Practical Advice for Building an Entertainment Career

With Lance Grode, Esq.

“Every statistic becomes an excuse.” When people fail to get a job in the entertainment business, they often blame that failure on this observation - i.e., “It's hard to get a job in this field” (the statistic), and “therefore I didn't” (the excuse). Relying solely on your resume - sending it to as many people as possible and waiting for interviews - is deader than disco. Most never think about what they could have done or should be doing to increase their chances of getting those limited number of jobs. We'll look at strategies for creating a career in the business side of entertainment, starting with techniques that job seekers should be using (e.g., treating temping as an eight hour interview and not just a paycheck, and interning as a 13-week interview instead of another resume item). Lance Grode developed this workshop out of his personal experience in the entertainment business, which has spanned 35 years. His intent is to share and discuss practical (and specifically NOT theoretical) ways to help law students, business students, and all others interested in the business side of entertainment, to break into and build an entertainment career.
 

SPEAKER: Lance Grode graduated from Michigan Law School and clerked for a federal judge before moving to California. He has been in the entertainment business for 35 years, starting in private practice for a firm representing Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, George Harrison and The Eagles before going "in-house." Grode was the worldwide head of business affairs for the MCA Music Group (now the UMG) and EVP of both MCA Music Publishing and 20th Century Fox Music Business Affairs. He currently teaches “Legal Issues in the Music Business” at USC Law School and lectures on the topic of techniques of finding jobs in entertainment.