Escaping the Entertainment Industry
I'm in the midst of a career crisis. I work in entertainment, love my industry but am in serious doubt about my long term career prospects.
BA Economics 3.5 GPA from good university (USC, UCLA, NYU)
Work Experience:
1 year in the NBC Page Program (Kenneth from 30 Rock, incredibly selective program)
1 year and currently working as an agent trainee/assistant at top talent agency (CAA/WME)
I have other interesting soft factors too but those are yadda yadda for the sake of this post.
In terms of post college entertainment work experience this is about as good as it gets (unless you're Lena Dunham) in terms of prestige and exit opportunities within the industry. The problem is that while being an assistant at a top agency is a great opportunity within the industry, you're still just an assistant and there really isn't any glory in that. Hollywood is old school, assistants are like apprentices - it is the entry level job that everyone must go through.
What's scares the hell out of me is that a lot of people got stuck in assistant purgatory for a long time getting paid crap and have really nothing to show for it 4-5 years down the line. I want to bail and ideally get into consulting at a MBB level and the only way to do that it seems is through an MBA program.
It seems I'll be a wildcard type applicant which is a good and bad thing. Given that I have at least 2 years before I apply to an MBA Program what should I be doing now to build up my application?
I figure H/S/W are out of the picture but ideally I'd like to target UCLA, NYU and Columbia.
Take the GMAT.
^^ that. And going off of what I've read on here, some charity work won't hurt. Apparently Ross is pretty good for consulting at the MBA level, not a HSW contender when it comes to MBB, but it's not uncommon. Though I don't know how you'd feel about moving to Michigan after being in Cali and seeing your list of schools (New York or Cali)... though it is nice here and we have a pretty awesome alumni presence coupled with our school spirit.
what I'm trying to say is... Go Blue.
and good luck
Ask Toofer to help you with your MBA application.
Doable. Back in the days when I seriously considered a career in entertainment, I networked with a Stern MBA who worked in movie pre-MBA. You need to show adcom a few things: strategic thinking, business acumen (how well you can commercialize an idea) and a 700+ GMAT. So she told a compelling story about her role, though she's only an assistant, in the launch and distribution campaign of a blockbuster. Now she’s doing corporate strategy or something similar at Walter Disney.
Hello Hollywood Swinger, If I were an admissions officer, the first thing I would look at, after your transcript and your GMAT scores, is the quality of the work experience. If you've gotten into a selective program and have made your mark there, and then done some interesting work at the talent agency, you would be under consideration. The question they will ask themselves: Have you done the most with the choices you have made? I worked with a student who is now at the Stern MBA/Tisch MFA program and she was nothing to write home about on paper, until she started talking about the initiatives she had undertaken to change each organization in which she participated. She was a do-er, not a taker, and smart as anything.
Now, having said that, she went into that program because she is interested in the entertainment industry and wants to ao make her mark there. If you are trying to get out and go into a consulting firm, it's not entirely linear, even with business school behind you. My first recommendation would be to look for people who have done what you hope to do -- is there any precedent anywhere? Check LinkedIn and your own undergraduate network and find a path that works. You may not follow it, and you may change your mind while you are in the process, and that's fine. You need to do a bit more work on how to get there from here. Just wanting out won't really convince anyone that you are going to add to the conversation in the business school classroom.
Also, did you take any quantitative courses? For those not working with analytics regularly, the adcom will want to know whether you can do the work. The best proxy they use are math courses and the quant section of the GMAT.
So, tell us more.
Maybe off topic here, but since you brought this up, I'd say trying to break into entertainment industry through an MBA is probably the dummiest idea I've ever had. Not to mention the ROI, but what fun can backstage supporters have in an industry which is all about grabbing attention? It's like buying a pair of christian louboutin with only 3 inches heels.
I was an Econ major and did take a variety of quantitative courses and took the entire progression of calculus and did reasonably well. I wouldn't call it a strength but am sufficiently proficient and competent to handle the generally simple math involved in business.
Obviously need to take the GMATs before I really start to craft and application so there is that to do.
I'm trying to find more ways to take initiative at my work, and am actually working a concept pitch for a client in the non scripted realm. I definitely understand the importance of making an impact beyond just being good at your job but have not yet found that niche that I think uniquely showcases my talent. Obviously I'm passionate about my work and would love to stay in the industry in some capacity, but in more of a business development role on the corporate level than in the content production and development side. I think my dream job would be to work within Disney's famous corporate strategy team.
In entertainment like I said agency experience is almost a must. I think if you looked at the resumes of top execs across the industry you'd find the majority have that in common.
But an MBA/MFA program to break into entertainment?! Talk about overkill! Maybe if you're a trust fund kid, and believe me there are lots of those in this industry that are just in it for the image. But yeah, I gotta agree with the poster above - someone gave that girl terrible advice. The only program that is arguably worth the money is the stark producing Program at USC - and even still. The best case scenario for most coming out of that would be landing the job I already have. You can dream about going Indie and sweeping sundance, but don't count on it!
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