Important Predictions for Working in Music, Television, and Film in 2012

If you read the trade magazines in the entertainment industry – publications like Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety – you’ll spot upcoming trends in our business before everyone else is taken by “surprise”. Knowing which way the wind is blowing is critical to planning your career. If you’re a make-up artist who specializes in [...]

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Are Your Big Dreams Sabotaging Your Career In Entertainment?

“Hashim, I want to pitch you a great idea.” I was his mentor and he was a young photographer, new to the entertainment industry. We sat down for lunch in the gray cafeteria of the CBS Broadcast Studios, in between tapings of the variety show I worked for. What the young man said next involved [...]

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The #1 Reason No One Has Hired You Yet

Are you searching for work right now in music, television, or film and coming up empty? It’s frustrating, right? You know that even the most qualified and connected in our industry face stretches of unemployment. It’s just the nature of the business. But that’s no comfort to your spouse, your kids, or your own nagging [...]

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Are You Making These 3 Embarrassing Blog Mistakes? (Check Out The Free “Fix it” Videos)

This weekend I surveyed dozens of blogs run by professionals in the music, television and film business to find material for my online course on Personal Brand Blogging. I saw some blogs being used as living portfolios of work, and attracting a vibrant community of readers. I was even encouraged to see a “I got [...]

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What My Weird Stint On A Reality Show Can Teach You About Landing Your Dream Job

Watch me, the black guy in the red shirt, compete for a job on MTV’s reality show, “Hired”: Spoiler alert – I won! And when you watch the show you’ll see the pivotal role my Personal Brand Blog played in impressing MTV’s career coach and the interviewer. (Vanity alert – thanks to my wonderful new [...]

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Why Networking is Useless in the Modern Entertainment Industry

Five years ago, two costume designers graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young creative people. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both—as young college graduates are—were filled with ambitious dreams for the future. Over time they gained similar experience working across the entertainment industry [...]

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