Networking

London Screenwriter's Festival is nearly here and cyberspace (in some circles) is full of NETWORKING - how do you do it, what is the etiquette, how do you not do it, what you are aiming for.... HOW DO I MAKE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE WHO'LL GIVE ME A JOB!!!????????????

Maybe I have an unhealthy disrespect for the world of film/tv? Maybe it is totally different from everything else people have ever encountered in their 'real' lives? In my day job - I get IT contract work word of mouth. How? I have a track record and I've made lots of friends over the years. I do the job, very few complaints, and I work to keep these friendships, usually in a pub. 
They recommended me and the pool grows. 

That is networking - so why is everyone so stressy about Media (darling)? 
Fair enough, if you're not a spring chicken, you can't start as a runner and make contacts to give you work in future. 
As an old outsider? Using rules from the abnormal world (none of which apparently count), to switch careers:

• Bash away until you can produce good, consistent work
  
• Have a laugh and get to know people & hopefully be pleasant enough that some of them like you - I have worked with complete twats and I would not touch a project that has anything to do with them. And I would tell everyone what a shite they are.
  

Job done.
The only problem I can see for old gits changing career is that it takes a hell of a long time to get good enough to be worth employing. It's possible that by you time you (we... one - whoever) is decent and consistent, we'll be too fossilized to leverage that. That's our fault for starting late. 

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