Best places for networking:

The film festivals that have a film market. Nowhere near what they once were, but if there are distributors there, it's still good.

The right bars, in the right city. Most projects are made between friends who drink together.

Other than that, just get good projects and find some way to directly approach the production companies and the directors who make the type of stuff you want to make.

The actual industry is tiny. There is a far bigger industry that's completely unrelated that surrounds it... Festivals, courses, websites etc that pretends it's a way in, but isn't. You can waste your entire life in that pseudo industry imagining it's some kind of ladder to the real industry.

Other routes in: write a genre appropriate script that absolutely pops and is too hot to ignore.. A tall order. Another : Create something successful that's not a script. Children's book, comic, novel, game... Can even be a successful blog or YouTube channel. Most companies now only want to deal with established Ips with a built in audience.

Hey - TALLDAVE: I do think your concern has a lot of merit - just not sure there is enough interest in the topic for it's own separate thread. I'll keep an eye on the ongoing in this thread and if interest percolates ask Don to create a separate thread under the BUSINESS catefory.