E-mail Me, Maybe?

Most of the time it seems like such a hassle having to sign up with your e-mail address for ads and coupons to almost everywhere you go. I know I usually always decline this. However, today after receiving an e-mail from Urban Outfitters (one of the very few places that I do receive notifications from) I realized how important it is for businesses and to move product. It was an e-mail about some new make-up products and collections that they received in, a category which otherwise I wouldn’t find myself browsing on the site because it’s not something I regularly buy. But it caught my interest and I soon found myself picking out a few things I liked, and more importantly, I was checking out what else they had just received on other parts of the online store, and seeing what had recently gone on sale. From there, I decided to see what was going on with other online shopping sites that I buy from regularly.

It dawned on me how vital that e-mail had been; how vital all e-mail updates from a company can be. I would have never been bookmarking things I wanted to buy today had it not been for that e-mail. I would have never known the UO Sparkle Collection Nail Polish that I told myself I just had to have ever existed.

It occurred to me that this happens frequently with Amazon and their products as well. I buy most things off of the mega-shopping site and always get e-mails about products that I may be interested in based off my previous purchases. Sometimes I don’t look, but sometimes I do. And from there I see other related products that may interest me, I may remember something I’ve been wanting to look for on the site, or it will send me into a mini shopping spree were I check all the sites I shop on and pick out things I’ll be ordering either immediately or in the weeks to come.

This is a fantastic way for businesses to immediately let their faithful customers know the new products that they have available for them, and a method which seems to obvious to me that I somehow managed to overlook its significance. It always seemed like a bother, it would be one more e-mail that I would have to delete. However now I can see that it’s a fantastic way to keep updated on new product, new sales, and even receive some exclusive coupons.

During the month of July a site that I use a lot – Always Fits – was having a “Christmas in July” sale where by entering a specific code you got an additional 25% off your purchase. I would have never known about this had it not been for the e-mail update I received from them, which naturally lead me to make some purchases on the site because I didn’t want to let the deal pass me by.

Now in the future I will definitely be accepting more of those e-mail offers and I’ll also be signing up on sites I already use a lot to see all of the exclusive deals that I have been missing. If you were like me before and only bothered for a few select sites, I suggest seeing where you frequently buy, and then take advantage of their mailing list!

Professional Artist Management

There are many parallels between an Artist Manager and Unit Production Manager that I would like to draw upon. When most people, myself included, hear the words Artist Manager, we immediately think of the manager of a musical singer or group. This may cause some confusion in realizing how someone who manages in this aspect (not solely excluded to musicians, every working artist needs a manager) and the UPM of a project in the film and television industry.

Since the UPM is not in charge of any particular person, and working on the whole scope of the film, in order to make things in a bit more clear, all one simply has to do is envision that the film takes on the role of the final product like anything else would for an artist. The goal is the artist’s CD, finished novel, etc. Here, it is the film. In essence, this makes the client, or artist being managed, the director.

During a Wimba session for the Artist Management course I’m currently taking, I saw a list of duties that immediately made me realize I had the same job as an Artist Manager, essentially. These duties included: planning, advising, organizing, strategizing, overseeing, coordinating details, traveling, and being a friend. All of these things, as well as several more components, go in to what makes a UPM successful. A keen sense of scheduling, a scrutinizing eye for detail, and healthy sense of money management are all essentials.

Since UPM’s create and oversee budgets, and helps work on schedules and call sheets, the similarities are not that hard to see if you only look. The main problem is that people are very unfamiliar with a Unit Production Manager or what it is that they do. Once you have a basic knowledge, you can see that all of the overseeing, organizing, planning, advising, and coordination aspects of both jobs line up perfectly.

A thing that may seem to stand out though is “being a friend”. While working on honing my UPM skills in film school, where I took on this role for almost every in-school and out of school project that I found myself doing, one of the things that was mentioned to me by an instructor, or “producer” for the film, was that it was my job to be there to support our director. We have to support the director’s vision and give them the financial guidance to be able to pull off the film as accurately as they have it worked out in their mind. And if for some reason we have to say no, it’s our duty to do it in such a way, and with several backup plans, that nothing about the director’s true vision will be lost or sacrificed.

To get a little bit more sense of the type of role a UPM has and see if you have what it takes, there are a few very brief videos you can check out:

Terry Bamber, Second Unit Production Manager on Quantum of Solace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R73rfXI2I6M

Tom Kane’s Film Production Workshop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2-Qlv-KP4I

How to Hire a UPM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNp0bXgp5Jk