been doing SOMEthing in the meantime.
So I get there and make my first stop at a table with two pleasant HR ladies handing out applications and saying you need to fill it out even if you have a resume, which you can insert into the form. So I do, and their first reaction is an impressed, "Oh, you're a newswriter! But you know we're not...." And I came back with what was my mantra of the day: "Yeah, I know you're only hiring retail clerks here today, and I know my resume doesn't match that at all, but I've worked retail in the past, I like the Smithsonian shops, and I NEED A JOB!!!!" Which was just fine with them....except they also were interviewing for a staff writer position with, I think, Smithsonian Magazine. DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!
Well, they weren't interviewing for it there that day, but they knew the editor was interviewing for it, and they'd pass on my resume if I'd like WOULD I LIKE? YA THINK? Which led to a huge mixup and the retail people losing my application because it was channeled to the other job and big delays, but the upshot is that I came away impressing both a series of gift shop managers AND the first line of people I need to impress for a magazine job. None of which is to say i've actually got a job: they kept stressing that they couldn't promise any more about the writing job than that they'd hand my resume to the editor the next day, which is more than I had even hoped for going in. Even the retail people couldn't promise anything, since there was only one full-time opening at one museum (American Indian, in case you wondered) and they have another job fair scheduled for Tuesday. But, all in all, it was an ego boost and at least I know I have a better chance than some of the other people I heard interviewing ("Well, there was this violent altercation with another co-worker..." "I did NOT steal from the cash register!', etc.)
I then went out and got drunk and sang karaoke very badly and paid for it the next day, making it one of the few days I've been glad I haven't had to get up and go to work. I had planned to go to the casting call for extras in the upcoming State of Play movie, but decided against it, not the least because I didn't have a half-decent even candid head shot, which they were asking for.
Instead, I went today. Huge lines. But it seems they're hiring 1400 extras. And by now I did have a halfway-decent head shot. since my father had responded to a frantic e-mail query looking for a picture of myself that didn't involve pajamas and no makeup on Christmas morning. I cropped and adjusted the color of a couple and printed them up on regular old printer paper and headed down. I knew enough to expect a wait so I had grabbed the same shopping bag holding a book and resumes that I took to the Smithsonian thing on Thursday. Good thing I did, because when it finally got my turn to talk to the casting guy, he said the director wasn't asking for one but that he'd like a copy anyway to help him get to know the talent. Since this is a movie about journalists, who knows? It might actually help. And he seemed to like my picture.
I do think it's kind of ironic that I started out in filmmaking right out of college by playing a news person as a featured extra in Marie (I think that's my camera lens just above the Channel 5 mic on the left), then went on to be a real-life news person, and now....might be playing a newsperson as extra, 23 years later. Who knows--this time next week I may go from complete unemployment to being a staff writer at Smithsonian, a Smithsonian shop clerk, AND a passerby in a high-drama scene between Russell Crowe and Ben Afleck.
Oh, and I'm trying to figure out what they need 1400 extras for (1400!) I mean, I know they use people over and over again in different scenes, so it's not like they have to hire 300 people for one crowd scene and a completely different 300 people for another crowd scene. Besides, as best as I can remember the BBC show State of Play, which this is based on, there ARE no big crowd scenes. Maybe they're planning a funeral for the dead girl? Or a big Senate hearing? Which....God forbid! That would only show how little they know about Washington.....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Robin Hood note: I stopped off at a used book store after the cattle call today and was browsing through their medieval history section when I ran across The Robin Hood Handbook. It looks really good; an extensive character and place glossary, a long section of quotes from primary source material, and another section that seems to put all that primary source material into a coherent narrative. I kept having to remind myself that the TV show and the legend have nothing to do with each other, but I'm sure the 2006 publishing date had something to do with the fact that the Beeb was kicking off the show with a big publicity push in 2006. And who's that on the cover? Patrick Troughton--Sam Troughton's (Much's)--grandfather, as Robin Hood!