Building a network in the film industry can be challenging enough. But what do you do when life gets in the way and before long, you find that you’ve neglected your contacts?

We want to rebuild those connections without it feeling awkward, so what can we do?

This is the easy 6 step method to reconnect with your network

Step 1

Go through your old contacts and pick the ones you want to reconnect with

Don’t worry about how big or small this list is, the key thing is did you enjoy working with them and do you want to work with them in future?

Step 2

Pick whichever social media platform you like best

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn all work well for this, so pick your the platform you most like spending time on

Step 3

Search for all the contacts you want to reconnect with on your chosen platform and follow them (if you’re not already)

Don’t worry if a few of your contacts aren’t on that platform. But if you find that the majority of them are on a different platform, then switch to focussing on that one instead

Step 4

Find two or three times a week to look through their social media and engage with their most recent content

The easiest ways to do this are simply by liking their recent posts or stories, as well as leaving a meaningful comment/reply

If you choose Instagram, you can add all these people to your Favourites list, meaning you can see all their content in the Favourites feed to make engaging with it super easy)

You can do this for 15 mins each session, or do longer if you like

Step 5

Do this for 2-3 weeks, then send them this quick message: ‘Hey, just wanted to send you a quick message to say hello and congrats on [something they’re doing/have done recently]. We should catch up soon as I’d love to hear more about it’

The key is to make it quick and make it sound like you. Say ‘congratulations’ instead of ‘congrats’, if you prefer. Add an exclamation mark if you like

Read more: 8 Tips for Emailing Producers

Step 6

Wait for the reply and then keep the conversation going by asking open-ended questions

Don’t worry if people don’t reply, they’re likely just busy or not good at checking social media – it won’t be anything to do with you

Repeat until you’ve gotten through all the people on your list. You can use this method on new contacts as well, just tweak the message so it works for a new contact instead of an old one

Read more: The best advice I’ve ever been given about pitching, financing and selling your films

Quick Reminders

I’ve designed this method to be as quick and as simple as possible for you, so you can start implementing it immediately and get results with 10-15 mins a day

That said, the most effective results come from taking it one person at a time, so don’t try to rush through this. People can tell when you’re just reaching out because you want something, so it’s worth putting in the time when you’re engaging and sending messages

There will be a big difference between quickly commenting “Love this!” and leaving a genuine, meaningful comment that’s at least 5 words long

Read more: 6 steps to get producers asking for your script