K atie c ouric

partners you want to meet. For example, if you want to collaborate with
Taylor Swift, you’re probably not going to get ahold of her directly. You
have to find people who already know her. I wouldn’t have worked with
Taylor Swift if I hadn’t had a preexisting relationship with MTV.
Find your potential collaborator’s trusted advisers. MTV’s not the only
way to get to Taylor Swift. She also has parents, friends, managers,
directors, and dancers she’s worked with. There are many different ways of
getting to people. Reaching out to big stars directly might not resonate. You
need a plan.
It’s also smart to start by shooting for people closer to your level. If
you’re opening a boutique clothing store, it’s likely that there are
influencers in your own town. You don’t have to get Kim Kardashian to
work with you to have success. There’s probably a style icon or fashion
blogger in your community that you can partner with. (If you are a local
business or brand, I provide additional strategies on how to find and reach
out to local influencers in the Instagram chapter.)

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Use Whatever You’ve Got
Sometimes the path to where you want to go isn’t direct. There’s an actor
named Zoë Bell who started out as a stuntwoman. She worked on a ton of
Quentin Tarantino’s films and was the stuntwoman for Uma Thurman in
Kill Bill
. She was working with Tarantino so often that he ended up casting
her in a leading role in his 2007 movie 
Death Proof
. Though Bell started in
stunt work, she provided something of value, fostered a relationship with
one of the top directors in Hollywood, and got into acting in an unexpected
way.
David Leitch’s story is similar. Originally a stuntman in films such as 
V
for Vendetta
, 
Fight Club
, 
300
, and 
The Bourne Supremacy
, he fostered
relationships and went on to become a second unit director. Eventually, he
directed 
John Wick
, 
Atomic Blonde
, and 
Deadpool 2
.
What’s the moral of the story here? Sign up for stunt class? No. Ask
yourself what you can offer of value to influential people in your industry.
Stand out, get noticed, and be different. And what you can offer doesn’t
necessarily have to be the exact thing you’re trying to do. Something as
simple as being a runner or an extra in another influencer’s content could
lead to future content collaboration. The bottom line is that providing value
to influential people in your industry allows you to start an authentic
relationship with them. It gets you on their radar, and as the relationship
builds, the likelihood that they’ll want to help you or leverage your talents
increases dramatically.