Keeping them Interested

A reader contacted me a couple of weeks ago. He wants me to review his pitch bible - and maybe hire me to polish it for him. Fair enough. He said that he was going to get it right to me... via snail mail.

Snail Mail. They call it that for a reason. Two weeks later, I'm still waiting.

There's nothing wrong with snail mail for your daily correspondence, bills, magazines and junk mail. But we're in the entertainment business. SNAP! SNAP! Show biz. SNAP! SNAP! Things happen fast. SNAP! SNAP! People have short attention spans. SNAP! You have to strike while the iron's hot - when there's interest - and frankly... snail mail is too damned slow.

"It's in the mail" doesn't inspire confidence - especially not when you want to WOW somebody. Get it there - and get it there NOW!

If you're going to send documents, email is the way to go. If you find that the file sizes are too big - too much artwork, videos, etc. - then set up an FTP site. We use Sharefile. With Sharefile I can email a url to my intended viewer. They log onto the site and download the file(s) as they need it.

It's instant, secure and dare I say it? Sexy. Not only that, but you get a return receipt telling you that your file has been downloaded - the time, the date and by who.

Sure. Ben Franklin set up the U.S. Post Office - but last time I checked, this was the 21st Century. Move with the times.

I JUST WANT TO ADD SOMETHING HERE...

A number of years ago, I was seated on a Toronto-bound flight next to the owner of a very large animation studio. We chatted about things, the biz, people we knew, my project... When the plane landed (about 1 a.m.), the man asked to see my resume, portfolio and reel. He wanted it on his desk that morning.

I made damn sure that it was on his desk at 9 a.m.

I landed a job as a Producer at his by noon that day.

If I'd popped it in the mail and it arrived a week later - the guy would have had no idea who I was. He'd have forgotten all about me - and that Producer job would never have appeared. The lesson here is - STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT!