The Entertainment Industry Black Hole

Think back to a project you worked on 5 years ago.

 

Maybe the project was a TV show you helped to produce, or maybe it was music star you helped manage. Whatever you did in the entertainment industry 5 years ago, think back and remember the people who used to work with you.

 

Take a minute to recall their faces and names. Yup, you remember that super talented diva of an art director who had to have things his way or the highway. And yeah, you still remember the extra eager intern who drank too much when she tried to hang out with the staff at parties.

 

Got their faces in your head? OK. Now how many of them are still around today? I would be surprised if you can place even 3 of them at another job in the industry.

 

The rest have careers that have fallen off into the ether – they got sucked out into the cold by The Entertainment Industry Black Hole.

 

The Black Hole is where careers in music, film, and television go, not to die, but to exist in a frozen stasis forevermore.

 

Your former co-workers stuck in the Black Hole are working in corporate cubicles so they can "pay the bills" until the next cool gig comes around. Years later you find they are still paying the bills, but that opportunity to jump back in never came around.

 

Others in the Black Hole have carved out safe spaces for themselves in advertising and PR. It’s the kind of job their mom can understand and they no longer struggle to explain to her what they do all day. And besides, they tell themselves, putting your creative skills to work on a television commercial or press release is just as cool as having your name in the credits of a movie and magazine, right?

 

Black Hole prisoners diss the politics, long hours, and instability of the entertainment industry when they bump into you at lunch. However, a half hour later, when they head back to their 9-5, they captivate their co-workers with stories of all the cool celebrities they used to hang around.

The first Black Hole prisoner I met was  Liz. I ran into her at a Starbucks some time ago. She used to be one of my writers at a magazine I helped to edit.

 

After she left the company I noticed her byline in several places, and saw her at random industry parties. Fast forward a few years and here she was drinking coffee in front of me.

 

Liz asked what I was doing now for work, and looked slightly surprised that I was still making my living as a writer.

 

I asked her the same, and instead of telling me what she was currently doing, she went off into a mini-rant about the fakeness of her former career, and how she’s happy to be done with it.

 

Seeing Liz left me a little sad. How did a young, talented, and social person slip out of the career she once dreamed off and fought her way into? Dealing with "fake" people" wasn’t the real reason, I was sure.

 

Also, I wondered, how many of my other colleagues have dropped out of the entertainment industry and fallen into the same Black Hole as Liz?

 

I realized that the pull of the Black Hole affects you even if you currently feel secure in your job. With the incredible rate of turnover in our industry, anyone’s career can come to a halt and be frozen by the Black Hole.

Since bumping into Liz in the coffee shop, I was determined to figure out a long term plan for my own work. I was fine with switching careers because of a change in my passion, but I didn’t want to drift away from what I love just because things became difficult.

 

I read many books on careers but their advice about securing your job and climbing the corporate ladder did not fit what you and I do. Moving from project to project is a part of our industry. There’s no way to change that, and I wouldn’t want to if I could.

 

The answer I eventual found and began to live was simple but profound – in order to avoid the Entertainment Industry Black Hole and you must work on your career, not in it.

 

A career is like taking a long trip in a car. To get to your destination you must be a good driver and know the road you’re traveling. That’s a given, right?

 

Now, what if you had GPS on your dashboard? That means you won’t need to know the roads at all. A good GPS device would guide you to where you need to go.

 

And what if you ditched the car altogether and took a plane? You wouldn’t need to be a good driver to get to where you’re going!

 

In the same way, instead of driving your career car faster, you must consider how to improve the car itself, or better yet – fly!

If you want to drive your career in entertainment on a plane instead of a car, subscribe to Career Green Light.

 

I can’t help you book studio time for your artist, but I can teach you how to create a strong personal brand that doesn’t rely on the current company you work for.

 

I can’t help you format your daily show, but I can show you hot to network and connect with the coolest people in your industry without being pushy or obnoxious.

 

Want to fly? Career Green Light is your boarding pass.