To Gain Your Professional Experience - Say Yes!
Dārta Smaine
It sounds super cheesy but want it or not – it bears truth. Growing professionally is something that every person needs and wants. If at the start of your professional life or career there is a way to grow, an opportunity to use to gain experience – I don’t see why to say no to it.
I know my passions, I know what I love to do and what I want to be a part of, but not always it goes my way to do it professionally. But I am not giving up. Whenever I had an opportunity to be an extra, to work on a set, to help out for a theater, etc. – I’ve said “yes”. I have two great stories about saying “Yes”, here are some of those stories, and I hope this shows how actually important it is to KNOW WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU and how only by using one word it can help you.
3 years ago, I saw a Facebook post about Volunteers wanted on the set of this big upcoming movie. I immediately signed up. A few days later I was on a movie set. I had been on film sets before but as an extra. Plus, those were not as big as this, those did not have this much budget. I was very happy on my first day there and also very observant. I paid attention to what my teachers have said about the roles on the set, I paid attention to how what I have read on paper, looks in life. I knew way before that there are many people working in behind the scenes and that there were different departments.
But when I saw it with my own eyes and felt it myself, it was bigger than I expected. Not to mention the whole project management who managed to gather everyone on that one location, organize everything, etc. As someone who has worked as a project manager and has organizer experience, it blew my mind. This project is HUGE. I spent 2 days on the set volunteering with little tiny jobs.
Later on, I got asked again to come, then they grew to like me, trust me, and asked many more times again. “YES.” Without any doubt, every time they asked, I said yes (except a few days, when sadly it was impossible for me to go). In total, I think I spent about a month on the set. I DIDN’T GO THERE FOR FUN; I WENT THERE TO LEARN. It was a stupendous experience.
As a young filmmaker and enthusiast, I got to experience, see, and be a part of so much, I even saw a real call sheet/production sheets that I still have. I didn’t know anything about those back then and that is a piece of real knowledge, I will definitely use it as an example to follow. I am so grateful for that whole experience because it made the “cloud of theoretical knowledge”, that I had in my mind, fall into a reality allowing me to fully comprehend and learn.
But did you know that SAYING “YES” TO ONE THING CAN LEAD TO A CHAIN REACTION? I once sent in an e-mail replying to a casting post. I went in as an extra for a movie a few days later. Comparing to the big movie set I was working on as a volunteer, this movie had waaaaay less budget. Obviously, I used this opportunity to spy with my eyes a little. I observed the crew and them working, it was super interesting since the big film set had so much more tech equipment (f.e. at least 3 cameras, so many lights, expensive and very good sound equipment, etc.) but this had only one camera, a very cheap looking boom, lights, reflectors, and many others things. The difference between these two productions was huge! So, this was another great learning opportunity that I am very grateful for… but this was not what the story was about.
About 3 months later I got a call for an acting gig. The casting lady mentioned the movie I went to as an extra, so I immediately assumed it was for the movie, but this time they offered me an actual role. I got there… long story short – I was very wrong. It was a completely different thing. But it was another wonderful experience, I got to talk with different people there, a few weeks later I got a call from those people offering me a job! This was something I never thought would happen – that by sending an e-mail for an extra’s work I would land a job.
My point was, that even though this sounds super cheesy and all, to say “Yes” is something everyone needs. Those opportunities can not only be fun and educational but also life-changing. I trust that many people already have this lifestyle, but there are some who are not that outgoing or extravert. So, this is for them – KNOW WHAT YOU LOVE AND SAY “YES”. DON’T BE AFRAID.
P.s. Even though you want to say “Yes” to every opportunity that comes your way, you still have to think about it even a little bit, and sometimes you have to remember that “No” is an option. I had one proposition like that. I had to think about it way more, unfortunately, there were some circumstances out of my control, they were against me. Maybe it was possible to clear them out, but after a night of thinking, I said “No”.
Since then I have been thinking about whether I made the right decision and how saying “Yes” would’ve affected my life, and more importantly – my professional life, because their p.s. stated: “If you agree to help out with this, we MIGHT MAYBE consider you to join our Production company. We sometimes need reliable people like you with us.”.
First it sounded very appealing, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt like a bribe… no, not a bribe. A sort of a Blackmail, but again – not exactly that. I can’t really describe how it felt. Maybe I was thinking too much, maybe that is how the industry works, maybe they were speaking truth, but somehow it felt wrong. It would’ve been a great proposition if the job I had to help with was a genuine job, not a job meant for someone below an intern… a very lousy job. While they were only using flowerish words, I felt used. Maybe my decision was wrong and today I would be somewhere else… but I’d rather accept this as it was and not hurt myself with the thoughts of “what if”.