On Monday I was assigned a new project called the YouTube NextUp Creator Camp. The camp will be a 5-day intensive production program designed for 25 winners of YouTube's Next UP contest which will be held over the next month in order to find the best and most creative YouTubers across Europe. We will then bring them to London to produce their own videos with professional editors and filmmakers.
I was brought onto the project because of my experience in the music industry and for the sole purpose of finding appropriate studio space for the videos to be shot. I found it extremely interesting that it was automatically assumed that I would have contacts at studio locations because of my music background. I never worked on music video sets or productions and certainly have no experience or direct contacts at locations within London.
This is a clear example of the importance of strong networking skills and the ability to maintain relationships for a long period of time. My team here at Google expects a lot from me, and they expect that from my contacts in PR in the music industry, I would be able to network my way to finding some studio spaces in London. It proved to be a rather long network of referral after referral from an old PR rep at Universal in the NY offices, to a video department rep at Universal in NYC, to a video department rep at Universal in London, to a locations scout at LocationWorks in London. Finally, I met with Andy from Locationworks and scouted some great venues.
This is a lesson learned that keeping in touch with contacts from former companies is ALWAYS a great idea, and that pushing boundaries to make connections and network is a vital part of success in the CCIs!
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