Cathy (she/her):

I’m moving from the southern US (where I grew up and went to school) to NYC this fall. I am financially independent and walking away from my first full time job out of college (53k) to pursue producing in NYC. It seems IMPOSSIBLE to get a job before I move to NYC and is so discouraging when everyone seems to hire NYU grads (no shade to them). I do great work and I’m very knowledgeable about the theater scene in NYC but my resume doesn’t include NYC so it seems like they just throw it away. I put that I’m located in NYC and always put my NYC address. I guess my question is HELP! And how can I prove that I have knowledge of New Georges and Soho Rep programming and I’m not an outside hick. Also I’m scared of not being able to afford NYC but it’s my favorite place in the world and I want to spend my 20s there. 

-

Cathy, 

I am so excited that you are moving to NYC to pursue producing. We need more industry-savvy producers, which it sounds like you are! 

I’ll speak from my narrow perspective here. I run a small theater company in NYC, and I’ve led the hiring process for two full-time producing positions in the last three years. Both jobs yielded 100-150 applications. In both hiring processes, two out of the three finalists were not yet living in NYC. They were outstanding administrators/organizers/artists who built the beginnings of their career in other midsize cities on the East Coast. I hired them both because of their incredible intelligence and the clarity of their personal values, raisons d’être, and interest in the organization. 

I will admit: the major learning curve for them both was around the who’s who in NYC. I don’t know who’s hiring NYU grads, but I understand the temptation to hire someone who might know some of the names on your gala attendee list because they’ve been volunteering for Off-Broadway theaters around the city for a few years. That does develop an undeniable, early social intelligence that will hugely benefit you as a producer. But I also believe that the lay of the land is incredibly learnable. Your knowledge of the important institutional players will offer you a great place to start. And you can make it extremely clear in your applications that you understand how vital relationship savvy is for a producer and explain how you plan to pursue/develop that intelligence. It’s also really useful to explicitly articulate what you think you will learn from this job and how it fits into your larger professional journey. When I’m hiring, I’m most attuned to how SPECIFIC the candidate’s application/interest is in my organization. If the candidate’s interest in the organization feels general—”I just want to work in theater in New York City, and this job is open”—I am unlikely to hire that person. The more tailored the candidate’s application is to your specific org, the more hopeful I feel that they will understand our professional context and stay at the job for a couple of years. 

‍
So, long story short, don’t let the myth of the NYU reign over theater deter you from pursuing this move and career with confidence. There is an institution out there that will be the luckier for having your perspective on staff.

Xo,

Fefu

‍