Take the Job Off the Table

If you do one thing at your next networking event, do this.

You've done the hard part: you showed up. You're at the mixer, the panel, the industry happy hour, and somewhere in the back of your mind, a quiet pressure is running: This could be the one. This person could change everything. Don't blow it.

Networking doesn't have to feel that high-stakes. In fact, it works better when it doesn't.

Why does networking feel so transactional?

Networking events feel transactional because we treat them that way. We walk in with a goal attached to every conversation, and people can feel that weight. It makes the room feel like an audition, and nobody relaxes in an audition.

Think about the last person you genuinely clicked with in a professional setting. Maybe it was on set, at a workshop, or during a chance conversation at a festival. Chances are, you weren't trying to impress them. You were curious about what they were working on, or you both hated the same thing, or you made each other laugh. You made a memorable connection without asking for a job, an introduction, or feedback on a script.

That connection eventually helped your career. But not at first.

What should you actually focus on at a networking event?

"If you're going to a networking event," says our Events Director Jocelyne Roman, "just focus on one thing. Make a friend. Don't try to find a job. Just try to find someone you get along with."

The shift is simple, even if it doesn't feel that way: go to make a friend. Someone you'd genuinely enjoy running into again. Someone whose project you'd actually follow. Someone you'd remember to DM when you see something that reminds you of your conversation.

That's a very different energy than I need to meet the right person tonight. And it produces very different results.

Why does relationship-building take time in the entertainment industry?

Building relationships in this industry is not a one-time effort. Like any relationship, it takes consistency and genuine interest to sustain. Because it takes real time and energy, it's worth being selective. Invest in connections that feel authentic, that you actually enjoy, and that you want to maintain over time.

The connections that eventually get people hired are rarely transactional. They're built on trust, and trust is accumulated slowly, through repeated low-stakes contact over months or years.

How do you network without making it about the job?

Take the job off the table, at least at first. Go looking for someone with shared interests, someone you'd genuinely want to stay in touch with regardless of what either of you can do for each other right now.

Do that consistently, and something shifts. You stop feeling like you're working a room and start actually belonging to one. The connections accumulate. The trust builds. And trust, in this industry, is what actually gets you hired.

That said, taking the job off the table doesn't mean leaving empty-handed. Make sure you collect the contact information you need to stay in touch. Consistent follow-up starts with the first follow-up.

The bottom line

The best professional connections in the entertainment industry rarely start with an ask. They start with a real conversation: one where you were curious, present, and not performing. Go to your next networking event with one goal: make a friend. The career stuff follows from there.

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