Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Show Some Initiative

By staying away from our offices. Please.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then write that rule clearly on your website. Curtis Brown did not. Not all are mind readers and "know".
The sycophants on the comment thread are worse than the man who did not have a clue.

Moll said...

Seriously! What was that guy thinking? I kind of hope he delurks himself though and explains it. That would be kind of awesome.

Christi Goddard said...

Read Nathan's blog, did you? ;-)

Editorial Anonymous said...

Anonymous,
I'm not familiar with a wide variety of office situations, but from my limited experience, I'm having trouble thinking of an office you could simply drop in on, especially when a person has no relationship with the company.
Can you think of one?

EA

Anonymous said...

Umm Anonymous, I could *maybe* forgive the guy for showing up at the office without an appointment...but the dark glasses and hat, refusing to give his name, and refusing to leave would have made me consider calling the police, if I had been that receptionist. Sorry, but those just aren't the actions of someone who "didn't know" it isn't kosher to show up on an agent's doorstep--they're the actions of a borderline personality.

Buffra said...

Any office has an expectation that you will at least call first for an appointment. Exceptions include places like some hair salons, which then advertise "Drop-Ins Welcome." If they have to advertise that, clearly IT is the exception and not the rule.

Christine Tripp said...

OK, that was creepy and I hope they gave the receptionist a raise after that!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi, different Anonymous than the 1st one here, just wanted to pipe in. I've had several art friends drop off their portfolios in person to several different Cali studios, and it was a wasn't considered a taboo. In fact they met some awesome people, and even got a short tour of the workplace. So, possibly a case-by-case basis. (They did have awesome portfolios.)

Ebony McKenna. said...

'Then write that rule clearly on your website'.



*Runs off to amend blog listing all the ways I don't want to be approached by complete strangers.*

Chris Wolfgang said...

Wait. What happened?

Claire Dawn said...

You know, it's nt the fact that he showed up that's freaky. It's the fact that he showed up in sunglasses and a coat and refused to give his name. And the Oscar goes to Mr. SAWED-OFF SHOTGUN!

Steve said...

Reminds me slightly of the time during the early seventies when I was hippie-tripping cross-country and ended up in Eugene, OR for a week. As the well-known novelist Ken Kesey lived in nearby springfield, I borrowed a bicycle, asked directions in downtown Springfield, and rode out to his fartmhouse, and knocked on the door. His wife was cordial, but explained he was busy writing and couldn't be disturbed. I conversated with her for a half hour or so, and went on my way.

I did catch a glimpse of The Bus parked out back.

It was a mellower time, I guess.

-Steve

Sarah Laurenson said...

I wouldn't show up at his office, but I might invite Nathan and his wife out to dinner at Millenium. And I promise to not bring a manuscript.

:-)

Awesome restaurant if you're ever in SF.

Anonymous said...

My son's been on a watching-"The Muppets Take Manhattan"-over-and-over-again kick lately, so the first thing I thought of when I read this post-- and it's sort of a shame he closed the comments, because I would have mentioned this and lightened the mood-- is the scene in that movie where Kermit dresses up as some sort of flashy agent type and bursts in on a Broadway producer to drop off his script. The producer merely exchanges a "Whatever" look with the people in his office, then dumps the script in the trash as soon as Kermit leaves.

Apparently people who try desperate measures such as these in real life have not watched enough Muppet movies.

But then again, in "The Muppet Movie," they DO get a movie deal simply by bursting in to the studio offices and assaulting the receptionist, so maybe they're just watching the WRONG Muppet movies....

Anonymous said...

This is like the people who end up get led off in handcuffs from American Idol auditions.

Mel said...

LOL at the lessons learned from Muppet movies.

Re: anonymous on "post it on your site so people know!" Isn't that what Nathan and this site just did?

I agree about the sycophants, though. Nathan handles it like a reasonable person, but all the "I hope you're okay, Nathan! How scary for you, Nathan!" is off-putting. He's an agent, not one of the Jonas Brothers.

I'm thrilled by the incident--it invalidates all the crap I was told by various workshop speakers and "stand out from the crowd" type articles. One guy claimed he got a job because he cut out Superman emblems and mailed them with his resumé to show he would be a "super" employee. I remember thinking, "Can't I just write a good resumé to show my qualifications?" But I guess people don’t get paid to be workshop speakers if all they say is "write a good resumé."

I'd say Drop-in Guy was given similar terrible advice, and thought face time with Nathan would pay off. He probably was wearing sunglasses because it's California and the sun actually shines there in February. He didn't give his name because it's another tactic—don't give any info to the gatekeepers, because then the head honcho is forced to come out and speak to you. And he wore a hat because...well, he probably had a Superman emblem shaved into his head.

Jille said...

First anon:
Curtis Brown very clearly posts their submission guidelines on their website. Nowhere in the guidelines does it instruct those querying to drop by the office in person.
On the scale of difficulty, following directions rates at about a negative 2.

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