Coffee with Kasra and Sarah

I drove 45 minutes across town for my 9am coffee with Kasra. When I arrived, his wife greeted me with a hug wearing scrubs, which was curious because she was in hospital management not care. She explained later that with her new masters degree, she can't get a job without hospital experience, so she's taking a step down to get the experience. It's like what Kasra did when he decided to be an assistant art director to pursue Production Design, and leaving the higher paying illustrator job. 

They just dropped their daughter off for her first day of kindergarten. I got right into working at the EEC, and interviewing with Parks and Rec.

Kasra asked if I've left the business or if I'd still want to do film stuff. I told him I definitely would, I just haven't gotten called about any jobs in 2 years. The film business is rejecting me. He said he got back from Fantastic Four in November, and hasn't had a lead on a feature. Even since Fan4 released, he hasn't had any offers. He's been working on commercials in the meantime, he's done 5 already this year.

Kasra suggested I reach out to the IT people I know at Marvel and WB, try to reach out to people who know what a DAM does, rather than these out of the business jobs that don't understand. He was surprised that I don't have a background in technology or computers, because of my skillset. He said me and Morgan Hall are the only two great DAMs who encompass the job, and every other DAM he's worked with were useless, he had to teach them to rename files. He basically boosted me up, making me feel like the Taylor Swift of my position, and that doing anything else is like wasting my talent, super powers, what I'm meant to do. 

Sarah recommended choosing one day a week to send emails, so it's not so daunting thinking about doing something everyday. I told them I wouldn't know what to write, would I just ask for a job? Kasra said it's part of the freelance business, he gets at least one email a day from someone asking if he has work for them. And everyone knows it's part of how we get work, nobody minds. I told him that this is new for me, I've been spoiled into getting calls before needing the next job, I've never had to reach out. Sarah agreed that it's foreign to do this in any other job, she's never had to do it, so she understood my hesitation. But Kasra said it's normal in our business of free lancers. 

I left feeling empowered. Like I've been selling myself short. Like I've been neglecting to acknowledge my talent.

Kasra had some ideas for people he could send my resume to, including our old Marvel Production friend, Michele Blood. He said she would always say the nicest things about me, that she really liked me and he will reconnect us. She works at Meta now.