Author: scot

  • Gig Exchange

    Gig Exchange

    welcome to variety + circus gig exchange via Scot Nery

    It’s a place for unwanted or hard to cast gigs.

    Entertainers find exciting gigs… Bookers find entertaining people. We make it the right fit.

    Join Our Facebook Group


    How to Join

    If you’re new to our group, follow these simple steps to become a member:

    1. Click the “Join Our Facebook Group” button above.
    2. Log in to your Facebook account.
    3. Answer the membership questions to help us understand your expertise.
    4. Wait for admin approval (usually within 24 hours).

    Once approved, you’ll have full access to post and respond to gig opportunities.


    How to Post a Gig

    post a gig opportunity:
    the goal is to put in as much detail as you can so that people feel they can imagine their way through the work and they feel comforted and ready to contact the booker.

    1. Join the Gig Exchange Group as described above.
    2. Navigate to the “Create Post” section.
    3. Provide detailed information about the gig, including:
      • Event type and theme
      • Date and time
      • Location
      • Number of guests
      • Performance details
      • Compensation and provided amenities
    4. Include contact information for submissions.
    5. Review and post your gig opportunity.

    Post a Gig Now


    Example Casting Breakdown

    HOLIDAY PARTY For staff of The Los Angeles Natural History Museum

    • Date: Dec 13
    • Location: Natural History Museum (La Brea Tar Pits)
    • Theme: Circus Themed
    • Time: 5:15 – 7:15pm (Call time 4:15pm)
    • Guests: 250 guests in 5000 sq ft
    • Provided: Parking, prop storage, private bathroom, 1 meal
    • Requirements: Must have proof of COVID vaccine
    • Wardrobe: Circus / Carnival / Steampunk
    • Rate: $xxx/2hrs for each performer (for kids and adults)
    • Casting Deadline: Monday Dec 4, 10am
    • Roles Needed:
      • CLOSE UP MAGICIAN – Walking around the event and doing tricks for small groups of guests. Looking a little circus-y is a bonus.
      • TWO STILT WALKERS – Looking circus-y and having fun interacting with the guests.

    To submit for this job, send an email to whatever@booker.com. Please send a photo and a few-line resume (just three to five career highlights). Also, let me know your break schedule for a gentle two-hour gig.

    Creating a detailed casting breakdown helps performers understand the gig fully and ensures a smooth hiring process. It shows that we value their time and effort, fostering trust and professionalism.


    Why Use Scot Nery Gig Exchange?

    Our Gig Exchange Group is dedicated to connecting talented entertainers with exciting opportunities. Whether you’re a magician, stilt walker, or any other type of performer, our community provides a platform to find gigs that match your skills and interests. One person’s trash is another ones treasure. Dump unwanted gigs here.

    By joining our group, you’ll benefit from:

    • Access to a wide range of gig opportunities
    • Networking with event organizers and other performers
    • Support and resources to enhance your career
    • Exclusive tips and best practices for successful performances
    • The good mojo of getting your peers more work

    Join us today and take your entertainment career to the next level!

    Join Now

  • Is it a feeling or a mode

    Is it a feeling or a mode

    Feelings

    To me, feelings are things that pop up and can go away just as fast.

    Modes

    Other things are longer lasting and stronger. They usually come about as a result of our effort – wallowing or affirming.

    Depression, for example, in me can be the result of a chemical imbalance or of me trying to hold on to a narrative I don’t like. I’ve experienced a lot of it.

    Feeling wheel edited

    I’ve gotten good results from using this 6 feeling feeling wheel to identify my feelings. I’ve put stars on the things that I think are not usually feelings, but are usually closer to modes. Most modes can be escaped via a physiological state change and a mindset change.

    How to…

    We can have a state change using drugs, extreme temperatures, breathing, exercise and some other stuff.

    We can have a mindset change with mental novelty (like watching a movie), meditating, journaling, talking to someone.

    If I’ve got one of these, i usually feel in control of it.

    • Shame
    • Fulfillment
    • Depression
    • Anxiety

    there’s no way to control feelings

  • Getting Kudos – how to ask a person

    You could use this format to ask for a testimonial…

    Thank you! You’re the best! If we could get the right quote I could use it could be a total game-changer for me!

    I remember you saying something about how much you liked my shoes… 

    Would it be possible for you to sign off on this quote : “Jimmy’s style is wonderful from the tips of his feet to the way he talks”

    I know you’re busy. I’m really grateful for any testimonial from you.

