A few days ago I posted about the amazing, educational Binder Conference I attended this past weekend at the UCLA campus (if you haven’t read that blog, go read it! It’s the perfect precursor to this blog!). This blog will be geared towards the writer/actors of My Acting Site; there was no shortage of great pieces of advice for writing. There were specific panels geared towards all aspects of writing: Starting a writing community, making a living while freelancing, and writing a pilot (wherein we actually workshopped a few ideas that attendees brought to the conference with them! It was great.)
      One of the panels I really enjoyed was on how to create a writing community. This is something that I had a bit of personal struggle with, as I only know a select group of writers and we all have very busy schedules. The writers on the panel were explaining how they work through these things as well as the other options when it comes to joining an already existing community. I learned about some awesome places in Los Angeles to share your work and hear the work of others. Literary Deathmatch is one of the relatively popular readings, where you compete against other writers.
      The panel which addressed making a living through freelancing gave some very interesting advice on how to make money while doing what you love, the biggest piece of advice they had to offer was short and simple; do nothing for free. When you work for something that you absolutely love, they suggested to do it at a discounted price (when the company is smaller and cannot afford your normal rate), but other than that, there is no exception for getting paid for your work. They all explained that at the beginning of one’s writing career it is typical to be asked to do things gratis, but that if you are talented and established, you should not accept this, and be compensated for your work. Decide if exposure is worth it for you, and accept your compensation based on that.
      Workshopping different ideas was very exciting because we got to take someone’s basic idea, from the beginning and help them build it up to something that they were able to work on themselves, and develop into an actual bible for a show! This was especially great because we were able to really helping someone create their ideas. Throughout the weekend, I felt that I was able to help several people through networking, or otherwise. It was a very enjoyable time and I loved being inspired by a large group of people with similar interests to my own!