Mickey Finnegan, Writer/Director: If you're on this general there's a reason you're going there I
mean maybe someone set you up on that or maybe you reached out to this person in some kind of way.
Film Courage: What are general meetings and what is their purpose?
Mickey: A general meeting is a meeting that usually maybe your manager or an agent or somebody
that will you'll go on or set you up with and this is usually with maybe a producer at a company
or a development executive or some person who is in a position to maybe green light a project.
You might just get to know somebody and have a conversation or they might
want to get to know your work whether you're a writer or director or whatever
and I guess the purpose of them is just to put a face to the name and
network and see if you guys can find a project that you're both interested in or in most cases
if they're one of the kind of gatekeepers to a place like a Netflix or something yeah they
might have something that they're looking for and you can at least have those conversations.
Film Courage: Do you still go on general meetings?
Mickey: From time to time yeah I think early in my career I would go on a lot of them and I
think they were good but a lot of times it's it's you meet some people you have some conversations
and they don't amount to anything but years later you can hopefully blossom that into some kind of
opportunity or project later on but now I think if I'm going on a general meeting I try to be a
little more specific or or understand like what the context of the meeting is like if there is
something specific we want to talk about or if there is something that they're looking for I
try to be a little more prepared in that way are you more likely to go on more of a pitch meeting
rather than a general meeting well I guess I’ll say it's never a bad thing to to meet someone
or to go on a general I just think maybe framing a general meeting as more of a pitch can be more
productive overall I mean it doesn't have to be it's not that you always have to like sell an idea
or something but if this person is taking time out of their day and meeting you under the context
that you're a filmmaker of some kind I mean they want to know what films you want to make so
it's just something that you should have prepared for that more or have
just so that you don't waste their time essentially what advice would you give someone
who's going on their first general let's say they graduated from film school and and they're nervous
they're excited what would you tell them to how would you tell them to prepare I guess I would say
maybe do a breathing exercise before you walk into the room if you're feeling nervous and then also
too like I mean I'm assuming that if you're on this general there's a reason you're going there
I mean maybe someone set you up on that or maybe you reached out to this person in some kind of way
and my assumption would be that you sent them a film that you made or maybe you sent them
some kind of query letter that had your your work in it so maybe just just brush up on
on what it is that you're going into the meeting for and and
think about ideas that you might have or may want to talk about or think about the
film that you made that maybe they saw or the script that you wrote that they read
and just just be ready to talk about that so that way you're just not as nervous and you're not as
that you are prepared to talk about the project that you're working on anything they should
bring I know you said don't worry about like a powerpoint presentation maybe but I would say in
a general don't worry about bringing anything yeah I think you can just go in and have a conversation
which is totally fine and then later on if there's something very specific like if they're calling
you in because they want to talk to you about a very specific movie that they want you to pitch
on then then by all means bring in whatever you feel like helps get your vision across what if
they say it's a general but for whatever reason the person sitting behind the desk thinks it's
a pitch meeting and so then you don't want to be the deer in headlights and not have anything ready
what would you advise someone just just on that off chance and it's like a couple hours before
what should they have in their mind that if that person asks them something they'll be ready well
people always say like have your elevator elevator pitch ready to go I mean it's kind of true I mean
definitely if you have ideas for movies just have that log line in your mind or have like
the most concise succinct version that you can pitch and even if it's some people like have
ideas that are very complicated it's like you want to get your idea in the most digestible
version possible so have that prepared and so that when people ask you about those things you can
just it's just muscle memory it just comes out naturally so that's something that you can
definitely practice and you can practice with your friends or whatever so definitely worth
having that skill set developed sure so instead of charades practice your log line yeah sure
that actually because that makes sense because it is I'm sure nerve-wracking and maybe most
people in the log lines I've given to different script people they've said they're too long
or sometimes too it's like sometimes even the log line isn't good it's like
there's there's something that is more appealing about a a movie idea or like what
whatever is the most like interesting aspect to that to your idea I think is what you want to
pitch and that might not be the log line that might actually just be a certain relationship
in the movie how much work do you line up for yourself through general meetings
probably not a lot of work comes just through a general meeting I mean I feel like if it does come
through a general meeting it pays itself off like six months later or a year later a lot of times
the work comes from I don't know I can come from I guess it can come from many places
it can come from just previous things that you've done where people kind of just write
cold emails and they're just like hey like I saw you did this thing or hey you wrote this thing
i'd love to talk to you about this project but there aren't that many examples where
I went into a situation that was a framed as a general meeting and then right then
and there they were like oh I want to hire you for this I mean maybe I've not been good in my
meetings or something but I feel like usually the general meetings are just there to kind of have a
conversation and then later on down the line they might manifest into something more work related
how do you navigate these meetings I think you just have to be a person and feel it out at first
right like they're there to have you in there have a conversation with you and you just kind
of have to let the conversation go the way that it goes you don't want to come in guns a blazing
and say like all right here's my five ideas and hijack the the the meeting but yeah just just
be in there and just be present with the person and then if the conversation goes a certain way
then that's when you maybe pull out what might be appropriate to to pitch an idea for.
Question For The Viewers: What are
your thoughts on general meetings? Any advice?