    “ 

    remember, this is a game you’re giving the person. Make it fun. Amplify the reward if you can. Tell them why and how it will change your life…

    Everything is FUN

    ☝️ how to make it a fun game

  • MCing : the relationship with the audience is near paramount

    Hosts / emcees are often obstaclized by trying to do the wrong stuff. The problem is that they…

    • are striving to make things go smoothly.
    • try to appear “professional”
    • mimic what they think they’ve seen other hosts do.

    If the goal is to make the host look good, the best outcome will be the host will look not terrible. If the goal is to make the experience great for the audience, the host may be almost invisible.

    In many situations, i will throw everything under the bus in order to maintain a good relationship with the audience. They need to trust me to lead them forward. If I tell them that the next thing coming up is awesome, they must be right along with me. When I tell them they had a good time, that is a ridiculous thing to tell people. They must 100% be psychically connected to me.

    One of my trademark lines from Boobietrap was “This is what fun feels like!” It was true and I needed to say it so that people would recognize it. I could only say it once we were all completely connected and on the same page.

  • Hoping VS Wishing

    Hope is crucial if we want to make a change. If there’s hope that things can be better, there’s motivation to make the sacrifices necessary. Hope makes us want to invest.

    Wishing is the opposite of hope. Wishes are a list of things that are impossible or things that only come from magic. Hopes are things that come from us doing something.

    Once we blow out a candle on a cake, our wishing is done. We can check it off the list. When we hope for something, we are just beginning to look at how to make it possible.

    Wishing comes from a scarcity mindset. The only way we can get what we want is by throwing a penny in a fountain, or breaking a turkey bone. We have nothing to work with. Hoping comes from abundance. We recognize the assets we already have. Eg: “we have this great team and this winning spirit. I think we can achieve everything we want!”

    Hope comes from a gratitude inventory and desire. Wishes come from complaining and resigning.

    Take action : listen to your daily speech. Anything you wish was different, turn it into hope, or skip it.

  • #YOLO : No side quests

    We can only do one thing at a time. The game is finding that important thing.

    I have a bunch of people tell me the weird creative things they’re working on in the background. I ask them why. They say that it’s just a little thing that they’re doing because it’s creative and fun or exploratory.

    The issue is, there’s no background project. If it’s taking up time, it’s taking up now.

    I have this fantasy that if i stay up late doing something, it gives me extra hours. Logically, if I sleep instead, i can wake up rested and ready to pursue my main thing – my mission / my higher purpose. If i stay up, I miss out on the crucial work that i can do (sleep counts as work).

    We keep coming back to finding a mission and sticking with it. Sometimes working on a bunch of creative projects is helpful to a mission. 99% of the time, there’s just one next thing to do.

    Take Action: make a file for ideas. Write down all the ideas for side-quests and keep them there. don’t do them, just store the thoughts for later.

  • Do now : stage focus

    There’s a book : The Self-made Billionaire Effect. It talks about one of the superpowers of successful people is their ability to be motivated by the big picture; yet do the dumb, small work that’s in front of them.

    This is a constant balancing act for all humans.

    1. Make the mission big enough so that it matters.
    2. Let the imagining go, so that we can complete the crucial next step.

    In the book, they call this stage focus. It’s the ability to keep attention on the stuff that’s right here right now.

    If we, as freelancers, don’t have stage focus, we get into dreaming. When the dreams don’t pay off, we get disappointed. When we get disappointed, we often start side projects / passion projects / procrastination type stuff.

    Instead of trying to immediately call the president when we decide to be president, maybe we do some research to see how to be senator.

    Stage focus is a great skill.

    Working on the next thing is also different from working on busy work. Cleaning my desk can feel very rewarding and comfy when work feels daunting. Stage focus is humble work. It’s also courageous. There’s pressure. There’s effort. There’s discomfort.

    We build the skill. Our ability to do stage focus is limitless.

    Take Action : think of a simple thing that will have a big impact on your career. Write it down, complete it, put a check mark next to it.

  • Take Inventory : monetize capital

    Take Inventory : monetize capital

    When I start working with someone. I take inventory. I want to know what they have. I want us to be on the same page about what we have to monetize. If I were to work to sell pencils for a company, I’d want to know how many pencils they have in stock, ready to go.

