No, you’re not paranoid; when it comes to building a successful career in entertainment, the odds are stacked against you. There’s not a lot of room at the top, and there are already many younger, smarter, better-connected people out there. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still get the advantage by employing some street-smarts and business-savvy—and building a personal brand.
For starters (wary artists), let’s go over what a personal brand isn’t: The word “brand” might suggest cliches, like you’ll have to wear a certain kind of shoe, get a fashion-victim haircut and always wear black, i.e. pigeonhole yourself in some way or another. To be clear, that’s not what we’re talking about.
According to Personal Branding expert and Voyage Team member Nance Rosen, the real point of personal branding is to be memorable—to stand out based on an expression of your authentic self and a connection with what your audience really needs. Diablo Cody (Juno) is a great example of a screenwriter who expresses her authentic self all the way to the bank. You’d recognize her dialogue style anywhere—it’s never a Little Miss Moffet message—and her audience finds it refreshing. Writers and directors have a great advantage because they are used to creating characters with distinct voices– now the work is to find their unique character.
Rosen breaks down the 3 dimensions of a personal brand:
1. Your voice—what do you sound like, and why?
2. Your values—how do you work? Are you refined and traditional like Clint Eastwood or whimsical and inventive like Michel Gondry?
3. Your look and feel—What’s the style of your web series, youtube channel, twitter feed, and website wallpaper? Dark and edgy? Clean and modern? J-Pop?
In the end, like all great brands, you want to be able to tell us who you are and what you have to offer in 7 words or less (it’s all our busy brains can handle!) Coke is “the pause that refreshes”. Maybe you are “a midwestern Woody Allan” or “the king of Comicon”. Find out. Know it. Live it.
Special thanks to Voyage Team Member Nance Rosen for her consultation on this article.
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