    This became really clear to me when I started working for a company that was in a major change. They had dozens of employees, yet had just had a major downsizing, so the CEO was in charge of a lot of stuff suddenly. I was trying to make marketing materials. While the boss was in charge of important meetings and big things at the company, I was also texting him to get the Youtube password. There was a ton on his shoulders because the organization didn’t have a clear organization of assets. They had a style guide, they had photos, they had lots of things, yet they weren’t organized in a way that a person like me could access them.

    This happens with freelancers also. Sometimes a thing like a list of past clients has never been constructed. Sometimes it takes a year to get video files over to an editor.

    I learned this lesson, and still, my employees get a message from me occasionally saying “Oh yeah, I did this thing a year ago…” or “I have this half-finished project”

    It is worth our time sometimes to organize what we have. It helps us individually to see the value we have, and it helps us to scale and to be ready for outside help.

    Take action : if you don’t have one, get a password manager app

  • Mutual Exploitation

    Mutual Exploitation

    In examining the lives and work of so many creatives, it’s obvious that human beings of all drives and ambitions and personality types feel most fulfilled when they’re being used. I mean being used fully. The more an activity exploits all aspects of a person, the more they feel valued.

    It works the same from the outside. When a job position or a relationship requires someone’s complicated pile of assets, the person in the job position or relationship is more valued.

    When Taco Bell hires someone to show up and follow directions, that person is using a very small part of themselves — mostly their presence. The work is not fulfilling and is not worth paying more than minimum wage.

    When Ryan Gosling is hired, It’s the special cocktail that is everything Ryan that makes him get paid so much and that makes him enjoy his work.

    “Exploitation” seems criminal

    The problem with this word and words like it like “being used” is that they are often seen as one-sided. A person in power is exploiting a person weaker.

    If we seek instead to have mutual exploitation, we can get more out of every relationship than the sum of the parts. We can have extremely fulfilling and productive collaborations that change the world. The best performances that I’ve had were because I there were parts of me used and energy in me used and discovery in me that was rare.

    We can seek this rare gift of mutual exploitation with a generous spirit. Knowing that getting the best out of someone is also GIVING THEM the best of themselves.

    An easy gig sounds nice. What’s really nice is a gig that feels easy because it comes out so naturally. A gig that taps in to our strengths and history in a way that flows.

    Money is the same

    maybe the question comes up when money comes into the picture… what’s mutual about getting paid? People really like to buy things that are great. There’s probably something that you can think of that you really like purchasing. It feels good to spend good money on something incredible. So, risking our money is just as much a part of this flow as risking our reputation or our knowledge of 18th century self-help in Poland. It’s a unifying of resources to make something great.

    Take action : figure out how you can give more of yourself to your next project.

  • Step Forward

    Step Forward

    It’s the call to action.

    We wrap up our proposals with a request for action. We have nothing left to say except “do this!” The recipient already knows why and they have a picture of what will happen if they mobilize. Now, we put the button in front of them and tell them to depress it.

    The call is simple.

    A pill that can fix my back is better than a stretching regimen. How simple can we make this next step. Hopefully it’s only one thing to do. It’s easy and it’s fun.

    The call is rewarding.

    Hopefully, we’ve already clarified what’s going to happen and it’s going to be a dream come true. “just reply to this email saying ‘it is on’ and I’ll take all this off your hands”

    The call is now.

    We’re trying for the next step to be immediate. They can pull the trigger and we can give them something right away.

    Take action: think of something you’ve asked someone to do — maybe a proposal that hasn’t gotten a reply – and ask them to do something in a better way.

  • Results in a proposal

    Results in a proposal

    In the LOOTERS format, we have already talked about the objectives and how we’re going to make it happen. The idea of getting back to the results is that the cost has been stated. We want everyone involved to focus on the results and not on the math. The math is not the important thing. Math is based on a highly distorted, cognitive view of our reality. Math carries the deception that it’s concrete and safe. If we put cost before desire, we’d get nothing and achieve nothing big.

    So, the order of the way we think best is…

    1. do i want a rad hat that makes me look cool, protects me from the sun, will make me look like i belong at Coachella, is easy to clean and pack?
    2. it’s $76
    3. I’ll be able to have a great time with my friends and have confidence to meet new people and dance

    The results part of the proposal is a quick description of what happens at the end. It summarizes the objectives and reflects confident success. It’s a promise.

    The scope of work / effort shows how it’s done. The results are what the customer gets.

    Take action : think about a way you were misunderstood in the past month.

    What was a promise you could have made that would have been exciting to everyone and fulfillable?

SEARCH AND STALK

  • Generic selectors
    Exact matches only
    Search in title
    Search in content
    Post Type Selectors